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Oyo
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

I have issues with viruses and while trying to fix it I ruined swtor launcher and I am not able to start game. I will try to clean up PC and then download swtor all over again. Not sure how long will this take but I hope I can finish everything within 1 week. Aýa uses my computer so she wont be able to play either. Any information on how to get rid of mail.ru and smartinfu.ru browser hijackers would be helpful (tried so far all free and trial stuff I could find on google). Even if they did not directly affect swtor, the scanning of all those tools I used did something and prevented swtor from launching. When/if I sort this I will update my status here.

Blasthardcheese
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

Spybot: Search and Destroy 1.6.2. Yes there is a 2.x version, but 1.6.2 is just as good and easier to use.

https://www.safer-networking.org/mirrors16/

The link is from the site. It's the best spyware remover.

When you install, just spam the "Next" button until finished.

Once installed, immunize your computer, make sure it's updated (it should be, but check for anything new), then away you go!

 

I also recommend Avast for your anti-virus, and Malwarebytes for anti-malware.

(AVG and Avira have become very clunky and bloated, and Norton is a straight up "No.")

Anything else is junk.



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Gryffon Etheras
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

If you need further assistance, feel free to poke me. MalwareBytes and Spybot in combination are great at cleaning most things. Check your browser extensions in each browser for any leftover remnants there and uninstall in-browser then run the clean scans again. After cleaning install AV and any missing windows updates. I use Microsoft Security Essentials across the board for easy AV (Avast is a fine choice, too) and recommend ensuring the Windows Firewall is on.

 

Good luck!



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Oyo
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

I redownloaded and reinstalled entire game it works for now. I tried avast and malwarebytes but it didn't prove useful (at least not free/trial versions). I got Spybot and will try that too. Thank you guys for the help. Hopefully new scans wont ruin the launcher again.

Oyo
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

SpyBot, Avast, MalwareBytes, Firewall, ESET NOD 32 Antivirus, Extensions removal, Resetting/Reinstalling all browsers, CC Cleaner, McAfee Security Scan Plus, YAC ... could not find and destroy browser hijacker smartinf.ru. It still runs default browser after every windows restart and takes me to their home page. All my browsers are running slower and with them my PC. PC seems to work fine when all browsers are shut down. But they automatically start every time my windows starts.

Aýa
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

To clear confusions inactive status ended 6th June as post above informed that the game works again after fully reinstalled.

Blasthardcheese
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

OyoN7 wrote:

SpyBot, Avast, MalwareBytes, Firewall, ESET NOD 32 Antivirus, Extensions removal, Resetting/Reinstalling all browsers, CC Cleaner, McAfee Security Scan Plus, YAC ... could not find and destroy browser hijacker smartinf.ru. It still runs default browser after every windows restart and takes me to their home page. All my browsers are running slower and with them my PC. PC seems to work fine when all browsers are shut down. But they automatically start every time my windows starts.

 Ick! Highly unusual for SpyBot to not even see it.

Surprised about Avast and Malware Bytes. But if it was bad enough that Spybot couldn't even see it, I shouldn't be.

Ccleaner (I thought it was "CC Cleaner" but it's actually just "Ccleaner") is not an anti anything. It just clears up junk files that are generated by your computer (mostly Windows) that aren't in use, as well as other file clutter. It will also clean up your Windows Registry files.

McAfee is a virus itself (it's so bad it basically is one).

Never heard of those others.

 

FireFox/Chrome with Ad Block Plus will prevent most popups and ads. Keep Spybot, Avast, and Malware Bytes and you'll still be more secure than with those others.

 

I'm sure it's clear that wherever you went when that virus was picked up, don't ever go there again. Hopefully you know where that was.

 

Glad to have you back in the game again.



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Oyo
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

IObit Malware Fighter seems to be able to take care of some stuff. Browsers no longer slow down PC and everything appears to work normal. However, on startup, default browser still launches and attempts to take me to those Russians websites, but they end up blocked. I wish I could eradicate that from my PC. There is no program that could track down its source and delete it, it can only block the links. Thank you for the application recommendations, and while they did not help me with this problem, they did track down other stuff and helped me clean my PC.

