I have scanned with Malwarebytes and ADwclener and others but not in safe mode, I know there is still a trace of Super Optimizer on my PC
I'm not to sure how to use safe mode though and where will I find the network adaptor settings? sorry I'm still learning.
To get into safe mode reboot the computer and keep tapping the F8 key, choose Administrator and safe mode with the up and down keys. Run M'bytes and ADW.
Look at posts #18 and #40 for any proxy and DNS changes.
Well I would think a bit before you do, What happens if this happens again? more hassle try spyware 4 trust me it works it is a 6 month at a time payment I know a bit steep but you have peace of mind & online or phone support should you need it, I havn't needed support yet Spyware 4 cleared all of them, I had programmes changing my browser & adds popping up all over the place Spyware 4 got rid of them I had over 300 threats! & it listed all them & told me what they do to lowering your pc's resources, One of the threats cut my speed from 52 meg to 30 meg an absolute nightmare>:( . I forgot to mention don't get any free programmes software from download CNET that's where most infections come from, Good luck at whatever you decide.
Just to confirm do you mean Spyhunter4 as I am having trouble finding spyware4
Beware: a repair shop will likely recomended that your PC is wiped and Windows installed.
Whilst that is the potentially quickest and surest solution, you will need to backup all your data and reinstall all your software afterwards.
Indeed it will depend who they are and what they know, and what they do for so much money. They may fix it, or just run malwarebytes over it, or just do a factory restore And if you don't back up everything you want they will give you none of it back. .
There's two logical next steps here before moving to step 3 - which is either a restore or the specialist forum and use combofix route.
One is to look at what the net says about the optimiser malware. The problem is if you don't have something that tells you which link is safe to look at and follow. Google search details suggests its known malware - and there's a removal proceedure. Its not on the symantec list of malware though.
The second is to use a more powerful AV from a major provider and one that checks more things like boot files and root kits - there's links to two of those in my last post.
I wouldn't touch any minor player's offerings - lots of things found can mean its good, or that its counting lots of things that don't matter (cookies) and missing what does. Some will be spyware themselves. The problem is not only getting rid of what you know is wrong, but using something that will give a high certainty that nothing else is lurking in there.
Just to confirm do you mean Spyhunter4 as I am having trouble finding spyware4
He means Spyhunter 4 .... I for one would not go anywhere near it.
You need to say if you have tried previous suggestions like see is there a proxy #18, look at the DNS settings #40 and ran ADW and Malwarebytes in safe mode.
Edit: and after you have done that and the problem persists run one more tool JRT, it runs in DOS (white writing on black screen). Takes a while to run and will leave a log file after but attempts to repair or delete files or reg entries that it finds. Worth a go !!
He means Spyhunter 4 .... I for one would not go anywhere near it.
You need to say if you have tried previous suggestions like see is there a proxy #18, look at the DNS settings #40 and ran ADW and Malwarebytes in safe mode.
Edit: and after you have done that and the problem persists run one more tool JRT, it runs in DOS (white writing on black screen). Takes a while to run and will leave a log file after but attempts to repair or delete files or reg entries that it finds. Worth a go !!
Thanks for the info I was going to sign up to spyhuntert but they use Safecart to take d payments out every 6 months and it would seem this can be difficult to stop, It cost £31.62 for 6 months and it's possible I could still have the same issue.
but Skyhunter found 622 threats including super optimizer
Thanks for the info I was going to sign up to spyhuntert but they use Safecart to take d payments out every 6 months and it would seem this can be difficult to stop, It cost £31.62 for 6 months and it's possible I could still have the same issue.
but Skyhunter found 622 threats including super optimizer
I personally wouldn't agree to pay for a product like that. There are so many good free tools out there.
Obviously, you have picked up something nasty that isn't detected by most software. Malwarebytes finds most things.
I'm beginning to wonder whether a factory restore of your PC might actually be the best option. In any case, you should backup all your personal data before doing anything else anyway. Also make a note of all the software you use regularly.
My personal view is once a system has been compromised it will never in my mind be as secure, theres so much malware/viruses out there and variants thereof that you can never be 100% sure that some little registry entry has been changed which can be used to reinfect via a currently unknown (day zero) exploit so my general advice is back it up to two different media sources and whap it back to either factory fresh if theres a restore partition or just slap in the disc and nuke it then reinstall programs/data and be a bit more careful
I personally wouldn't agree to pay for a product like that. There are so many good free tools out there.
