Do Know what to do, PC may be infected

I am using HP laptop and lately it behaves badly and tends to have 100% processor load and very slow.. how can i figure out what is wrong.
I am new here and having trouble understanding some of the stuff written here..
Is there anything simple for me to start with and at least understand what's going on..
Thank you

Edited by Orange Blossom, 15 October 2010 - 10:29 AM.
Moved to AII for initial assistance. ~ OB

Hello and welcome.. Tell us your Antivirus,firewall and which Operating system is running.

Now we can do do these and see how things are after them.

Reboot into Safe Mode with Networking
How to enter safe mode(XP)
Using the F8 Method
Restart your computer.
When the machine first starts again it will generally list some equipment that is installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc. At this point you should gently tap the F8 key repeatedly until you are presented with a Windows XP Advanced Options menu.
Select the option for Safe Mode with Networking using the arrow keys.
Then press enter on your keyboard to boot into Safe Mode.


>>>> Download this file and doubleclick on it to run it. Allow the information to be merged with the registry.

RKill....

Download and Run RKill

• Please download RKill by Grinler from one of the 4 links below and save it to your desktop.
  
  Link 1
  Link 2
  Link 3
  Link 4
  
  
• Before we begin, you should disable your anti-malware softwares you have installed so they do not interfere RKill running as some anti-malware softwares detect RKill as malicious. Please refer to this page if you are not sure how.
  
• Double-click on Rkill on your desktop to run it. (If you are using Windows Vista, please right-click on it and select Run As Administrator)
  
• A black screen will appear and then disappear. Please do not worry, that is normal. This means that the tool has been successfully executed.
  
• If nothing happens or if the tool does not run, please let me know in your next reply

Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again. Or if rebooting is required run it again.


If you continue having problems running rkill.com, you can download iExplore.exe or eXplorer.exe, which are renamed copies of rkill.com, and try them instead.



Next run Superantisypware (SAS):

Download and scan with SUPERAntiSpyware Free for Home Users

• Double-click SUPERAntiSpyware.exe and use the default settings for installation.
• An icon will be created on your desktop. Double-click that icon to launch the program.
• If asked to update the program definitions, click "Yes". If not, update the definitions before scanning by selecting "Check for Updates". (If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here. Double-click on the hyperlink for Download Installer and save SASDEFINITIONS.EXE to your desktop. Then double-click on SASDEFINITIONS.EXE to install the definitions.)
• In the Main Menu, click the Preferences... button.
• Click the Scanning Control tab.
• Under Scanner Options make sure the following are checked (leave all others unchecked):
  • Close browsers before scanning.
  • Scan for tracking cookies.
  • Terminate memory threats before quarantining.
• Click the "Close" button to leave the control center screen.
• Back on the main screen, under "Scan for Harmful Software" click Scan your computer.
• On the left, make sure you check C:\Fixed Drive.
• On the right, under "Complete Scan", choose Perform Complete Scan.
• Click "Next" to start the scan. Please be patient while it scans your computer.
• After the scan is complete, a Scan Summary box will appear with potentially harmful items that were detected. Click "OK".
• Make sure everything has a checkmark next to it and click "Next".
• A notification will appear that "Quarantine and Removal is Complete". Click "OK" and then click the "Finish" button to return to the main menu.
• If asked if you want to reboot, click "Yes".
• To retrieve the removal information after reboot, launch SUPERAntispyware again.
  • Click Preferences, then click the Statistics/Logs tab.
  • Under Scanner Logs, double-click SUPERAntiSpyware Scan Log.
  • If there are several logs, click the current dated log and press View log. A text file will open in your default text editor.
  • Please copy and paste the Scan Log results in your next reply.
• Click Close to exit the program.

If you have a problem downloading, installing or getting SAS to run, try downloading and using the SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner instead. Save the randomly named file (i.e. SAS_1710895.COM) to a usb drive or CD and transfer to the infected computer. Then double-click on it to launch and scan. The file is randomly named to help keep malware from blocking the scanner.


Reboot to Normal Mode.
Next run MBAM (MalwareBytes):

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.Download Link 1
Download Link 2
MBAM may "make changes to your registry" as part of its disinfection routine. If using other security programs that detect registry changes (ie Spybot's Teatimer), they may interfere or alert you. Temporarily disable such programs or permit them to allow the changes.

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
  For instructions with screenshots, please refer to the How to use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Guide.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.

MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan.

• If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue.
• If you encounter any problems while downloading the definition updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.

On the Scanner tab:

• Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
• Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.

Back at the main Scanner screen:

• Click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply. Be sure to post the complete log to include the top portion which shows MBAM's database version and your operating system.
• Exit MBAM when done.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be asked to reboot your computer so MBAM can proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot normally (not into safe mode) will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware.

Gosh.. that's a lot of things to do for a beginner like me.. i'll do it slowly..

