Spyware help

November 6, 2009 1:44 PM

I have been struck by Windows System Defender and I can't remove it, can you help?

After googling instructions on how to remove, and downloading some anti spyware programs like malwarebytes and such..I am having no luck. Malwarebytes finds the infection but the computer shuts down before scanning is complete. It also will not let me install some of the other antispyware programs I want to try. It will not let the computer start in safe mode either. AND it will not let me run task manager. HELP?

posted by skinnydipp to computers & internet (9 comments total)

I've beaten Windows System Defender a few times using the free version of Super AntiSpyware. YMMV.
posted by Mountain Goatse at 1:58 PM on November 6

get a mac. heh. kidding, this website seems to give awesome free tech support. I haven't got round to trying the avira rescue cd but it seems worthwhile. If it was a bad case I'd rather backup from an x-pe cd and nuke it from orbit - "It's the only way to be safe!"
posted by yoHighness at 2:13 PM on November 6 [1 favorite]

It might be worth installing Microsoft Security Essentials to see if it can handle the problem.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:26 PM on November 6

What version of windows are you running? Vista and windows 7 are less vulnerable to that kind of thing. Also, if you're not sure about a peice of software, you can run it in virtual box. Plus, remember to do regular backups.
posted by delmoi at 3:01 PM on November 6

> "but the computer shuts down before scanning is complete."

How exactly is this happening?... is the computer just flat shutting off (no warning, no errors, just *poof* OFF).. or is it giving you some kind of countdown,etc ("System Authority is shutting down the computer in xx seconds")... If it's the 2nd scenario.. you can abort the shutdown by going out to a DOS/Command prompt and typing: shutdown -a [ENTER]

In lieu of MalwareBytes, I've also had really good success using NOD32's online scanner.

One of the tactics I use to allow legit scanners to run... is to bring up Task Manager and kill (End Task) any suspicious processes (and kill them again if they pop back into the Task List, which they most undoubtedly will)

Also.. definitely turn off System Restore.. it'll make your machine faster (so scans will finish faster) and it remove a potential re-infection point.
posted by jmnugent at 3:11 PM on November 6

Thank you for your help everyone. I finally had success doing a partial scan from a different computer on the network. While the infected machine did shut down again, a few files seemed to be removed and after reboot it allowed me to run anti spyware programs without shutting down. SuperAntispyare and Malwarebytes ftw.
posted by skinnydipp at 3:50 PM on November 6

Look at my profile. Big ole set of instructions there.
posted by deezil at 4:05 PM on November 6 [2 favorites]

Are you working in safe mode? If not, you should be.
posted by backwards guitar at 6:02 AM on November 7

What worked for me was throwing absolutely everything at it. Every spyware-removing program I could get my hands on until I just got something fixed so I could run something that would remove the rest of the infection. Just don't reboot into normal mode at any point or you're going to have to start again.
posted by Authorized User at 9:05 PM on November 7