Obviously, you have picked up something nasty that isn't detected by most software. Malwarebytes finds most things.
I'm beginning to wonder whether a factory restore of your PC might actually be the best option. In any case, you should backup all your personal data before doing anything else anyway. Also make a note of all the software you use regularly.
Thanks, I tried support from microsoft I think it may have done some changes but now the computer is much slower on the internet and the unwanted sites are still here
He means Spyhunter 4 .... I for one would not go anywhere near it.
You need to say if you have tried previous suggestions like see is there a proxy #18, look at the DNS settings #40 and ran ADW and Malwarebytes in safe mode.
Edit: and after you have done that and the problem persists run one more tool JRT, it runs in DOS (white writing on black screen). Takes a while to run and will leave a log file after but attempts to repair or delete files or reg entries that it finds. Worth a go !!
Don't go anywhere near it! Why is that prey? could it be you don't want to spend any money? nothing is free in this world it works perfect for me have you tried Spyhunter 4 by any chance? If the answer is no, Well I suggest you don't know what you are talking about, I have no further comment on this thread.
I think a factory restore is looking like the option i might have to take, can someone confirm that a factory restore will leave my computer the same as it was when i purchased it. My computer is a Packard Bell Easynote TJ71 .
Thanks for any replies
I think a factory restore is looking like the option i might have to take, can someone confirm that a factory restore will leave my computer the same as it was when i purchased it. My computer is a Packard Bell Easynote TJ71 .
Thanks for any replies
a factory restore returns it as it says back to how it left the factory but all your data and anything you've installed since then will be gone so backup your important stuff before going ahead
I think a factory restore is looking like the option i might have to take, can someone confirm that a factory restore will leave my computer the same as it was when i purchased it. My computer is a Packard Bell Easynote TJ71 .
Thanks for any replies
If you have the Packard Bell Recovery Management program per-installed you can use this guide:
Don't go anywhere near it! Why is that prey? could it be you don't want to spend any money? nothing is free in this world it works perfect for me have you tried Spyhunter 4 by any chance? If the answer is no, Well I suggest you don't know what you are talking about, I have no further comment on this thread.
but Skyhunter found 622 threats including super optimizer
There's 2 reasons, run that program on a clean install of Windows and it will find lots of threats. Is it not finding threats on your computer all the time ?
Apparently it will not uninstall in the usual way, may take more money from you than you had thought and set up a direct debit subscription.
The company Enigma Software has a bad name from making this type of scareware program and Spyhunter had been on a list of rogue programs.
I've encountered a browser hijack this weekend that evades Malwarebytes (AM, AT, AR), ADW Cleaner, Super AntiSpyware, HJT, McAfee Stinger, Spyware Terminator and Hitman Pro. It survived Avast! and AVG (although AVG alone was resident at the time). It affected Chrome and IE, propagated across user accounts when creating new ones, wasn't in Chrome sync or perverted shortcuts.
So lots of advice about which programs to run and the OP seems to have tried some of them but without success so shhftw's suggestion of doing a factory reinstall now seems the most logical solution and that's probably what the local computer store will end up doing, for a price, of course. My view is that it's using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
If the OP learned how to image (backup) and recover his system using either Macrium Reflect or AOMEI's Backupper, he could have simply recovered his system to an uninfected state in about 15-20 mins without worrying about seeking advice on a forum.
That said, I also think that if the OP had had sufficient knowledge and wherewithal to create as a first step, a Rescue Disk or two and then boot his computer from each one allowing full scans perhaps one or other or both will have dealt with the infection(s) immediately.
Second step was to have taken his Hijack This log to a forum where there is more expertise in analysing its log reports. The help on those could have shortcut all the subsequent advice in this thread.
Personally, I think too many people, some techies, some not, regard Malwarebytes and ADWcleaner as all you need to clear infected computers instead of regarding them simply as part of the arsenal of products and techniques needed to clear an ever growing and ever sophisticated plague of malware.
As a sideline to my regular work I spend a bit of time teaching people how to maintain their computers including creating rescue disks, backing up to external usb drives etc etc. Many I teach these procedures to have no technical knowledge or expertise and are usually genuinely surprised at how easy it is once they have the courage to try. The best thing is some then pass on this new found knowledge to family and friends.
