Spyware Warrior

Exodus · Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 6:07 pm Post subject: The Worst Case Of Spyware EVER

Hi guys, 2 things will be here. First: I heard of this horrible case of infection of spyware, I'm not sure where this was, but the person had it like this:
- If he even typed the words "removal" "spyware" "virus" "adware" anthing like that, his computer instantly shut down.
- If he opened internet explorer, popups exploded all over his screen.
- Opening files like regedit or command prompt would shut his computer down.

There was alot more stuff. I'm not sure if this was real but I'm sure he must have had it bad if its true.

--------------------- Part Two -------------------------
Whats the worst case of infection you admins have ever had posted here or has been posted? Got a link? I'd like to see it. Smile

Well ok lets see what turns up!

EDIT: Hey guys, I forgot to mention, to even post the stuff he had to run it in safe mode and encode his messages to the people Shocked

That must have sucked...
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3162 · Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 9:03 pm Post subject:

I have personally seen IE so loaded with BHO's that there was no room left for the webpage.

Unfortuately, I wasn't able to get a screencap either. For obvious reasons
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herbalist · Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 11:05 pm Post subject:

How do you want to define "worst"? Total number of items needing removal? Amount of disk space the items consumed? Number of items that have to be removed manually because the removers couldn't?
I'm sure the veterans here have dealt with much worse than I'd be able to or have even seen, but I've cleaned one with over 1000 items targeted by remover programs, plus others that had to be dealt with manually, totalling almost 5gb. The keyboard only worked in safe mode and the computer rebooted itself every time I started AAW.
Never saw a list like that all on one computer. I hope I never do.
Rick

Exodus · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:49 am Post subject:

Heh, on my first scan ever I had over 6000 infected things.
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herbalist · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:21 pm Post subject:

blender · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 5:34 pm Post subject:

Heh..6000 things...thats alot.

I bet a few thousand of those items were in your temporary internet files folder...
Normally I recommend dumping temporary internet files including offline content, cookies before running anti malware scans...that should also reduce the scan time considerably.

I have had boxes that I had to boot to dos(win98/me) or recovery console(win2k/xp) to delete entire program directories before the computer would even boot properly.

I have seen and worked a few hijack logs that took 6+ posts to just post the log. Some of these malwares go absolutely nutso trying to protect themselves from removal. 1 infection I worked on had 6 posts worth of bho's alone.
Another had 5 posts worth of O4's alone.

Some of this crap is nasty Evil or Very Mad

I had one infection I worked on that popped up hundreds of IE windows when I tried fixing it with HJT. (pAypop.com)
Had to pull the plug for internet to stop it, it had shut down explorer, and everything else. Sat there for 15 minuites before it finally cleared, had to restart explorer via thye task manager...then start all over again...shutting down the 60+ extra running processes, rechecking the 100+ items in HJT to "fix". Computer would not boot to safe mode...it was quite the mess... Rolling Eyes

A few systems I have worked on...was not worth trying to save it.
Slaved the drive to another puter to recover some data...wiped the drive and started fresh.

If you dont want to keep running into all this crud...follow the recommended procedures in my purple link.
Good/bad apps in my red link.
Keeping it all up to date...my blue link.

Watch where you are surfing.
Read the EULA's of software you install.
Ask around about the software...somebody is bound to know.

Dont sit there and expect M$ to keep you crapware free.
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Exodus · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:16 pm Post subject:

Heh this was back when I didn't even know about spyware. When I scanned, realizing I had 6000 infected things on my comp kinda freaked me out lol

EDIT: This just in, the link below is a variant case of what I was talking about!

*http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=6691*
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Xtr-ChessReal · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:03 pm Post subject: Worst case

Well, my neighbor asked for help once....(the voices began again, "Don't go there, its too much!! Darkness!!!" struggling to put it out of his mind, he began)

Uh, as I was saying...uh hmm, cough, cough...

Sniff...sniff..err..ah....cough

What was I saying?

Twisted Evil

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paperghost · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:58 pm Post subject:

hmm...im not sure how to define my "worst case ever" as once a PC ends up with a moderate amount of spyware. some trojans and a virus or two its pretty much as messed up as anything else out there. It just becomes a case of "how hard was it to clean", and that's how i rate them. The last machine i fixed was quite a doozy - took six hours - though a few years back i had to sweep a network of 150+ machines one by one and clean out the biggest collection of rootkits, trojans, password stealers and diallers i have ever seen in my life.

Anakin Skywalker 24 · Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:00 pm Post subject:

The reason for my long absence had to do with a trio of computers rife with adware, spyware, trojans, and other assorted friends. (Including my own)

The first registered over 12,000 hits on Ad Aware (all legit removals) and an addition 22 BHOs on Hijack This. That computer involved a week of work at two hour clips and when it was done, the system was in perfect working order. Two days later, guess who called? 1,000 additional AAW and another 10 BHOs later, I explained how this happens a second time and pointed out that due to it's relative age, Firefox could help to alleviate this. One install later and everything has been fine since.

The second was my own, and I was playing with some things to try and break it. Needless to say. I succeeded. Quite well. And then cleaned it up. All on my own with what I learned here. Firefox is a friend, IE is patched up to a level that is obscene, and I have no problems anymore. (Except that my broadband connection likes to crap out. But that is a hardware issue - Now taking suggestions for a good cable modem unit, Motorola Surfboard sux!)

The third was that of a friend and lasted a total of thirty minutes. One AAW scan and a quickie with SpyBot S&D and ONE BHO removal in HJT, and all was fixed.

So that is my story of where I have been. And some of the worst I have seen.
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Nemesis6 · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2004 4:44 pm Post subject:

On the topic of the computer shutting down with those words, once, I was cleaning a school computer using Ad-Aware SE, and when I started the program, the computer would show this dialog - http://www.microsoft.com/israel/windowsxp/expertzone/images/rpc_shutdown.gif . At least I think it was a Gaobot variant... could have been another one, too.
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