Member Avatar for Ranma344

I recently had a very nasty virus, which ate pretty much all of my system files forcing me to do a reformat and reinstall of windows. During the time I had the virus, my external HDD was attached to my computer and I fear that the little bugger may have hidden itself on it and be ready to re-destroy my computer as soon as I open the folder. I plugged the HDD in once, after turning off all possible means of it auto-running, but unplugged it out of fear, after blocking the first 3 things to pop up from my comodo firewall. If anyone could give me a hand in figuring this out, I would much appreciate it.

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A short expert summary: was right to push for an external-scan, and ’s follow-up scan narrowed the noise to a single executable. A lone heuristic hit on an IRC client-like program is not definitive proof of active infection, but it does justify a careful, low-risk verification process before trusting or running anything from that drive.

Safe verification workflow (ordered, low-risk)

  1. Work from a clean environment. Boot a trusted Live USB (Linux) or use a disconnected clean VM / spare PC. Mount the external drive read‑only so timestamps and files are not altered:
    sudo mount -o ro /dev/sdb1 /mnt/external
  2. Do not execute any .exe or installers from the drive. Copy suspect files to the clean system and compute a strong hash to compare with vendor copies or for submission to multi‑engine services:
    
# Windows PowerShell
Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 "C:\path\to\suspicious.exe"

Windows fallback

certutil -hashfile "C:\path\to\suspicious.exe" SHA256

Linux

sha256sum /mnt/external/suspicious.exe

3) Check digital signatures and file properties (file publisher, timestamp) and compare size/hash to an official distribution. Unsigned or tampered EXEs deserve extra caution. Tools like Sysinternals’ sigcheck are useful on a clean machine.

4) Reveal hidden/system files and common autorun carriers without opening them:

attrib -s -h /s /d E:*.*
dir /a /s E:\


5) If uncertainty remains, extract only non‑executable user data (documents, media) and scan those on the clean system. If executables are essential and still suspect, test them inside a disposable VM snapshot or opt for reformat/restore from known good backups.

Notes on the Comodo/blocked‑browser issue: application/firewall blocks can prevent scanners from running. The product’s Application/Firewall rules should be reviewed on a trusted machine or the scanner should be run from an alternate clean browser/OS. When doubt persists, prefer full reformat and restore from verified backups rather than running questionable binaries.

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Member Avatar for crunchie

One way or another you have to get the external online to have the contents scanned.
Keep auto-run disabled and connect her up, then go do an on-line scan.

Please use the Internet Explorer browser (or FireFox with IETab), and do an online scan with Kaspersky Online Scanner

Note: If you have used this particular scanner before, you MAY HAVE TO UNINSTALL the program through Add/Remove Programs before downloading the new ActiveX component

Click Yes, when prompted to install its ActiveX component.
(Note.. for Internet Explorer 7 users: If at any time you have trouble with the "Accept" button of the license, click on the "Zoom" tool located at the bottom right of the IE window and set the zoom to 75 %. Once the license has been accepted, reset to 100%.)
The program launches and downloads the latest definition files.

  • Once the files are downloaded click on Next
  • Click on Scan Settings and configure as follows:
    • Scan using the following Anti-Virus database:

      Extended

  • Scan Options:

    Scan Archives

Scan Mail Bases


[*] Click OK and, under select a target to scan, select My Computer
When the scan is done, in the Scan is completed window (below), any infection is displayed.
There is no option to clean/disinfect, however, we need to analyze the information on the report.

To obtain the report:
Click on: Save Report As (above - red blinking arrow)
Next, in the Save as prompt, Save in area, select: Desktop
In the File name area, use KScan, or something similar
In Save as type, click the drop arrow and select: Text file [*.txt]
Then, click: Save
Please post the Kaspersky Online Scanner Report in your reply.

Member Avatar for Ranma344

I'm having a slight extra problem.. I seem to have accidentally blocked Internet Explorer with comodo, and I am being told I do not have permission to access, is there any way to unblock this program? I've been trying since I read your post. "Windows cannot access the specified device...." is the error, this happened when my external HDD tried to initiate as well. I think it's do to the programs I blocked with comodo.

Member Avatar for Ranma344

Sorry for the long reply time, the scan took a while.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KASPERSKY ONLINE SCANNER 7.0: scan report
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Operating system: Microsoft Professional (build 7600)
Kaspersky Online Scanner version:
Last database update: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 20:02:47
Records in database: 3918834
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scan settings:
scan using the following database: extended
Scan archives: yes
Scan e-mail databases: yes

Scan area - My Computer:
C:\
D:\
E:\

Scan statistics:
Objects scanned: 78863
Threats found: 1
Infected objects found: 1
Suspicious objects found: 0
Scan duration: 02:24:10


File name / Threat / Threats count
E:\backup!\mIRC\mirc.exe Infected: not-a-virus:Client-IRC.Win32.mIRC.g 1

Selected area has been scanned.


I hope this is the information you needed, I see it only alerted to one file, that I believe may be safe. Does this mean that I am in the clear?

Member Avatar for crunchie

Kaspersky is pretty thorough and accurate. To double check on the file it flagged, upload it here;

http://virusscan.jotti.org/ or to

Member Avatar for Ranma344

Scanners
[ArcaVir]
2009-10-12 Found nothing
[F-Secure Anti-Virus]
2009-10-13 not-a-virus:Client-IRC.Win32.mIRC.g
[A-Squared]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[G DATA]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[Avast! antivirus]
2009-10-12 Found nothing
[Ikarus]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[Kaspersky Anti-Virus]
2009-10-13 not-a-virus:Client-IRC.Win32.mIRC.g
[Avira AntiVir]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[ESET NOD32]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[Softwin BitDefender]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[Panda Antivirus]
2009-10-12 Found nothing
[ClamAV]
2009-10-12 Found nothing
[Quick Heal]
2009-10-12 Found nothing
[CPsecure]
2009-10-13 Client-IRC.W32.mIRC.g
[Sophos]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[Dr.Web]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[VirusBlokAda VBA32]
2009-10-12 Found nothing
[Frisk F-Prot Antivirus]
2009-10-13 Found nothing
[VirusBuster]
2009-10-12 Found nothing

This is a copy and paste of the results from the first site, sorry for taking so long, once again, I was asleep. From the looks of this, mirc.exe is a safe file, I believe, does this mean I am in the clear, if so.. thank you very much for helping out this poor paranoid soul.

Member Avatar for crunchie

Looks good to me :)

Member Avatar for Ranma344

Thank you very much, I'm so glad I found this website, I was just going to delete all my data, hehe.

Member Avatar for crunchie

No worries :)

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