Virus / data recovery - help!

[danlefeb]

Do you have a second computer that you can plug the drive into as a slave to pull the data off?

[danshewan]

I do have a second PC, though it doesn't have a PSU and I really wouldn't know how or what to do in order to accomplish that. It does have a clean hard drive, though.

[olson]

Even if you can get Windows to boot again it sounds like its time to reinstall anyway. Best option would be to put that drive into another system and get information that way. If you don't have another working system to get the information you could use a live disc like Ubuntu or Knoppix to copy the data to another blank disc using the computer you have. Or call a friend and use their system. Hind sight is 20/20 but this is why backup should happen at least daily, automatically if possible. If you need assistance with the Linux live disc method feel free to ask questions here as I'm primarily a Linux user. Cheers!

[danshewan]

Thanks for the tips, Olsen. I actually finally managed to boot into Safe mode, so for now at least I have the option of burning over 110GB of data to disks (yay), but I've managed to eliminate just about all the malware on the system so hopefully by later on tonight I'll be able to at least access Windows normally - Safe mode feels like time traveling back to 1994....

Thanks again for your help.

[danlefeb]

If you can get the data off, I'd recommend doing what Olson says and go ahead and reformat anyway. It'll not only clean out your system but its the only way to really guarantee that everything malicious is actually gone.

[meyers3d]

I always feel like Windows XP is a ticking time bomb. It seems every 4-6 months I end up reinstalling it onto my computer because of something going haywire (virus,malware,things slowing down,etc). As a result I have multiple hard drives (at least 3) for my data, so every time I reinstall it saves me a headache since Im just re-wiping the hard drive with windows installed.

Im glad you were able to backup your data. :thumbsup:

[meleseDESIGN]

It´s not Win XP, it´s up to the user in front of the System.
Don´t download executable files if you don´t know where they´re comming from and even then do a Scan with an AV Tool to ensure it´s really free of badware. Close all your ports which you don´t use, better is using a hardware firewall or router with a integrated firewall. If you use a wireless environment secure it via WEP-Key or use MAC address restrictions. Disable CD/DVD autorun function under windows to ensure executable files wont run automaticly when you insert a CD/DVD into your drive. Froget about Avast, use Kaspersky or Symantec as an active AV scaner, they have the best engine(s) and are really worth the money. Backup your hole system partition with an image recovery tool after a clean OS installation including drivers and preferred applications, so you don´t need to go through the hole installation procedure if you need to reinstall your hole system.

[olson]

It´s not Win XP, it´s up to the user in front of the System.
Don´t download executable files if you don´t know where they´re comming from and even then do a Scan with an AV Tool to ensure it´s really free of badware. Close all your ports which you don´t use, better is using a hardware firewall or router with a integrated firewall. If you use a wireless environment secure it via WEP-Key or use MAC address restrictions. Disable CD/DVD autorun function under windows to ensure executable files wont run automaticly when you insert a CD/DVD into your drive. Froget about Avast, use Kaspersky or Symantec as an active AV scaner, they have the best engine(s) and are really worth the money. Backup your hole system partition with an image recovery tool after a clean OS installation including drivers and preferred applications, so you don´t need to go through the hole installation procedure if you need to reinstall your hole system.

The fact that you would consider a complete system image for a one off system says a lot about the reliability of Windows XP. Give the dude a little credit, its a terrible operating system and always has been. I remember setting up a fresh install on numerous occations, plugging it into the network to get updates, and then twenty seconds later getting warnings saying the system was remotely shutdown, blah, blah, blah, whatever virus that was that existed on pretty much every network. It sure was better than Windows ME but it was never good. Cheers!

[danshewan]

If you can get the data off, I'd recommend doing what Olson says and go ahead and reformat anyway. It'll not only clean out your system but its the only way to really guarantee that everything malicious is actually gone.