As a sideline to my regular work I spend a bit of time teaching people how to maintain their computers including creating rescue disks, backing up to external usb drives etc etc. Many I teach these procedures to have no technical knowledge or expertise and are usually genuinely surprised at how easy it is once they have the courage to try. The best thing is some then pass on this new found knowledge to family and friends.
I suppose if you are teaching people then they have come to learn and take notice. I find it a lot harder to teach family and friends. I have more or less given up because they don't take a lot of notice, my second son does backup to the cloud so thats something but the others don't.
I have some image backups of their computers but they are getting out of date.
When clearing friends computers of nasties I'll leave notes next to each program like 'run once a week, update first' next to Malwarebytes, Run AV scan once a month ... update Flash, Java .... things like that. If I got 10% to actually do it, I'd be doing well.
I suppose if you are teaching people then they have come to learn and take notice. I find it a lot harder to teach family and friends. I have more or less given up because they don't take a lot of notice, my second son does backup to the cloud so thats something but the others don't.
I have some image backups of their computers but they are getting out of date.
When clearing friends computers of nasties I'll leave notes next to each program like 'run once a week, update first' next to Malwarebytes, Run AV scan once a month ... update Flash, Java .... things like that. If I got 10% to actually do it, I'd be doing well.
I'd agree with all that. I've given up trying to teach people even the most basic of skills. A lot of people simply aren't 'into computers', so I've always been patient with them and made excuses for their reluctance to learn anything. But most of those people have now been using computers for at least ten years and usually use them every day. Yet their non-existent skill level is still pretty much the same as it was ten years ago. It's far easier for them to say 'but I'm no good with computers' and expect you to sort everything out for them. And the more you help people, the less willing they are to do anything for themselves.
It's the same with trying to help people on forums. I don't bother much anymore, because most of the time your posts are either ignored or you need to spoon-feed the basics to someone who has no intention of actually following your advice.
So lots of advice about which programs to run and the OP seems to have tried some of them but without success so shhftw's suggestion of doing a factory reinstall now seems the most logical solution and that's probably what the local computer store will end up doing, for a price, of course. My view is that it's using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
If the OP learned how to image (backup) and recover his system using either Macrium Reflect or AOMEI's Backupper, he could have simply recovered his system to an uninfected state in about 15-20 mins without worrying about seeking advice on a forum.
That said, I also think that if the OP had had sufficient knowledge and wherewithal to create as a first step, a Rescue Disk or two and then boot his computer from each one allowing full scans perhaps one or other or both will have dealt with the infection(s) immediately.
Second step was to have taken his Hijack This log to a forum where there is more expertise in analysing its log reports. The help on those could have shortcut all the subsequent advice in this thread.
Personally, I think too many people, some techies, some not, regard Malwarebytes and ADWcleaner as all you need to clear infected computers instead of regarding them simply as part of the arsenal of products and techniques needed to clear an ever growing and ever sophisticated plague of malware.
As a sideline to my regular work I spend a bit of time teaching people how to maintain their computers including creating rescue disks, backing up to external usb drives etc etc. Many I teach these procedures to have no technical knowledge or expertise and are usually genuinely surprised at how easy it is once they have the courage to try. The best thing is some then pass on this new found knowledge to family and friends.
If people were proactive about security, yes. If you're fighting a rearguard action, factory reinstall. Most people haven't even thought about making THOSE disks so you're in cloud cuckoo land ("No offence.").
And in the instance above, for the poster who mentioned ADW Cleaner, it was tried and failed to detect a thing. Thankfully I wasn't the sop in front of the keyboard! I think the combined scan time for all the scanners was around 10 hours. A factory reinstall would probably take less than 2 hours, then the updates.
Yeah, I'd probably be one of those who reach for Malwarebytes. 99/100 it gets rid. Kind of worrying when it cleans, then doesn't detect a thing and all those other tools didn't detect a thing either (I did look at the HJT log, ran Process Explorer and couldn't spot anything) and it was still infected. Rather than post on a message board and wait more days, factory disks were the best option.
I agree trying to help people help themselves can be a thankless task.
