Can't get rid of a worm!

I was on the internet when my computer said that i had a virus. Then i found out that the virus was spy trooper, a fake anti-spyware remover. I successfully removed that and then my computer was fine. After i restarted my computer, i had more trouble. everything slowed down like hell. i used kaspersky and removed a lot of spyware, adware and some viruses. My computer found 1 virus that it couldn't remove. the name is virus.Worm. VB.an. Kaspersky cannot remove it at all. i need help ASAP.!

Also, try installing Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. it's the best for removing stubborn spywares and malwares

can't help too much. i am guessing you are going on dubious sites without a proper firewall. may i suggest zonealarm. if you get that it should stop them getting on your comp in the first place.

it can also stop things on your comp from being able to execute and do harm. very useful.

i fail to see why he would want to use AVG or avast when he is using kapersky. i have never seen any evidence that they are better only the opposite.

i know you are trying to help but whyy would he take a step backwards.

right. you are in the CPU section. go in the software section.

i tried the ad-aware software but nothings works. Is there any way to delete everything on my computer and start over?

If you can borrow another hardisk, install your windows there + zonealarm or any antivirus with anti spyware update it on the internet, then only then you can put your infected hardisk as slave, then you can start cleaning your hardisk. Cleaning virus and spyware must be done on a clean machine to begin with.

hmm, just a plain recovery disk. might do. not too keen on that myself but the dell partition hopefully will be virus free. that is if i remember how they do things.

Well I think this is on the CPU section because you need help ASAP!. Why werent u using NOD32?
Did you try ad-aware? spybot search and destroy?

If after this you dont solve nothing, reinstall windows, is the best you can do.

Hmmm, Ok?

But there is always something called Dear Google to save your life

Shut-up before i show you my Pimp hand, not everyone has the time to run fifty fkn programs it's just easier to reformat sometimes and we didnt say reformat was the only option. stop trying to be a hero.

The best offense is a good defense with PC's. Once you get a serious virus your either going to waste a heap of productive time (something valuable to me) removing it or you'll spend a heap of productive time finding out that it's not going anywhere.

Get a good virus scanner and firewall, run detection programs regularly, use and alternate web browser, and be carefull what sites you visit. This should reduce your chances of getting in the sh.t.

If you do get a virus, as slim said, google it and find out how serious it is and act on that.

I had one of those types of worms once, it was darned near impossible to remove. I actually had to download some tools to do it, some of the tools listed as hazards by my virus scanner. The tools were needed to remove some protected files that most programs can't even see, that were modified by the worm, and rewrite the registry on a fairly massive scale. Windows restore points were even corrupt. Eventually I got the system clean, but could never roll back again. Once the system was working somewhat normally, AVG removed the affected restore points, etc.

And other than not being able to roll back, the system worked normally for several months. But it wasn't worth the effort. Better would have been to save my files to a removable disk, wipe the drive, reinstal everything included antivirus, and scan the saved files to remove contaminants before restoring them.

Once your hard drive is completely "hosed" you can't completely "go back" to the way things were. When this is the case, formatting is the better option.

Well, you have two options here.

1) you may want to pull your drive out of your box and find a friend with a properly protected system. Install your drive in your buddy's system as a slave and have his AV and spyware programmes scan your drive and hopefully remove the invader. This would also be a good way to back up any files you need to keep without also infecting your backups. If the AV and spyware removal stuff doesn't woark, but does prevent infection of your backups you are OK for option 2, which will be your only remaining choice.

2) boot your system from a secure source and format your drive, then reinstall everything from scratch. You can also use your buddy's sytem to format your drive

Any other suggestions are a waste of time and effort. Given that it may not be possible to remove the invader without destroying your data anyways, if option 1 fails, don't waste your time.

And, once you have a clean system again, make sure you install appropriate and current protection before you go surfing again. You should also stop using Internet Explorer as your web browser. Use Netscape, or Mozilla or Firefox instead.

You are so wrong it isn't funny. I have lots of experience with this exact problem, from my days as a computer consultant.

