There's a huge trojan in my comp and i have a plan. will it work?

[Moontouched-Moogle]

I downloaded a fake flash installer and ran it, causing a trojan to infect my comp. It isn't some file i can delete or anything like that. It won't let me log into my comp so i am typing in safe mode ( w xp). So heres my plan
1) install ubuntu and put it on a mem. stick.
2)put all the important files on my psp.
3) format my hard drives
4)install ubuntu
5)live happily ever after.
The question is: can I boot ubuntu setub from a mp3 player or a memory stick when there's no os?

Yeah, I'd have to agree with just running Malwarebytes Antimalware in safe mode. If that doesn't work, and if the trojan was installed recently, maybe try System Restore? Works for me on occasion. If you really want to move your files and install a new OS, at least scan the moved files first. Don't want to carry the trojan with you.

Also, if you have a floppy drive (which I doubt) you could put CopyWipe from Terabyte Unlimited on a bootable floppy disc and wipe the drive clean before the installation to be perfectly sure. It's saved my bacon a couple of times.

Also, how did you get a trojan while trying to install Flash? Did you even GO to the official Adobe site?

 

[Moontouched-Moogle]

Depends how long the virus is in there. It is possible that the files you transfer to your newly erased hard drive could contain a duplicate of the virus, so I would recommend scanning those under quarantine just to be sure. Or better yet, buy a mac.

Scanning the files before moving them is a good idea. Spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a Mac doesn't solve the issue and isn't really a good idea in this situation, despite being a nice, cheeky little dig at PCs.

 

[shado_temple]

I was going to list a bunch of different options, but this article explains it much better than I ever could.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/malware_removal_guide_2011_how_get_rid_all_latest_malware

 

[Moontouched-Moogle]

Also, how did you get a trojan while trying to install Flash? Did you even GO to the official Adobe site?

OP is probably a 16 yr old covering for the fact that he fails at DLing porn

Heh, maybe. But the question of computer savviness still stands. Why DOWNLOAD porn? People KNOW those are cesspools of viruses and trojans! Just browse online and be done with it. Preferably with NoScript or something similar to stop whatever crap may still be floating around on there. This isn't rocket science, people.

Also, back to the OP: Why not put your important files on a flash drive? Probably has more space than your PSP, unless you have a GO. Also, don't want to risk the trojans somehow bricking your PSP. Besides, it's not like the important files you want to save could be images or videos you want to view on it at your leisure.

...OH WAIT.

 

[Aircross]

Back up all your files on your profile and re-image your computer.

 

[brainslurper]

Depends how long the virus is in there. It is possible that the files you transfer to your newly erased hard drive could contain a duplicate of the virus, so I would recommend scanning those under quarantine just to be sure. Or better yet, buy a mac.

Scanning the files before moving them is a good idea. Spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a Mac doesn't solve the issue and isn't really a good idea in this situation, despite being a nice, cheeky little dig at PCs.

It actually seems like a perfectly reasonable solution, except for the cost of buying a new computer VS fixing the one infected with windows. Theres always ubuntu I suppose.

 

[Moontouched-Moogle]

Depends how long the virus is in there. It is possible that the files you transfer to your newly erased hard drive could contain a duplicate of the virus, so I would recommend scanning those under quarantine just to be sure. Or better yet, buy a mac.

Scanning the files before moving them is a good idea. Spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a Mac doesn't solve the issue and isn't really a good idea in this situation, despite being a nice, cheeky little dig at PCs.

It actually seems like a perfectly reasonable solution, except for the cost of buying a new computer VS fixing the one infected with windows. Theres always ubuntu I suppose.

Well, perhaps if his concern was in preventing future infections, but that could be solved with decent antivirus and antimalware, a few of which are both free and reliable. His current concern is really just getting his current computer operational again, which can be done cheaply and with varying degrees of ease. If he switched to a Mac, it would cost tons of money and wouldn't solve the issue of his infected computer. Plus, some of the files he wants to save may be Windows executable files or other documents he can't use on a Mac, so that is also a concern. Hell, buying a new PC and moving the files to that could be cheaper than buying a Mac, depending on the quality of the PC and the Mac being considered.

 

[brainslurper]

Depends how long the virus is in there. It is possible that the files you transfer to your newly erased hard drive could contain a duplicate of the virus, so I would recommend scanning those under quarantine just to be sure. Or better yet, buy a mac.

Scanning the files before moving them is a good idea. Spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a Mac doesn't solve the issue and isn't really a good idea in this situation, despite being a nice, cheeky little dig at PCs.

It actually seems like a perfectly reasonable solution, except for the cost of buying a new computer VS fixing the one infected with windows. Theres always ubuntu I suppose.

