Multiple serious infections

gregrocker · 10 Aug 2012

Thanks Borg for explaining. That's enough to know it's time to cut to the wipe and reinstall.

I posted my thread because I wanted to learn more about cleaning up the hairiest infections, knowing full well I would probably wipe the HD to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which I have now done. Performance is fine so far.

It wasn't necessary to slave the HD since I used the installer Command Line to wipe first with Diskpart Clean Command - however like OldMX I wasn't willing to wait any longer once I read more about the infection.

Jacee · 10 Aug 2012

Greg, even I won't try to clean up a Rootkit infested machine! Most especially an MBR related Rootkit/Bootkit.
As you know, my experience is in 'security'. I've been at it for over 10 yrs now and this stuff is getting harder and harder to really "fix or cure" without nuking and clean install.

gregrocker · 10 Aug 2012

Thanks, Jacee. As a Clean Reinstall obsessive I have always cut to the reinstall on heavily infected machines.

However you helped me clean up a serious fake AV infection with hidden files on a roommate's machine which I did via TeamViewer while traveling: Fake AV infection - files hidden?

I promised roommate I'd reinstall as soon as I got back, however he said performance was good enough that he didn't even want a reinstall. Since then I've been warily circling the machine, ready to pounce.

Is Alureon one of the MBR infections that can leech into the BIOS? I never saw any sign it had created a partition, but do you think Diskpart Clean Command - which is normally sufficient to overwrite conflicting boot sector code - is sufficient? I could have run Clean All but had an exchange with you or Corrine some years ago where it seemed to be deemed unnecessary to wipe infection.

Borg 386 · 10 Aug 2012

I would have suggested a clean install also, but you mentioned you wanted to save the install, so I thought you might take a try at removing it.

I've never read anything about Alureon getting into the BIOS, but that doesn't mean it hasn't evolved. The latest Sirefef variants trick the AV by presenting a valid, clean MS file & then after that runs, switches over to the infected file. It wouldn't surprise me if other viruses started using this pattern as it seems most effective at dodging AV's scans.

I noticed that in almost all the cases of Alureon, the hidden boot sector doesn't show up on the Disk Management console, but running G Parted from a boot disk usually reveals it.

gregrocker · 10 Aug 2012

Yes, basically I have this friend's older HP dv5-1235dx laptop for 12 days while housesitting for him on the beach here. He's not been able to even use it for months and I didn't know what to expect.

I figured I'd spend a few days practicing virus cleanup due to the apparent success of the one prior cleanup I posted above. But your description of the virus made me wary it could cause possible damage to the machine. I've yet to personally come across an MBR or BIOS infection but understand some can damage hardware.

So at that point I reinstalled finding all drivers were in the installer, and after just an hour's updates and setup have a perfectly fast laptop I'll use for the rest of my stay.

Thanks again, all!

Borg 386 · 10 Aug 2012

At least you have access to disks. One clean up I had to do, the nice lady had NO disks of any kind ("Were they important?" she asked), her kids had scratched the Win # sticker off the machine (So much for d/l ing Windows), and when the machine booted, it was a black screen with a flashing cursor. It also had Alureon (and about 27 other viruses) that I had no choice but to work out . I was able to use the factory restore (And a few AV/repair boot disks), that took up a day & 1/2 of my time....but hey, I got it working again....somehow

gregrocker · 10 Aug 2012

I'd heard the DV5 runs hot which is why it's elevated and sure enough its keyboard feels hot. I installed Core Temp to the tray and it is staying around 30C so I'm not sweating it even tho hot keyboards are unpleasant in general.