help with my laptop....

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Mike Dziubina

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let me start off by saying i'm probably the most technically declined college student you can meet...i was actually doing an assignment for one of my classes, we were instructed to go to this web site and i guess i got a pop-up, but it looked EXACTLY similar to my anti-virus protection system...so i click proceed and then my computer freaks with all this virus warning stuff...to make a long story short...looks like my laptop is screwed for the time being...i have 3 8-10 page papers due this week and i can't even get on my laptop...tried starting it in "safe mode" and still won't work...the help desk here seems to just be lazy and jsut wants to reimage the computer but i don't feel like loosing everything i have on here (some very important stuff)...now i can deal with the virus later but is there anything i can do to just write the papers? thanks.



i'm going to my class now and i can't wait to tell my professor! (to top it off it's a computer/internet oriented/history class!)



mike
 
I would simply do a "system restore" in the date book and just go back to the last backup made before you got hit with that junk...



Todd Z
 
Agree with Todd, just tell your computer to go back a few days to a point you KNOW all was well..



Go to "Start", then "accessories", then "system tools", then "system restore", then you can either create a restore point or go back to a point that was good. Choose the latter, then from the list, simply click on a date that all was working...
 
but i can't even get to my start menu...when and IF it allows me to log on, all that will load is my background...don't get me wrong i will definitely try this! this is great...thank you



edit - and will this work for me if i do it in "safe Mode" start up?
 
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Boot from your windows disk if it is vista I know you can get to the system restore mode that way
 
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Evan is correct, and yes, you can get to it in safe mode.



And,,, google tool bar has a free pop up blocker that works very well..



Simply download google tool bar and it is part of it.
 
DO NOT download or install nortan or MCafee. 1 they are expensive, and 2 good luck trying to uninstall them or use them with some other software. I use Avast (www.avast.com) and its completely free. also i use ZONEALARM (www.zonelabs.com) also free for basic. Avast will do a complete system scan once installed and is by far the best anti virus out there.
 
I would simply do a "system restore" in the date book and just go back to the last backup made before you got hit with that junk...



Todd Z
Click to expand...



This will be ineffective. Viri infect the system restore file system as well. This is why when you purchase an external HD, most recommend turning off system restore.



Boot in safe mode minimum, run a virus program, and hope for the best. After this, consider buying a backup HD. They're inexpensive and fantastic for events like this.
 
Adam, It depends on the virious..... The one he has sounds like one I got.....

My idea fixed it....



Todd Z
 
All good suggestions.



May I add two more? Watch the clock. Sometimes a simple reinstall turns into an all day project. You've got 3 papers due, you don't want to be spending a lot of time trying to fix things up.



Second, go grab a Live-DVD Version of Linux and keep it in your computer tool box. That way if you do run into windows problems and don't have time to fix them, you can just boot from the DVD, load whatever files you need from your hard drive, finish your projects, and then worry about getting Windows fixed up later once you have more time.



Good luck.



 
well thanks to all for the help...i tried all ideas and no luck...i had to leave campus today, drive back home pick up another laptop and drive back to school...pain in my @ss...looks like i'm going to have to reimage my computer...worst of all, now i can't save anything on an external hard drive because this virus is not alloowing my computer to recognise the HD...goodbye 3 years of college work! honestly...why do these people have to do this? don't they have anything better to do in life? i really don't understand some people anymore...i'm really efing pissed right now!
 
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Sounds like Smitfraud. It's common, been wreaking havoc recently. Cleanup instructions below.



http://www.pchell.com/support/smitfraud.shtml
 
nobleman - thank you for your input, however , whatever i have isn't even letting me open my browser, antivirus, system restore, and sometimes even my whole computer...i can't get to those web sites...so thank you anyway though...
 
Yes, but you said you had a second laptop. You can browse the site for manual removal instructions with the working laptop, then work in safe mode on the busted laptop.



You can also download any utilities to a thumb drive from the working laptop, then move it over to the broken one.



Of course, if you have nothing to lose, save yourself time and re-image it with the OEM cd.
 
I also had a pop up showing Antispyware 2008XP that looked like a legitamate virus scan. It showed that I had 20 plus viruses on my system and that If I downloaded their antiv-virus software for $50 it would remove these viruses. I was a bit suspicious when I ran my own virus scans and could't find any of these so-called viruses. Symantec showed this to be a malware and a bogus site. Seems that this is a fraud in that your system doesn't acutally have these viruses and the site just wants to charge you for doing nothing. I ran Symantec, Ad-Aware and Spybot and still can't remove this popup which shows up when I start the computer. I have to use Task Manager (Alt-Control-Delet) to end the program so that I can use the computer. If this is the pop up you are getting, you may try this so that you can acess your files.
 
I agree with Nobleman. I had the Smitfraud virus and it wouldn't allow me to acces my drive that contained all my systems files on it (it would not even show up under "My Computer" and I had a red radioactive symbol pop up as a desktop picture. Some of my desk top icons dissapeared and some nasty labeled ones apeared. I did the smitfraud fix step by step and it solved my problem.



Good luck!



Denis
 
Don't re-image yet! Easiest way I know to rescue your files is to use your second computer to download and burn a copy of Ubuntu live DVD. Put the DVD in your damaged computer and reboot to bypass windows completely. You can then copy your files to an external drive. Ubuntu is Linux so there are no worries that it will catch a windows virus.



Or if it is easy to remove your hard drive, just take it out and put it in an external case and grab the files off there. I've used both solutions in the past on friends computers.
 

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