Well, perhaps if his concern was in preventing future infections, but that could be solved with decent antivirus and antimalware, a few of which are both free and reliable. His current concern is really just getting his current computer operational again, which can be done cheaply and with varying degrees of ease. If he switched to a Mac, it would cost tons of money and wouldn't solve the issue of his infected computer. Plus, some of the files he wants to save may be Windows executable files or other documents he can't use on a Mac, so that is also a concern. Hell, buying a new PC and moving the files to that could be cheaper than buying a Mac, depending on the quality of the PC and the Mac being considered.

Here is the thing with antivirus. As reliable as I'm sure it is, it is always going to ask you if you want to do anything you want to do. I don't use google chrome anymore because it was always saying "files like this could cause harm to your computer". Really, google? Is it that hard to tell the mac version not to worry about viruses? Moving to a mac would solve the problem of his infected computer, because he could move the potentially infected files to the mac, and never have to worry about them. If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

 

[DracoSuave]

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

Some people don't like to pay one thousand dollars for a five hundred dollar computer.

 

[ott615]

Ty for all the suggestions BUT, The file is GONE. I can't find it anywhere. Usually I would just delete the bugger, but the file itself is gone and a non-endable process shuts down any anti-virus that could search for it in my files...

 

[Vrach]

I fail to see what part installing Ubuntu plays in that. Merely reinstall windows and be done with it.

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

How's that vast selection of games you can play treating ya?

Haven't gotten a virus for so long now I can hardly remember when the last time was. Definitely more than 5 years, likely even over 8. My best mate doesn't even use an antivirus on his PC and he's in the same boat. And I know that if a virus did catch up to my PC somehow, I could reinstall my Windows in some 30 minutes and not lose a damn thing. I prefer using my brain to blowing my money on an overpriced machine that's useless to me just so I could not be paranoid over viruses and click ever porn ad I see.

 

[brainslurper]

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

Some people don't like to pay one thousand dollars for a five hundred dollar computer.

Some people don't like to get viruses. Also, show me where you can get a $500 computer that can compete with a $1000 macbook air.

 

[brainslurper]

I fail to see what part installing Ubuntu plays in that. Merely reinstall windows and be done with it.

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

How's that vast selection of games you can play treating ya?

Haven't gotten a virus for so long now I can hardly remember when the last time was. Definitely more than 5 years, likely even over 8. My best mate doesn't even use an antivirus on his PC and he's in the same boat. And I know that if a virus did catch up to my PC somehow, I could reinstall my Windows in some 30 minutes and not lose a damn thing. I prefer using my brain to blowing my money on an overpriced machine that's useless to me just so I could not be paranoid over viruses and click ever porn ad I see.

Pretty good, considering I can boot into windows for DX11, and then I can do everything else on OS X. (Still play source games under OS X because it is more stable)

 

[Vrach]

I fail to see what part installing Ubuntu plays in that. Merely reinstall windows and be done with it.

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

How's that vast selection of games you can play treating ya?

Haven't gotten a virus for so long now I can hardly remember when the last time was. Definitely more than 5 years, likely even over 8. My best mate doesn't even use an antivirus on his PC and he's in the same boat. And I know that if a virus did catch up to my PC somehow, I could reinstall my Windows in some 30 minutes and not lose a damn thing. I prefer using my brain to blowing my money on an overpriced machine that's useless to me just so I could not be paranoid over viruses and click ever porn ad I see.

Pretty good, considering I can boot into windows for DX11, and then I can do everything else on OS X. (Still play source games under OS X because it is more stable)

So all your overpriced computer needs to play games is another 100 bucks or so. Great selling point. At the price you get your Mac, I can take my computer, throw it out the window and order up a new one every time I catch a virus. Actually, even if I did that, your Mac would be more expensive x.x

Don't get me wrong, if you like your Mac and got the money for it, more power to you. But saying "get a Mac so you don't have to deal with viruses" is just the silliest thing you can come up with :\

 

[brainslurper]

I fail to see what part installing Ubuntu plays in that. Merely reinstall windows and be done with it.

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

How's that vast selection of games you can play treating ya?

Haven't gotten a virus for so long now I can hardly remember when the last time was. Definitely more than 5 years, likely even over 8. My best mate doesn't even use an antivirus on his PC and he's in the same boat. And I know that if a virus did catch up to my PC somehow, I could reinstall my Windows in some 30 minutes and not lose a damn thing. I prefer using my brain to blowing my money on an overpriced machine that's useless to me just so I could not be paranoid over viruses and click ever porn ad I see.

Pretty good, considering I can boot into windows for DX11, and then I can do everything else on OS X. (Still play source games under OS X because it is more stable)

So all your overpriced computer needs to play games is another 100 bucks or so. Great selling point. At the price you get your Mac, I can take my computer, throw it out the window and order up a new one every time I catch a virus. Actually, even if I did that, your Mac would be more expensive x.x

Don't get me wrong, if you like your Mac and got the money for it, more power to you. But saying "get a Mac so you don't have to deal with viruses" is just the silliest thing you can come up with :\

Not so silly to me. If I buy a macbook air, I am buying a cheaper, higher quality , more secure computer then anything else like it. If people really like losing all their data every once in a while to a virus, go ahead.

