System Fix

[pds]

Yesterday whilst foolishly searching for a stream to the City match I accidentally clicked on Allow when one of the annoying pop-ups appeared. This seems to have installed the System Fix virus on my computer so I've constantly got pop-ups telling me I have a critical error on my laptop. I've managed to find a bit about it and it seems all this virus is actually doing is hiding my files and telling me I have serious errors in order to try and make me purchase their fake product which will sort it all out. Does anybody know the best way to remove this for someone who is not the best when it comes to technical stuff?

Cheers

 

[Jeff]

You could trying to restore the system using the most recent restore point from before you installed the virus. How you do that depends on the version of windows you're using.

 

[pds]

Windows Vista Home Premium Version 6.0?

 

[Jeff]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/System-Restore-frequently-asked-questions

 

[SJN-Fox]

You could try running Malware Bytes. I had this on a friends laptop, wouldn't let me access the internet or edit the registry.. It was a bastard to get rid of but I got there eventually. Probably best to download MB from another machine and run it from a memory stick.

 

[pds]

Thanks for the responses, will give them a try. I started the McAfee Scan earlier would this have any chance of removing it?

 

[pds]

You could trying to restore the system using the most recent restore point from before you installed the virus. How you do that depends on the version of windows you're using.

I've tried system restore but it says there are no back up files on this computer? Could this be true? I realise I am very thick with regards to these situations.
Also if I download Malware Bytes from another computer - how do I then save it on to a memory stick?

Help much appreciated!

 

[SwedeFox]

If the files are hidden, you'll have to go into Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View -> tick Show hidden files, folders and drives.

 

[Macky]

I've tried system restore but it says there are no back up files on this computer? Could this be true?

It means that there are no restore points for it to use. You have to ran it previously for it to create a restore point.

 

[SJN-Fox]

Also if I download Malware Bytes from another computer - how do I then save it on to a memory stick?

Help much appreciated!

Download it and save it onto the desktop or somesuch, it downloads as an exe file, just copy and paste it onto a usb stick ... you'll need about 10meg of free space. Then run it on the infected computer.

 

[Jeff]

You have to ran it previously for it to create a restore point.

Isn't it supposed to run automatically, unless you turn it off?

 

[bocadillo]

Isn't it supposed to run automatically, unless you turn it off?

Perhaps the virus deletes Restore Points.

 

[Macky]

Isn't it supposed to run automatically, unless you turn it off?

Inside my head the information states that it's not turned on by default, but I don't have time to check right now so that information may well be corrupt

 

[Jeff]

Inside my head the information states that it's not turned on by default, but I don't have time to check right now so that information may well be corrupt

From the link I posted above:


How often are restore points created?
Restore points are created automatically every day, and just before significant system events, such as the installation of a program or device driver. You can also create a restore point manually.


How do I turn System Restore on or off?
System Protection, the feature that creates restore points, is on by default. We recommend that you keep System Protection turned on for all hard disks that contain important files so that you can use System Restore if you need to.

 

[SJN-Fox]

From what I recall, this particular nasty takes whatever steps it can to prevent you from taking action against it. It won't let you access some websites ... mostly AV ones, won't let you edit the registry to remove its keys, won't let you run msconfig etc. I would imagine turning off system restore (or appearing to) is one of those steps.

 

[pds]

Thanks very much for the help Malware Bytes has sorted the problem superbly!

I definitely hadn't turned off system restore!