SHADO Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Ok so my friend has a Dell desktop. Recently (like last week) he got attacked by Spyware Guard 2008, a malware program that has proven difficult to uninstall. He is not extremely computer savvy, so he asked for my help. Thinking it would be as easy as installing Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, I said sure, and proceeded to get pwned by this annoying software. I installed Anti-Malware, but it won't open, I double click it and nothing happens. I also tried a number of other anti-malware programs, but to no avail. I followed this guide, this guide, and a few more, but nothing is working. I even booted into safe mode and tried everything from there, but nothing wipes this thing out. I usually am really good at troubleshooting, but this one has me stumped. Anyone got any suggestions, because I am about to take a sledge hammer to his computer, I swear to god :censored: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Welcome to the forum SHADO. First you must make sure that your friend has an anti-virus program & that the firewall is switched on because the Spyware Guard 2008 pest may just re-install itself even after deleting it.After that delete the Malwarebytes version that you have using Add/Remove programs, then look for the Malwarebytes file in Programs (or use Search to find it) and delete it. The reason for this is that Malwarebytes is a very good utility but it may not have installed properly or may be corrupt.When you've done that I suggest you go to BleepingComputer and follow their guidelines which also uses Malwarebytes. Once you've got Malwarebytes installed again, & just before you start running the program, disconnect from the internet & don't connect again until you've completed the cleaning process or the instructions tell you to reconnect.Before your friend reconnects again make sure the firewall and anti-virus are both switched on using Windows Security Centre.Please let us know how this goes as the results are helpful to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Welcome to the forum SHADO. First you must make sure that your friend has an anti-virus program & that the firewall is switched on because the Spyware Guard 2008 pest may just re-install itself even after deleting it.After that delete the Malwarebytes version that you have using Add/Remove programs, then look for the Malwarebytes file in Programs (or use Search to find it) and delete it. The reason for this is that Malwarebytes is a very good utility but it may not have installed properly or may be corrupt.When you've done that I suggest you go to BleepingComputer and follow their guidelines which also uses Malwarebytes. Once you've got Malwarebytes installed again, & just before you start running the program, disconnect from the internet & don't connect again until you've completed the cleaning process or the instructions tell you to reconnect.Before your friend reconnects again make sure the firewall and anti-virus are both switched on using Windows Security Centre.Please let us know how this goes as the results are helpful to others.Ok I'll try it and post the results. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Try looking here and see if it helps. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 C cleaner deletes software off y a computer and is quite good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Well he still can't open Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. I followed your instructions and the instructions on that page (which I have followed before), but I still can't open the anti-malware program. I even deleted the registry keys, but nothing works. I'm out of ideas at this point. I've tried removing every file associated with Spyware Guard 2008, but it still keeps re-installing and popping back up, and I don't know how to prevent it from re-installing (I guess that's the key, huh). Anyone got any advice on how to deal with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 C cleaner deletes software off y a computer and is quite good.Well it looks like CCleaner just cleans unused files, or am I missing something? Although he could use some more disk space :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Try looking here and see if it helps. :DThanks, but I already tried that, and the issue is that I cannot open the anti-malware program. I double click it and nothing happens :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 C cleaner deletes software off y a computer and is quite good.CCleaner can only remove software that provided an uninstaller. I is not designed to remove malware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 Have you tried an online scan like http://housecall.trendmicro.com/? Use the v6.6 link at the bottom of the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 Have you tried an online scan like http://housecall.trendmicro.com/? Use the v6.6 link at the bottom of the screen.Well that will detect Spyware Guard 2008, but I want to remove it so it stops being so dam annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted December 29, 2008 Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 It doesn't offer to remove it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 It doesn't offer to remove it?Well he can't even get to the scan, even with a proxy it is still being blocked. I even ended the process, but still nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted December 29, 2008 Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 If you lack a full back-up (like Acronis) to restore your computer - and assuming your data is on a separate partition, the quickest solution may be to reformat the C: drive and reinstall the OS and software from the original discs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2008 Yea I think that's what he is going to have to do. He doesn't have a backup (despite what I've told him about how an external can save you) and it's only one partition, so he may need to create a backup and reformat the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted December 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 Well I was thinking about something. I know that with Macs, if you have 2 of them and you need to repair the disk of one of them, you can connect them via FireWire and start up in what's called Target Disk Mode. This enables one machine to act as an external HD to the other machine, and you can run disk checks and repairs on the one acting as an external HD. Is this possible in Windows? Because I have a laptop that I could bring over to his house if this is possible. Also, if it is possible, what software would I need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Anyone got any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 What I would suggest is :-Take the H/D out of his PC and fit it in yours as a slave.Then run Malwarebytes and whatever other pest control stuff you have installed on your own PC to scan his drive. That way none of his malware will be autostarting as you won't be booting from his drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHADO Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 What I would suggest is :-Take the H/D out of his PC and fit it in yours as a slave.Then run Malwarebytes and whatever other pest control stuff you have installed on your own PC to scan his drive. That way none of his malware will be autostarting as you won't be booting from his drive.Well I would except I have a laptop :(, so I can't put his HD in my comp unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 You could buy a cheap caddy and connect it to your laptop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 If you can delete the program files, download a free file shredder and delete the files that way. They're supposed to delete files from Windows operating systems so that they can't be restored, even by the pros. But I've never tried this, and have never needed anyone to check through my hard drive so I can point out a specific one for recommendation, or quote on their effectiveness.But apparently, they're good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted January 12, 2009 Report Share Posted January 12, 2009 Anyone got any ideas?In my view, your only other chance is to boot into safe mode and go back to trying to download & run Malwarebytes again from there. If you can't do it in safe made this pest has got right into your friend's BIOS or boot software & that means a re-installation is the only option left.Do you know how to get into safe mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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