Virus Alert - XP Total Security 2011 - Comments Page 2

Thanks Bob as always excellent advice. Perhaps we should take note of ken's comment. These scumbags should be arrested and jailed. I disagree that Russia, China or some other place is without law and inclination to pursue miscreants, possibly the opposite, It is perhaps or surely cloaking that indicates these countries as the source of the threat?

The issue is not just spam, which is only an annoyance, but activity that really poses a threat to one's economic security and could also cripple access to the Internet.

I think that our money and time could be better spent than on combating these scumbags who are intent on cheating computer users, but we have little choice. We need to combat these threats and should cooperate internationally to do so. I see no reason why Russia or China or any other country would not want to participate in bringing these scumbags to justice?

My wife's computer, which has Vista as the operating system, became infected with a virus just as Bob has described it. I was able to download and run Malwarebytes (in safe mode). I also used the portable version of SuperAntiSpyware. Both packages discovered and removed various pestilences.

The next day the same virus emerged with a vengence.

I had to reinstall the operating system to recover. My only real losses (other than lots of time) were the web favorites and bookmarks.

Many of these rogues will allow you to do a system restore. From there you can update and run or download and run something like MBAM (Pro Ver. at 25 bucks for life is a steal). If you're downloading to a medium like USB etc, it's wise to rename MBAM et al. to a windows process such as winlogon.exe for example, before running it against an infection that tries to shut off AV protection (I do it as a rule of thumb). Restore, clean, disable System Restore and Windows Auto update, reboot, clean again, create new restore point, go forth and sin no more. :)

I had to load off a separate computer onto stick and then could wipe this XP Security malware, my MS Essentials wasn't able to touch this. I may go back from free to paid as My Panda program never failed me until I scrapped it for a Bill Gates freebie. Come to think of it I'm boycotting MS and need to switch to Linux because of his anti American social policies anyway so guesss it won't matter there.

I went and found the program and uninstalled it,but you can also take your windows installation disk reinstall and click repair,and it takes all sys files and re installs them and wipes out any infections,and you keep all your good files.

System Restore is the solution I used. On XP go programs, accessories, system tools, system restore.
Choose a date just previous to the problem and click restore.
Then update your anti virus etc. and do complete scans. Also check for any fake, auto or self updaters.

Bob - Many thanks for that especially informative article. I use Malwarebytes and AVG - both of which you've recommended. Excellent advice.

Always find something helpful in your posts.

Had a similar problem with something calling itself MS Removal Tool. Blocked everything I tried, telling me all my protections were virus infected. Nearly scrapped my pc and bought new. Then clicked on my STOPZILLA icon. It worked fine and completely killed the so called removal tool. No problems since. Fantastic 1

I have a simple procedure that overcomes any problems with being infected with malware such as Virus Alert - Total Security 2011.

I have two hard drives, C and D. On C are my OS, program files and a folder called "Data". When I first set up this system I cloned my C drive to my D drive using Acronis (Bob has discussed Acronis). I then created a batch file that backs up my Data file on C to the same Data file on my D drive. I do this daily. On a weekly basis I clone C to D drive or sooner if I have installed a new program (only takes about 15-20 min depending on your system).

Now if I should some how get infected, which does not often happen) I just clone my D drive back to my C drive. Wha La malware is gone.

Good luck.

This is a nasty one, and persistent beyond anything I've met in 25 years of computing. It got past MSE on an older XP machine, completely blocked internet access, and began flashing "infected" messages about everything imaginable.

At a clean machine, I started Googling for help. Most advice involved messing with the registry, which I won't do, but finally found complete instructions from bleepingcomputer.com. I printed out the pages, followed their steps to copy rkill and free Malwarebytes mbam.exe (renamed mbam.com) to a flash drive, then carried the lot to the infected machine and followed the instructions. Malwarebytes is now downloaded on that machine, too, along with the rkill file, just in case something that nasty pops up again. And I'm moving my work laptop to paid Malwarebytes for realtime protection.

Disappointing about MSE, though.

Bob,
In your article on the best free antispyware protection, you listed Windows Defender first and then stated that it has "never let me down." MBAM was listed second and others followed. How is it then that whenever someone's computer is infected with a virus such as XP Total Security 2011, you always tell people to download MBAM? I am running Windows Defender, and, like you, haven't had a problem so far. But,should I ditch Defender and switch to MBAM? You also warned in the same article not to run two real-time spyware scanners at a time because they can fight with each other, so I assume that I only need one of them. I would really like to avoid getting these viruses and malware. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thanks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Defender and MBAM are both very good. My opinion is that MBAM is especially good at rooting out some of the nastier malware that others miss. MBAM seems to play nice with other security tools, but you can run it in on-demand mode.

I'm not clear - will Malwarebytes/MBAM only find, but not destroy, this and othedr malware unless you are prepared to buy the paid-for version?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The free version will do the job. The paid version offers real-time scanning and other advanced features.

Why do I keep hearing about a windows installation disk? Who gets those things nowadays? All they give you is a recovery partition and force you to burn a recovery DVD at your own expense. Worse was the burning was slowed down to 1X, taking three hours. This applies to HP/Compaq

Get a free copy of JV16...you may have to get an older version. Type in anti virus 2011. It will list all the files associated with this program. Then just manually delete them...

Bob, I have installed the free version of MBAM.Ever since doing so, when I click on Windows Defender, I get a yellow sign saying that a problem has prevented Defenders from starting. I have to click on re-start, and Defender begins running correctly. Is MBAM the source of the problem here? I would really like to keep MBAM on my computer to stop viruses like XP Total Security.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I've not heard of a conflict between Defender and MBAM. But you can find out by removing MBAM and see if the problem persists. Or you can just live with it, since it seems both are working fine despite the warning.

I can't say that I had the same exact virus but a nasty one. It happened at work on one of my user's computer. It disabled Task Manager, kept trying to run a system restore (not sure if it was legit or not), and "removed" the icons from the desktop and start menu. I used SuperAntiSpyware to scan the system which cured the problem. I then started to restore the icons and found that attributes had been changed to hidden so none of them would show. After resetting the attribute, most of them came back but I still had to rebuilt some shortcuts to get everything back to where it was.

One scan of mbam will clean up all of this rogueware? If you run the install and run in safemode will you have to change the extension? I have found that it takes more than a scan of mbam to fully clean a machine infected with rogueware,...but I will try this method soon.

I was infected with the a version of the XP Total Security 2011 on my home computer – running Windows VISTA. The interesting thing is, I have an active subscription to McAfee and was not protected. After working with McAfee on the problem, I finally got my computer clean, cut in the process, several of my installed programs no longer worked. For example if I launched MS Word (2007), it actually started the 2007 Installation process. If I launched other programs (e.g., Adobe Photoshop Elements) I got the standard windows notification that the .exe was not found, do you want to browse for it. Anyway, I’m still not sure how many installed programs have been lost, but it appears that I will need to reinstall most of my applications. McAfee, didn’t have any explanation for this and tried to pass it off as a coincidence that it happened at the exact same time. Any ideas? Can this malware virus do this, or do you think McAfee inadvertently did something while remotely controlling my computer? Any insight would be appreciated.

I have windows XP sp 3 and dealt with this, more than once.It's called a fakerean.I use windows task manager to isolate the process then shut it down so my AV program can update and/or run.I run a quick scan then a full scan.Problem solved.

I'm a newbie thought PC Matic would take care of issues like this? does this mean I have to get a new program everytime something comes up?

EDITOR'S NOTE: No, something like MBAM is generally not needed unless you have a problem that your current software does not handle.