Infected with Antivirus Action, need help removing

[strep3241]

Yeah, maybe the BD firewall blocked it. Who knows ....

You probably could have disabled it from within Services.msc, installed SP3, then re-enabled it in Services.msc. But that's just as much trouble as going into Safe Mode, so not much gain there. Plus it doesn't really matter at this point since all's okay now.

You did turn the Windows Firewall off, right? (Since you're using BitDefender's.) No need to run two concurrently.

Out of curiosity, did File Scavenger find all your files, and did you have to pay the $50? And what was your impression of it, in terms of ease of use, interface, etc.? I tried RescuePro awhile back on a friend's flash drive, with mixed results, and I'd like to find a better app for data recovery.

Actually I just checked the Windows firewall and it is on as well as Bitdefenders firewall. I didn't think it was possible to have two firewalls active at once. I always thought Windows would only allow one active firewall. Since there were two active firewalls, that was most likely the problem with installing SP3.

File Scavenger found all the files I was looking for and then some. It found several files at least 10 years old. A couple were dated 1986 which believe is wrong because we have not had this drive that long. But the date was the last time it was modified so that doesn't mean it was on the hard drive that long.

This was the first time I had to use a program like this so I can't really compare it too much. But overall I was pretty impressed with it. Yes I had to pay $50 for it but it was worth it to me. One thing I like about it is you can scan for files before you have to pay for it. That way if it doesn't find the files, you don't have to pay for it. Although you could recover files for free, IIRC, the files can't be larger than 4kb's which is pretty small.

The interface was pretty easy to use IMO. It gives you the option of searching for specific extensions. It has a quick and long search. For me, the quick search did not work at all. I searched for an extension that I knew was on there and nothing came up. You might as well use the long search everytime. Downside is it takes a while to scan so be prepared to do something else while it is scanning. I just scanned one hard drive(120gb) and it took 1 hour and 30 minutes and it doesn't matter if searching for a specific extension. So it could take longer if you have multiple drives to be scanned. For me, it found over 107,000 files in all. While it is scanning, it shows the files that has been found.

If I needed a file recovery program again, I would defitinely use this one since I know it works. The license can be transferred to another computer but I don't know how many times.

 

[Ken90630]

Actually I just checked the Windows firewall and it is on as well as Bitdefenders firewall. I didn't think it was possible to have two firewalls active at once. I always thought Windows would only allow one active firewall. Since there were two active firewalls, that was most likely the problem with installing SP3.

File Scavenger found all the files I was looking for and then some. It found several files at least 10 years old. A couple were dated 1986 which believe is wrong because we have not had this drive that long. But the date was the last time it was modified so that doesn't mean it was on the hard drive that long.

This was the first time I had to use a program like this so I can't really compare it too much. But overall I was pretty impressed with it. Yes I had to pay $50 for it but it was worth it to me. One thing I like about it is you can scan for files before you have to pay for it. That way if it doesn't find the files, you don't have to pay for it. Although you could recover files for free, IIRC, the files can't be larger than 4kb's which is pretty small.

The interface was pretty easy to use IMO. It gives you the option of searching for specific extensions. It has a quick and long search. For me, the quick search did not work at all. I searched for an extension that I knew was on there and nothing came up. You might as well use the long search everytime. Downside is it takes a while to scan so be prepared to do something else while it is scanning. I just scanned one hard drive(120gb) and it took 1 hour and 30 minutes and it doesn't matter if searching for a specific extension. So it could take longer if you have multiple drives to be scanned. For me, it found over 107,000 files in all. While it is scanning, it shows the files that has been found.

If I needed a file recovery program again, I would defitinely use this one since I know it works. The license can be transferred to another computer but I don't know how many times.

Hmmm ... re the firewalls, two thoughts:

1. Obviously you had to have a firewall on during the process of downloading SP3 off the Web. So presumably maybe you needed to then disconnect the PC from the Internet, disable the firewall, then install SP3? If the firewall was blocking SP3 installation and you simply turned it off, while still connected to the Web, you'd be infected in no time. I'd be more inclined to think the BD firewall interfered with SP3 than I would the Windows firewall.

2. Like you say, it could've just been a matter of the two firewalls together blocking the SP3 installation. Wouldn't surprise me at all. I almost didn't mention that for fear of insulting your intelligence, but I scanned thru the thread and didn't see you mention turning off the Windows firewall, so figured I'd mention it. You obviously had a lot on your mind during this trauma.

Thanks for the feedback re File Scavenger. Sounds like a good app if a free one won't do the trick. I'll definitely keep it in mind. Do you happen to know if it works on removable drives too (e.g., flash drives and external HDs) or just internal HDs?

 

[strep3241]

It could scan more than just hard drives. I can't remember what the option was called but it was not flash drives but it was for something similar. If I come up with the name, I will let you know.

EDIT: I am not sure if it scans more than hard drives. I must have been thinking of another program I tried. Although in the look in box, it lists the cd drives as well, though why would you ever have to scan cd drives? So I am assuming it will scan flash drives but I am not positive.

This is coming from the File Scavenger website: Hard disks, floppy disks, ZIP disks, memory sticks, flash cards, RAIDs, and more. So yes it can scan flash drives.

 

[Ken90630]

Cool that File Scavenger will scan flash drives too. Thanks for all that info.

 

[strep3241]

I wasn't talking about scanning the cd drives for viruses. I was talking about using File Scavenger to scan cd drives for lost files. I understand about scanning for viruses.

No problem.

 

[Ken90630]

Oh. Duh. *laugh* Sorry 'bout that.

Yeah, that would seem pretty stupid to scan CD/DVD drives for lost files, wouldn't it? I've edited my previous post to delete my stupidity.

 

[muskie32]

Did you get the other drive to work yet?
If not, go into the bios and see if you see it in there. If so go to disk management and format it.

 

[strep3241]

Yes, I got the drive working. The only reason it wasn't showing up under my computer is because it wasn't formatted or initialized yet. It showed up in disk management as unallocated.

I was able to recover all the files using File Scavenger. I then formatted the drive and now every thing is good.