Client with a computer virus

[Esk247]

one of my clients has dropped a computer off after getting a virus. I don't normally fix PCs but it's mates rates and such so i had a quick gander and he had McAfee installed, subscription service, he's paying annually.

The darn computer had 19 viruses and i've tried fixing them but McAfee blocks all software like AVG or Spybot, so i can only use McAfee on it..useless...all it does it quarantine the whole file or folder thats infected and so you're left with a computer that has bits missing from the software, so many error messages.

Now the problem i'm having is i can't even install windows again, i wanted to wipe the drive, so i shoved a new XP disc in switched it back on, waited for the Boot from CD message then tried pressing some keys, nothing, it just ignores me and boots up. So then i tried from within windows and still nothing, it just ignores what i'm doing and carries on piddling about with antivirus updates or error messages.

Do you access the bios and say boot from CD? or do i just go into windows through safe mode to install a new copy?

Never had this much of a problem replacing an OS before. Normally just shove a cd in and away we go.

 

[shugied]

I think you probably need to set the BIOS to boot from CD.

 

[NetwiseHosting]

Hi there,

Another vote for changing the boot priority in the BIOS - should be able to select the optical drive, such as CD as first followed by the C: drive etc after. If not is there a 'F' button such as 'F12' that can be pressed during POST whcih will give you a Boot Options menu?
Kind regards,

Matthew

 

[gritbinsales]

We had this problem a few weeks ago, however we didn't try to re-install windows, we just did a system restore

Not to sure you can do that now though

 

[Tom McClelland]

We had this problem a few weeks ago, however we didn't try to re-install windows, we just did a system restore

Not to sure you can do that now though

My son had rendered his laptop unusable last week by contracting a virus. Just booted up in safe mode, reverted to previous restore point, rebooted, and left the Defender long scan running overnight which found and removed a few infected .exe's. Then ran MalwareBytes checker too just to be sure. Hey Presto, a completely clean PC. I wasn't expecting it to be that easy.

 

[stugster]

Two options here, the first is to do as suggested with the BIOS and go for a clean install of Windows. For someone like yourself, and including the backup part of the job, you'll be looking at a good 4 hours (not necessarily of working on it, if you have other things to do most of that time is the computer running processes and copying files).

The other option is to try uninstalling McAfee and then installing AVG along with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and perhaps even CCleaner to get things ticking over a bit nicer.

Having said that, going through installing AVG etc. is probably just as time consuming as backing up the important files and reinstalling.

 

[Jim2k]

I would try booting to a BartPE disk or some other boot disk and then running some scanners/cleaners from there. A format of Windows will solve the issue and will be the easiest root but it doesnt appeal to my 'not being bneaten by machines' ethos.

Good luck.

 

[Esk247]

Well whenever i've had a problem with a clients computer before I've just downloaded my own personal toolkit:

AVG, Malwarebytes, Spybot, CCleaner etc.

However, when i went to do this in a cocky and bold manner...the computer said 'NO' McAfee just blocked all the downloads and said something like 'Limited Administrator Privileges' so i went through all the user information and it's set up correctly, on the admin profile at boot-up, but i've also noticed that searching through Google can be difficult. The browser re-directs to a search engine that i've never heard of <<< Browser Hijack Alert!!! So i popped over to Hijack This too but it wouldn't download that either.

It's being a cretin. I'm going to try and boot from CD through the Bios, wipe the whole thing, i think its so badly infected that McAfee has been rendered useless.

Oh and i've tried uninstalling McAfee but its embedded in the system. Won't let me uninstall or delete it, says i don't have permission to delete the files or folders

 

[DesignerNick]

Are you logged in as Administrator?

It could be that a process is running in the background which is stopping you from deleting a McAfee related file or folder.

I agree that maybe the best thing you can do is backup and then reinstall Windows. There isn't actually much work to it as you can get on with other things while it installs Windows, installs Service Packs and Updates.

Just make sure you have an AV installed and do a full scan on the backup device (usb stick, usb hdd) to make sure you don't bring any nasties over from the old installation

Good Luck

 

[Esk247]

Yeah it's logged in as administrator. I have a feeling it's been infected for a while and the client hasn't noticed.

They only use it for web browsing and email as they're semi-retired. Lots of hard drive space (88%) so there isn't much on it. On startup there are a few random screens that appear over the desktop too, they only come up for a split second then disappear.

Seems like it's a gonner so I'm off to re-install, start fresh, AVG and malwarebytes to be installed and left on for them to use. I'll tell them to cancel the McAfee subscription, i've never seen such an embedded nuisance piece of software. It was blocking everything.