Got Hit by "Avanish" malware, missed by W10 security

iMacg3 said:

A factory reset is certainly an option. However, we can try to clean the malware without formatting/reinstalling Windows.

If you decide to do so, please post the logs from FRST. If you decide to go with a factory reset, let us know and we can help you with the steps involved in doing so.

I appreciate your suggestion but a factory RESET just to delete harmless disabled malware remnants? Nah! thanks, but no thanks .

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jimbo45 said:

Hi there

@Bree

I wouldn't take that as "Gospel" in any way shape or form -- I'm sure any sensible hacker worthy of the name would do their utmost to "poodlefake" stuff so everything looks as legit as possible and I'm sure some of those "Scumbags" intent on wrecking people's machines will already be well aware of that type of literature.

Normally though malware isn't such a mega problem these days since scammers are all in it to make money and this can easily be done (apparently !!!) by methods that really don't involve using malware or viruses any more --the only places you might get that stuff from is by using some of the more dubious torrent and warez sites -- most popular torrent sites these days don't want their users getting infected either. I think even that old site still flying the jolly roger blocks people who upload torrents with malware in them.

Fake websites , opening emails from unknown senders, replying to unsolicited questionaires, replying to websites offering you "Tax Refunds" which look official and above all giving out too much data on these social media sites is where these people operate at now. The effort of creating viruses to load on "mom and pop" machines won't yield much money - especially for the effort involved -- but catching them with a nice easy scam which gets things like their credit card details is a much more profitable enterprise.

Keep your machine(s) regularly backed up -- Macrium Free -- just run it from within windows --save your image to an external device and if you need to restore simply boot from the recovery tool and restore from the image you made --couldn't be simpler -- it's all easily menu driven.

@joeandmarg0

agree 100% rep given (double if I could -- why people don't take regular backups is totally beyond me - we've all hosed up machines I'm sure at some time in the past - and restoring is so easy). I think the original user after 3 days is in a worse state than when starting -- We'd call it "Back to square MINUS Z" -- i.e worse than back to square A or one). Even on a slowish machine a macrium restore shouldn't take more than around 30 mins for average Windows systems.

Cheers
jimbo

BOC..if only Microsoft can make it easy to perform a backup.. strange as it may sound , my PC still have the Backup/Restore of Windows 7, whenever I initiate a Backup the system burps with some weird error, like "Windows needs to be updated"

AndreTen said:

Install a real solution, like Macrium free...

I visited the the SW maker offering it for free.

Looks appealing.. it surely makes it easy to Backup/Restore for FREE..
ugh!.. free for only 30 days? ..then afterwards I am stuck with a backup that is key locked after 30 days! unless I fork out some dire dough for the Software ! .. am i missing something here?

AndreTen said:

No, Macrium free remains free. Doesn't have all of the functions of pro, but most of the users here are using it, and you have great support..

Oh that's good to know..
What is not free after the 30 days use?

Rickerz said:

What is not free after the 30 days use?

You have a choice of downloads, one is the Free edition, licensed for personal or business use, the other is a 30-day trial of the paid for version.

Paid-for features include Image Guardian, Incremental images (free has only Differential) and Rapid Delta restore.

Actually, its all the same software, it's just the license key that determines which features are enabled. You can switch the free version to the trial version. AIUI the trial reverts to 'free' after 30 days.

The paid version of Macrium has many useful features. I use it and also have the free version installed on my wife's pc. The free version as has been stated is indeed free without any time limit.
I believe it does NOT allow ability to "clone" your HD and perhaps a few other things you may or may not want. But it WILL allow you to backup your drive and restore it. I will venture to say it is nearly flawless if the instructions are followed correctly.

MachineLanguage said:

...I believe it does NOT allow ability to "clone" your HD....

No, Direct disk cloning is available in the Free version. There's a comparison table of the features here.

Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Thank you for the correction. When I installed the free version on my other pc I never did install an additional hdd. So, never needing the clone feature for that pc I mistakenly assumed the option was not abailable. Doh!