Reformatting is the second option, and not too long after the first one either.

As much as possible, it is preferrable to try and fix the problem. But the question you neglect to address is "How long is it going to take to fix it, and how much is my time worth?". A second and related question is "What happens if the best efforts I am capable of fail to fix the problem, never mind in a reasonable time frame?". I note that you didn't say a word about pulling the infected drive and instaling it as a slave in a properly protected system and scanning / cleaning it that way.

In my experience, if a system is as seriously compromised as the OP's there is absolutely no point in attempting to "fix" it. Save whatever you can in terms of data files, downloads you know are clean and say sayonara to the rest. Reformat the drive and reinstall everything from scrtatch. One will save lots of aggravation and time that way. And guarantee a clean system.

Your approach guarantees a lot of wasted time and effort, unnecessary aggravation and utterly unacceptable risk of a continued infection.

If you are going to give technical advice, keep your ego and attitude out of it. Your comment calling the other posters whose advice didn't agree with your ideas and I quote "idiots" makes your posts utterly irrelevent.

There's more than one approach to a problem, and time is money.

Your approach is expensive, does not guarantee success and a clean system as a result and you don't even raise the issue of backing up files. Some expert advisor you are.

Nothing ambiguous about virus / malware removal.

Either your anti-virus /spyware /malware software gets rid of it completely and relatively quickly or you reformat and reinstall.

It is important to remember that many of the current viruses, trojans and other malware out there include sub-routines to either disable protective software completely or have mechanisms to bypass it. And if your system is infected by something that has such a feature before your particular manufacturer of Anti-virus etc software has a detector and fix for the problem, downloading the fix after the fact will not help.

In such a case, you can do one of two things: first, pull the infected drive and connect it to another machine that is more current than yours, scan it and hope the invader(s) are removed successfully. If this fails, on to option 2: second, back up any files you need / want to keep, ensuring they aren't infected and then reformat the drive and reinstall everything. Anything else is both a waste of time and socially irresponsible.

Seperate partitions for assorted classes of applications and data files become increasingly attractive.

In today's environment of botnets consisting of multiple compromised zombie systems, you as an individual have a duty to the rest of the community to protect your system and use appropriate remedial measures when your system gets compromised. Note that in many cases, your system was compromised by a zombie in a botnet.

Removing a virus or other malware is conceptually simple. Nothing ambiguous about it.

If you are running appropriate software that is curent you will be able to deal with the problem quickly and easily, assuming that the malware you are trying to deal with hasn't disabled your software.

If the malware has disabled your protective software, you can do one of three things:

Before doing any thing, make sure that you have backed up or are able to back up your data etc.

1) pull the drive(s) and attachthem to another machine with more current capabilities and scanm your drive and hopefully clean it up.

2) gather information about the malware and attempt to remove it manually. This can be a very difficult and tedious process. And, if like the SONY/BMG rootkit software, the malware makes itself invisible to the standard tools in Windows, you wont be able to find and remove it. It may be possible to find tools on the web to deal with something like this, but odds of success are very low. If you have the time and tools to use this approach, fine. But it is useful to remeber that this is one of those, to quote Yoda, "Do, Not Do! there is no Try!" situations.

3) reformat the drive and reinstall. Works every time to get rid of the garbage.

So, where exactly is the ambiguity here? Perhaps you should explain how you define ambiguous and ambiguity first.

I love it when people attempt to intimidate and bully other posters by using specific medical terms. Usually incorrectly to boot. As you have done.

The full term you are using when you say I am "anal" is "anally retentive". This has a specific meaning and application to certain behaviours and approaches to life situations. Given that I have siblings who are doctors and sociologists, you can be sure that I know what the term means and how it really applies. And, bucko, you don't have it right. Stop trying to intimidate andd bully me because I show that both your terminology and approach to the problem the OP has asked for help with is incorrect and inadequate.

