Huge Emergency!!!
Last edited Sun Jun 28, 2015, 06:51 AM - Edit history (1)
UPDATE: I found this page that gives you various ways to get rid of what at this point I'm about as sure as I can be is called Trojan.Poweliks...
http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-explorer-exe-virus/
None of the suggested ways to get rid of this thing work as whoever is responsible for the infection has corrupted all of the suggested software so that they won't work. For trying to use MalwareBytes it won't let you open the Run dialog box or let you update MalwareBytes. For the HitmanPro, something happens with Windows system files it finds where the files that show up as being infected are mysteriously hijacked and removed from the program so you can't delete them. For RogueKiller, I'm almost done the scan, but I think the evil person that is responsible for this trojan has corrupted everything it tells you in the guide at malwaretips to use to get rid of it. HELP!
_________________________________________________________________
I think I may have a hideous virus. Nothing at all that I'm doing is working. Around noon on Saturday (technically yesterday now since it's after midnight) I tried to download a video from YouTube of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus because I thought I saw my brother in the video. He's been a tenor with them for many years (the rest of us are tone deaf shower singers, but he was blessed with a gorgeous voice). I used FlashGot to try to download the video to my computer since in trying to watch videos on YouTube I've always had massive buffering problems. As a side note, the guy I thought was him just can't be since my brother would have much more gray hair than whoever it was that I thought was him, but they do look amazingly alike).
I think there must have been a virus attached to that file or some other video file on the page. This was the first time I've tried using FlashGot because I've always used to use Video Download Helper, and for some reason that automatically updated to a new version that doesn't work anymore as all it would let me do is a screen capture of a video (lots of other people had the same problem, and it's not fixed yet). So I got the FlashGot Add-on from Firefox and used that instead.
Because I'd never used it before, I think I accidentally told it to download all the videos on the page at YouTube, and there were 26 of them, so it could be another video than the one I wanted to download that may have come with a virus. I tried to stop the download and couldn't figure out how, so I did a reboot, and suddenly my entire computer went to crap with the massive slows and not finishing starting up everything on the desk top.
I tried to delete the one YouTube video that had started to download and it told me that some other file was using it and it wouldn't delete. Except I didn't have anything open, so I'm thinking that there was a virus attached to that video that won't let me delete it, but I have no idea what file that would be (the one that says it's using the video file).
I went into my task manager and saw that the explorer.exe file was sucking up 97% to 100% CPU. This had happened once before years ago, and I got rid of it by updating IE to version 8 which is the last version that can be used with XP (I have XP Pro and have never had the money to upgrade, and until this it's been just fine).
I went into Safe Mode and tried to do a MalwareBytes scan, but it was out of date and wouldn't let me update it. That was the first notion I got that this was a virus. I also always have AVG running, and it catches everything. AVG won't let me update either. So, then I'm REALLY thinking that this is a horrible terrible virus.
In Safe Mode I did a System Restore, and for the first time EVER using XP it "says" it worked, except that the blue line that indicates that it's restoring to a later date never came to the end, and the automatic reboot happened as if it was finished restoring, and that damn video is still there, I still can't delete it for the same reason, and I still have the same problem with explorer.exe sucking up 99% to 100% CPU. No change. Still have the problem. And now I think that this virus fiddled with System Restore as well because that has NEVER worked in XP (my fix it computer guy told me the last time he was here that XP always had issues with System Restore not working).
AVG tried to do an automatic update like it normally does every night and it won't complete. I don't know if that's because of how slow the computer is running or because of some virus, and I'm thinking it's a virus since it's not letting me get rid of this video I tried to download that started this mess, and I can't update either AVG or Malwarebytes even in Safe Mode, and AVG never caught it to begin with.
I've tried everything I can think of to fix this mess, and I can't figure it out. I left a message for the computer fix it guy, and found out that he merged his company with another one, they have a new name, and he didn't call me back because apparently they now close at 3pm on Saturday and he won't be back in the office until noon on Sunday. The bigger problem is that it now costs $99 per hour of his time, and I've never paid anything close to that before, and he always used to charge the set rate for as long as it took to fix the problem, and if for some reason he couldn't fix it, he charged nothing at all.
I only have about $100 to my name. I also finally got the notice last Thursday on my door that I'm to be physically removed from here at noon on July 6th if I'm not gone before then, and I still can't find a way to get out of here. I've been doing writing work for crowdsource for a couple of weeks like crazy, but they pay a fraction of minimum wage, and I still have about $50 of work still pending in the editing pool. Worse, I can't get into paypal with this computer virus or whatever the hell it is because every time I try because the computer is going so damn slow it's timing out before I even can get logged in to see if any more money has come in yet from my work that I can transfer to my bank account and use.
I HAVE to get my computer working right again, and I don't think I'll ever be able to afford to have my computer guy come out to fix it. Every single moment right now is vital or I'm going to be out on the street and lose all my stuff and my dog, and my new job that hasn't bloody started yet!
That's another thing... I FINALLY got a long term temp job with a medical supply company through one of the agencies I've been dealing with, but I had to take a urine drug test on Friday, and Monday I still have to do a vision test, and the company doesn't get the results for a few more days after that, so I don't even think the job will start until I've already been thrown out, though I'm still struggling to find a way to avoid that somehow. I HAVE to get this computer fixed of whatever this problem is as fast as I possibly can. This is just the worst time in the world for this to happen!
Can anyone help me to fix this problem? I'm not very computer savy. But nothing I've tried has done anything, and every time I reboot it seems to get worse. Right now the internet seems to be doing ok, though it takes a loooooong time to get a page to open. It took me nearly 15 minutes just to get into DU, but once a Firefox page opened it seems to move along ok at that point (I hope).
= new reply since forum marked as read
Worst evil beast virus EVER! Even my saintly computer fixer guy couldn't kill it. He came over Monday and wrestled with the beast for 3 hours. Even he said he's never fought any beast this hard and lost. He took my computer back to his shop and wiped it out though he was able to save most of my emails, and documents, etc. I did lose all my bookmarks but that was my fault for forgetting to copy them and having him save that file, too. He had to put in a new hard drive. And he had already replaced mine this same time last year. Almost exactly a year to the day actually.
At least it doesn't seem to have gotten my paypal and bank passwords, and I had no idea that firefox was saving all my passwords for everything on the computer to begin with... what an incredibly stupid idea! Thankfully, I didn't dare go into either paypal or my bank while the beast was eating all my info or it would have gotten them. The beast was sending back everything it found to the creator of the wretched thing. Not even ComboFix in safe mode from a clean copy of his own could kill it or any of the other super-duper special "evil computer thing killers" that he had could... programs I've never heard of that computer fixer people probably have to buy. The second anything landed on the computer to kill it, the beast immediately found and corrupted.
I couldn't get my computer back until late in the day on Wednesday. My saintly fixer only charged me $99 for all that work that just had to have taken even more hours and hours back at his shop and let me back date the check for a month. He's done this kind of stuff before, and I know it can't be just for me... he's just a super good guy. Of all the bills I have that I can't pay (which is all of them) somehow I have to find a way to get him paid in a month more than all the others.
So, thanks for trying, but this horrible beast was just not killable even by an expert with super-duper killer stuff and hours of trying.
