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Chipper
Joined: 12 May 2009
Location: About as far north as you can go before people start calling you "comrade"
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 Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:13 pm Post subject: Help! My computer's fried and I need to have it looked at. |
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My laptop is on life support right now. It is riddled with viruses and I don't know what to do.
A friend suggested nuking the hard drive but I'm not confident enough in my computer skills to do that and save all my data. (I have a lot of music, pictures, lesson plans, etc. and the virus seems to be hiding somewhere in there.)
I need to take it to a computer repair place that speaks English. There used to be this guy in Itaewon but he's not there anymore.
I tried taking it to Yongsan but all I got was a guy who wanted to sell me a pirated copy of XP, not esp. helpful.
Suggestions? |
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RMNC
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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1. Get a flash drive
2. Back up as much stuff as you can find to it
3. Format and reinstall Windows
4. Start over fresh, this time try downloading less porn videos (that's what streaming was invernted for) and less warez and maybe you'll have better chances with the virus and spyware problems. |
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8 years down
Joined: 16 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| RMNC wrote: |
1. Get a flash drive
2. Back up as much stuff as you can find to it
3. Format and reinstall Windows
4. Start over fresh, this time try downloading less porn videos (that's what streaming was invernted for) and less warez and maybe you'll have better chances with the virus and spyware problems. |
Pretty much. Flash drives are cheap. Plug it in a usb port and copy over important files. (word docs, excel sheets, stuff like this won't be infected)
1. Format the drive.
2. Reinstall windows.
3. Update windows completely.
4. Download and install a reliable free anti-virus program (AVG free, Avast) Turn off auto scan and manually do checks once a month.
5. Check for updates for the anti-virus program.
6. Download a trojan/malware scanner. (malwarebytes) Run a scan once a month.
7. Download and install Firefox web browser. Use this instead of Internet Explorer.
8. Download and install CCleaner and run the regular cleaner and the registry cleaner once a week.
Enjoy a clean, fast running operating system. |
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Jeweltone
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
Location: Seoul, S. Korea
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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What kind of antivirus do you have on your computer?
I came back from Korea with my computer riddled with viruses that Norton never caught, as well as some very interesting malware/spyware issues. My local/home area computer tech guy works out of Silicon Valley, so he is used to weird Asian computer viruses - these programs are what he installed and ran to get rid of them:
1. AVG Internet Security (available as freeware, but I liked it so much I now use the full service package): run a FULL scan
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
2. Malwarebites Anti-Malware: run a FULL scan http://www.malwarebytes.org/
3. Super AntiSpyware Free Edition: run a FULL scan
http://www.superantispyware.com/
4. CCleaner (Piriform): run a FULL scan
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
All of these are available as freeware, and, although it may seem a bit overkill, I can vouch that they efficiently did the trick! I have used them over and over with great results since they were installed. Oh yeah, AVG alone discovered 121 viruses/threats that Norton missed...Don't get me started on the foreign malware that turned up...
I can't help you with your original question (since the Itaewon guy appears to be gone), but maybe this will help you, or others on the forum. I suspect that if you contact Brandon-the-Mover (ask on the forum if you don't know who he is), he might be able to direct you...for a small fee!  |
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Globutron
Joined: 13 Feb 2010
Location: England/Anyang
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:57 pm Post subject: |
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| 7. Download and install Google Chrome web browser. Use this instead of Internet Explorer |
Fixed. |
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Chipper
Joined: 12 May 2009
Location: About as far north as you can go before people start calling you "comrade"
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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Just to answer some questions:
-I have Norton, and I run scans occasionally. (Fat load of good it did!)
-I haven't used IE for about 4 years now, and I have never used it on this computer. I used to use Firefox and have since switched to Chrome.
-and I never download porn I stream as well! 
Just looking for some guy to take it to. I can't access the net on it (I'm using a work computer now) so I can't download anything ATM. |
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8 years down
Joined: 16 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Chipper wrote: |
Just to answer some questions:
-I have Norton, and I run scans occasionally. (Fat load of good it did!)
-I haven't used IE for about 4 years now, and I have never used it on this computer. I used to use Firefox and have since switched to Chrome.
-and I never download porn I stream as well!
Just looking for some guy to take it to. I can't access the net on it (I'm using a work computer now) so I can't download anything ATM. |
I understand your situation but I'm not sure what you want some guy to do. Mention virus to any computer shop guy and he's going to format the drive to be 100% sure they are gone.
It's very unlikely he's going to be able to go in and manually remove all the stuff himself. There could be anywhere from 1-500 pieces of malware on your disk. (I've seen that many, yes)
I'm assuming a trojan is kicking in before you can get to the Internet is that why you can't access it? If so, research how to start your computer up in "safe mode."
