MR

Any IT geeks out there? I'm totally hosed. My entire music collection has been wiped out by a malware/virus (MS Antispyware) my son accidentally downloaded while playing a racing game on my other computer. And, yes, I'm an idiot - I didn't have them backed up (except in my E drive, which is also infected). Is there any way to salvage those files? Any help would be appreciated.

7 Wishes wrote:Any IT geeks out there? I'm totally hosed. My entire music collection has been wiped out by a malware/virus (MS Antispyware) my son accidentally downloaded while playing a racing game on my other computer. And, yes, I'm an idiot - I didn't have them backed up (except in my E drive, which is also infected). Is there any way to salvage those files? Any help would be appreciated.

Download and install this freeware and you'll be alright....let me know how it worked.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Can you still boot the PC to Windows, or is it completely DOA?

There is a possibility if your PC won't boot, that the supposed virus just dicked with your boot sector rendering bootup to Windows useless, but the files are still ok...

Personally, when my little brother ahd a boot sector fail, I took that hard drive out of the PC, put it in an external enclosure and then plugged it into my other computer just to see if his stuff was still there, and it was. When you do this, the computer you're plugging the external into will only see that hard drive as files and will ignore the fact that there's an operating system on it. You'll just have to navigate through the folders until you find the My Documents folder you want. Anyway..... I backed up that stuff, put that hard drive back in the PC, and then redid Windows and then used a different external drive to put the files back on. A little finaggling, but it worked.

The downside is the posssibility of that virus possibly infecting the backup PC...

Are you sure it's plugged in? Sorry Dan...just had to mess with you! I hope you get it up and running. Computers suck sometimes! I think they should start putting these virus/hacking fuckers away for 5-10 years each time they catch them for pulling this crap! They've probably cost this country billions of dollars over the years with this bullshit. There's your sollution to the economy...start taking out these bastards...problem solved! I'm awaiting my government orders to start this mission!

G.I.Jim wrote:Are you sure it's plugged in? Sorry Dan...just had to mess with you! I hope you get it up and running. Computers suck sometimes! I think they should start putting these virus/hacking fuckers away for 5-10 years each time they catch them for pulling this crap! They've probably cost this country billions of dollars over the years with this bullshit. There's your sollution to the economy...start taking out these bastards...problem solved! I'm awaiting my government orders to start this mission!

...you very seldom catch the really good ones as they know how to cover their tracks very well. Some of them are in countries where Americans have no extradition agreement with.

G.I.Jim wrote:I think they should start putting these virus/hacking fuckers away for 5-10 years each time they catch them for pulling this crap! They've probably cost this country billions of dollars over the years with this bullshit. There's your sollution to the economy...start taking out these bastards...problem solved! I'm awaiting my government orders to start this mission!

I agree Jim. This is a completely intolerable crime. You do NOT screw with my interwebs.
Hang them!!

As to the original problem... well, take the advice given here, as I have none... I'm alright with basic to intermediate techie stuff, but this stuff, not so much. My advice is to keep the kiddos away from the PC and away from unknown websites.

What you want to do first of course is get 2-3 anti-virus programs ( AVG and AVIRA work great and both are free). Run the programs and let them do their job and get you virus free first. Ddont worry about backing stuff up as it may cause more problems down the road. Keep in mind that an mp3 file can not get infected.
Once the whole system is reset and virus free, you may have to look for a Undelete program to obtain your music collection back. (These programs are rather pricey but I will hook you up if you need any of them).

Thanks to everyone so far...I'll probably take up everyone on their offers for help.

T-Bone, one question: how would I disconnect the hard drive and connect it to the other PC? Would it be via a USB connection or would I set it up as a slave drive on the other system?

Thanks again, everyone!

D

Behshad wrote:What you want to do first of course is get 2-3 anti-virus programs ( AVG and AVIRA work great and both are free). Run the programs and let them do their job and get you virus free first. Ddont worry about backing stuff up as it may cause more problems down the road. Keep in mind that an mp3 file can not get infected.
Once the whole system is reset and virus free, you may have to look for a Undelete program to obtain your music collection back. (These programs are rather pricey but I will hook you up if you need any of them).

Is it good to run more than one antivirus or firewall program at a time? My computer gives me the warning that it could cause instability/problems. Truth or is it Microsoft just trying to make you use their stuff?

I've got a firewall and antivirus and my computer still locked up one day and I seem to have lost everything except the original factory settings.

Truth...I'd love to throw computer out of the window!

7 Wishes wrote:Thanks to everyone so far...I'll probably take up everyone on their offers for help.

T-Bone, one question: how would I disconnect the hard drive and connect it to the other PC? Would it be via a USB connection or would I set it up as a slave drive on the other system?

Thanks again, everyone!

D

If you have an external enclosure you can go the easier usb route. Otherwise, you'll have to set it up, as you said, as a slave inside the other pc.

walkslikealady wrote:

Behshad wrote:What you want to do first of course is get 2-3 anti-virus programs ( AVG and AVIRA work great and both are free). Run the programs and let them do their job and get you virus free first. Ddont worry about backing stuff up as it may cause more problems down the road. Keep in mind that an mp3 file can not get infected.
Once the whole system is reset and virus free, you may have to look for a Undelete program to obtain your music collection back. (These programs are rather pricey but I will hook you up if you need any of them).

