Mayday Mayday Mayday!
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Mayday Mayday Mayday!
Can anyone PLEASE PLEASE help,Lat night i made the big big mistake of trying to use a P2P shareware prog called Kazaa. After downloading and running install it messaged 'must check files which are copyrighted' (as they cannot be shared). It said this may take a few minutes. " hours later at only 72% compete i elected for the cancel option and thought try another day.
Turning on the pc this morning , half the icons on 'desktop' were missing and in the start menu many progs missing or there icons reading 'empty' (for example windows explorer is missing, the 'sytem tools' drag down menu is reading 'empty'. The whole of office professional is inoperable with the icons missing from the 'start' menu.
In 'control panel' in add/remove software office pro is still there indicating full mem values, however if i open a word doc at source, 'word' will part open and say 'cannot open, components missing'. Clearly everything is corrupt.
I decided to 'system restore' but on entering that tool i was horrified to find that all 'restore' points prior to the last boot up of the computer today ARE GONE!
I cannot restore!I then went to delete kazaa, and whilst looking in the program files directory found that the kazaa folder contained two other folders. One was entitled 'unshared folders'. I thought that sounds familiar, and opened it, utterly dismayed
to find 7543 files have been re-located there, many of which i can clearly identify as the missing files, but 100s of them just have numbers next to them. I then thought ok, finish the process, i had to install part of Kazaa again, ran the install, hoping that if the files had been put in there temporarily, they would be redirected home. Too much to hope for! This time the 'check for copyright' files took 2 mins, installation complete and a folder for 'unshared files' appears on the desktop. In there, my 7543 files. The comp still v v unwell.Please can anyone tell me how to get this horlicks of a situation back. Does anyone know if there is a process for carrying out a restore from DOS, which may have kept info that would allow me to restore to say 36 hours ago.
Anyone with any succesful info, i will gladly DHL a crate of beer of your choice, to your location (can't get it into Afghanistan or Iraq or Saudi!), but can have it chilled for your return.
HELP
Join Date: Aug 2006
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One of the finer points of P 2 P file sharing I am afraid people regularly omit to do is ‘Scan Before Opening’, had you done so you would first have detected the errant utility that rounded up all your files, probably a ‘RANSOM WORM’ by the way, designed to collect as many important files as it can then let you know in no uncertain terms the price you need to pay to have them returned safe and well, seems this one’s gone slightly wrong so I guess that virus writers are people too and make mistakes.
In this case unless you can cause the utility to run again, which is doubtful as it now has possession of all your files, it will not reveal to method by which you can put them all back again, as a result there is little you can do except reformat the drive, re-install XP and all you hard won programs and learn a few simple lessons.
Always backup your data, loads of utilities around for doing this automatically.
Always keep your antivirus and Spyware scanners up to date and USE them.
Always understand that P 2 P is like playing hopscotch in a minefield.
Kazaa has long been the preferred home of every limp jawed louse virus writer for many years and the owners have done nothing but encourage them from day one, the lite version is little if no better though I admit easier to control, I suggest that once you get yourself sorted out you never allow this utility back onto your system and if you really do need to go downloading again, use something like LIMEWIRE or a bit torrent service maybe UTORRENTS to obtain your files, even so make sure you use a specific folder for every download and scan it to pieces before opening anything and like myself you may go for months without a problem but always be prepared to accept that these services are inherently unsafe and that if you use them a lot you will inevitably get hit by something.
In this case unless you can cause the utility to run again, which is doubtful as it now has possession of all your files, it will not reveal to method by which you can put them all back again, as a result there is little you can do except reformat the drive, re-install XP and all you hard won programs and learn a few simple lessons.
Always backup your data, loads of utilities around for doing this automatically.
Always keep your antivirus and Spyware scanners up to date and USE them.
Always understand that P 2 P is like playing hopscotch in a minefield.
Kazaa has long been the preferred home of every limp jawed louse virus writer for many years and the owners have done nothing but encourage them from day one, the lite version is little if no better though I admit easier to control, I suggest that once you get yourself sorted out you never allow this utility back onto your system and if you really do need to go downloading again, use something like LIMEWIRE or a bit torrent service maybe UTORRENTS to obtain your files, even so make sure you use a specific folder for every download and scan it to pieces before opening anything and like myself you may go for months without a problem but always be prepared to accept that these services are inherently unsafe and that if you use them a lot you will inevitably get hit by something.
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
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Lesson sadly leaned, as Cyph says. I see no mention of an anti-virus prog which SHOULD have stopped this?
The internet is so 'hostile' now that I scan EVERYTHING new with AVG before I open.
Sadly I don't think you will be shipping any beer unless one of our gurus has a solution (and a thirst
)
The internet is so 'hostile' now that I scan EVERYTHING new with AVG before I open.
Sadly I don't think you will be shipping any beer unless one of our gurus has a solution (and a thirst
)
Official PPRuNe Chaplain
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You've been "had".
Unless you're very lucky, there's no way out other than to wipe the hard drive completely and start again.
If you have any personal files etc that you don't want to lose, you could try copying them onto a memory stick first - if the nasty will let you.
I'd try running the Windows setup CD, to see if it will repair the system (worth a try). I wouldn't be hopeful, though.
If that doesn't work, wipe the HD to remove all traces of the infection, then reinstall from scratch.
Unless you're very lucky, there's no way out other than to wipe the hard drive completely and start again.
If you have any personal files etc that you don't want to lose, you could try copying them onto a memory stick first - if the nasty will let you.
I'd try running the Windows setup CD, to see if it will repair the system (worth a try). I wouldn't be hopeful, though.
If that doesn't work, wipe the HD to remove all traces of the infection, then reinstall from scratch.
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If the computer's still bootable, visit the Trend Micro website and have them do an online scan of your system. There's a small chance they'll spot the bad guy, and a smaller chance they'll have a fix. If not Trend, then try McAfee's online scan.
In this sort of situation, the antivirus that could have prevented it happening is, unfortunately, the user.
Let google be your friend.
I just typed "kazaa problems: there are plenty of adverse reports. (BTW Kazaa is well known to be bundled with spyware.)
The lesson is to search for reviews on any downloaded application before allowing it to download or run. (And then scan it, of course.)
AV's usually aren't great at detecting spyware, a dedicated scanner such as Superantispyware (free and paid resident versions available)
With a lot of work, you might be able to get it operative again. Google is (after Superantispyware) the most likely source for finding info on how to do it. Thousands of users have had this problem.
Good Luck.
Let google be your friend.
I just typed "kazaa problems: there are plenty of adverse reports. (BTW Kazaa is well known to be bundled with spyware.)
The lesson is to search for reviews on any downloaded application before allowing it to download or run. (And then scan it, of course.)
AV's usually aren't great at detecting spyware, a dedicated scanner such as Superantispyware (free and paid resident versions available)
With a lot of work, you might be able to get it operative again. Google is (after Superantispyware) the most likely source for finding info on how to do it. Thousands of users have had this problem.
Good Luck.
