So I'm fixing up my friend's computer for him (and for some moolah, too)

Problem is, I'm not sure exactly how to fix what's wrong with it.

He says he tried pirating some game and the serial he tried using was an exe (very nice, smart pirating) and basically the trouble started there.

He used some sort of anti virus or anti spyware, but that made it worse I take it.

The problems with the computer are that the desktop is just blue with text like "You're computer could be infected! Click here for an antispyware scan!" but that's an obvious trap, and it's also not seen under Safe mode.

No programs work, and by that I mean NOTHING. You can open folders, but anything that's an executable, whether it be internet, game, or whatever, the windows pop up comes up "Windows cannot find the software you are trying to run. Would you like to: blah blah"

I'm completely stumped at this bastard of a machine, not because I won't get money if I don't fix it, but because it's a beast of a computer. I've tried everything I know, but nothing seems to work, and I'm wasting a lot of time on it.

Help would be appreciated.



And no, saying to get rid of the "porn" is not funny, even though I know someone will post about it or even directly quote this in theirs.

Backup all of the important files,

delete everything, including the OS.

Re-Install the OS

Put all important files back on.

BAM - Problem solved.

*edit* Quick and Easy version, works for pretty much every virus. If you can't get the OS you want though, this wont work too well.*

I don't think a complete reformat or anything is needed.

This thing may render the whole computer useless, but it seems like a small fix to do.

Safe mode runs 100% perfectly, and programs work fine, but run in normal and that desktop blocking thing comes up and no programs work.

Plus I'm just lazy to do all that. :/

Well, what I would do first would be to try to get AVG installed if it isn't already and run a virus scan. If that doesn't work, I would try to get an erasing software and erase anything hes recently download, like the pirated game. what erasing software does is it completely deletes the files you want to erase from physical existence by grabbing all the parts of the hard drive that they are on, and replaces all the 1's in that part, with 0's. Wiping it from existence on your hard drive.

Although the best and probably quickest solution is to just save your important files and format your hard drive.

I've used a few anti virus programs, and they all show quite a few very harmful items.

I'll put on an actual anti virus product (not one that just scans, which is what I did for a quick look) and see if that fixes anything.

Quote from Rather Cheesy

Well, what I would do first would be to try to get AVG installed if it isn't already and run a virus scan. If that doesn't work, I would try to get an erasing software and erase anything hes recently download, like the pirated game. what erasing software does is it completely deletes the files you want to erase from physical existence by grabbing all the parts of the hard drive that they are on, and replaces all the 1's in that part, with 0's. Wiping it from existence on your hard drive.

Although the best and probably quickest solution is to just save your important files and format your hard drive.

Hijack This! by TrendMicro is a good erasing program, but generally, just deleting the game and exe won't fix it. I did this a week ago, exe + virus = fucked, but couldn't find the exact files to delete. Ended up reformatting my computer, but it was back to it's original awesomeness in about a day.

No anti virus program works at all anymore (actually, no exe's work anymore, so can't install AVG or run the other programs)

Looks like a reformat is at hand, which is sad because there was a lot of great stuff on that computer

Can't backup anything either, and my usb drive only holds so much.

Well, if he had it, can't be too hard to get back.

The only thing I can think of is to try to locate the program that's locking up the system in the Processes tab in the task manager (Ctrl+alt+del). If the file he downloaded was an executable, it should show up there. It may have also become a start-up program, which might explain why it doesn't show up on safe mode.

A simple system restore will do the trick.

You run an exe, it puts the FUCK YOU files in the System32, and you're screwed. I did the exact same thing he did about a week ago. There's like 18 files that'd have to be simultaneously deleted and I don't know the names of all of them.

Quote from BloodFruit

A simple system restore will do the trick.

No it won't, I tried.

I mean I literally did the exact same thing. It was late, I was needing a cd key, and I wasn't thinking. Downloaded an exe, ran it, and my computer fucked up. I tried system restore multiple times, tried AVG, tried HijackThis! but I didn't know which files needed to be deleted.

Best thing I could guess is put files on your USB, put them on different computer, and continue with that until you have everything uninfected you want to keep, then reformat.

Hmm, I had something like that once on mine. Same situation as FacePlate. Sys. restore worked fine. It was a bit hard to get to, the virus was changing the control panel and how to get to it, but once it ran, I had no problem. Did it make an image file named "blackbird" or something like that on the desktop?

Get rid of the porn, lol .


But really, just format the HD and re-install Windows.

Quote from Noob_of_doom

Hmm, I had something like that once on mine. Same situation as FacePlate. Sys. restore worked fine. It was a bit hard to get to, the virus was changing the control panel and how to get to it, but once it ran, I had no problem. Did it make an image file named "blackbird" or something like that on the desktop?

Therefore not the same situation as Face Plate.