Is it good to run more than one antivirus or firewall program at a time? My computer gives me the warning that it could cause instability/problems. Truth or is it Microsoft just trying to make you use their stuff?

I've got a firewall and antivirus and my computer still locked up one day and I seem to have lost everything except the original factory settings.

Truth...I'd love to throw computer out of the window!

You shouldnt need more than one firewall. and you really should be fine with ONE anti-virus program.
But in order to scan everything and get rid of any and all viruses,spyware, malware and such, It doesnt hurt to SCAN the system with more than one anti-virus program. Sorry for any confusion ,,,


As far as wanting to throw your computer out the window(s),,, thats why Bill Gate chose that name

Try to hook up the virus drive while in safe mode, as this runs everything at a minimum and you don't know what is lurking on the infected drive.

walkslikealady wrote:

Behshad wrote:What you want to do first of course is get 2-3 anti-virus programs ( AVG and AVIRA work great and both are free). Run the programs and let them do their job and get you virus free first. Ddont worry about backing stuff up as it may cause more problems down the road. Keep in mind that an mp3 file can not get infected.
Once the whole system is reset and virus free, you may have to look for a Undelete program to obtain your music collection back. (These programs are rather pricey but I will hook you up if you need any of them).

Is it good to run more than one antivirus or firewall program at a time? My computer gives me the warning that it could cause instability/problems. Truth or is it Microsoft just trying to make you use their stuff?

I've got a firewall and antivirus and my computer still locked up one day and I seem to have lost everything except the original factory settings.

Truth...I'd love to throw computer out of the window!

I tried that one time, with catastrophic results. I had Norton and installed Macafee, and wound up with a computer that wouldn't even boot. That was a long time and many, many lessons ago.

Here's what I would do:

1. Remove the hard drive from the computer.

2. Put the hard drive in a another computer (as a slave drive) or buy a USB external hard drive adapter to put the drive in and connect it to another computer.

3. Backup all of your personal files to the hard drive on the other computer (they should be virus-free - viruses usually only attack operating system files).

4. Put the hard drive back into the computer.

5. Run your recovery disk on the computer and restore it to its factory state.

6. Load your music files back onto the computer via a network cable or an external hard disk.

The worst thing you could do is panic and reformat the infected hard drive. I wouldn't do anything until you get your personal files backed up off of it.

Computers that are infected with trojan viruses (which sounds like what you are dealing with) will usually never be the same, even if you think you have removed the virus. You should always reformat your hard drive and reinstall your operating system after a trojan infection (once you have backed up your files).

You may also want to run a virus check after you restore your personal files, just to make sure you didn't backup anything that was affected by the virus.

I personally do not run a virus program in the background because it eats up too many resources and makes your computer run slower. If you're careful, you usually won't run into viruses. I just stay away from questionable sites, and I run Spyware Doctor once a month on all my PC's.

P.S. - If you use Google as your search engine it will sometimes warn you before allowing you to enter a site that has suspected malware.

Voyager wrote:Here's what I would do:

1. Remove the hard drive from the computer.

2. Put the hard drive in a another computer (as a slave drive) or buy a USB external hard drive adapter to put the drive in and connect it to another computer.

3. Backup all of your personal files to the hard drive on the other computer (they should be virus-free - viruses usually only attack operating system files).

4. Put the hard drive back into the computer.

5. Run your recovery disk on the computer and restore it to its factory state.

6. Load your music files back onto the computer via a network cable or an external hard disk.

The worst thing you could do is panic and reformat the infected hard drive. I wouldn't do anything until you get your personal files backed up off of it.

Computers that are infected with trojan viruses (which sounds like what you are dealing with) will usually never be the same, even if you think you have removed the virus. You should always reformat your hard drive and reinstall your operating system after a trojan infection (once you have backed up your files).

You may also want to run a virus check after you restore your personal files, just to make sure you didn't backup anything that was affected by the virus.

This is very good advice, and I agree, you won't be getting infected if you're just copying music, pictures, TurboTax files or things of that nature.

My only concern is that it appears that his files have been deleted. I've tried to recover deleted music files on more than one occasion, and the recovered files were corrupted. The song would play, but sections of the song would be out of sequence. Like the first verse would be after the second. Was weird.

Good luck, that happened to me when i downloaded some porn, i had to crash the computor and start all over again

stevew2 wrote:Good luck, that happened to me when i downloaded some porn, i had to crash the computor and start all over again

didjooo riiieealliyyy?

1. Boot using Linux CD
2. Copy personal files to external or CD
3. ????
4. Profit!

Also stop going to shady sites and you won't get viruses.

And back up often!! An external HD is a wonderful investment.

Behshad wrote:

stevew2 wrote:Good luck, that happened to me when i downloaded some porn, i had to crash the computor and start all over again

didjooo riiieealliyyy?

No mine was much simpler than that you arab boober

Behshad wrote:

stevew2 wrote:Good luck, that happened to me when i downloaded some porn, i had to crash the computor and start all over again

didjooo riiieealliyyy?

