[Inactive] Hoove was right, I need to remove whatever is on my computer

[muriel]

first off I need to tell Hoov that he is right that I do need to remove whatever is on my computer, but I've run both my malwarebytes and my AVG 12 and they come back clean. so How do I get rid of the programs? I also need to apologize to everyone for not answering right away when Hoov wrote to me, I was ill and in the hospital and this is the first time i've been able to get to my computer in a while. I never meant to disrespect anyone, please accept my apology. I hope I am still able to be allowed to be on this website as i really need it. I also realize that you have other people to attend to, and I'm sorry if I came off as impatient. But I've tried everything about those programs so what do I do now?

[Hoov]

Hello, welcome to SpywareHammer.

I go by Hoov, and I will be helping you with your problem. I must ask you to do a few things for me.

First, tell me everything that you have done, if anything, to try and fix this problem.Also tell me any other problems you are having, no matter how small or long you have been dealing with them.

Second, please only use 1 forum to help clear up your problem. Posting on more than 1 and following instructions from more than 1 forum will cause those helping you to pull out thier hair.

Third, follow my instructions - If you can't for some reason, or if you don't understand something, please tell me. If you deviate from my instructions, tell me, it may make a difference on where we go.

Fourth, Have faith. I will do all I can to get your computer working, and if I can't - someone else here will know something else to try.

Fifth, if we start this fix, I need you to stick with me until the end. Just because your computer is running better does not mean it is fixed.

Before we start trying to fix your computer, you need to make sure your data is backed up. Also let me know of any software you have running that encrypts your harddrive.

Now onto trying to fix your computer.

I am going to tell you right out front, the first thing we need to do is make sure all your software is legal. The reason why it is suspect is from the way you phrased your earlier posts. There are very few absolutes on this forum, but one is that we do not help with pirated software. Once we have done that, we can take care of the rest.



Download CKScanner from here

Important : Save it to your desktop.

Doubleclick CKScanner.exe and click Search For Files.
   After a very short time, when the cursor hourglass disappears, click Save List To File.
   A message box will verify that the file is saved.
   Double-click the CKFiles.txt icon on your desktop and copy/paste the contents in your next reply.


We need to see some information about what is happening in your machine.  Please perform the following scan:
Download DDS by sUBs from one of the following links.  Save it to your desktop.
DDS.scr

Double click on the DDS icon, allow it to run.
   A small box will open, with an explaination about the tool.  No input is needed, the scan is running.
   Notepad will open with the results.
   Please copy and paste both logs into your next response. You may need more than one response.
   Close the program window, and delete the program from your desktop.
Please note:  You may have to disable any script protection running if the scan fails to run.  After downloading the tool, disconnect from the internet and disable all antivirus protection.  Run the scan, enable your A/V and reconnect to the internet.  

Information on A/V control HERE

Please download and run Belarc Advisor. When it is done running its scan, it will open a browser window. When that window is open you can close it. Then go to C:\Program Files\Belarc\Advisor\System\tmp , there will be two files there. One is license.html the other is the name of your computer. I am sending you a private message on what to do with that file. DO NOT ATTACH OR POST IT HERE.

[muriel]

Hoov,
       I tried to download ckscanner but my computer wouldn't let me, it said it could harm my computer. It only gave me 2 options either to delete or don't run. I was able to download DDS.scr but am unable to copy and paste as I have no microsoft office. I was afraid to try to do the rest, it sounded really complicated and I was afraid Id mess up my computer. I'm really leary when it comes to doing things to it. But I'll try doing what you said and shut down my anti-virus but when I get into the internet, where do I go?

[Hoov]

You only need to shutdown your Antivirus when you are ready to run the scan. Do you have access to another computer that you can download files to, and then either burn them to a CD or put them on a thumbdrive?

[muriel]

I tried to do what you said, but my computer won't let me. i t says that the program may harm my computer. I t only gave me 2 options, one was to delete and the other was to don't download. that was for the ckscanner. I did download the DDSscr but was unable to copy and paste as I don't have microsoft office. I was afraid to go into the internet, because I don't know what I'm doing and I was afraid I'd screw something up. I'll try though, I printed out your instructions so i'll go step by step.
What I have tried doing thus far is run my AVG PC tool to clean up errors, my Paratelegic PC health Advisor, Malwarebytes, AVG 12, Looked in all my files and programs and still couldn't find the programs. I did find some, but they said they were being used else where. I sure don't know where they are.
I don't know how to backup my files, I've tried, and it doesn't work. so I couldn't do that. I don't know what you mean by data that encrypts my harddrive. I have no idea what you're talking about. Please explain that to me.I hope I've answerd all your questions.

[muriel]

Hoov,
       Sorry, no I don't have access to another computer, but my computer guy is coming over in a few days maybe he can show me how to back up my files.

