Help!! Malware has locked my pc

[QuincyO]

If you had no other choice, you could run an adapter that is able to get in to you harddrive, from there you could always run them to another computer with heavy antiviral programs and clean the files you wanted couldnt you? And than from there you could restore the system for a clean install?

 

[cyberrich]

System Restore won't really help remove a virus.

You'll want to run MBAM, TSSDKiller, and possibly ComboFix from BleepingComputer to be sure your system is clean.

Is it best to run all of these, or do I only need to pick one. I installed malwarebytes, but that hasn't found anything. My old antivirus had expired which is probably why I had the malware problem, so I installed Norton after I scanned with malwarebytes. Norton found and deleted some low risk viruses and one high risk trojan. Not sure if that was the malware that locked my pc. It's been running for 2 days now without a problem, but I'll try MBAM. Thanks, Rich.

 

[cyberrich]

I've just ran a quick scan with the free trial MalwareBytes and it's located and deleted a trojan that Norton didn't detect 2 days ago. I installed Norton 2 days ago, so could this trojan have damaged my antivirus. If so, is there anything I can do to repair it? Thanks, Rich.

 

[carnageX]

I don't trust Norton. It's bloated and I've never liked it.

Uninstall Norton, and install Microsoft Security Essentials (free).

As for what to run... Yes, I would suggest running them.

Run MBAM first (full scan), and post the log here.

Then run TSSDKiller (takes < 5 minutes) and see if it finds anything.

Then then ComboFix from here: ComboFix Download
And run it. Post the log here for it as well.

 

[Matt77]

Why not just format? If you dont have important info, it's your best bet. Make it factory new!

 

[carnageX]

Why not just format? If you dont have important info, it's your best bet. Make it factory new!

Because formatting should be a last resort. You don't learn anything if you just reformat.

 

[cyberrich]

I've just realised that the MBAM you mentioned, is probably the same as the malwarebytes anti-malware I've already scanned with. It did delete a trojan. I tried to download TSSDkiller from a site, but I got a red alert from Norton warning me the site wasn't safe. I'm very wary of downloading anything after my pc got locked last week. Is kaspersky-tdsskiller.en.softonic.com/ - United States the safest site to download this from?
Will my Norton antivirus be ok, as I had installed this a couple of days before MBAM had located the trojan. I also scanned with Norton a couple of days before MBAM, and it also deleted a trojan! Norton seems to be working, so hopefully the malware hasn't been able to damage it. Thanks, Rich.

 

[carnageX]

Yes, MBAM is MalwareBytes Antimalware.

Just download it from Kaspersky's website directly: http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.exe

Honestly, most people will agree with me, and tell you that Norton sucks and is overpriced. Microsoft Security Essentials will do the same thing for free. That or Avira, or Avast. There's a lot of free antivirus programs out there that are better than Norton or McAfee.

 

[Matt77]

Because formatting should be a last resort. You don't learn anything if you just reformat.

We're learning?
I keep my crap in the cloud, so it's nbd for me, but it is for others I guess.

 

[carnageX]

We're learning?
I keep my crap in the cloud, so it's nbd for me, but it is for others I guess.

It's usually a very easy process to remove malware. Formatting should be a last option IMO. If you can fix it without formatting, it's better.

Plus, reinstalling applications can be a pain if you have a lot. For me, I have Visual Studio, Virtual Machines, and a lot of other large apps that take a while to install.