Damn Malware!

Is there anyone out there?
Last week my computer became infected with some malware. Before this, I haven't even heared the term 'malware'.
Every single 'external link' that I clicked on was hijacked.
If I wanted to open the page I had to check the properties, copy the address and past it into the adress bar.
It turned off my Antivirus and Firewall.
I ended up having 27 virus/spyware on my computer.

Anyway I found some help. Someone had a similar problem and was told to manually delete a registry key in the windows startup. I did this and the problem was solved. I did miscellaneous virus/spyware scans several times. My computer has been coming up clean. It is running smoothly since.

Here's the thing: Last night I was cleaning some folders, reorganising & deleting etc. When I came across a folder with several 'pictures'. These pictures were both disturbing and illegal in almost every country. I deleted the folder and ran more virus/spyware scans, coming up with nothing. I swear this folder wasn't there after I did the initial virus/spyware scans, and I believe that it might have been very recent.


Here's where I need your help.
Are there any programs that scan specifically for malware that is 'invisible' to other scan programs?
Is it possible/worth it to save all my work on CD's, and delete windows, and reinstall it. Would this get rid of any malware that still might be on the system?
Surely If there are any other 'picture folders' this would delete those too. Right?
:shk::shk::shk:

Thanks.

I can help. I've added you on MSN. I can show you what to do next time you have this problem if it occurs again, and how to protect yourself in the future.

download:
ccleaner
ad aware se
spybot search and distroy
zonealarm-a software firewall

Hope this helps!!!

Check out this thread.

Virus & Spyware Help

I've spent a lot of time putting up some information pertaining to the subject, so hopefully you can find some of the posts useful.

[edit on 2-11-2006 by chissler]

Thanks Chissler. I did check it out, but it didn't really seem to cater to my needs.
BTW:

Originally posted by chissler
Look for HKeyLocal_Machine when you find this open it up.

This is where my initial 'little friend' was hiding.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
download:
ccleaner
ad aware se
spybot search and distroy
zonealarm-a software firewall

Hope this helps!!!

Yeah, I've tried Ad Aware and Spybot S&D.
Ad Aware was usless in this situation, but SpyBot was fairly good.


Hey Messiah, thanks for the help...nothing came up in safemode. I'm going to system restore later today.


[edit on 2-11-2006 by Gear]

I usually use first Autoruns, from Sysinternals, to see what Windows is loading, and if I see anything I don't know, I disable it.

You can also use RootkitRevealer, also from Sysinternals, the program that found the Sony rootkit, to see if anything is hiding in your system.

you'll find using spybot when your computer is booted up in "safe mode" doubles the amount of nasty things it'll find. many times running a scan in regular mode can get blocked by user and process permissions (ie. not deleting the file because access is denied because the file is being used).

in safe mode scanners can freely delete what they need to. i also always run my anti-virus and spybot scans in safe mode.

Originally posted by bokinsmowl
you'll find using spybot when your computer is booted up in "safe mode" ...

Yeah, Messiah suggested that.
Came up clean.

With SpyBot your better off taking the results and manually going to the file and removing it.

Rarely does SB remove every infection. It will say it has sometimes, but it does very little.

If you go to Softpedia there is a free trial you can still find for SpySweeper. This is the best spyware tool in my opinion.

If your not able to find it on Softpedia, go to Google and type:

Spysweeper 14 day free trial

Then click I'm Feeling Lucky.

This has worked in the past too. Not sure if its still a valid option.