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Geek Culture / PC infected with Smart Fortress 2012. Need help...

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Dimis
13
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Joined: 12th Jun 2011
Location: Athens, Hellas
Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:04 Edited at: 29th Apr 2012 01:13
My girlfriend's pc, caught a nasty virus. A program called Smart Fortress 2012, a disguised virus. It starts after startup and it blocks everything... I can't even connect to the web or start any program.
Symantec antivirus failed to prevent the infection.
But after rebooting several times I was lucky enough to locate the virus in Task manager and ended it's process before it started to run, so I was able to connect to the web.
I see that there are a few tools to remove it but I am not sure what is safe to download and run. And I need something free, because I wouldn't trust to use an online card now.
So if anyone had a similar problem with this virus and knows of a safe way to remove it please let my know.

Thank you in advance.


rolfy
18
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Joined: 23rd Jun 2006
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Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:08 Edited at: 29th Apr 2012 01:15
Malwarebytes will help,
Its a nasty little devil, my own girlfriend years ago got one similar.....NEVER... accept a free scan of your hard drive.......thats how these get installed. I can tell you however that it can be got rid of, with a little work.

http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=107384

Oh! and those infections it tells you are on your comp they aren't really...its just a way to get you to buy their software which actually does....nothing.

Awesome! Its one of those threads.
Dimis
13
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Joined: 12th Jun 2011
Location: Athens, Hellas
Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:15
So, it is a virus that targets people's girlfriends?

I saw Malwarebytes tools. If you think that it is safe I will try it. But is it freeware?


rolfy
18
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Joined: 23rd Jun 2006
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Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:23 Edited at: 29th Apr 2012 01:25
Lol, yes that because girls are more susceptible to believing if its looks legit then it must be, I actually dont know how she got it but its the most common way is accepting one of those free scans to check your computers health set ups....

Malwarebytes is free... they will tell you you should purchase the full version to prevent it in future but its really not necessary if you got a decent firewall and your girlfriend doesn't accept anything again online that promises to 'fix' her comp.

Awesome! Its one of those threads.
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
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Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:25
I suspect the people who code these can't get girlfriends, so probably. :p Malware Bytes is awesome for this kind of stuff, might recommend ESET/NOD32 as internet security, or run the trial if Malware bytes doesn't get rid of it completely, my last virus took a combination of the two to completely wipe it. Not the same virus as this, but still, they make an awesome team

rolfy
18
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Joined: 23rd Jun 2006
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Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:31 Edited at: 29th Apr 2012 01:35
Its not really a virus, more of a program which locks you out of everything and scams you into believing you have a heap of nasty infections, which you then need to pay them to remove for you, the infections dont exist.
It may have been installed by a virus, but as I said its more likely she allowed it to be installed, this is how it circumvented Symantec.

Awesome! Its one of those threads.
Dimis
13
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Joined: 12th Jun 2011
Location: Athens, Hellas
Posted: 29th Apr 2012 01:35
That's right it is not a virus, it is a scam program but it blocks 100% the pc. I will use Malwarebytes tools, but in the morning because I spent the whole day in front of my pc and my eyes are getting red...

Thank you both


Lewis
VBOTB Developer '10
20
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Joined: 16th Mar 2005
Location: Queensland, Australia
Posted: 29th Apr 2012 02:26
If you have problems running it, make sure you boot into safe mode.

Kezzla
16
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Joined: 21st Aug 2008
Location: Where beer does flow and men chunder
Posted: 29th Apr 2012 05:44
my standard malware/virus proceedure is to

scan with antivir -free and good software
scan with spybot sd - free and good software
run msconfig, go to the startup section and uncheck any suspicious looking process.
restart in safe mode
go to temp and temporary internet files folders and delete everything.
rescan with antivir and spybot.

if that fails, back up data full format and reinstall windows.

that process has always solved any problem for me.

good luck

Sometimes I like to use words out of contents
Dimis
13
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Joined: 12th Jun 2011
Location: Athens, Hellas
Posted: 30th Apr 2012 01:42
Just posted to say that the problem is solved. Malwarebytes removed this piece of junk. Actually it was easier than I expected. Since this was a program and not a virus I was able to locate it in Task manager and stop it, before it was fully loaded and running. So the pc was working normally and I could download and use Malwarebytes software.
Actually what helped probably was that the infected pc was old and slow...
Smart Fortress needed more than 30 seconds to run after startup so I had enough time to open Task Manager and stop it from running.

Thank you again guys!


Van B
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22
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Joined: 8th Oct 2002
Location: Sunnyvale
Posted: 30th Apr 2012 18:29
Malwarebytes probably won't help. As much as I like the software, at the end of the day there are people being paid to circumvent detection and hijack your PC, which is what this program does - holds your PC to ransom.

I find that the only true way to get rid of these things is manually. Like, boot up in safe mode, and use regedit to find the processes that run on startup - your 'virus' will be called something random, like random numbers or letters. Delete those, then go looking for similarly named files - usually in your documents folder, local settings. These programs will always be visible in the registry, edit the registry to get rid, and as long as the programs themselves aren't running you tend to get rid of them.
The online guides will have you doing pretty much the same thing, it's handy to know registries, especially the RUN section, where all the nasties tend to hide.

Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
Dimis
13
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Joined: 12th Jun 2011
Location: Athens, Hellas
Posted: 30th Apr 2012 18:55 Edited at: 30th Apr 2012 21:13
Van B, you could be right. Although apparently Malwarebytes removed this software and nothing has reappeared since yesterday, I noticed that CPU usage reached 100% after startup and remained there for a while without any applications running. The infected pc is not mine, so I don't know if this is normal behaviour but I probably have to start searching if there is anything else left that has to be removed manually.

I am so glad this is not my pc...


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