I used to work as a techie in small High Street computer store and eventually gave that up mainly due to customers bad attitudes to having to pay someone to fix their problem. Often the same customers would return within a couple of weeks with a reinfected computer demanding it be fixed free as obviously we didn't do it right in the first place! Nothing, of course, to do with all the dodgy websites they had visited or infected files they had downloaded via bittorrent etc! I have hundreds of similar stories and recalling them now just reinforces to me that I was right to get out of the job, so now I can pick and choose who I help and not have to deal with a lot rude, ungrateful people.
Here in Brazil people have a different attitude towards learning things, perhaps because it's a still developing country. Perhaps it's also because many can't afford to change their computer every two years so they have a more vested interest in learning how to maintain it.
Whatever the reasons my help, advice and guidance is always gratefully received and acknowledged and met with a smile and a thank you.
Here in Brazil people have a different attitude towards learning things, perhaps because it's a still developing country. Perhaps it's also because many can't afford to change their computer every two years so they have a more vested interest in learning how to maintain it.
Whatever the reasons my help, advice and guidance is always gratefully received and acknowledged and met with a smile and a thank you.
I did wonder where you'd managed to find these remarkable people...
Comments
To get into safe mode reboot the computer and keep tapping the F8 key, choose Administrator and safe mode with the up and down keys. Run M'bytes and ADW.
Look at posts #18 and #40 for any proxy and DNS changes.
Just to confirm do you mean Spyhunter4 as I am having trouble finding spyware4
Indeed it will depend who they are and what they know, and what they do for so much money. They may fix it, or just run malwarebytes over it, or just do a factory restore And if you don't back up everything you want they will give you none of it back. .
There's two logical next steps here before moving to step 3 - which is either a restore or the specialist forum and use combofix route.
One is to look at what the net says about the optimiser malware. The problem is if you don't have something that tells you which link is safe to look at and follow. Google search details suggests its known malware - and there's a removal proceedure. Its not on the symantec list of malware though.
The second is to use a more powerful AV from a major provider and one that checks more things like boot files and root kits - there's links to two of those in my last post.
I wouldn't touch any minor player's offerings - lots of things found can mean its good, or that its counting lots of things that don't matter (cookies) and missing what does. Some will be spyware themselves. The problem is not only getting rid of what you know is wrong, but using something that will give a high certainty that nothing else is lurking in there.
He means Spyhunter 4 .... I for one would not go anywhere near it.
You need to say if you have tried previous suggestions like see is there a proxy #18, look at the DNS settings #40 and ran ADW and Malwarebytes in safe mode.
Edit: and after you have done that and the problem persists run one more tool JRT, it runs in DOS (white writing on black screen). Takes a while to run and will leave a log file after but attempts to repair or delete files or reg entries that it finds. Worth a go !!
Thanks for the info I was going to sign up to spyhuntert but they use Safecart to take d payments out every 6 months and it would seem this can be difficult to stop, It cost £31.62 for 6 months and it's possible I could still have the same issue.
but Skyhunter found 622 threats including super optimizer
I personally wouldn't agree to pay for a product like that. There are so many good free tools out there.
Obviously, you have picked up something nasty that isn't detected by most software. Malwarebytes finds most things.
I'm beginning to wonder whether a factory restore of your PC might actually be the best option. In any case, you should backup all your personal data before doing anything else anyway. Also make a note of all the software you use regularly.
One last attempt to reset your DNS might fix it.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357
Thanks, I tried support from microsoft I think it may have done some changes but now the computer is much slower on the internet and the unwanted sites are still here
Don't go anywhere near it! Why is that prey? could it be you don't want to spend any money? nothing is free in this world it works perfect for me have you tried Spyhunter 4 by any chance? If the answer is no, Well I suggest you don't know what you are talking about, I have no further comment on this thread.
Thanks for any replies
Then ADWCleaner to get rid of any browser hijacks and spyware.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/
a factory restore returns it as it says back to how it left the factory but all your data and anything you've installed since then will be gone so backup your important stuff before going ahead
If you have the Packard Bell Recovery Management program per-installed you can use this guide:
http://packard-bell-scandic.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29924/~/how-do-i-restore-my-computer-using-packard-bell-recovery-management%3F
Don't forget, you need to backup first.
There's 2 reasons, run that program on a clean install of Windows and it will find lots of threats. Is it not finding threats on your computer all the time ?
