What's new
Troll Kingdom

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Home PC just bit the dust

Big Dick McGee

Big Dick McGee

If you don't know, now ya know
Argh. OK, so I was d/l something from Piratebay, it's not like I was just surfing, but I got hit with some nasty malware. All of the sudden, a screen popped up that looked like a real MS message that told me that my PC is infected and I should run "Security Tool". The fucking thing took over all of my programs, I can't delete or uninstall it. Apparently, it's a pretty malicious piece of malware, as there is a separate discussion about it here:

http://www.precisesecurity.com/popup/security-tool-warning-and-security-tool-firewall-alert/

Of course, I could scan my computer and "protect" it, all for the low low price of $80. I wonder how many people actually give their credit card #'s??

So I did a hard shutdown, and now the computer won't even reboot. Argh.

It's my own fault, I let my Nod32 lapse. I think I can fix it by rebooting in safe mode and deleting the damn thing. I hope so, I really don't want to do a system restore.

Fucking malware. The people who make malware should be shot in the head.

Any other ideas how to fix it?? Like I said, I can't even boot up, it just stays blank screen.
 
I'd like to dip malware making people in molasses and stake them to ant mounds. THE FUCKERS.

I can only sympathize with you, as I don't know anything about computers. I LIVE IN FEAR OF MY COMPUTER DYING.
 
^^Conchaga and Donovan gave me some good tips on Facebook. If they don't work, it's not a total loss, as I have most of the important stuff backed up onto an external HD.

Annnd, I realized last night that the computer is over 5 years old. If I used it a bit more I'd say it's time for a new one, but it surfs, Quickens, and downloads comics plenty fine, so I can't justify spending the $800 I'd need to get a kick-ass machine.
 
Good luck. I too live in fear of my computer not switching on of a morning, or spontaneously exploding (like my tv did the other day).
 
I'm with Cassie. We should castrate malware developers, cook their genitals, and make them eat it. THEN stake them to naked in the desert covered in honey and ants.

Ever seen "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead"? Something like that works, too.

On the bright side, there are nice people out there like Avast! and AVG who provide us with free antivirus software.
 
I'm with Cassie. We should castrate malware developers, cook their genitals, and make them eat it. THEN stake them naked in the desert covered in honey and ants.

Ever seen "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead"? Something like that works, too.

On the bright side, there are nice people out there like Avast! and AVG who provide us with free antivirus software.
 
"The Persian Boats"

'nuf said.

(and yes, I've got a 5+ year old computer too...might look into getting a new one....someday).
 
Isn't it interesting that some people have cars that still work after 50 years, but if someone said they still use a 50 year-old computer we'd all laugh at them. Hell, I've resurrected my girlfriend's nine year-old PC so many times I like to shout IT'S ALIVE every time I fix it. She doesn't find my Frankenstein reference as humorous.

I just got her a five year-old laptop for $50 the other week. Need to install a new OS and clean it, but it's practically brand new. I'm saving the real bucks for when mac or someone releases a version of the iPad that's more cross-compatible and higher functioning. Can we say "touch-screen 4G netbook"? You know, like a larger version of the Nintendo DSi, with Word.
 
I really need to back up my female celebrity image collection...
 
Nope the PC is toast. Luckily we have LG's laptop to get us by until I can order a new desktop. I'd get a Mac, but they're too expensive. I guess I'll stick with Dell, they're still reasonable for a very good machine, and they ship for free. When you consider I pay nearly 10% sales tax, ordering online is cheaper than buying at the store.

So, I can't even boot in safe mode, I get "keyboard error" message when I hit F8. Is there another way to boot in safe mode? I really don't want to trash this puter, but it's not worth the expense of fixing. Sigh.
 
Don't format. I can't help you right now since I've been drinking all night and have just come home after a 4 in the morning swimming session in the med sea. But I do know what the problem is and I do know how to fix it so hold off wiping the drive until I wake up and I will tell you what to do..


But for now I have to die..
 
Got an extra hard disk? At least then you could pull the infected drive, install a clean copy of whatever on the new one, then pull whatever you need off the old one and nuke the rest. Reinstalling OS's is really not that troublesome.

The malware you speak of is some impressive shit though. It really does get into Windows and take over its security features, looking pretty legit to the average noob in the process. Are you using Vista or 7? Did you have UAC turned off? Did you accidentally click through some security warning? Curious if this was installed through some exploit or user error.
 
My first guess is that it was Vundo. I told him to get vundo fix and install that on a flash drive. Then, using that, plug it into the infected machine and attempt to zap it that way.

Or, he can just download Hijack This and play cat and mouse with what it is, using whatever tech support gurus he can find. Sorry, that level of system analysis is above my ability.

The only other alternative is to reformat. The type of malware he's talking about gets into the registry and fucks the kernel in the ass. Further, I think, since he said it's a five y-o pc, it probably still has some form of XP on it. I know of a good pirated version of XP Pro that I've used in this case several times to reinstall it on a few PC's I've worked on, if it comes to that.
 
Yeah, it's XP. The problem is that I can't boot up at all, so I can't install the vundo fix that I d/l to the flash drive. I'm not sure if the PC is so old that it doesn't allow booting in safe mode, but the only options I have are F2 and F12, neither of which help. If I let the machine attempt to keep booting, it just stays on the black screen with a cursor at the top left corner.

What happened is that I inadvertantly clicked the red X on a pop-up, which installed the malware. Instead of leaving the PC booted (when all my software and even windows components like Control Panel got BORKED) and d/l the vundo fix, I attempted to reboot. The damned drive doesn't even spin up now. This is some NASTY shit, so the first thing I did was renew the NOD32 on this laptop.

UGH. I'll wait for Menty to see if he has a fix.
 
If you get one of those pop ups, what are you supposed to do to get it off the screen? I've heard of the red x trick, but I never bothered to find out what you should do.
 
Alt-F4, or if you are super paranoid, CTRL-SHIFT-ESCAPE (taskman) then kill process. You should also probably not be using IE 6 (or 7 or 8 really).

If a popup can install malware merely by the user clicking on an image, without generating any dialogs about downloading and running EXE files, then you are already screwed, as it probably already installed shit anyway. Any decent browser would throw several warnings at you before letting you press "Run", so as long as you are using one, I would not worry too much.
 
Still hoping Menty has some sort of fix. My brother-in-law may have a copy of the restore disc, if he can come over this weekend and fix it, great. If not, I need a new computer. I'll probably just order from Dell, since they're cheap and reliable.

It's been 5 years since I bought a new computer. The 500GB HD is plenty of space, as I have a 1TB external drive for file storage. But I am at a loss as to processor speed. What's acceptable for web surfing, downloading, money management, and the occasional spreadsheet?
 
 
Do you really expect me to click on a link that has the word "anus" in it?
 
It is safe - I just clicked on it. I also know the lady in the "contact us" section
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top