After removing infection, my C: drive is randomized

[cetlewis]

There are no backups or previous versions or they are unaccessible or hidden. My files are scattered throughout, with .dlls, .exes,.jpgs, etc. in "my documents" and vice versa. Some files are empty, some are renamed, have different extensions or cannot be opened. One important Excel spreadsheet, for instance, now shows up many times, but have not found one that is not bogus. How do I procede, am I without hope? I don,t know if this is posted where it needs to be, if not, please redirect me. Thanks.

 

[indianacarnie]

Welcome to the forums cetlewis!

I suppose you could try a system file check or even a repair install. Have you tried a restore point to a time before all this happened?

We have many excellent tutorials here at the forum , here links to a couple you might want.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[FuturDreamz]

Well that's interesting. I think the primary thing would be to extract important documents then do a clean install. Since files are being renamed you would need some sort of application that parses the file itself to identify it as opposed to simply reading the name. I'm not sure if there's an application that does that, and if the files themselves are encrypted you may be hooped.

 

[gregrocker]

What about external file backup and/or image which should always be maintained?

I would either apply a backup image or do a Clean Reinstall Windows 7
then reimport your backed up files.