Hi everyone,

I caught a nasty virus last night on my computer which proceeded to do several nasty things to my computer:

As far as I can tell:

• - changed my desktop wallpaper to this advertising - the tab for wallpapers and screensavers in the propery tab are now gone - not greyed out actually gone
• - installed antivirus xp 08 on my computer proceeded to tell me i had a million viruses
• - screwed around with my internet browser: it prevents my from accessing websites like systemc (can't spell) and Spywaredoctor
• - screwed around with my searches - redirects me to advertising websites when i do searches with google suggest
• - beat the snot out of my antivirus software

What i've done so far:

• - i have AVG free as my antivirus software and i ran that, but it behaved suspiciously - the scan would crash once, while scanning boot sectors, then continue to run
• - AVG caught several trojan horses and 1 registry entries, subsequent restart didn't work.
• - i searched it up on the internet and found a better solution, I turned off system restore, then did the virus scan, which seemed to neutralize antivirus xp 08, i also proceeded to clean the registry, then delete all other files pertaining to antivirus xp 08, which seems to have made it go away.
• - the other problems are still present and AVG hasn't detected anything with is last scan (I don't trust it right now anyways)

Questions:

• - i proceeded to backup my data on a usb key - is there a threat of infecting other computers if i use this key?

Here is my hijackthis log - any help would be greatly appreciated!

You should scan that USB device to be certain there are no infections on that.
Frankly I would have advised using the programs recommended by several forums, including here to remove this antivirus xp 08.
I would still recommend that you download, install and update Malwarebytes'Anti-Malware. Then do a scan with it of your computer and have it remove everything found. It will also clean registry entries and right now is the normally recommended tool to attack and remove this virus.
Run that, let if fix and then post back here with that log.

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the late reply, I've been really busy studying for my MCAT exams which was today.

Anyways, I tried to download malwarebyte's anti-malware but, this seems to be one of the programs the virus knows to block access to, my browser is unable to connect to the provided link, similar to when i try to connect to Systemec

I'm beginning to believe the only solution is a computer wipe

Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

See if you can download via Safe Mode with networking.

currently posting from safe mode with networking:

the virus is still actively suppressing access to antivirus sites, as well as redirecting google searches.

I think my best option at this point is to restore the laptop to factor settings and start again anew.

That of course is certainly your choice and if you feel comfortable doing that then that is fine. If you do have another available computer you could download at least Malwarebytes'-Anti-Malware to a disk or a flashdrive and then put it on the infected computer and scan that way.
If you do the factory reinstall be certain you have all the required disks and be certain you reinstall all needed drivers also.

Yeah i ended up restoring the computer - decided fighting with the virus wasn't worth my time. Also went out and bought norton internet security so hopefully next time I would be as vulnerable.

I've learned my lesson, no more surfing with an admin account!

Thanks for all your help jholland

Hope all goes well and sorry you had to reformat.
Judy