Solved just got a trojan need opinions

[Outburst]

hello my win 7 comrads....i installed win7ult on my pc a couple months ago and its great but i recently got a trojan and tried minipulating security setting and systems scans to fix my problem but to no avail. the first sign....win sidebar gadgets stop displaying correctly...then...i am not ABLE to download much of anything(not allowed)....i uninstalled AVG a.v. and installed Avast and it found the trojan...a file i suspected all along..."Qfygia.exe"...cant find any info online about it.....avast shows it to be related to blogdemand(dot)com...i cant even open that page...my a.v. blocks it...ANYWAY....im thinking ill reinstall windows to smash that thing and what i need opinion is....SHOULD I REINSTALL OS OR ANOTHER METHOD...i have a lot of programs on there i will need to reinstall......thanks in advance.

 

[seavixen32]

In view of what you've found I'd be inclined to reinstall Windows.

I realise that re-installing your programs is time-consuming, but you will have a clean system.

Once you've done it, create a complete backup of your system by creating a system image with either the Windows backup utility or a third-party program such as Acronis.

 

[Outburst]

thanks for the quick reply....thats kinda what i thought too....but wanted confirmation.....I dont have a restore point or system image or i can just restore my pc....but i dont have it.....too bad....

 

[seavixen32]

thanks for the quick reply....thats kinda what i thought too....but wanted confirmation.....I dont have a restore point or system image or i can just restore my pc....but i dont have it.....too bad....

You're very welcome.

Just make sure you create that system image when you've re-installed everything, it'll pay off in the long run.

 

[marsmimar]

I'm inclined to agree with seavixen ... a clean install is probably the safest way to make sure the malware is removed. But you could also try some of the recommended scanning tools just for the heck of it to see if they can detect and remove the problem(s). They're all free.

Malwarebytes : Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a free download that removes viruses and malware from your computer

HouseCall - Free Online Virus Scan - Trend Micro USA

Hitman Pro 3 - SurfRight

And if you're still using the HP, you should have a hidden recovery partition that will return your machine to factory specs (just like the day you brought it home.)

 

[Outburst]

Thanks to you to guy, i will look into those but so far everything i have tried as far a malware removers has turned up nill.....except to identify the trojan....or atleast that is what avast called it. as far as the recovery partition....that sounds great but it had vista on it and now has win7 ultimate....so it probably wont work.....i do still have my vista hard drive intact if i need to swap it out ever.....but it dont have much space on it is why i upgraded to a new hard drive and OS.

 

[Borg 386]

Re-installing the OS is definitely the safest route.

Can you boot into safe mode? If you can, try running Malwarebytes as marsmimar suggested and see if it can get it out.

Another option is to try a boot rescue disk:

FREE Bootable AntiVirus Rescue CDs Download List

There have been problems reported recently with Kaspersky so you might want to try some of the others.

Other options for programs you could try:

Malicious Software Removal Tool | Protect Your Computer

Microsoft Safety Scanner - Remove Spyware, Malware, Viruses Free

This is a more agressive scanner:

Norton Rescue Tools

Because Norton Power Eraser uses aggressive methods to detect threats, there is a risk that it can select some legitimate programs for removal. You should use this tool very carefully.

 

[Outburst]

i tired m.s. malicous already....nada...i tried the malware bytes....the folder was empty...when it downloaded.....nothing....i was getting a lot of pop ups before i switched antivirus programs(popups after infection)...now pc runs fine but wont open some folder.....wont install some downloads or updates and windows sidebar dont display correctly....other than those things its zippy.

 

[Borg 386]

Apparently this virus is preventing you from running or d/l ing anything

You could try d/l ing this from another PC, putting it on a FD & run it from there

SUPERAntiSpyware.com - SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner

Follow the instructions below to download the SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner. The scanner features our complete scanning and removal engine and will detect AND remove over 1,000,000 spyware/malware infections. The scanner does NOT install anything on your Start Menu or Program Files and does NOT need to be uninstalled.

The scanner contains the latest definitions so you DO NOT need Internet Access on the infected system to scan.

The scanner is saved under a random filename so that malware infections won't block the scanner.

You can also run Norton Power Eraser from a CD or Flash drive

 

[Outburst]

Wanna Thank All of You.....formatted primary hard drive and fresh installed win7ult this morn....running like a champ....now just installing all of my most used programs....thankfully i had all most important docs backed up....thanks again.

 

[marsmimar]

Wanna Thank All of You.....formatted primary hard drive and fresh installed win7ult this morn....running like a champ....now just installing all of my most used programs....thankfully i had all most important docs backed up....thanks again.

That's great news!

Thanks for posting back and letting us know. Once you get your machine set up the way you want I'd strongly suggest you invest in an external hard drive and make a system image. You could use the built in Win 7 imaging tool or any of several free products like Macrium free or Paragon free. If your computer ever gets infected again you could restore from the system image and be back up and running in about 30 minutes or less.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

Free Backup Software: Paragon Backup & Recovery (Advanced) Free Edition - Overview

 

[Outburst]

I have a nice back device, but i just didnt think to create a system image....but you can bet probably with a weeks time i will do that.....thanks

 

[marsmimar]

Excellent! Images have saved me on more than one occasion. My last image restore (earlier this morning) took less than 20 minutes.

 

[Borg 386]

Glad you got it sorted. Yes, a system image is nice to have since it gives you peace of mind knowing that in a worst case scenario, you have an option.