Removing Virus on Windows 10

[virtualflying]

Hi everyone

Yesterday I thought I was downloading a few sky textures for my flight simulator, but instead it was a virus. It installed a lot of these games on my desktop.

The first thing I did was try to run MalwareBytes, which did not work. The virus didn't allow the program to run. Then, I tried downloading AVG, which didn't install correctly due to an "unspecified error", AKA the virus not working. So I tried installing Malwarebytes Chameleon and then I scanned with a different version of MBAM, and it didn't catch anything.

Then I was able to download Norton Security, the free trial. Ran that overnight but only found 17 cookie issues within my computer.

So I moved on and found out about this thing called RSKILL, which is a command-prompt program that looks and "kills" the infected areas of your PC. It doesn't remove them though, it just stops them, so if you restart your PC, you have to rerun that program.

I used that and I still couldn't get Discord, Malwarebytes, or AVG to work. I then went and looked at my host file, and it had a LOT of entries in there. So I followed Microsofts steps to removing and replacing my host file, and then deleted the infected one.

Now, I am currently scanning my PC with SuperAntiSpyware in Windows safe mode, and it found 462 Tracking cookies within the FireFox and Chrome folders, but thats it. Out of my 7 million files, it found 462 cookies. I am running out of ideas, what steps would I try next? I really don't want to reformat; I have 2 drives and they both have a lot of stuff on there.

I seriously doubt that is all that is there.

 

[kaptainkuftic]

Wew, you tried a lot of stuff but skipped over the first step: Start your computer in safe mode, remove the programs, and run your antivirus/malware. Usually Malwarebytes is fine, but others to try are Avast and Windows Defender / Security Essentials.

 

[mdd1963]

On a clean computer, make a Hitman Pro/ 'Breach mode' USB....

https/hitmanpro.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/hitman-pro-in-force-breach-mode/

 

[JoshRoss]

Maybe the full wipe won't be necessary. Sometimes standard actions do not work in normal Windows mode, and it can cause certain issues, like not removing everything correctly. RKill + Malwarebytes should deal with it. Let's try to do the following.

I recommend launching your Windows in safe mode with networking. You can do that by holding shift during boot up sequence and selecting "Safe Mode with networking".

- Run RKill.
- Scan your computer with any anti-virus of your choice (Most popular distributors have free versions of their products that work well)
- Scan your computer using Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro to clean up any malware completely.
- Restart your PC and do an additional scan just to clean everything up.

In theory that should help you solve the problem. Word of advice though. If you have an option, download any shady files into sandboxed environment (Browser or folder). And if you have any doubts, do an immediate scan. Let me know if this solved the issue. Good luck!

 

[mdd1963]

Spybot Search and Destroy----finding *only* useless cookies since 2010!