System Hard Disk Troubleshooting

[ArdeanAlverice]

Hi there,

I have a friend who owns a Samsung notebook, I'm not sure what model it is, but It has an AMD Processor, 4 Gigs of ram and he bought it in 2014. Yesterday I came to find out that he had a lot of virusses, adware & malware on his laptop, so I tried to delete them by installing an antivirus. For some reason the site from which I can downlaod such programs were all blocked and the laptop was really struggling to perform. After hours of trying to start it up I thought It would be smarter to make a copy of his C drive on an external hard disk and after that, install Windows again, but with an antivirus and all of his files. After we were completed doing those things and trying to copy the backup, we couldn't seem to folders like:"Downloads, Pictures, Music, etc.". The Hard disk has the usual files in the first folder (Programfiles,sources,windows), but when I enter the Users folder I get these files:
Administrator (folder)
EasySurvey (folder)
Local (folder)
Survey0C0A (shortcut)
Survey040C
Survey041E
....
The Administartor and Local folders do not have any of the files we are searching for.
Thank you for reading my post, I hope you could please help me because I'm running out of ideas.

Yours Sincerely,
Ryan Nighel

 

[marsmimar]

Hello Ryan and welcome to Seven Forums.

"For some reason the site from which I can download such programs were all blocked and the laptop was really struggling to perform."

That's what malware usually does ... blocks websites containing anti-malware help and slows things to a crawl. It might help to visit the anti-malware sites using a clean computer. Most of these reputable sites offer their anti-malware programs in a portable version called "emergency kit" or "portable app", "rescue CD", or something similar. (You install the program onto a CD or USB flash drive instead of trying to download it to the infected machine.) This previous Forum thread has some suggested products to look at:

http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/72070-whats-best-anti-virus.html

And here's a couple more suggested programs:

5 Best Portable Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software To Fix Threats Anywhere

Five portable antivirus and antimalware tools to carry with you at all times - TechRepublic

As far as copying your friend's infected C: drive to an external drive, I think that would lead to even more issues. There's no way of knowing how the multiple malware might affect the original C: drive let alone a copy of the drive. I'm not a security expert so hopefully others with more knowledge will jump in with suggestions. In the meantime, I'd try creating an emergency/rescue flash drive or CD and use it to clean the infected computer. Perhaps you can get it clean enough to install a traditional program.

 

[ArdeanAlverice]

Thank you for the tip, I'll try to search for some anti-malware programs. We've also tried to create an emergency flash drive, but the laptop didn't startup anymore. Opening a folder took 5 to 15 minutes and starting up worked half of the time. usually I'd get a black. Either way, thanks for the tip