Computer Hope

Software => Computer viruses and spyware => Topic started by: Gujarish on September 12, 2019, 01:22:35 AM

Title: Invisible virus messing up my pc
Post by: Gujarish on September 12, 2019, 01:22:35 AM
Hello everyone,,
some kind of virus has infected my pc and its hard to find.  I did notice it launched an invasive scanning program in My Computer looking for "viruses" but it disappeared later.  Now my computer is very slow, freezes a lot when I try to go online or open folders and when I open a folder it looks very strange with the top blue bar missing and the folder I opened looks like a cut out box you can see the desktop behind it almost like the folder wasn't there.  I think my computer has also been heavily infiltrated by spyware to make the online use so slow.  I just want to confirm should I do the anit-malware and anti-spyware and ccleaner actions in safe mode with my online physically disconnected?  I downloaded and installed AVG free latest update but have not run it yet.  I plan to do that in safe mode.  I'm posting my Hijack This log as an attachment and my computer specs are below.

MS Windows XP Home Ed.
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
2.17 GHz, 1.00GB RAM

PS. Ok in the Add/Remove Programs in Control Program I found these strange programs :
AnswerWorks 4.0 Runtime- English
ESET Online Scanner
Image Resizer Powertoy for Windows XP
Indeo Software
Yahoo Internet Search Suggest and some Yahoo programs (I think I uninstalled those before)

I also noticed something weird about my antivirus.  I cannot install AVG Antivirus and my computer says I already have an antivirus running but I was sure I uninstalled any antivirus programs before my computer got infected.  This is very strange??  My Windows Security Center states I have antivirus but I cannot find the antivirus program anywhere!

Title: Re: Invisible virus messing up my pc
Post by: Lisa_maree on September 12, 2019, 02:42:45 AM
Hi others here are better than I to help you with the virus issue.
What I do notice is you have ESET Online Scanner installed which is a anti virus program.
With 1 GB of memory there is very few Antivirus products which will either run on Windows XP Home SP 2 and a lot won't run on 1GB memory. The symptoms look more like the computer is running short of memory. When you have this happen press control alt delete and bring up the task manager and check free memory is at least 128 mb. Also check the CPU  % of programs. 

If you come to the stage of needing to reload XP Home most versions now can not be activated so it's import to backup the files which control the activation status.

This is copied from techgenix site

When you activate Windows XP, Microsoft stores the data in the Windows Product
Activation database files wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in the folder %systemroot%\system32. If you change the motherboard or make
significant hardware changes, XP will require you to reactive. But if you plan
to reinstall XP on the same hardware, you can back up the activation status and
then restore it after you reinstall and avoid the activation process. You can
backup the Windows Product Activation database files to diskette

To restore the files he says

After you reinstall XP, to restore the Windows Product
Activation database files:

Start XP to Minimal Safe mode
Change directory to the \%systemroot%\system32 folder
Rename the newly created wpa.dbl to wpa.nonactivated and wpa.bak, if it
exists, to wpabak.nonactivated.
Copy your backed up wpa.dbl and wpb.bak files to the system32 folder
Reboot
This should work if you want to avoid activating XP after a
reinstall or restore on the same or very similar hardware. It will not work if
the hardware is significantly different from that in place when the Windows
Product Activation database files were created. This is not a hack to avoid
activating installations.
Title: Re: Invisible virus messing up my pc
Post by: SuperDave on September 12, 2019, 04:01:25 PM
Hello and welcome to Computer Hope Forum. My name is Dave. I will be helping you out with your particular problem on your computer.

1. I will be working on your Malware issues. This may or may not solve other issues you have with your machine.
2. The fixes are specific to your problem and should only be used for this issue on this machine.
3. If you don't know or understand something, please don't hesitate to ask.
4. Please DO NOT run any other tools or scans while I am helping you.
5. It is important that you reply to this thread. Do not start a new topic.
6. Your security programs may give warnings for some of the tools I will ask you to use. Be assured, any links I give are safe.
7. Absence of symptoms does not mean that everything is clear.

If you can't access the internet with your infected computer you will have to download and transfer any programs to the computer you're using now and transfer them to the infected computer with a CD-RW or a USB storage device. I prefer a CD because a storage device can get infected. If you use a storage device hold the shift key down while inserting the USB storage device for about 10 secs. You will also have to transfer the logs you receive back to the good computer using the same method until we can get the computer back on-line.
*************************************************************************
Please download AdwareCleaner onto your Desktop. AdwCleaner  (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/)

Before starting AdwCleaner, close all open programs and internet browsers, then double-click on the AdwCleaner icon.

(http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp322/digistar/AdwCleaner-icon.jpg)

If Windows prompts you as to whether or not you wish to run AdwCleaner, please allow it to run.
When the AdwCleaner program will open, click on the Scan button as shown below.

(http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp322/digistar/untitled.png)

AdwCleaner will now start to search for malicious files that may be installed on your computer.
To remove the files that were detected in the previous step, please click on the Clean button.

(http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp322/digistar/3.png)

AdwCleaner will now prompt you to save any open files or data as the program will need to reboot the computer. Please do so and then click on the OK button. AdwCleaner will now delete all detected adware from your computer. When it is done it will display an alert that explains what PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) and Adware are. Please read through this information and then press the OK button. You will now be presented with an alert that states AdwCleaner needs to reboot your computer.
Please click on the OK button to allow AdwCleaner reboot your computer.A log will be produced. Please copy and paste this log in your next reply.
*********************************************
(http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp322/digistar/mbamicontw5.gif) Download and install: Please download Malwarebytes' scanner (http://downloads.malwarebytes.org/file/mbam) to your desktop.
Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
*************************************************
Download Security Check by screen317 from the following link and save it to your desktop.

Security Check (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/securitycheck/)

* Double-click Security Check.bat
* Follow the on-screen instructions inside of the black box.
* A Notepad document should open automatically called checkup.txt
* Post the contents of that document in your next reply.

Note: If a security program requests permission from dig.exe to access the Internet, allow it to do so.