Blasthardcheese
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

Have you tried uninstalling and wiping every last bit of (except for bookmarks) your browser, including the hidden files (removing the hidden files is required to fully remove every last bit of your browser)?

 

Perhaps you could try that. Move your bookmarks somewhere else, then reinstall your browser and try it with it clean and fresh.



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Iolo'pax
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

To clean a PC successfully from malware there are usually multiple steps and the order that you complete them is crucial. Most of this stuff replicates it self into different locations and re-installs itself after a reboot or once it connects to the internet. Much of what is mentioned above are solid recommendations. I will offer my two cents.

First things first, Choose one application to clean things, and uninstall the rest. Everyone has their favorite but running multiple can cause some headaches if one has a real-time agent loaded. I use Malwarebytes but these instruction can be doen with any of the above.

Unplug network connection/disable wireless. If it gets to the internet virus'malware can reinstall itself.

Boot into Safe mode using F8 on startup.

Go to your add/remove programs and remove anything suspicious (Especially Toolbars). If you don't recognize it, google it from your phone or another computer to see what others say about it *Important* Account for ALL applications, Many times malware tries to make it sound important so you think it is official and supposed to be installed.

Keep in mind some websites that are out there where you can get 'free' mp3s, movies, games, XXX, software cracks, etc install malware as part of their 'search engine' or 'Media Viewer' or sometimes just going to their homepage. In the event you frequent places like that (I'm not implying or judging) and you identify that application as being installed,  it may be it probably best to remove them and avoid them until you have a clean PC.

Run Malwarebytes Full Scan, remove all it finds.

Reboot into Safe Mode Again, run Malwarebytes fullscan again. It should be clean this time. If not something installing at startup and you may need a removal tool specific to what it finds. If you cant clean it at this point, it will continue to install itself so the rest of these instruction are pointless.

Assuming malware bytes is clean, reboot like normal. NO Network Connections yet!

Once you log in, open all of your browsers and delete your caches/temporary internet files. (instructions vary depending on your browser)

Run Malware bytes fullscan again, it should be clean. If not something is installing at login. If it can clean it repeat this step again after a reboot. Depending on what was finds I would create a new user account, repeat all of the above and try again.

If Malwarebytes comes back clean, connect up to the network and see what happens. It is also worth mentioning that other infected PC's on your home network could reinstall the malware if Windows is not patched with the latest updates.

Using the above steps has usually gotten folks out of most jams with virus/malware, with the exception of Ransomware. If you ever get that... UGH.

Anyway I hope this helps, Good Luck and I hope to see ya online!



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Oyo
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

I tried full reinstall of all browsers and removing all their leftovers, it did not work. Any browser that is set as default will start up with windows no matter if I am connected to internet or not. It will attempt to bring me to those websites and fail either because there is no connection or because there is connection but the website is blocked by add-on. There are many things that Malwarebytes could not detect, and that other cousin programs could. I did not try to use it in safe mode, but all scanning were done in full mode (it was pain in ass to wait all of them to scan PC 100%), some more than twice (second full scans were done while other scanning programs were removed from computer). It is probably installing itself again even if it gets removed. The only thing so far I did not try is using safe mode (kinda gave up at this point, I am so tired of scanning). I was and I am online every day (teamspeak/game) despite of all the issues. The reason I created this thread is because the game itself had grayed out play button and could not start. I did not know how long would take to fix the game but since it happened actually fast there was no point to have inactive status at all.

Blasthardcheese
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re: Inactive (Viruses - uncertain length)

Yeah. At this point your only way of getting rid of it is to format your drive and reinstall Windows.

As I mentioned before, if nothing can do anything with it, you're only solution is to reinstall Windows.

I recommend the format because it would totally wipe everything. No chance of recovery. And I'd recommend using Ccleaner's "Wipe Drive" feature. Not only will that delete everything, but it makes it so that nothing can be recovered by filling the drive completely with garbage data then deleting all of the garbage data. 100% deletion.

 

If that doesn't do it, take a magnet to your drive and get a new one. Ha ha.

 

Garbage like these viruses, malware, spyware, and browser hijackers are why we can't have nice things. People need to get a life, not ruin the one of everyone else.



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