So now I get to share both my embarrassment as well as what I have learned
since taking one up the ass from this particular trojan - virus - malware,
whatever you want to call it.

See, it all started when I noticed that ol’ Bessie, a convenient name for my
puter, started acting up a little. She was getting a little slow, like she’d stepped
on a nail out in the field, or maybe twisted her ankle or something. She just
didn’t want to respond like she usually does.

SO I decided to give her a shot, so to speak, and find out if she had caught
something from the neighbor’s dog.

I ran all my updates for AVG Antivirus, which is a pretty good antivirus,
especially for FREE, ya know, as well as SpyBot (search and destroy to be
exact, since there are more than one version of “spybot” out there).

SO, ran the updates, did a complete scan, had a couple of issues, etc., told
them to “heal” my issues and “Sweet Jesus Take My Troubles Away”!

I though everything was A-okay Okie-fkn-Dokie. Then, started having big time
lag issues, AGAIN.

On the advice of a friend, I downloaded ComboFix, again FREE, and a pretty
kick-butt progie if there ever was one.

So I ran ComboFix, not from SAFE MODE as it suggests, and every time it
would TRY to run, it would hit an error, saying “page.com” has encountered an
error and needs to close.  So I waited a second, and THEN AVG comes up
and says it has found a threat, in the form of “b2e.dll”.  AH HA I said, I gotcha!

Well, not so fast.

So, AVG heals that moment, I run ComboFix again, and again, and again,
same result every time.

Keep in mind I’m getting smarter as I am steadily growing more angry. :)

Then I get smart, after being ridiculed by my friend who’s a geek’s geek, an IT
guy, AND a semi-badass (Yes Sir, I added that just for YOU since I know he’ll
read this.)

I run ComboFix FROM SAFE MODE. Restart your computer, and hit F8 a few
times in the startup screens, when windows is first loading. It will kick over to
a screen that asks if you want to start in Safe Mode, as well as a few other
options. Just pick SAFE MODE and don’t be an idiot, I did that already so you
don’t have too.

This is where I mention you should have downloaded ComboFix and put it on
the desktop. It’s an exe file, so no need to install or anything, it runs all by
itself as soon as you tell it too.

Well, here was the run part, ComboFix ended up deleting 28 seperate files
and folders on my C: drive, which was GREAT, since it was deleting the damn
problem, and ol’ Bessie might just be fit enough to ride by the end of the day!

So, it ran, it finished, I rebooted, and then POOP.

See, I didn’t catch the little culprit soon enough.  It had had enough time to do
JUST enough damage to my system, that I have, at the time of this writing,
just spent 16 F$%^%&$$#$%  Mother*(**^%&^ Son Of A B&^*%((*& HOURS
Wiping out C: Drive and Re-installing everything.

Here are a Place or Two that will tell you what GOT me.

So, now, I’m obviously making this page so YOU don’t have to go through what
I just did.  You’re welcome, happy to be of service to you.

Also, you get to learn how to make an image of your C: drive for a backup so
that, if/when you get hit by a nasty, you’ll be able to be back up and running in
30 minutes to an hour, rather than 16 hours.

So, download ComboFix and put it on your desktop.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

That is obviously a link for how to use combofix, in case you didn’t believe me.

NOW, I’m assuming your running BOTH and AntiVirus AND an AntiSpyware.

IF you’re not, well, then you’re a dumbass, but I’ll try to help anyway.

I currently use 3, 2 for spyware and one for antivirus, here are the download
links. SUPERantispyware SpyBot Search And Destroy, and AVGantivirus.

Oh, and did I mention they’re all FREE for personal use.

Update your “stuff”, and do a full scan. Then, restart, go into SAFE MODE,
and run ComboFix.  Then, walk away and get a drink or sandwich or whatever.

After it is finished, you can restart in regular mode, and see what the damage
was. Basically, I waited too long, and a few of my programs wouldn’t even
start. I couldn’t even get Task Manager to come up, to give you an idea
(If you’re not geek enough to know what Task Manager is, don’t worry about it.)

There is a scan utility on the windows installation cd that can go in and repair
fkd up dll’s and stuff, read about it HERE

Now for the REST of the good stuff.  A company called Paragon Software
has a SUPERB backup utility that basically creates a bootable cd, and THEN,
hold onto your hats, creates an Image of your ENTIRE DRIVE.  You basically
tell it to make a copy of your C: drive, and put the image on ANOTHER drive.
It is best, of course, if you have another physical drive, but another partition
should work too, OR you can always backup to a dvd, or two, or three.  You get
the idea.  What happens is, if you have a complete meltdown like I did, you can
boot from the cd, and then have Paragon completely wipe your C: clean and
“reinstall” the image you made back when your system was clean, and working.
I sure wish I had that before having spent 16 hours reinstalling everything.

Till then, save well, save often, and update every day!

                                   Since I’m back up and running,
                                         There is a Great Book at
                                         WWW.YFUATIW.COM