O/T Computer System Restore

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

Heres one for the computer gurus. My son succesfully installed some sort of trojan/virus/UPU (or whatever you call them) last night onto our brand new computer. It kept throwing up messages that it had been infected with Win32.Banker.FS and Trojan spyagent da etc and we needed to run a spyware scan called Wista etc etc.

After downloading and running Adaware and Spybot search and destroy with no apparent effect, I then tried a system restore, selecting Wednesday night as the earlier time to restore too.

Does that mean everything has been restored to the status quo as of Wednesday night and all is good or do I still need to worry?

I am currently running a virus scan, but I assume that by going back to Wednesday night we have eliminated last nights faux pas?

[mav Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close mav]

Re: O/T Computer System Restore

Heres one for the computer gurus. My son succesfully installed some sort of trojan/virus/UPU (or whatever you call them) last night onto our brand new computer. It kept throwing up messages that it had been infected with Win32.Banker.FS and Trojan spyagent da etc and we needed to run a spyware scan called Wista etc etc.

After downloading and running Adaware and Spybot search and destroy with no apparent effect, I then tried a system restore, selecting Wednesday night as the earlier time to restore too.

Does that mean everything has been restored to the status quo as of Wednesday night and all is good or do I still need to worry?

I am currently running a virus scan, but I assume that by going back to Wednesday night we have eliminated last nights faux pas?

Not necessarily, some of the more sophisticated viruses cannot be overcome by doing a simple restore. What operating system are you running? Windows XP or Vista?

[Rainman Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rainman]

XP. There was a little red crossed circular icon in the system tray that is no longer visible, and I am getting no more warning messages etc so on the surface at least it looks OK, I'm just wondering if i've been lulled into a false sense of security

[dustie Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dustie]

I think its adware, when you click on the banner it doesn't let you shut down and keeps popping banners. If you know exactly the adware then you could also check the registry for any entries.

On the command prompt type: regedit

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

I would be very suspicious that it has gone after a restore. If the spyware has added anything in the registry, which they usually do, then a restore wont find it or fix it. If you do not know Windows intimately then keep out of the registry otherwise you may change some innocuous looking thing and the computer will not reboot. The registry is NOT something to experiment with.

A quick google indicates Win32.Banker.FS is an insidious bout of malware. You may find software to remove it but there are quite a few links to people still stuck with the thing after many tries.

Sorry to say but I think you are up for a fresh install. Maybe two. You will need to wipe the drive of everything (format) so back up data onto another disc or a DVD/CD. Only data not registry entries or .dll files or .exe files etc.

If you internet bank or ebay etc then it is not worth the risk to have spyware on the machine.

Better safe than sorry is never more apt than when you e-commerce.

Michael

[IRON-PAWW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close IRON-PAWW]

Fresh install will be 99% sure of getting rid of it. Believe it or not but some very nasty viruses can survive this. You'd have to be extremely unlucky though. And I mean extremely unlucky.

System restore is unlikely to get rid of a virus infection.

As stated, stay out of the registry if you don't know what you're doing. Very very easy to completely stuff windows entirely. However, if you do know what you're doing you can completely fix windows too! If you want to go down that path, make one change at a time and note down what you changed. Put it back if things go downhill.

Before you go down the fresh install path though, try the following free downloads. I have both and use them for virus scans regularly. They are reasonable scanners that do not hog your system too much. Both are free to use, and update virus definitions all the time.

(1) Avira Antivirus
http://www.free-av.com/

(2) Avast Antivirus
http://vvww-avast.com/

You will need to provide your email address and register to use Avast but it doesn't cost anything. From memory there is a check box you can untick so you don't receive email gumpf.

Be wary of Norton's antivirus! Great for killing viruses, bad for absolutely killing your pc's performance. Impossible to completely uninstall to boot. Sadly, I really wouldn't recommend it.