Weird Virus on my CPU

[Xdreamer]

The other day I rebooted my computer and right after post I got this orange/redish screen sayin that there is a Virus on my boot disk. There was 2 options the first one said recommed that I pop in a repair disk and repair it, or I can still boot up, well since I dont have a repair disk, I went with options 2 and Booted up like normal. Also on the bottom of the screen it said go to WWW.ANTIVIRUS.COM, so I did; and did there online virus checker, it found nothin, so I am using Norton Antivirus 2003, ran that found nothin, so then I checked norton for any updates, and none??? what should I do?!?!?! Just say Fu#k it and re-format??

[presto]

Run Spybot Search and Destroy (free program). You might have a trojan.

[Hatz]

Definetely sounds like some spyware on your computer. Seems a company made a popup screen to come up in your startup directory or hidden somewhere else.

Download Spybot Search and Destroy. You can just do a search for that name in Yahoo or Google and you can find it.

Check for updates in the program first.....download them if any.......then run the program.

Chances are if you have never gotten rid of the spyware on your computer before then you will have a shitload of it on there.
It will have all of the spyware checked.........then just hit the Fix selected problems button. Then it cleans it for you.

I would recommend to run this program about once a month. Always update first cause they are continually updating their detections. Then have at it.

Hope this helps.

Hatz

[Xdreamer]

thankx guys for the fast feedback, love this site, but here is the thing, I run ADAWARE, soooo.....who knows if its that, but I did DL spybot search....going to reboot now, well see what happens...

[Xdreamer]

nope didnt get it, still having that screen on boot up....its weird though cuz its tellin me to go to antivirus.com but finds nothin on computer....anyone else got any ideas??

[Solarjetman]

what program is telling you to goto the website? All you said is its a colored screen.

[overloaded_ide]

This should probly be in the PC section if we still have that

Anyway I have found that in general Spybot will find stuff that Adaware does not, and sometimes the other may be true! USE EM BOTH!

When I was updating both at the same time, I would run Adaware first and clean the system, then run Spybot and find the stuff Adaware missed!
Also the new version of Spybot S&D (new to me) 1.2 has an imunize option to block spyware before it gets on your system for alot of the stuff.

As for Virus. Well I run Grisofts AVG. Free for personal use or something like that and I like it! They keep it up to date pretty good, just like the pay stuff!

Check out the MS site, they just anounced another NEW security hole similar to what blaster was trying to get at, so another update patche needs to be downloaded! If I keep having to download patches all the time constantly I think I will sue MS to pay my internet bill!
We ALL should!
I am starting to like win 98!!! At least I have that running on my system connected to the net! My others are 2k pro, but off the net!

[Bob W]

Run "msconfig" from the windows start menu run command then select the startup tab and see if there is something there that doesn't look right. If so disable it. Also I would run regedit and do a search for any of the words used in the screen you're getting and if so remove those keys.

[Xdreamer]

thats the thing, its not a program, its just a orangeish/redish screen with a little happy face going from left to right on the bottom and it says that I have a Virus on my boot disk, it looks like a old dos prompt screen no GUI....let me call one of my guys and take a pic of it with his digital camera, then maybe we can break this down more, oh yeah I updated both adware and spybot and also checked MS for any updates....

[ztank]

Sounds like an old DOS boot-sector virus. Let me guess, you are running some version of Win9x/Me, and it happens just before DOS/windows starts to boot?

None of the anti-spyware programs will detect that, I think. The anti-virus programs should find it though...

Try booting from a write-protected boot floppy (you do have one don't you?) and run "fdisk /mbr" and reboot. If your computer boots clean after that then something installed itself into your boot sector. If it is a virus and it has infected other files in your system, it might reinstall itself into the boot sector, but at least you will know.

WARNING: "fdisk /mbr" replaces your boot sector with a standard win9x boot sector, so do not run it if you have some sort of multi-boot manager installed.

[Xdreamer]

no way, im not runnin those old OS, i got Win2k....nope I dont have a boot disk, and if it was a virus in my boot sector, why wouldnt norton find it or antivirus.com find it....??!?!?!

[gll99]

edited

Are you running a hardisk management utility for large hd? Is your bios virus check on?

[Xdreamer]

thankx gll99,
i am running a 200 gig HD, but its my slave...my primary is a 20 gig...yes my bios virus check was on, turned it off now it boots up fine, dont see that screen anymore, but does that mean there was no virus in the first place or what?? its kool and all that I dont see the screen but if the virus or whatever is still there, then I really didnt solve the problem...my 200gig hd is running straight off my mobo...just to let you know.

[gll99]

Some partitioning software and other formatting progs are sometimes seen as viruses by the bios virus checker. I don't know your exact setup so can't be sure if that's the problem. If you haven't noticed anything funny and have no corrupted data since you first got the msg then you are probably ok.

Had you turned that bios function on recently, added a new drive or are using a new disk formatting or management utility recently?
Any of those would provide your answer.

If you can't remember changing or adding anything then do the following:
Run a scandisk on your drives. If there are any discrepancies in the boot sector they will be repaired by the utility using a backup copy automatically stored on the drive.

[Solarjetman]

yes my bios virus check was on, turned it off now it boots up fine, dont see that screen anymore, but does that mean there was no virus in the first place or what??

to expand on what gll99 said...

The bios virus check is not really a virus checker despite its name. It is warning you that SOMETHING has changed the boot record. It does not actually look for a virus like antivirus programs do. Thus, it is extremely prone to false positives. So much so that many people have it turned off.