Last month I got a machine riddled with a virus which I could not nail down.
The tendency lately, as far as malware is concerned, is commercial - mainly fooling the user to buy a spoofed antivirus piece of software which emulates the behaviour and looks of another antivirus package. Not this one, though.
I found out that the PC was infected with the so called Virut virus after extensive research based on the fact that almost every executable running in memory was throwing an exeption.
Virut is a worm that spreads in your system by appending itself to executable files (.EXEs). Once it gains control of the compromised machine, every executable you launch after that will consequently get infected with the virus.
Once a machine gets infected with the Virut worm, it becomes very difficult to clean.
In this case the technician/user is presented with two options:
1) Reformat/wipe the whole machine;
2) Try and clean the system (more difficult);
I went down the second route because the customer had set-ups I could not replicate and software they needed but have lost the source CDs/installer files for.
After some trial and error, I found out that the best way to do this is as follows:
- download AVG Virut Removal Tool.
- put it on a USB stick;
- create a bootable CD using BartPE builder;
- connect the USB stick and boot to the CD;
- run the AVG software from the USB stick on your hard drives/partitions;
After the scan is finished, boot into normal Windows mode and run a scan with an up-to-date antivirus package - I recommend Kaspersky Internet Security.
This will be like a double check that the system is clean and free of any infection.
For more practical tips and tricks visit my blog:
http://bigboysdontclick.com
About the Author
Eujenio de la Garcia is a freelance PC technician. He resides and works in the UK.
(ArticlesBase SC #1004079)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ - The right approach to fighting the Virut worm
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