Possible Malware/Trojan

[Devil Doc Moose]

Not sure where to ask pretty sure this would be the right place heard good things about you guys at my orientation :-D

Alright so I got some malware or a trojan on one of the HDD's in my old PC. It's a 80gb HDD so kinda just don't wanna throw it away but I am worried about putting it in my new PC that if it is a trojan it will spread to the primary HDD in this machine. Pretty much before I got my new PC, long over due I had a single core CPU not cause of the malware/trojan lol , all I could see it doing was being annoying. Everytime I clicked on a link in a browser it would redirect me to a random web page. I planned on formatting it I just have some important data on the HDD I know is not infected and would like to save before doing a format. Comments, opinions, suggestions, about it being safe to do?

I would like to thank you guys in advance any help you guys could give me so this annoying little bugger doesn't get on my new PC and possible be able to save my old data would be awesome!

 

[Simon]

Format your HD BEFORE putting it in the new PC. Just boot with an ubuntu live CD and erase everything. Or re-install the OS to delete everything there. Then put it in the new PC

 

[Talez]

Format your HD BEFORE putting it in the new PC. Just boot with an ubuntu live CD and erase everything. Or re-install the OS to delete everything there. Then put it in the new PC

These are really the only options you have if you are looking to go the cheap route.

 

[Devil Doc Moose]

Ack thanks for the suggestions guys I was hoping to save my maps I had a pretty good MOUT Course going. Guess it's time to dig out the debian CD and wipe her.

 

[Passerby]

Ack thanks for the suggestions guys I was hoping to save my maps I had a pretty good MOUT Course going. Guess it's time to dig out the debian CD and wipe her.

you should be albe to mount the disk with a linux disk and backup what you need than do a full formate too it

 

[Simon]

Throw in an ubuntu live Cd, and plug in a USB drive. The live CD should mount your HD and USB, then copy what you need

 

[Devil Doc Moose]

Sweet thanks a bunch guys I really wanna keep working on my MOUT Course and other maps again

 

[ShadowBlade72]

You don't have to wipe your drive. It's safe to put it into your new computer, just don't boot from that disk. So long as you don't boot from that windows installation (The one on the infected HDD) the Malware/Trojans won't run.

Just make sure you're running antivirus on your computer and then once you have the computer booted up with the infected drive mounted, then just run some anti-malware programs on it and you'll be good to go.

Malware Bytes and SuperAntiSpyware should take care of any problems that are still on that disk. As well as a good virus scan.

 

[Passerby]

You don't have to wipe your drive. It's safe to put it into your new computer, just don't boot from that disk. So long as you don't boot from that windows installation (The one on the infected HDD) the Malware/Trojans won't run.

Just make sure you're running antivirus on your computer and then once you have the computer booted up with the infected drive mounted, then just run some anti-malware programs on it and you'll be good to go.

Malware Bytes and SuperAntiSpyware should take care of any problems that are still on that disk. As well as a good virus scan.

it is prolly safer just to use a linux distro to back up what he want and formate.

 

[Ph?bus]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Don't reformat. That's the easy way. I hate when someone gets a virus, then 'oh, time to reformat'.

Download Malwarebytes, install it, then plug in the 80GB HDD into your main computer, and start up in Safe Mode (hit F8 at start up). That part is EXTREMELY important. Another way to start up in Safe Mode (if you have Vista or 7, not sure if XP does it, it's been too long) then you can just flip the switch on your powersupply, then boot back up and it'll ask if you want to start in Safe Mode.
Hokay, so once in Safe Mode, run Malwarebytes, making it scan the 80GB infected HDD. Remove them, then done.

 

[Passerby]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Don't reformat. That's the easy way. I hate when someone gets a virus, then 'oh, time to reformat'.

Download Malwarebytes, install it, then plug in the 80GB HDD into your main computer, and start up in Safe Mode (hit F8 at start up). That part is EXTREMELY important. Another way to start up in Safe Mode (if you have Vista or 7, not sure if XP does it, it's been too long) then you can just flip the switch on your powersupply, then boot back up and it'll ask if you want to start in Safe Mode.
Hokay, so once in Safe Mode, run Malwarebytes, making it scan the 80GB infected HDD. Remove them, then done.

but that is why people do that cause it is the easy and fullproof way.
and for me it would take longer to scan than it would to formate the OS drive and restore from a disk image of the drive.

15min flat and it ;s like it never happened.