Apparently it will not uninstall in the usual way, may take more money from you than you had thought and set up a direct debit subscription.
The company Enigma Software has a bad name from making this type of scareware program and Spyhunter had been on a list of rogue programs.
http://s9.postimg.org/s2clw2y8v/Spy.png
Factory reinstall the only way.
Not really. Just run Adwcleaner http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/ usually works well at getting rid of browser attacks
If the OP learned how to image (backup) and recover his system using either Macrium Reflect or AOMEI's Backupper, he could have simply recovered his system to an uninfected state in about 15-20 mins without worrying about seeking advice on a forum.
That said, I also think that if the OP had had sufficient knowledge and wherewithal to create as a first step, a Rescue Disk or two and then boot his computer from each one allowing full scans perhaps one or other or both will have dealt with the infection(s) immediately.
Second step was to have taken his Hijack This log to a forum where there is more expertise in analysing its log reports. The help on those could have shortcut all the subsequent advice in this thread.
Personally, I think too many people, some techies, some not, regard Malwarebytes and ADWcleaner as all you need to clear infected computers instead of regarding them simply as part of the arsenal of products and techniques needed to clear an ever growing and ever sophisticated plague of malware.
As a sideline to my regular work I spend a bit of time teaching people how to maintain their computers including creating rescue disks, backing up to external usb drives etc etc. Many I teach these procedures to have no technical knowledge or expertise and are usually genuinely surprised at how easy it is once they have the courage to try. The best thing is some then pass on this new found knowledge to family and friends.
I suppose if you are teaching people then they have come to learn and take notice. I find it a lot harder to teach family and friends. I have more or less given up because they don't take a lot of notice, my second son does backup to the cloud so thats something but the others don't.
I have some image backups of their computers but they are getting out of date.
When clearing friends computers of nasties I'll leave notes next to each program like 'run once a week, update first' next to Malwarebytes, Run AV scan once a month ... update Flash, Java .... things like that. If I got 10% to actually do it, I'd be doing well.
I'd agree with all that. I've given up trying to teach people even the most basic of skills. A lot of people simply aren't 'into computers', so I've always been patient with them and made excuses for their reluctance to learn anything. But most of those people have now been using computers for at least ten years and usually use them every day. Yet their non-existent skill level is still pretty much the same as it was ten years ago. It's far easier for them to say 'but I'm no good with computers' and expect you to sort everything out for them. And the more you help people, the less willing they are to do anything for themselves.
It's the same with trying to help people on forums. I don't bother much anymore, because most of the time your posts are either ignored or you need to spoon-feed the basics to someone who has no intention of actually following your advice.
If people were proactive about security, yes. If you're fighting a rearguard action, factory reinstall. Most people haven't even thought about making THOSE disks so you're in cloud cuckoo land ("No offence.").
And in the instance above, for the poster who mentioned ADW Cleaner, it was tried and failed to detect a thing. Thankfully I wasn't the sop in front of the keyboard! I think the combined scan time for all the scanners was around 10 hours. A factory reinstall would probably take less than 2 hours, then the updates.
Yeah, I'd probably be one of those who reach for Malwarebytes. 99/100 it gets rid. Kind of worrying when it cleans, then doesn't detect a thing and all those other tools didn't detect a thing either (I did look at the HJT log, ran Process Explorer and couldn't spot anything) and it was still infected. Rather than post on a message board and wait more days, factory disks were the best option.
I used to work as a techie in small High Street computer store and eventually gave that up mainly due to customers bad attitudes to having to pay someone to fix their problem. Often the same customers would return within a couple of weeks with a reinfected computer demanding it be fixed free as obviously we didn't do it right in the first place! Nothing, of course, to do with all the dodgy websites they had visited or infected files they had downloaded via bittorrent etc! I have hundreds of similar stories and recalling them now just reinforces to me that I was right to get out of the job, so now I can pick and choose who I help and not have to deal with a lot rude, ungrateful people.
Here in Brazil people have a different attitude towards learning things, perhaps because it's a still developing country. Perhaps it's also because many can't afford to change their computer every two years so they have a more vested interest in learning how to maintain it.
Whatever the reasons my help, advice and guidance is always gratefully received and acknowledged and met with a smile and a thank you.
I did wonder where you'd managed to find these remarkable people...