Actually just read through this:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1643&page=2
There's a section on removing viruses. Good luck!
Edit: Chrome vs Firefox: Awesome for the industry. Opinions and views vary. Tried Chrome for a week, didn't see anything worth switching for. Chrome IS faster though. So instead of waiting 0.2 seconds for my page to load I may only wait 0.1 seconds. Sticking with Firefox for now. |
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akcrono
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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double post
Last edited by akcrono on Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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akcrono
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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| 8 years down wrote: |
| Chipper wrote: |
Just to answer some questions:
-I have Norton, and I run scans occasionally. (Fat load of good it did!)
-I haven't used IE for about 4 years now, and I have never used it on this computer. I used to use Firefox and have since switched to Chrome.
-and I never download porn I stream as well!
Just looking for some guy to take it to. I can't access the net on it (I'm using a work computer now) so I can't download anything ATM. |
I understand your situation but I'm not sure what you want some guy to do. Mention virus to any computer shop guy and he's going to format the drive to be 100% sure they are gone.
It's very unlikely he's going to be able to go in and manually remove all the stuff himself. There could be anywhere from 1-500 pieces of malware on your disk. (I've seen that many, yes)
I'm assuming a trojan is kicking in before you can get to the Internet is that why you can't access it? If so, research how to start your computer up in "safe mode."
Edit: Chrome vs Firefox: Awesome for the industry. Opinions and views vary. Tried Chrome for a week, didn't see anything worth switching for. Chrome IS faster though. So instead of waiting 0.2 seconds for my page to load I may only wait 0.1 seconds. Sticking with Firefox for now. |
To the OP: safe mode can be reached by spamming F8 as the computer boots up (in case you didnt know).
The best bet would be to hook your hard drive up to another computer and extract your files that way. I actually prefer to do that when I remove viruses because the operating system files on the corrupted hard drive wont be write protected and can be cleaned a lot more easily.
It would probably be better to post in the buy/sell/trade forum if you want work done. Plenty of people would be willing to help at a very reasonable price.
Chrome vs firefox: They are bothe excellent browsers. Chrome is faster, Firefox has more addons. Go with what you want more. |
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Alphabet_Stew
Joined: 13 Jun 2010
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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Chrome will record every "search" you ever do - with the exact time and date your searched for something.
So, make sure you turn that off in your account settings.
p.s. - It also best to never save any documents, pics, files, lesson plans etc on your computer.
Always save them ONLY to an external drive.
And if you are going to reformat your computer - you should partition the drive so that the OS is on C drive and all other downloads and installations are made into the other drive.
(It also helps your computer to run smoother - as you don't clutter up the drive that has your OS running in). |
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noky
Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Location: Yeongcheon
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| Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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| akcrono wrote: |
The best bet would be to hook your hard drive up to another computer and extract your files that way. I actually prefer to do that when I remove viruses because the operating system files on the corrupted hard drive wont be write protected and can be cleaned a lot more easily.
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This is the only way to properly remove a serious malware and virus infestation (assuming you can detect them all). "Good" programs hide themselves during the start-up process and while the symptoms may get treated they will replicate and you'll be back where you started.
I'd play it safe, back-up the files you need and make sure those items are clean (scan with two anti-virus programs and two anti-malware programs) and then nuke the whole drive and start from scratch with the proper safety measures in place before you do any web surfing (IE, Chrome, or whatever because they're all vulnerable). |
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T-dot
Joined: 16 May 2004
Location: bundang
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| Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:24 am Post subject: |
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Boot into Safe Mode
Insert a FlashDrive, then save all the files that you need.
After everything is saved, then throw in your Vista or Win 7 CD and reinstall your OS. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| I hope that this is not too stupid of a reply, but have you tried running Microsoft's anti malware software on your computer? You can download it for free. I would not be surprised if it would take all the viruses trojans, spyware etc. off of you computer. |
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Senior
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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| Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:34 am Post subject: |
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| Just get everything you can off the drive. Screw formatting it yourself, just take it to a random computer shop (I guarantee there are at least 3 within a 10 min walk of you), and get them to put W7 Ultimate on it. It won't cost more than 25K. Is an hour of your time and aggravation worth 25K? You can get the RAM and HDD(500GB) upgraded plus W7 for well less than 150K and it will be like having a brand new computer. |
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noky
Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Location: Yeongcheon
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| Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:45 am Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| I hope that this is not too stupid of a reply, but have you tried running Microsoft's anti malware software on your computer? You can download it for free. I would not be surprised if it would take all the viruses trojans, spyware etc. off of you computer. |
Microsoft's protection tools tended to have really low detection rates (like 70%) last time I checked. It doesn't hurt to run them but I would definitely use it in conjunction with another tool. |
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