 

[Ph?bus]

but that is why people do that cause it is the easy and fullproof way.
and for me it would take longer to scan than it would to formate the OS drive and restore from a disk image of the drive.

15min flat and it ;s like it never happened.

Yeah but not everyone has their entire HDD on a SINGLE CD.
But it's still the easy way out. Gah. :glare:

 

[Passerby]

Yeah but not everyone has their entire HDD on a SINGLE CD.
But it's still the easy way out. Gah. :glare:

my point is , that it is always better to take the most effective way which sometimes is the easy way. and virus scanners arnet fullproof even i can make a program to screw over a windows install that wont be picked up by a scanner.

 

[Ph?bus]

my point is , that it is always better to take the most effective way which sometimes is the easy way. and virus scanners arnet fullproof even i can make a program to screw over a windows install that wont be picked up by a scanner.

So, how rare is that, though?

And that's not the point.
If you get a virus on a computer that you've had for a while, so the harddrive/s are getting filled up and you get a virus, who's going to want to format their harddrive/s?
My point is, only computer noobs reformat if they get a virus. A reformat should be the LAST option and only used as a last resort, not to do it before even trying.

I mean sure, if he didn't have important documents or whatever on this HDD, I would also suggest reformatting, but he does, so why delete them?

 

[Passerby]

really at this point your going to argue down any point i make so what ever.

also he said he doesn't want the re use the OS on the disk he just want the drive for storage so a simple live cd boot to grab the files he wants and a wipe out would do.

 

[mattM_-]

I would suggest using AVG'S Rescue CD. You can pull files off the HDD you need as well as perform a system scan to get rid of the viruses.

 

[ShadowBlade72]

my point is , that it is always better to take the most effective way which sometimes is the easy way. and virus scanners arnet fullproof even i can make a program to screw over a windows install that wont be picked up by a scanner.

I have 3.5 Terabytes worth of data spanned across five disks in a Raid 5. Is it still easier for me to reformat?

Nothing is full proof, but with a little work you can restore a computer to a working state with no data loss.

 

[Passerby]

I have 3.5 Terabytes worth of data spanned across five disks in a Raid 5. Is it still easier for me to reformat?

Nothing is full proof, but with a little work you can restore a computer to a working state with no data loss.

it all depends on your set-up and how organized you are i have about 4.3 tb of data but i also never store my personal data on the same disk as a operating system. and i have the OS's with all there applications backed up to disk images on the data drives.

so my data is seprate and with 1 unix command and about 15 mins i can get any downed OS back to exactly how i want it again

 

[Carmen Miranda]

Devil Doc Moose,

If you pop the drive into your main computer and don't boot from it then you should be fine as the other poster said.

As for copying what you need and then reformatting - also, perfect. You'll gain back the whole 80 gigs after formatting.

What you need to be aware of is that the spyware that is causing the issues resides in primarily a couple of places: your registry (which you won't use off that drive anyhow) and the Local Temp and Applications Data folders under your user profile (assuming you had XP or similar on there), and possibly a folder or two in your My Programs or on the root of your C drive.

When you copy the files over, be absolutely sure of what you are copying over, and copy only those items.
Then, run AntiVirus (I use Avast!) and anti-Spywre (I use MalwareBytes) on that folder just to be sure.

Then nuke that drive.
No sense in keeping old Windows installations and artifacts clogging up the works (even if they weren't infected) if all you will do is use this for storage.

I do this day in, day out, every single day of my miserable existence (lol) as one of the guys who know how to clean these at a sports TV network and have brought dozens of these machines back from the brink when it would have been easier to reimage them. So if you have any questions, shoot me a PM.
(But i'm in vacation mode starting when I hit Submit on this post for a couple days)

 

[makethssnd]

Another way to start up in Safe Mode (if you have Vista or 7, not sure if XP does it, it's been too long) then you can just flip the switch on your powersupply, then boot back up and it'll ask if you want to start in Safe Mode.

Bad idea to force it to do an unclean shutdown any more than you have to- this will lead to drive corruption and countless other problems.

But i agree with your overall idea of using MalwareBytes to get rid of whatever trojan you have on there, especially if you dont boot off the infected drive.

Does the old PC still boot if you wanted to?

If so, I can give you pretty complete trojan removal steps which I use regularly in my job and have a very high success rate. But if you just want a few files off the drive and most of it is not needed, grabbing your files you want to save and then reformatting will leave you with the most storage after the fact. Seems to me the best path.

Edit: So apprently i didnt read everything here. Sorry for the redundancy. Ignore me.