[Hoov]

First, please keep all your responses to this thread. I will get notified when you respond, and will get back to you as soon as I can.
About not having access to another computer, don't worry about it, I think we can work around it. Also you don't need Microsoft office, all the logs will open up in notepad. You should be able to copy and paste from in there.

We are going to try something a bit differently to get the CKScanner file.

I need you to reboot windows cleanly. To do that please go to the run command and type in msconfig . Once that starts, select selective startup, and then uncheck the load startup items. Now click on the services tab, and down near the bottom of the window, check the box that says Hide all Microsoft Services now go up and uncheck all the services still listed, make sure you scroll down the list if need to unselect all the non Microsoft services. Now click apply, then click OK and reboot the computer.

Now try downloading and running the CKscanner. If you can do that, then go ahead and follow the rest of the instructions as well.

Don't go browsing around the internet because your security is turned off. I would like to keep it that way until we get the first round of cleaning done.

As for backing up, we can skip that for a bit, at least until we get a handle on this.

The question about encrypting your harddrive, don't worry about it. The fact that you don't know what it is tells me that you don't have one.

[muriel]

I hope I'm in the right forum? My Google toolbar says it's corrupt and to reinstall it. I did that twice but it still says the same thing. I went on Google and was just checking out what other people were saying that had the same problem, and they all seem to think that my firefox is either offline or it needs to be uninstalled and then reinstall the Google toolbar and reinstall the firefox. Can this be true? What do you think the problem is? It just started the past 4 days.

[Hoov]

I moved this post here, as it is all probably related to the malware on your system. For now any problem you have just let me know on this thread. We can work all the problems together. Just follow the instructions I posted earlier please.

[Hoov]

I got your message, but I am going to answer it here instead of privately. First, this kind of thing needs to be done out in the open. This is for my protection and yours. Second, any question you can ask has been asked before or will be asked again. Putting your question out in the open will help others with similar questions.

First about loosing your question. Look at the screenshot below. See the notify button? If you click on that you and answer the question, you will get an e-mail every time someone responds to your question.



Second, a thread. A thread is 2 or more posts that are linked together because they are about a common problem or question. For instance if you look above all of the posts are linked together in a thread. Depending on your profile settings, it can be displayed in several ways. On this board, (The malware removal board) it is simplified because other than those of us on staff, only you can post on the thread or conversation. And it is even more simple, because unless I ask other staff members to help out, it will  only be me and you responding to this thread.

Copying and pasting, to do this you do not need Microsoft Office. For instance if you run CKScanner and then go to your desktop you will see an icon like this,



If you double click on it you will see something like this,



and then if you click on edit in the menu along the top you will see this,



then click on select all, that will highlight the text. Then go back to edit and select copy, and then come to your question (or thread here) and right click in the white box where you type your response and select paste, the log will be pasted here. Then just select post below the response box and the log will be posted.

About your posts disappearing, for now just post here until we get all your problems fixed.

You asked about turning off your Antivirus scanner, in my first response there was some text like this,

Information on A/V control HERE

See how Here is colored and underlined? That is a link, if you click it, you will be taken to another web page that has a list of Antivirus scanners and how to temporarily disable them.

If any of the instructions I post do not make sense to you, let me know. I will try and explaining them better. I have no problem doing this, there are many others that are not computer savvy and I have been able to help them. I just need to know when something doesn't make sense.

If everything makes sense so far, lets start over and I will go one step at a time.

Download CKScanner from here

Important : Save it to your desktop.

• Doubleclick CKScanner.exe and click Search For Files.
  
• After a very short time, when the cursor hourglass disappears, click Save List To File.
  
• A message box will verify that the file is saved.
• Double-click the CKFiles.txt icon on your desktop and copy/paste the contents in your next reply.
  

[muriel]

Hoov, what do you mean and where do I find run command? to deactivate my anti-virus so I can download scscanner I think that's what it is, I don't have my email up.

[muriel]

Hi Hoov,
           I'm sorry to bug you again, but is the run command in my registry where the bar is on the bottom where you can type in what you're looking for? I need to know where to go for this so I can follow your instructions. I'm all set to go, just don't know where to go for this.

[Hoov]

Click on the start button and it should be on the right side. It should say run. If it is not there, right click on the start button and select properties. Now click on the customize button. Scroll down almost to the bottom and you will see where it says Run Command. Check the box and click OK and then OK and then when you click on the start button it should show up on the right side of the menu.

[Hoov]

Also please do not make another post with your responses. It can take me a while to respond to your questions in this thread. I try to do it as soon as possible, but it still takes me a bit to be notified that you have responded. This is not a full time job, just a sideline. We all are volunteers here.

[muriel]

I looked everywhere, and could not find properties or run command anywhere. I found command prompt, but that wasn't what I was looking for. I looked through every program I had and found nothing that showed run command. when I typed in properties, It popped up all sorts of properties from programs C x86 but I had not idea what they were all for. Am I stupid or what?