Antivirus Software Is Destroying My Computer
in [Windows Viruses]
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From: Rebecca Chung Rebecca on 4 Mar 2010 09:00 I'm not sure what exactly is causing this, but Windows Defender keeps popping up messages like this: "Application cannot be executed. The file wuauclt.exe is infected. Do you want to activate your antivirus software now?" When I click on it, it opens up something called "Antivirus Soft", which pretty much tries to get me to buy it without solving anything. "Antivirus Soft" icons keep multiplying (I've let it multiply up to fifteen of them) on my notification area, but if I move my mouse over them, they all disappear. I cannot run any programs (i.e. Microsoft Word, Ultimate Zip, etc.), because the same message keeps popping up that whatever application cannot be executed, because the file is infected, do I want to activate my antivirus software... yeah. The only thing that works at least, thank goodness, is Firefox. I've run my Windows Defender scan on my computer, but it tells me nothing is wrong (when obviously something is). When I tried downloading other virus/spyware/malware software, such as Ad-Aware and Spybot, I AGAIN got the message that the application cannot be executed. So I'm in a bind. I can't do anything. I don't know if everything actually IS infected or if my Windows Defender software has some kind of malware on it - this "Antivirus Soft" thing, which I've never seen before - and I can't seem to remove it anyway. I can't uninstall programs either or use Task Manager... Anyway, I'm not tech-savvy at all, so I would appreciate it if someone could help me out... or if I should just head straight to the nearest computer doctor...
From: ~BD~ on 4 Mar 2010 09:27 Rebecca Chung wrote: > I'm not sure what exactly is causing this, but Windows Defender keeps popping > up messages like this: > "Application cannot be executed. The file wuauclt.exe is infected. Do you > want to activate your antivirus software now?" > When I click on it, it opens up something called "Antivirus Soft", which > pretty much tries to get me to buy it without solving anything. > "Antivirus Soft" icons keep multiplying (I've let it multiply up to fifteen > of them) on my notification area, but if I move my mouse over them, they all > disappear. > I cannot run any programs (i.e. Microsoft Word, Ultimate Zip, etc.), because > the same message keeps popping up that whatever application cannot be > executed, because the file is infected, do I want to activate my antivirus > software... yeah. > The only thing that works at least, thank goodness, is Firefox. > > I've run my Windows Defender scan on my computer, but it tells me nothing is > wrong (when obviously something is). > When I tried downloading other virus/spyware/malware software, such as > Ad-Aware and Spybot, I AGAIN got the message that the application cannot be > executed. > > So I'm in a bind. I can't do anything. I don't know if everything actually > IS infected or if my Windows Defender software has some kind of malware on it > - this "Antivirus Soft" thing, which I've never seen before - and I can't > seem to remove it anyway. > I can't uninstall programs either or use Task Manager... > > Anyway, I'm not tech-savvy at all, so I would appreciate it if someone could > help me out... or if I should just head straight to the nearest computer > doctor... Hello Rebecca :) Go here: http://www.malwarebytes.org/ Use the blue button on the left hand side to download the free program. Once installed, 'Update' to current version. Then run a 'full' scan. HTH Report back please! -- Dave
From: Rebecca Chung on 4 Mar 2010 10:39 No, it didn't work. The same thing happened when I tried installing other malware software. The malware software couldn't be executed because the file was "infected". At this point, I'm pretty much resigned to shelling out the money to have someone repair it, as this malware is specifically preventing me from using software to remove it... But thanks for the suggestion. :) -Rebecca
From: Geoff on 4 Mar 2010 11:17 On Thu, 4 Mar 2010 07:39:02 -0800, Rebecca Chung <RebeccaChung(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: >No, it didn't work. The same thing happened when I tried installing other >malware software. The malware software couldn't be executed because the file >was "infected". > >At this point, I'm pretty much resigned to shelling out the money to have >someone repair it, as this malware is specifically preventing me from using >software to remove it... >But thanks for the suggestion. :) > >-Rebecca Your system is infected, that's for sure. If you can explore the system you can backup any critical files you want to keep, not programs, just images, data, etc. Then what you really need to do is reinstall Windows on it. If you can do that yourself you will save the money. Chances are, that's what the geeks are going to do anyway. A clean install will be more trustworthy than an attempt to get rid of this malware.
From: Rebecca Chung on 4 Mar 2010 11:23
For future reference, I found this link useful: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-antivirus-soft It looks like I have to do a bunch of other stuff before I can use the Malwarebytes software, so I'll try this once I have access to another computer and I'll report back. :) |