 

[Vrach]

I fail to see what part installing Ubuntu plays in that. Merely reinstall windows and be done with it.

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

How's that vast selection of games you can play treating ya?

Haven't gotten a virus for so long now I can hardly remember when the last time was. Definitely more than 5 years, likely even over 8. My best mate doesn't even use an antivirus on his PC and he's in the same boat. And I know that if a virus did catch up to my PC somehow, I could reinstall my Windows in some 30 minutes and not lose a damn thing. I prefer using my brain to blowing my money on an overpriced machine that's useless to me just so I could not be paranoid over viruses and click ever porn ad I see.

Pretty good, considering I can boot into windows for DX11, and then I can do everything else on OS X. (Still play source games under OS X because it is more stable)

So all your overpriced computer needs to play games is another 100 bucks or so. Great selling point. At the price you get your Mac, I can take my computer, throw it out the window and order up a new one every time I catch a virus. Actually, even if I did that, your Mac would be more expensive x.x

Don't get me wrong, if you like your Mac and got the money for it, more power to you. But saying "get a Mac so you don't have to deal with viruses" is just the silliest thing you can come up with :\

Not so silly to me. If I buy a macbook air, I am buying a cheaper, higher quality , more secure computer then anything else like it. If people really like losing all their data every once in a while to a virus, go ahead.

Can't argue with you there, I never considered a thin laptop, only looked around for what it was once, when a friend of mine complained she needed a lighter version of a laptop because the normal one was too heavy for her.

That said, I never lost an ounce of data to a virus - not even back in the 90s when they were a slightly more serious threat and I was a 10 year old first discovering the internet, thinking companies went around sending people vacation tickets in emails.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Yea, you can. As long as you have a motherboard/BIOS (which you do) you can always boot into something.

But, um, I'm not sure how well your plan would work out. Why not boot info safe mode, and delete the virus? I've done it plenty of times.

What's more, if safemode for some reason isn't accessible, but you can still download stuff (which you would kind of have to to get Ubuntu) look into the AVG recovery disc. You burn a bootable CD or make a bootable flash drive which contains two things: a low level antivirus/antimalware scanner, and a custom version of linux to run it on. Pop that baby in the drive, fire it up, and hopefully you'll be clean. Although, honestly, if you've got viruses so bad that you can't even get into safemode, a complete reformatting may not be such a bad thing. But it needs to be a last resort.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I fail to see what part installing Ubuntu plays in that. Merely reinstall windows and be done with it.

If he had bought a mac in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion, would we?

How's that vast selection of games you can play treating ya?

Haven't gotten a virus for so long now I can hardly remember when the last time was. Definitely more than 5 years, likely even over 8. My best mate doesn't even use an antivirus on his PC and he's in the same boat. And I know that if a virus did catch up to my PC somehow, I could reinstall my Windows in some 30 minutes and not lose a damn thing. I prefer using my brain to blowing my money on an overpriced machine that's useless to me just so I could not be paranoid over viruses and click ever porn ad I see.

Pretty good, considering I can boot into windows for DX11, and then I can do everything else on OS X. (Still play source games under OS X because it is more stable)

So all your overpriced computer needs to play games is another 100 bucks or so. Great selling point. At the price you get your Mac, I can take my computer, throw it out the window and order up a new one every time I catch a virus. Actually, even if I did that, your Mac would be more expensive x.x

Don't get me wrong, if you like your Mac and got the money for it, more power to you. But saying "get a Mac so you don't have to deal with viruses" is just the silliest thing you can come up with :\

Not so silly to me. If I buy a macbook air, I am buying a cheaper, higher quality , more secure computer then anything else like it. If people really like losing all their data every once in a while to a virus, go ahead.

Can't argue with you there, I never considered a thin laptop, only looked around for what it was once, when a friend of mine complained she needed a lighter version of a laptop because the normal one was too heavy for her.

That said, I never lost an ounce of data to a virus - not even back in the 90s when they were a slightly more serious threat and I was a 10 year old first discovering the internet, thinking companies went around sending people vacation tickets in emails.

I've never lost anything to a virus. My dad, however, lost our entire MyDocuments folder because system restore said it would delete all the programs and leave all the data files, and it did the opposite. Years worth of pictures and school papers down the drain.

That's right, the virus didn't destroy the data; the flippin' recovery disc did. The virus didn't do much more than change our homepage in whatever web browser we were using at the time.

Edit: Incidentally, this was not the AVG recovery disc I was talking about earlier.

 

[brainslurper]

Snip

Yeah, for the average computer user some common sense will prevent most viruses. For professional use, where there are hundreds of incoming connections to my computer, which runs 24/7, I just can't risk the downtime a virus would provide, even if I can get my data back.