In any case, removing any kind of malware (virus, trojan, spyware, you name it) is a technical prpocess that involves a limited number of steps and proceedures, none of which are especially obscure. It is a cold, hard fact that the steps should be done in a particular order and that if all the "easy" steps fail, the only option is a format and re-install. In some very extreme cases where the MBR on a hard disk has been compromised, it becomes necessary to delete partitions and restart installation by re-creating partitions, and then formatting the new partitions and then re-installing the OS, apps etc.

The only real question here is how much time and effort it is reasonable and appropriate to spend on the manual clean-up process by scanning all directories on the hard dive(s) and manually editing the registry. While making sure that assorted files are backed up as required. The majority of the population doesn't have the expertise to edit the registry and even relatively small errors in doing so will render the system unbootable, making a reformat and reinstall the only viable option. Funny how we keep cooming back to that option.

And, as I noted earlier, some malware does a very good job of hiding itself and the odds of either discovering it or finding appropriate tools to remove it are very low. The only reason the Sony/BMG issue came out was a fluke. I wonder on what basis you are assuming in this day and age that there aren't many more of the same sort of malware out there. And how you propose to deal with a problem you can't see. And if you can't see it, it will still be there after you have "finished" manually cleaning your system. Not what I would call a successful or desireable conclusion.

"Anal" indeeed.

Uh Huh.

Whatever you say.

I have just one question for you:

What is it that you have against the OP that you you are spending so much time and energy attacking me and my experience and the reasonable advice given?

What has the OP done to you to warrant such loathing and consequent misdirection of resources on your part?

First off, download and install the following programs from download.com:

Spyware Prevention:

Spyware Blaster
Windows Defender

Anti-Virus:

AVG Free

Firewall:

ZoneAlarm

Spyware Removal:

AdAware Personal SE
HijackThis

Browser:

IE7
Firefox 2

Browser Extensions for IE7:

McAfee SiteAdvisor

Browser Extensions for Firefox:

Adblock Plus
Flashblock
FoxyProxy
McAfee SiteAdvisor
NoScript
ShowIP

Secondly, get all Windows updates and all other program updates.

Thirdly, disconnect from the internet and scan for viruses/spyware (repeat until infestation is gone)

Fourthly (if needed), if infestation won't go away, reinstall Windows and start from scratch.

Finally, let this be a lesson to you and all others that one needs to be more wary when surfing the net.

Just the same as you. Attacking everyone else's advice. Don't call the kettle black.

Not replying to/commenting you in particular, but as always, too lazy to scroll up...

Here's what I thought. Some posters suggest to attach the drive to other well/better protected pc and have a scan or two. Iv'e done something like that, sometimes it worked, some not.If it didn't work, before you backup everything important and format your hd, I would like to suggest something

Try installing KillProcess and Unlocker. use KillProcess to stop/kill process that's currently running (make sure it's not essential system process).Go to my computer,right click on any hd partition(s), use Unlocker.Unlock each and every instance(s) of possible malware/spyware/virus that are currently running. Scan using latest update antivirus of your choice

But well,as some of you have already posted, may be formatting the hd is the best option, time and economically wise.

Please correct me if I'm wrong/not very accurate,TQ

Just the same as you. Attacking everyone else's advice. Don't call the kettle black.

You really should learn to read. It would also be good if you actually remembered what it was that you yourself wrote previously.

Your previous advice was niether complete nor ultimately useful. And, as I recall, you made some extremely intemperate and disparaging remarks about other posters yourself. Speaking of kettles calling pots black.]

And, unlike your "solutions", the progression I outlined will guarantee a clean system.

I like wizardoz's option. If you know someone with a proper install of, say Norton AV, with fresh updates, that should be able to remove the virus. But it will not undo the damage done, which if this the virus I think, will be considerable and not worth your time to try to repair.

If you get the virus removed, copy off your data and then do a fresh re-install.

A plan b might be to just copy the data off, infected or not, re-install, get some good av, then scan your backed up data before restoring.

Confirm my guess.... Do you have any valid restore points?