LMAO



All jokes aside
hope you can fix it
Sometimes someone can talk you thru it
other times might have to bring it to a PC repair shop

Goos Luck

Dudes - thanks for the help! I connected the hard drive with the virus issue to my other computer, and made it the slave drive. However, I cannot get the functioning computer to recognize that it's been connected. What should I do next?

7 Wishes wrote:Dudes - thanks for the help! I connected the hard drive with the virus issue to my other computer, and made it the slave drive. However, I cannot get the functioning computer to recognize that it's been connected. What should I do next?

make sure you have the JUMPER in the right place.. then when you reboot,, keep hitting F2 or F10 to get into your
BIOS.. change the "boot up" to identify 2 drives..

BAMM!!! you typing and rockin again..

btw.. master/slave may be an outdated termonology.. might just be first and second! BAMM!

Apparently, I'm an even bigger idiot than you may have already assumed.

The uninfected computer is a Dell 4700 (the virus-laden one is a 2400). I'm not accustomed to the layout in the F12 function on the 4700. What exactly do I have to do? Sorry to be a pain in the ass.

7 Wishes wrote:Apparently, I'm an even bigger idiot than you may have already assumed.

The uninfected computer is a Dell 4700 (the virus-laden one is a 2400). I'm not accustomed to the layout in the F12 function on the 4700. What exactly do I have to do? Sorry to be a pain in the ass.

On the back of the hard drives, next to where the ribbon cable attaches, there 4 sets of 2 pins. Click here to see a picture. One of those two pinned sets will have a jumper on it. If you look either on the bottom or top of the hard drive, it will give you a picture of those pins and which two pins should have a jumper to either make it "Cable Select" (CS) "Master" (MA) or "Slave" (SL). The hard drive that runs the computer should be jumpered as Master, and the second drive as Slave. You can set bot to CS, but I get mixed results with that one, so I always use the Master/Slave configuration. If you get those set correctly, the computer should recognize it.

Gunbot wrote:

Rick wrote:

7 Wishes wrote:Apparently, I'm an even bigger idiot than you may have already assumed.

The uninfected computer is a Dell 4700 (the virus-laden one is a 2400). I'm not accustomed to the layout in the F12 function on the 4700. What exactly do I have to do? Sorry to be a pain in the ass.

On the back of the hard drives, next to where the ribbon cable attaches, there 4 sets of 2 pins. Click here to see a picture. One of those two pinned sets will have a jumper on it. If you look either on the bottom or top of the hard drive, it will give you a picture of those pins and which two pins should have to jumper to either make it "Cable Select" (CS) "Master" (MA) or "Slave" (SL). The hard drive that runs the computer should be jumpered as Master, and the second drive as Slave. You can set bot to CS, but I get mixed results with that one, so I always use the Master/Slave configuration. If you get those set correctly, the computer should recognize it.

I think he is asking what to do once he is in the bios screen.

I don't think there needs to be anything done in the bios GB. That computer should come preset from the factory to run 4 ide devices.

I'm up way past my bed time. Good luck Dan. Keep at it, you'll get it going.

Goodnight all.

OK! It recognizes that there IS a new hard drive. However, it cannot seem to read it. When I click on "My Computer", under "Other" it reads "Local Disk (E)" but there is a question mark next to that icon. If I click on it, it says the Disk Drive in E is not formatted. Should I click on "yes" or not? Thanks!!!!

7 Wishes wrote:OK! It recognizes that there IS a new hard drive. However, it cannot seem to read it. When I click on "My Computer", under "Other" it reads "Local Disk (E)" but there is a question mark next to that icon. If I click on it, it says the Disk Drive in E is not formatted. Should I click on "yes" or not? Thanks!!!!

Formatting will erase everything on it. Don't do that yet. Let me try to think of an alternative.

7 Wishes wrote:OK! It recognizes that there IS a new hard drive. However, it cannot seem to read it. When I click on "My Computer", under "Other" it reads "Local Disk (E)" but there is a question mark next to that icon. If I click on it, it says the Disk Drive in E is not formatted. Should I click on "yes" or not? Thanks!!!!

Your Drive Controller could have taken a shit or.....

There's also a possibility that the virus erased your partition, thus rendering ANY formatting useless. Your files are still there, but they are floating in space

I have this program and it worked very well

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/

The down side is that anything it finds will not have it's original info or title. When it recovers stuff, it'll throw them into seperate folders for MP3, jpg, etc... You'll literally have tens of thousands of files to wander through

T-Bone wrote:There's also a possibility that the virus erased your partition, thus rendering ANY formatting useless. Your files are still there, but they are floating in space

That's what it sounds like to me.

T-Bone wrote:I have this program and it worked very well

http://www.recovermyfiles.com

That may be your best bet. Definitely do not format the drive if you want to try to salvage the files.

If recovermyfiles.com doesn't work, you may want to search Google for "hard drive recovery" and see what other services are available.

Actually... you can format if you want and this program will indeed retrieve files, deleted or not I used this on a coworkers PC when her partition crapped out. I got back her stuff... And then some. Needless to say, she was a little "red" around me for a while