I hope this is the right place to post my virus/spyware/whatever problem that I am having. A few days ago I downloaded what I thought to be an update for Flash player, but after running the .exe file McAfee popped up a "Threat detected" warning and ever since my PC has been...well hosed.
I assumed since McAfee detected the threat it had eliminated it, but when I tried to put my laptop in hibernate mode it restarted, and thus began the problem of it continually restarting immediately after loading Windows (Vista Home edition). Whenever I load Windows it restarts and gives me the BSOD with the 0x0000008e STOP error message. All things considered I'm almost positive it isn't a hardware issue as that error message leads one to believe.
Being a somewhat PC literate person I loaded up Windows in Safe Mode and tried to run MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot S&D, and HiJackThis only to find that none of them load! I just uninstalled and reinstalled MalwareBytes to see if it would work and it still doesn't load. I've run McAfee but it is out of date, as it was only a trial version that came with the laptop and expired over a year ago, so it didn't do much.
I've tried downloading and installing a few other programs, such as Stopzilla, and it will not run either. I did get a trial version of ExterminateIt! to scan, but I didn't want to shell out $25 without coming here first to see if anyone could help me out. It said it located a few things (Zlob, Agent, and FishDown E). I have over a dozen memory dumps which Windows has created upon all the frequent restarts, but I fear that may be the only thing of use I have as HiJackThis doesn't load...
I also tracked down the detailed report from McAfee of the threat detected, {5B57CF47-0BFA-43c6-ACF9-3B3653DCADBA}, and google searches seem to show that Win32.ExpDwnldr is the culprit. I've been doing a lot of research these past few days Anyways I'm game to try anything and I am fairly PC literate so just point me in the right direction. Oh and System Restore has also failed to work. Whatever got my PC, got it good.
I assumed since McAfee detected the threat it had eliminated it, but when I tried to put my laptop in hibernate mode it restarted, and thus began the problem of it continually restarting immediately after loading Windows (Vista Home edition). Whenever I load Windows it restarts and gives me the BSOD with the 0x0000008e STOP error message. All things considered I'm almost positive it isn't a hardware issue as that error message leads one to believe.
Being a somewhat PC literate person I loaded up Windows in Safe Mode and tried to run MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot S&D, and HiJackThis only to find that none of them load! I just uninstalled and reinstalled MalwareBytes to see if it would work and it still doesn't load. I've run McAfee but it is out of date, as it was only a trial version that came with the laptop and expired over a year ago, so it didn't do much.
I've tried downloading and installing a few other programs, such as Stopzilla, and it will not run either. I did get a trial version of ExterminateIt! to scan, but I didn't want to shell out $25 without coming here first to see if anyone could help me out. It said it located a few things (Zlob, Agent, and FishDown E). I have over a dozen memory dumps which Windows has created upon all the frequent restarts, but I fear that may be the only thing of use I have as HiJackThis doesn't load...
I also tracked down the detailed report from McAfee of the threat detected, {5B57CF47-0BFA-43c6-ACF9-3B3653DCADBA}, and google searches seem to show that Win32.ExpDwnldr is the culprit. I've been doing a lot of research these past few days Anyways I'm game to try anything and I am fairly PC literate so just point me in the right direction. Oh and System Restore has also failed to work. Whatever got my PC, got it good.