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Virus removal or clean format

A

Adam3k3

Junior Member
Hi,

I just joined this website and hope some one can give me the straight answer as I'm a bit confused.

I stupidly allowed my friend to insert his USB flash into my laptop. Of curse his flash is infected and strange slow downs and things started to happen. After using Nod32, 1 virus was removed.

After that I system restored back to 6 days yearly and everything seemed fine. Now some times a message appears saying that windows has blocked some program for my safety and the task manager shows a lot of processes.

I have attached a ;ink to my Task manager.

http://www.freeimagehosting.ne...9250546d9.png%3E%3Cimg

The question is: Should I format considering I did it 5 months ago or is there still hope?


PS: What angers me the most is that my friend dos not care and thinks I'm taking is more seriously than its worth.
 
Viruses...

reader_s.exe
3b.tmp
You have a lot of command prompts open, is that right? Suspect... cmd.exe

Edit:
process name
 
Without knowing which virus you have, it's difficult to know whether it's easily removed. Formatting and and re-installing your setup is the surest way. Depending on the difficulty of removing it, sometimes it can also be the fastest.

Originally posted by: Adam3k3

PS: What angers me the most is that my friend dos not care and thinks I'm taking is more seriously than its worth.
Click to expand...

Permanently bar him from getting within ten feet of your machine.
 
cmd.exe being open multiple times is really strange as lxskllr noted. If you don't have any command prompts open, then it is almost surely malware. If you do, close them all and double check to see if any still show up.

Generally when checking the Task Manager you can type in the stuff you see if you're not familiar with them and see if they're malware. You can also try Process Monitor for some more detail on each item. Sometimes malware names itself as the same as legit apps and dlls but they're obviously in a different folder. This will show you exactly where stuff are.

Trend Micro HijackThis is great for showing stuff that is loaded at startup. This includes legit apps and stuff as well as malware. Again use Google to do a search on each item.

Malware can at times be minor. Usually the malware captures usage data and sends ads to your computer based on your browsing habits for instance. Or it just send a crap ton of ads to your computer. Some wreak havok by destroying data or messing up system files so your computer is dead and only a full re-install will restore it.

But if you think about it, it can really devastate someone. What if you type up sensitive info in a web site. Perhaps it's for a government service and your SS# along with name, address, birth etc was entered. Well the web site might be secured but if you got malware capturing all your keystrokes and this is sent to unscrupulous folks, they can steal your identity and really cause havok. There are people that have spent thousands of dollars and years of their lives fixing the damage that identity theft has caused. Tell that to your friend.
 
Thanks guys for your support. Well after thinking about it I will format again. One thing tough, if I backup my stuff to say a DVD will the virus be copied along with them? Mostly pictures and a few videos and mp3s.

I?m not a noob in computers but I?m not very familiar with viruses. Good thing I did not enter any passwords and everything is saved to auto login, well aside from this site lol.

Thanks again guys and from today going forward nothing enters my PC from that house.
 
just dont backup the system state. copying documents or directories shouldn't present any problems as long as there are no infected executables being transferred.

after you reinstall, try and keep the total number of running processes under 40. even 30. but 80? god.
 
To be on the safe side, after you re-install your system, install a virus scanner and scan the cd or usb key or whatever that you have the backed up files on. There are very good free scanners like clamwin, avast, avg.
 
Originally posted by: Adam3k3

Thanks guys for your support. Well after thinking about it I will format again. One thing tough, if I backup my stuff to say a DVD will the virus be copied along with them? Mostly pictures and a few videos and mp3s.
Click to expand...

If you think any of your files could be infected, when you have your new installation fully installed with your AV, spyware remover and firewall running and updated, as an added precaution, you could boot to Safe Mode and scan the files on the DVD.
 
No reason to think there is reason to worry but mp3s can be infected, have fake licenses you see when attempting to play in media player. Have only seen one and I doubt much happen unless you click yes to install whatever. Some malware makers use sites which are almost exact copies of real ones, like Adobes (false flash upgrade) so if done right I guess you also have to look out for this. More so if you got mp3s from p2p of course.
 
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