> Working on a PC that was badly infected with Vundo and Koobface.
> Cleared out Virus with Malwarebytes and Norton. I tried windows
> repair but no luck….Automatic updates keeps disabling and even If
> i start it up No Luck….Help!
No matter what you have done – you may never clean this infection entirely.
Your best and shortest route to a definitively positive result *is* a clean
installation (I would even suggest using the hard disk drive manufacturer’s
utilities to zero-write the hard drive so you truly start with a clean
system.)
Having said that – here is what I suggest you do to attempt to further clean
and repair the system as it stands. I cannot (will not) guarantee you will
ever be 100% clean – although the original suggestion would likely get
you that. The following procedure is long, it is *not* complicated. It
will
take up a large amount fo time and, depending on the physical resources
you have available already, may take some monetary investment (in an
external hard disk drive for backup.) However – to be honest – you
should have a good method of backup.
Also – I suggest following the procedure in order – doing each thing even
if you *know* and have stated previously you have already done it.
Pretend you have done nothing.
First – I suggest making a full backup of the system – an image of the
hard disk drive. You need a place to store this (network storage, USB
storage, etc) and a way to make the image (BootItNG is a good one,
other utilities are included on the Windows Ultimate Boot CD if you
want to download and create one of those.) I think it would be best to
make an image of the entire hard disk drive because then the chance
of data loss is so small as to be laughable.
However – you don’t *have* to do this if you already have a file/system
backup you are satisfied with.
If you know all of your files, bookmarks, contacts, emails, pictures,
music files and such are safe and you can get to them even if that
machine was stolen and melted to slag at this very moment – then
you are ready to go. 😉
Fix your file/registry permissions…
Ignore the title and follow the sub-section under "Advanced Troubleshooting"
titled, "Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
*will take time
(** Ignore the last step – you said you already had SP3.)
Reboot and …
Search your registry for %fystem and replace the "f" with an "s". May be
three or four matches, may be none. You may even have to take ownership
(even after doing the above) of the keys in order to make the change.
Reboot and …
Download/install this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
After installing, do the following:
Start button –> RUN –> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
–> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)
Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):
SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/
MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/
After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.
Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/ma…e/default.mspx
Reboot.
CHKDSK
How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot
Defragment
How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time
Ensure your hardware drivers are up to date (from the hardware
manufacturer’s respective web pages.) Never get hardware drivers
for hardware that was not created/sold by Microsoft from Microsoft.
Installing the latest updates may have you rebooting several times,
which is fine – but after you are sure you are done – still…
Reboot.
Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/d…displaylang=en
Reboot.
and…
Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
…. and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:
Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.
Start button –> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
–> Click OK.
(If asked, select "Run.) –> Click on NEXT –> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT –> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"…
Reboot.
Then follow the instructions here:
How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058
Reboot.
Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan…
Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages –
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.
Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.
Reboot again.
If it did work – try the web page again – selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.
The Optional Software updates are generally safe – although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates. Also – I do not see any urgent need to install
Internet Explorer 8 at this time.
Seriously – do all that. This is like antibiotics – don’t skip a single
step, don’t quit because you think things will be okay now – go through
until the end, until you have done everything given in the order given. If
you have a problem with a step come ask and let someone here get you
through that step. If you don’t understand how to do a step, come back and
ask here about that step and let someone walk you through it.
In any case – no matter what – when you are done doing whatever you decide
to do – please – come back here and let everyone know what you did and
how things turned out.
—
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
—
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