Yeah, I plan on it. I managed to eliminate all but one rogue process on start up, but disabling it has proven an exercise in futility. I can boot into Windows normally, but after a short while it freezes me out of my Start menu and task bar, so a clean installation is next on my to-do list after backing up the data.

Give the dude a little credit, its a terrible operating system and always has been.

Thanks, Olson. Nothing like a patronizing wall of text to make a guy feel better, eh? ;)

[meleseDESIGN]

The fact that you would consider a complete system image for a one off system says a lot about the reliability of Windows XP. Give the dude a little credit, its a terrible operating system and always has been. I remember setting up a fresh install on numerous occations, plugging it into the network to get updates, and then twenty seconds later getting warnings saying the system was remotely shutdown, blah, blah, blah, whatever virus that was that existed on pretty much every network. It sure was better than Windows ME but it was never good. Cheers!

I feel with you, because I hear those issues at least 3 times in a week from friends who still using XP.
But it wont change my opinion that the user in front of a PC is the idiot and not the PC.
In your case it was the Virus that causes the shutdown, not you and not the OS, but you could have avoided it somehow.

Anyways, my helpful hints are free of charge and did not just include Windows XP users. ;)

[olson]

In your case it was the Virus that causes the shutdown, not you and not the OS, but you could have avoided it somehow.

Yeah, by not using Windows XP. :thumbsup:

Or for a serious answer, you can manually download all of the Windows updates to a jump drive and manually install each one on the machine before plugging it into a network because its hacked as hell without updates. :banghead:

[meleseDESIGN]

Why not create a selfinstallation setup.exe or make a slipstream CD?
I see a diskimage with all the integrated updates comes in pretty handy in your situation as well.

Serious. there are many solutions also in this case ;)

[ggkkkats]

Today I got almost the same problem as ''danshewan'' said with my avast antivirus.Is there any hope to recover any files using safe mode for windows XP?Thank's, and if you have any other idea about recovering my files please feel free to mention it.Thank;s again.

[nogojoe]

I always feel like Windows XP is a ticking time bomb. It seems every 4-6 months I end up reinstalling it onto my computer because of something going haywire (virus,malware,things slowing down,etc). As a result I have multiple hard drives (at least 3) for my data, so every time I reinstall it saves me a headache since Im just re-wiping the hard drive with windows installed.

Im glad you were able to backup your data. :thumbsup:

This is absurd. The problem, quite frankly, is you. I have never had a virus or other types of malware. Windows is like being in a really bad neighborhood, all the time. You've got to live with that concept and take appropriate precautions and use common sense. Somewhere along the way you're failing in basic computer safety.

[earwax69]

I've saved my ass from this situation once by installing a second Windows on my C disk. Just be careful to not format and you should not loose anything. Afterward I deleted the first windows folder.

Maybe its time to get a 70$ external 1Tb USB drive!

[DanielWray]

Maybe its time to get a 70$ external 1Tb USB drive!

This is what I do, I save all of my work to this drive. If anything goes wrong with my internal drive I just need to install the OS and software again, plus I can just unplug and take my files anywhere.

If I were you I would backup your data and then install windows 7, it's a massive step-up from XP and if anything tries to execute in the background it'll come up with a UAC window, which is really helpful. Plus you might one to get Comodo security, it's free and amazingly powerful.

[luxwork]

Stop. Your system is full of trojans and other nasties. Likely, one of those alerts you got was a spoof and caused you to run a malware script. Hopefully you did not wreck your os, but you can recover from this 100% if you act quick when this happens, and disconnect your system from the net.
Get this, burn it to disk:
http://www.f-secure.com/linux-weblog/2009/09/22/rescue-cd-311/
It is the best one I have seen. It will boot your system and do a live update before it runs.
Learn how hijack-this works as well. You can use it to see if there are any residuals.
Good luck. I have successfully recovered os's multiple times, it can be done. At the very least, you can get to your data, worst case, you need to create an ubuntu live cd and use it to copy the data off to an external drive.
MD

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