1) I have Avira, Avast and MBAM loaded in but they detect nothing
2) My laptop is HP XP Home edition
3) Firewall used is the built in Windows?? or Microsoft ??firewall. I dont have anything extra loaded in.
4) I know how to get to safe mode but i have 1 question please..!. Do I download and run the Rkil in safe mode?
5) What do you mean by "Do not reboot the computer"..? Does it mean that I have to put it in safe mode all the time?

Sorry, some of these questions are so silly to you but I really am dumb on computers and I am scared that if I do it wrong, I may crash the whole thing. As it is now, its slow but I can still use it..

Thank you..

Another thing I forgot to mention is that, my Task Manager sometimes says my processor load is high up to max 100% and the PC kinda stalls...sometimes it stays at 30%~50% and things are ok..

Hi, OK take it real slow ,no rush as this can take some time anyway.
My rule is "There are no silly questions,only silly answers."

1) I have Avira, Avast and MBAM loaded in but they detect nothing
If both Avira and Avast are active ,they will most likely cause you problems ,such as slowness and som false detections. Without going into great detail.. If they are then you need to disable or remove one.

2),3) OK
4).5) I would like to run this file,RKill and SAS in Safe mode,then MBAM in normal.
Reboot means to restart the computer. So what I would like is safemode, run the 3 items then reboot to Normal mode and do MBAM.
The catchy part is if for some reason the machine restarts(reboots) before the SAS scan you need to run Rkill again as it will have been unloaded then.

In the event you cannot do safe mode run ALL in Normal but tell me that later.

processor load is high up to max 100% This is the malware running. This is why we are starting in Safe mode. As we kill off malware we should start running at normal rates.

Windows Safe Mode is a way of booting up your Windows operating system in order to run administrative and diagnostic tasks on your installation. When you boot into Safe Mode the operating system only loads the bare minimum of software that is required for the operating system to work. This mode of operating is designed to let you troubleshoot and run diagnostics on your computer. Windows Safe Mode loads a basic video drivers so your programs may look different than normal.

I cant get the PC to go to safe mode.!!!!
I kept hitting the F8 key, but it gave me XP straight away...have been doing it so many times...
It wasn't this way before bcoz I had done safe mode before...

Let us see if we can get Safe mode to run.

Please download and run SafeBootKeyRepair.exe.

Once it has completed, please try booting into Safe Mode.

I honestly hate this PC and I am not clever enough to do all these stuff...I tried the link you gave, still it didn't improve..

Your only other option will be to reinstall th OS ...

In some instances an infection may have caused so much damage to your system that it cannot be completely cleaned or repaired. Wiping your drive, reformatting, and performing a clean install of the OS or doing a factory restore removes everything and is the safest action but I cannot make that decision for you.

Reformatting a hard disk deletes all data. If you decide to reformat, you can back up all your important documents, data files and photos. The safest practice is not to backup any autorun.ini or .exe files because they may be infected. Some types of malware may disguise itself by adding and hiding its extension to the existing extension of files so be sure you take a close look at the full name. After reformatting, as a precaution, make sure you scan these files with your anti-virus prior to copying them back to your hard drive.


2 guidelines/rules when backing up

1) Backup all your important data files, pictures, music, work etc... and save it onto an external hard-drive. These files usually include .doc, .txt, .mp3, .jpg etc...
2) Do not backup any executables files or any window files. These include .exe/.scr/.htm/.html/.xml/.zip/.rar files as they may contain traces of malware. Also, .html or .htm files that are webpages should also be avoided.


If you're not sure how to reformat or need help with reformatting, please review:

• How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP
• Prepping for a Clean Install Windows XP.

These links include step-by-step instructions with screenshots:

• XP Clean Install Interactive Setup
• How to reformat your computer in case of a severe malware infection
• Reformat & Clean Install Windows XP

Vista users can refer to these instructions:

• Windows Vista Clean Install
• How to Do a Clean Install and Setup with a Full Version of Vista
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Version of Vista

Don't forget you will have to go to Microsoft Update and apply all Windows security patches after reformatting.

Note: If you're using an IBM, Sony, HP, Compaq or Dell machine, you may not have an original XP CD Disk. By policy Microsoft no longer allows OEM manufactures to include the original Windows XP CD-ROM on computers sold with Windows preinstalled. Instead, most computers manufactured and sold by OEM vendors come with a vendor-specific Recovery Disk or Recovery Partition for performing a clean "factory restore" that will reformat your hard drive, remove all data and restore the computer to the state it was in when you first purchased it. See Technology Advisory Recovery Media. If the recovery partition has become infected, you will need to contact the manufacturer, explain what happened and ask them to send full recovery disks to use instead..

If you need additional assistance with reformatting or partitioning, you can start a new topic in the Windows XP Home and Professional forum.

Dear Sir... Definitely what you asked me to do is beyond me completely... I will most probably ask a technicion to do it for me.

Thank you so much for all your advice and help. God bless you..