Is it possible to be still infected after a factory image reset?

Hello everyone, this is my first ever post here. I am using an HP Pavillion desktop computer that I bought about two years ago, running Vista. Recently it's been acting strangely, particularly my browsing software was crashing a lot and I was getting popups that I knew were not coming from the pages I was browsing. Also, processes were randomly slowing to a crawl temporarily. I assumed that I picked up some viruses when I downloaded pirated software from thepiratebay.org, and so I decided to do a HP factory image reset, which immediately crashed when I ran it in Vista, so I did it again but by hitting F11 at startup.

So the first thing I did (besides close all the garbage software HP preinstalls and telling it all not to run at startup) was install google chrome. Then I searched for something on google, clicked it, and one of those pseudo-search-advertisement-placeholder pages came up instead of what I clicked. This was one of the symptoms I had in my computer before the factory reset, which is making me a little nervous. Is it possible that I downloaded a virus which infected the factory image partition of my hard drive??

Here's a screenshot of what I got:



It's especially confusing to me because the host site seems to be google, and if i refresh the page it loads the one I intended to go to in the first place. What's going on?

The virus you previously had may have changed some of the settings on your router. You need to reset your router back to its "factory" settings.

Different routers have different ways of doing this. Normally you press and hold the reset button for about 5 seconds until the LEDs flash.

The virus you previously had may have changed some of the settings on your router. You need to reset your router back to its "factory" settings.

Different routers have different ways of doing this. Normally you press and hold the reset button for about 5 seconds until the LEDs flash.

I think this is unlikely as I've never had a problem on my laptop.

Is there something I can look for in my router settings to check if that's what the issue is? I just looked through quickly and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Edited by Max M, 23 November 2010 - 01:16 AM.

It's the router DNS setting that you want to check.

Also, try this:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-tdss-tdl3-alureon-rootkit-using-tdsskiller

TDSSKiller didn't find anything, and I didn't see anything wrong with the DNS settings on my router. What could that redirection be?

I'm going to reset my router anyway just in case. But I'm still at a loss here.

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.
Download Link 1
Download Link 2MBAM 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.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.46
www.malwarebytes.org

Database version: 5177

Windows 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 7.0.6001.18000

23/11/2010 4:24:33 PM
mbam-log-2010-11-23 (16-24-33).txt

Scan type: Quick scan
Objects scanned: 137479
Time elapsed: 3 minute(s), 29 second(s)

Memory Processes Infected: 0
Memory Modules Infected: 0
Registry Keys Infected: 0
Registry Values Infected: 0
Registry Data Items Infected: 0
Folders Infected: 0
Files Infected: 0

Memory Processes Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Keys Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Data Items Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Folders Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Files Infected:
(No malicious items detected)

Did you reset the router?