New
#1
suspect a virus need help removing....please
thanks for reading and any assistance! I joined the forum 4 days ago. A little over a week ago, I started cleaning up my laptop and wife's desktop to get them running better. I did, but then after reading in your great forums I got inspired learning about event viewer and other tools and started exploring for more windows 7 stuff and online. so inspired, I thought I could try to tweak performance and improve boot times, etc....
I discovered a couple of driver issues on my laptop, and still haven't been able to address them, as 2 days ago my AVG2015 free said it suspected a threat (while browsing EBay for ram sticks). So I immediately ran a full system scan, found was:
(the original alert)
SWF/Exploit.cy - located in c:\Users\Admin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\DIZ1EXUI\player[1].swf
(and)
Corrupted executable file- - located in c:\Windows\SysWOW64\mfc45.dat
I followed the AVG recommendations and assumed the files were safely quarantined and wouldn't be a further pest. I also ran Malwarebytes Free which found no threats. Then about an hour later AVG popped up again with the mfc.dat file, but not the original .swf threat. so, I ran another full scan and it quarantined it again......and 3 hours later when it happened again. I checked the file location after AVG found it each time, and it was not there, but would reappear or replicate itself. This is when I started to suspect foul play. (likely because of my lack of adequate protection and recent or very recent downloads, ugh)
So, I gave the Laptop the night off. after waking it up from sleep mode with the Wi-Fi turned off overnight, I ran Malwarebytes free which again found no threats. I ran AVG2015 Free which again found mfc.dat as a threat, quarantined it again. I did some more searching on the web for the 2 types of malware/viruses. I found too many dead ends and close calls. The mfc.dat file kept reappearing and finally yesterday afternoon I got fed up and.....downloaded some more stuff. Bitdefender free, Avast free, Kaspersky TDSSkiller & Virus Removal Tool, and final Rogue Killer from Adlice. I probably should have come here first......
I'm not convinced I got whatever this virus/malware is while surfing EBay, or the tweaking app downloads last week and over the weekend, or if it was there prior and waiting to be triggered. I did update AVG back in early Feb and I think there are a few conspicuous things in my system and program files from around that date, but I don't.
Anyway, I got fed up with AVG and installed Bitdefender Free last night. It was an extra aggravation trying to completely uninstall AVG, but I got it done and Bitdefender is running. Virus Shield has found no threats and deep scan has found no threats. mfc45.dat is back in SysWOW64 folder......hmmm
This made me wonder about false positives and such. So I decided to run Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool. Found 4 threats (will attach screen shots). I quarantined these and that was it for the night and I shut Laptop off.
Turned on this morning, Laptop seemed to be stable with the condition it's currently in. Some windows updates configured and I began trying to work on my problem. No alerts from Bitdefender. Ran Kaspersky VRT and it again found the same 4 files and I quarantined again. Concluding this wasn't really getting to the heart of the problem, I installed Kaspersky TDSS killer and ran that as administrator. It found one suspected threat, suggested action was to skip, so I did. I have yet to install Roguekiller. I'm at a point I realize I shouid have come here immediately and sought advice and help. I don't feel like I am making progress on this. I've wasted valuable time looking around my file system and I have seen what look like clues of suspicious programs, folders, and files...... but I'm not sure or savvy enough to conclude anything.
My laptop is running, I'm fairly free to run all aps and surf online, but not to sound paranoid, I am certain there is something lying hidden in my system somewhere and what little clues AVG and Kaspersky have dug up are just red herrings. Malwarebytes and Bitdefender find nothing. I'm sure I have missed some steps and information, hopefully with some expert help I can learn and be a smarter pc user. Advice....please.
Here are some screen shots: