Another one for Ben...

[forthbridge]

Hey all

For my bad behaviour, I now and again get tasked with solving basic IT issues at work....... tonights being the fact that the Boss has managed to get 'Antivirus pro 2010' trojan on his laptop........

Now, the problem is, at some point in the past, he took it to a shop for 'repair' for something similar, and I am pretty sure that they have done som odd-ball workaround, because whenever I have had to install software, check the network, etc etc on it before, I've had major problems... it will only install stuff maybe every third attempt (if at all), but worse than that, it is FULL of RUBBISH (I have said to the boss more than once it needs wiped) - he has FIVE anti spyware programs on it, various entertainment programs (such as Itunes and oddball media players), and a copy of McAfee that seems to run but is invisible to disable for maintenance tasks.... among other bits of rubbish.....

Anyway, I've (twice) deleted what registry entries, folders and unregistered the one dll I could find, but I cannot install anything onto the frigging thing again, so as a last resort, after the deletions (the trojan keeps restarting), I updated malwarebytes and left it running.

Now, in reality, the laptop needs to be taken into the yard and crushed, but that's not an option..... so does anyone have any other tips?

[TSR2]

Format C

Seriously though, stay away from the registry. I've only met two people who know what there doing with the Windows registry and it should only be touched as a last resort or with explicit instructions.

Seriously, he needs to back up his data on a usb key or drive and format it. One AV program and (if necessary) one anti malware programe is all thats needed. Running multiple has them fighting for the same files and thus missing stuff.

[forthbridge]

HI Ben

Cheers. I'm a believer that the registry is a no-go area - there really should be no need, and I've never had to with any machine of mine.

Re the laptop, I only deleted the registry entries in the Antivirus 2010 folder in the list, nothing else.

I'll see how it goes tomorrow, but I've already said in the past that the bl**dy thing needs formatted to no avail..... in fact, I'm not even sure there's a CD with windows for it....!

[Chris Sykes]

Ill second that one! I had the 2009 version on a Laptop i looked at, it got in through Google Chrome! Luckily i managed to clean it... However what issues your having with installing a clean install is the best advice i can give, on the ground that the system sounds FUBAR! However my advice is to back data to a USB Stick or DVD, and run a scan of the files in an Antivirus on a seperate PC if possible, as sneeky things can hide in USB sticks and transfer back onto the clean system before you install Antivirus!

[TSR2]

good point Chris... don't want to re introduce the problem on a rebuilt PC.

[forthbridge]

Good point Chris, thanks!

I am dreading the reinstalls which will be required, but, hopefully he will see reason and accept a Format. I didn't get an answer the last time I asked him why he had so many spyware programs on it.... apart from anything else, there should really be no need!

[tonymadge]

http://spywarewarrior.com/

Their forums are very good and got me out of the cack a few times!!

[forthbridge]

Cheers Tony

As it happens, a format wasn't wanted - and I left it last night with Malwarebytes running, which seems to have removed the nasty, as nothing has popped up today..

[tonymadge]

Good news

[AllanL]

Dropped in late on this. It seems that this piece of software slime has evolved to take over control of Task Manager, as it was causing problems for one the girls here, and we could not clear it by the route I used a couple of years ago. However Malwarebyte seemed eventually to do the trick here, so hopefully that should keep you clear now.