OT: Damned Viruses everywhere!

[Starhawk]

Hey guys as you may have guessed by my title I got a freakin virus!

That's right anyway my stupid AVG told me I should delete the files so I did NOW windows is acting screwy (note it wouldn't HEAL the files it would only let me delete the files).

Anyway now it won't let me bring up my task manager, some wierd crap I deleted a long time ago is back on my desktop (I deleted it again) and other bad stuff is happening.

Now I tried system restore to a point before the virus JACKS SQUAT it didn't work at ALL. So I had no choice BUT to delete the infected portions of my computer before the virus spread and I'm not even sure I got the damn thing this time.


I don't want to have to reformat my whole bloody hard drive and I read that it's as easy to fix as popping in my WindowsXP disk during boot, selecting a partition and hitting "R" and that said it should fix the problems.

Questions:

A) If I can't get rid of the damn virus what do I do?

B) Is this bit about the disk and R true?

C) Any other tips or advice Please provide it ASAP

[Suicide Junkie]

I try to keep an image of my OS drive so I can format and restore without any hassle, without much time, and without losing my settings.
Very highly reccommended for next time.


What you should do, is back up anything you can't reinstall... all the stuff you made yourself and that isn't posted to the web somewhere. Burn it to nice physical CDs.

If you have trouble getting the virus out, make sure you have your stuff backed up as above.
Then "Format c:" to be sure.

Partition your drive into at least two pieces when you reinstall... one for windows and apps, and the other for your files that you don't want to lose when you need to nuke and rebuild windows the next time.

[Starhawk]

Well according to what I read I should not lose any of my data my booting from my disk and selecting "repair" instead of reinstall.

Is this accurate information?

I'll start backing up my stuff soon you can be sure of that especially if I have to wipe this dang comp.

[Suicide Junkie]

I would not trust any "repair" option with the only copy of my data.
Don't gamble; back it up. Or physically unplug the drive that holds your data while you try the restore operation.

Note:
Also, be sure to scan the stuff you backed up before you put it back on the restored PC!
You don't want to do the whole thing twice.

[Starhawk]

I ran yet another virus scan and it's still there after I "cleaned" it, I can't get rid of the virus so doing a restore might not do me any good.

Worst part is I don't know WHERE the virus is it's just called vxgamit and I can't even find any info on it beyond it's screwing up my computer

[Suicide Junkie]

Consider:
It will take you less than an hour and a half to format and reinstall windows. And you only have to be in front of your computer for about 10 minutes to click the initial "OKs"
The time spent installing your software again depends on what you have.

Is it worth continuing to spend hours trying to clean the virus, or would it be faster and easier to backup, nuke and rebuild now?

ALSO:
DO NOT ATTEMPT this while you are tired. Depending on your time zone, you should wait until morning before you start.

[EaX]

Also you might want to consider that some viruses record themselves on the MBR (Master boot record) i dont think this is the case, the only way i'm aware to remove them is doing a fdisk /mbr, however if you're using NTFS you dont have to worry about this.

editted: spelling

[Ragnarok-X]

Heh, congratz man.
Just a week ago i set up a new computer for my dad using WinXP without any SP or fix. Once i got online, in order to download zonealarm firewall, spy spot, hi-jack and anti-virus i got infected. It took me three full evenings in order to fix the computer, it was just hilarious. Whenenver i restarted the computer, one of the four virues reinstalled it. I tried everything, changing the autostart, msconfig and reggedit. In the end, i had to run three antivirus tools, two anti-spy-tools, manually delete several folders.

Damn internet, infected everywhere.

[Xrati]

My hard drive went a few weeks ago. Not as bad as a virus but just as devastating. I was lucky to have backed up all my personel info but not all the programs I had. It took me two, twelve hour days to reload the programs and all their updates off of the internet. I went out and purchased a 40Gig USB external hard drive which now has a complete backup of my XP OS. AND there's still plenty of room for other stuff on it. The price of the drive is worth it. I can restore my system in no time. I can carry it with me and plug into anyone's computer [[careful on this one as you open yourself up to more viruses]] to download or upload files and programs.

Years ago they used to sell tape backup drives for you to do this, I guess that we've gone back in time as this has become an important process once more! I still have and use a ZIP Drive for my personel files and I'll occasionaly burn a CD with more of my other programs on it, like I have all my downloads of SEIV and the game all backed up on a CD and a DVD along with other programs that I have fine tuned over the years.

- Remember to keep your cookie settings on HIGH.
- Block all sites until you need them.
- Get Spybot S&D and turn on the Tea Timer to protect your Registry. Don't forget to donate!
- BACKUP often!!!

[Starhawk]

Okay I have nero smartstart and the blasted thing doesn't have any directions on HOW TO MAKE IT WORK.

I hit "create new data disk" okay and I then copied all my music files to it in their folders.

Do I copy it in the folders or should I just copy the music files individually?