Getting rid of a Trojan.

[Falconblade]

Short of Reformat, is there any way to get rid of a Trojan that infects your PC?

I've thrown everything at it, but nothing is even touching it.
AVG has stopped even finding it
Various downloaders made specifically for the trojan won't kill it off.
Shit, one of the trojan killers, during the scan, went through all of the files the trojan had produced as if they were normal. Gave me a nice view of 50+ files.

And, if reformating is the only way: Is there any chance I can get data off the HD's on my comp onto an external before I reformat?

If it even matters, Trojan.Zlob.

[Snowknight26]

Safe mode is your friend.

[Falconblade]

Safe mode is your friend.

Yeah about that...
I seem to lock up every time I attempt to enter safe mode.

[Snowknight26]

Does it lock up on the screen that shows which file is being shown?

[Falconblade]

Does it lock up on the screen that shows which file is being shown?

It looks up right as it shows my drivers
Right after choosing Windows XP Media blah

[Falconblade]

I lost.

Turn on Computer-
Windows failed to start
Safe mode- enter
Blue Screen
Safe mode with Network
Blue screen
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Blue Screen
Run Windows normally
Blue Screen

[Shuemue]

Interesting, Symantec says it's easy to remove. Are you able to boot from your Windows CD and get into Windows or is Windows dead entirely?

[Devek]

With all the time you spent fucking with this you could of reformatted, reinstalled, and had a working machine by now.

It is like morons at the mall that spend hours driving in circles trying to find a close parking space when there are spots open that require 30 more seconds of walking.

[Shuemue]

Devek, you're like a fucking broken record. Some people don't want to reformat. Some people are lazy and haven't backed up important files. Some people need assistance with fixing shit, not a lecture from you saying fdisk.

[Falconblade]

With all the time you spent fucking with this you could of reformatted, reinstalled, and had a working machine by now.

It is like morons at the mall that spend hours driving in circles trying to find a close parking space when there are spots open that require 30 more seconds of walking.

I can still reformat with the damned Windows CD.
Reformatting is usually a last resort option, saved for last. I was trying to get shit out before I did that.

[Sigi]

Honestly, the best way to not have to panic when a virus hits is to maintain REGULAR backups. A spindle of DVD-R is about $20, and an external harddrive is about $80.

Unfortunately, without knowing what the bluescreen was saying (Stop 0:XXXXXXXXXX etc.) and what version of Windows XP you are using, your best hope and my recommendation is reformat at this point.

The other option... if you have it available, is to boot to linux (LiveDVD like Ubuntu, or an actual install on your main system), and pull the files you need off the drive, and burn it to a DVD. I've used this approach in the past with a system that had fried the motherboard but had a sound hard drive. (used an enclosure, booted into Linux, pulled off the customer's files and burned to a DVD) As long as the filesystem is intact, you should be able to pull the information off of your system.


Use this incident as a lesson...

[Falconblade]

I already have some backup. Just, not nearly enough to my liking.

And, I feel like a retard for asking this, but do I need to reformat my D drive too?

[Shuemue]

You should only need to format the partition that Windows is on.

[Sigi]

Honestly, a full format would be best. There's always the possibility of the virus being on more than one partition.

[Devek]

Devek, you're like a fucking broken record. Some people don't want to reformat. Some people are lazy and haven't backed up important files. Some people need assistance with fixing shit, not a lecture from you saying fdisk.

A broken record of correctness.

[Shuemue]

Devek, you're like a fucking broken record. Some people don't want to reformat. Some people are lazy and haven't backed up important files. Some people need assistance with fixing shit, not a lecture from you saying fdisk.

A broken record of correctness.

Sure, it's the ideal solution, but not every situation is ideal. Dude wants help fixing it enough to recover his data, not you being pompous.

[Devek]

Time == money

You can hold his hand helping him with his problem.
I'll find two people with the same problem and send them to work at McDonalds long enough to raise the $50 to afford a "data transfer fee" at a local computer store to get that data off.

Lets see who gets the data faster.

(A better idea would be for him to buy a USB drive enclosure and put his old drive in that. He could then buy a new drive and install a fresh copy of windows on it. Copy the import files off the usb drive on to the new machine, format the usb, than copy important files back over to the usb. Now he has a proper backup plan for the next time this happens and he can be back up and running in an hour instead of days after browsing porn sites on his main machine.)

[Shuemue]

(A better idea would be for him to buy a USB drive enclosure and put his old drive in that. He could then buy a new drive and install a fresh copy of windows on it. Copy the import files off the usb drive on to the new machine, format the usb, than copy important files back over to the usb. Now he has a proper backup plan for the next time this happens and he can be back up and running in an hour instead of days after browsing porn sites on his main machine.)

See? You ARE able to post helpful information. Why didn't you just say that in the first place instead of your usual reformat remark?

[Evelyn]

http://forums.techguy.org/

Every time I've had a problem with any sort of virus or spyware, these guys have helped me out. Just had one a few days ago actually, and they were able to solve the issue.

Best way to get started with them is to post in the Security section with the type of infection (if you know), what you've done, a HijackThis log, and a SmitfraudFix log. Theres instructions on their site on how to use the programs if you're not familiar with them.

Once you post all that, someone who's trained (no I don't know what that entails, but they know their stuff) will walk you through removing all malicious software, usually involving downloading 1-2 additional programs to help you out. all the programs they've directed me to are free, and they do the service for free (but ask for donations). depending on your/their schedule it may take a few days, but if you catch them at the same time it may go fairly quickly.

Or you could reformat.

[Killgannon]

always always always always always always always always always always always always keep your antivirus software up to date. and this will very very seldom happen, typical joe bob is not usually the first one to get a virus the first time.

and yes a full format including your D: drive and anything you stuck in your floppy drive if you have one, need to be formated ASAP, you can however go into your pc, disconnect your d drive, reinstall windows and your antivirus, update your antivirus, hook your d drive back up, and hope you dont get reinfected while you move your important crap off the D drive