"Security Tools" malware and now cannot re-boot.

[shawnh]

Hi everybody, I'm REALLY glad I found this site. I've got a problem - last night I ran Trendmicro Housecall on my desktop and it found a bunch of threats (49!), I ran the fixes on them then re-booted. When it came up after the reboot it was shoing all this bogus "Security Tools" antivirus thing (I have heard about this virus). I couldn't do anything as these windows kept coming up. I tried re-booting again and now it won't even re-boot! It just goes as far as the POST and then nothing. I can do F8 to get into debug mode but no matter what option I choose there, it won't go into any kind of mode.

 

Can anyone please help?

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[RandyL]

Hi shawnh. If you can't even get into safemode you may need to perform a repair installation. What is the make, model and number of the PC? Do you have any disks that came with it?

[shawnh]

Hi Randy, thanks for the quick reply. Well, this desktop is actually a big ol' computer that a colleague of mine in Pennsylvania shipped to me. It had a hard drive full of data that we both needed and he just sent me the whole thing. No disk or anything with it, but it has XP Pro on it. If I find another XP pro disk around here somwehere, will I be able to do this? Do you know if this will cause me to lose all my data?

 

The make - "Neon Light, network System".Where do I find the model & number of it?

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[RandyL]

I think that might be just the computer case and not the computer itself. It might be a built computer rather than an off the shelf one. If so you will need the XP disk. It has to be the full installation media and not a recovery disk.

 

I would wait for others to comment on the best course of action for you to take. However read this in the mean time. A repair will not cause loss of data. How To Run a Repair Install

[shawnh]

thank you Randy, I'll read that.

 

Thanks

Shawn

[shawnh]

I tried this today - I found this video on Youtube about recovering files from a computer that won't boot up:

 

 

... I was able to boot the broken computer up with this Linux boot CD I made,and I could go into the hard drive and see all my files there! But when it came to copying my files (I just need ONE main file in particular, an Excel spreadsheet I put a lot of work into lately), it wouldn't do it. I tried copying to a floppy disk - it said a message like "Error, cannot write file to disk" or something. I also connected a Seagate external HD to the broken computer and it recognized it and I could view all the file on the external HD. I thought I had it made then, but when I tried to copy my important file to the external HD, it gave kinda the same error message. Have you ever played with Linux or this boot CD concept? If this would work, it'd be ideal for me now - I'd worry later about restoring Windows on the broken computer.

 

Thanks

Shawn

[RandyL]

I'm clueless when it comes to Linux but I have heard of the method you are trying. There are others here that are experienced with this method.

 

As data recovery is a high priority for you please wait for them to answer. There is also the option of taking out your drive and hooking it up to another computer which will also work.

 

I understand your desire to be cautious. I would probably feel the same way.

[Tootech]

If you are using something like Knoppix as your Linux CD you will need to make your target disk writeable.

 

Right click over the drive (icon on desktop?) and select "Change read/write mode" or something similar, make it writeable and you should be good to go.

 

Another way of doing it is using the BART boot CD - run a Google for it, it runs a Windows bootable environment and is easier to use.

 

Yet another is the Avast bootable CD - its a paid for product but you can get a trial by emailing them.

[shawnh]

Thanks for the reply Tootech. You wrote:

 

 

If you are using something like Knoppix as your Linux CD you will need to make your target disk writeable.

Right click over the drive (icon on desktop?) and select "Change read/write mode" or something similar, make it writeable and you should be good to go.

 

 

Yep, I went into the properties and tried to change the read/write mode. It was showing read only, for the floppy disk and for my external HD (I have no idea why, I always write to this external HD), but it wouldn't let me change the permissions... gave some error message. :-(

 

 

Another way of doing it is using the BART boot CD - run a Google for it, it runs a Windows bootable environment and is easier to use.

 

 

I will check that out! I'm clueless about Linux and would feel way more comfortable with a Windows thing. Thanks!

 

 

 

Yet another is the Avast bootable CD - its a paid for product but you can get a trial by emailing them.

[shawnh]

Thanks guys, I got a little USB drive the other day and bango, I was able to rescue my file right away - phew! OK, next step will be to re-installl Windows XP Pro. Thanks again for your help guys.

 

Cheers

Shawn