Virus, spyware, malware, a malicious program by any other name is still a royal pain. Many people ask what is the difference between the three?

 

Spyware is a malicious program that is loaded, normally without your knowledge, that is designed to track what you do on the Internet. It will track sites visited, searches made, and in some cases email addresses messages were sent. This information will then be used to create custom advertising in the form of pop-ups, SPAM, and in site ads. Of the three Spyware is least destructive, but can be very annoying.

Malware and viruses are very similar in the sense that they will both have a negative affect on a computer. A virus will normally attack a specific function of your computer, delete data, and/or spread to other computers on a network. Viruses can be very destructive, but they normally do not afford the creator any financial gain from producing the virus.

 

Malware will normally disguise itself as a legitimate program warning that you are infected with a virus. It will offer a solution to your problem by following the link provided and purchasing a program that will clean the infections. It will also keep you from accessing any websites other than their’s and in some cases it can also stop you from loading/running utilities to clean infections or accessing any administrative functions built into Windows that could help you remove the Malware. Under no circumstance should you ever purchase the program being offered. Besides the fact that you would be giving into their extortion techniques you are also given your credit card information to an unscrupulous company. This information in the hands of these companies can do more damage than just destroying your workstation information. There are legitimate programs that are very successful at removing these programs, such as malware-bytes.

 

You are welcome to give us a call and we would be happy to clean the malware from your workstation, or if you would like you can follow the instructions below and clean them yourself.

 

How to Install and Run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

To download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware click here.

 

If you are able to access the Internet save it to your Desktop.
-Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
-Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
-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.

 

If you are unable to access the Internet from the infected workstation save to an external USB drive.

-Click the link above to download the install package. If prompted select Save do not select Run.
-Once the download completes transfer file to the infected workstation by copying the install file to the USB drive.
-Enter safe mode on the infected workstation by tapping the F8 key while the computer is booting.
-Copy the mbam-setup.exe to the desktop of the infected workstation.
-Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
-When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
-When installation has finished leave Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked:

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 updates,
manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
-Alternatively, you can update through MBAM's interface from a clean computer, copy the definitions (rules.ref) located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from that system to a usb stick or CD and then copy it to the infected machine.

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.
-Exit MBAM.

 

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

-- MBAM may make changes to your registry as part of its disinfection routine.
If you're using other security programs that detect registry changes (like Spybot's Teatimer),
they may interfere with the fix or alert you after scanning with MBAM.
Please disable such programs until disinfection is complete or permit them to allow the changes.

Text instructions courtesy of quietman7 at SpywareHammer and edited by Troy Brannan.

Here is a You Tube instructional video courtesy of BetaFlux:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-6l6oAT0ss&feature=channel
*NOTE: If there are any advertisements on the You Tube page do not click on them. Instead, please use my download link(s) above for downloading MBAM.