How do I get rid of Rootkit/Win32/Olmarik trojans??

[and-justice-for-all]

I have bee trying and I can not get the buggers to die; I used GMER and ESET but to no end, how do I kill these bastards without having to wipe my machine?

PS: This is on a XP OS.

[CK_John]

1. Malwarebytes does a good job with root kits.

Link:
<http://www.malwarebytes.org/>

[canetoad]

2. Here's a couple to try

Sophos root-kit remover: http://www.sophos.com/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit.html

Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Now, I don't usually shill for paid software, but $29.95 was money well spent to upgrade to the paid version of Malwarebytes (you can download the free version at the link). This enables you to schedule a daily update and scan. I'm pretty happy with it.

[and-justice-for-all]

8. I think the Sophos is doing the trick...

I also had Malwarebytes already and it could not remove the rootkits.

Thank You.

[madokie]

3. linux mint

no harm done. My computer experience when up a few notches when I finally made the big change to linux mint. No popups no malware, spyware or virus and it comes with a firewall that just needs to be turned on and you're ready to go to the internet tubes wearing protection.

[CK_John]

4. Linux not ready for prime time, can't even setup a dialup modem out of the box. I'll pass.

[madokie]

5. I've got Autocad on mine

surely a dial up modem couldn't be that difficult to do.

[pokerfan]

7. the poster may be talking about a winmodem

which is admittedly tied into Windows. Not a big deal as one can purchase a real modem for about $10.

[struggle4progress]

9. It may depend on the ISP as well as the modem. AOL, for example, seems to be a bitch

to set up with linux

[pokerfan]

6. no registry, no defragging

doesn't access the network and hard drives without my knowledge

the EULA doesn't give away my privacy

don't have to register software

don't have to keep track of software keys

don't have to update each and every application separately

don't have to reboot after most updates

Internet Explorer can never be completely removed

[defendandprotect]

11. What's EULA? And how long have you been using Linux?

:)

Thank you if you have time to reply!

[defendandprotect]

10. When you made the change to Linux mint -- and I presume that is a specific version of Linux? --

were you having virus problems with your computer?

Did you simply download Linux and go on your way ...

or did you have to remove windows???

How long have you been using it and would someone please explain to

me why we're going thru all this virus crap and anti-crap if it can

be done without it???

:)

[ConsAreLiars]

12. End User's License Agreement, and I think, not speaking for madokie or pokerfan, many

are like me and were curious/daring/aggravated enough check out alternatives. There are several distributions available. Some are assembled and developed to serve specific purposes, like running and controlling a computer network, like at a school system or other large organization. Others, more recently, have been intended to make Linux easily usable by average home users as well as techies.

Most variants come on a 'Live CD' which enables you to take a peek and play around a bit without ever writing anything to to your computer's hard drive. Slower, of course, since reading from a CD is far slower than from a HD, and no actions you take are saved.

From the Live CD you can also install a Linux partition and when starting the computer you will see Linux-something or Windoze-something as options. There are also ways to run Linux within Windoze, but there is a performance hit. There is also a way to run much Windoze software within Linux without a performance hit, exceptions being that many games are faster when run within Windoze.

I checked out a few distros over a period of time and found that even for a mostly point-and-clicker the Linux Mint variant was far superior to anything I'd used before, although there was a bit to learn and a few trials and errors.

There are firewall and anti-virus tools available for Linux, but the basic operating system itself is protected by trhe fact that changing it requires that your (the owner's) passwor be entered and an OK hit.

[defendandprotect]

14. Think I understand - will reread later --

and probably back later!

[madokie]

13. Like many with a windows machine

I just finally got tired of having to reformat and reinstall because I picked up a nasty somewhere, virus, adware and/or spyware so I downloaded Mint and put it on my machine as a dual boot system with xp and after about a months time I removed the xp partition and haven't looked back since. The first few questions I had I asked them here and got answers and explanations to where I could do what I was wanting to do. We have some excellent DU'ers with some damn fine knowledge of linux, any flavor and someone is always willing to hang with you until you get it figured out if need be. I'm new to firefox also so I've had to figure that out too but, hey, gott'a have something to do with my time anyway. Add adblock plus and NoScripts to your firefox and you're about as safe as you can get on the internet. My opinion there only.

With linux there is no need to worry with the registry because there isn't one, no reason to defrag as your files don't get fragmented. Mint says as you're installing it that there is no need for anti virus or anti spyware or any of that kind of stuff. When you install a program it installs everything it needs to run as a package and when you remove a program it's removed as a package so there's no little tidbits left here and there like on a micro$hitwad (new word I think I coined for microsoft that I like) machine. I'm thinking I'm about two months into this new way of complaying and I like it better by the day. If you do try one of the linux's come here often and ask as many questions as you have until you don't need too any more. RoyGBiv, and among others, helped me out tremendously, couldn't have made this switch without his and their explanations and patience, don't mean to be calling Roy out and that is only for an example of what the quality of support is you will find here.

Where I was getting nasties was using the google for looking for answers to question I have about anything. For instance I've fixed one of our vehicles heater/airconditioner by googling the problem, broken vacuum hose that I otherwise would never have found, picked up something also as those kind of sites seem to have a lot of bullshit passed around. Now that I use linux I can go and ask as many question as I need, without getting infected. Linux is almost like her on birth control while he is wearing protection too.

At first Linux is a bugger and pretty scary, if, like in my case, I started on dos 3 and worked my way up through the micro$hitwad world of doing things so linux required a different way of looking at and doing things but its getting pretty intuitive now though and if you have software that you just have to have and it only works using windblows linux has Wine to do that with.

Right now I've got ubuntu 10.04 alpha 1 on this computer and even though its a pre release I like it and it seems to work fine, boots in about 15 seconds from stone cold to ready to go, not just to a splash screen either, I mean it being settled down and ready to roll, its not ready for prime time yet but since I only use the internet for DU, news, search and email it's no big deal, other than the aggravation, if and when I do crash.

[defendandprotect]

15. I'll also have to re-read this . . .

and I'm sure would have many questions still ---

I do simple things with my computer -- yahoo/home -- mail - e-mail -- family photos come in.
Family e-mail exchanges.

I don't do banking or other financial stuff -- I don't do any type of work on the computer --

I simply want to get to YouTube to watch videos -- to get into DU -- and to do searches for
info on the internet.

It also sounds like you're saying I can escape whatever infestation is on my machine right now
by going to Linux . . . and presume Ubuntu is the controlling company?

What were the hardest things to do when you made the change -- and did you download or put a
program into the computer? At this point I'm worried about downloading anything into my
computer directly from internet because everything seems to get infected!!
Or, I'm being told that's the case???

Ok -- thanks for the info for now -- back later!

[pokerfan]

16. It wasn't difficult at all

What prompted me to switch was a Windows update a couple of years ago that did more damage to my computer than any virus ever did. I was also tired of having purchase upgrades every couple of years.

What were the hardest things to do when you made the change -- and did you download or put a
program into the computer?

Honestly, in my opinion, switching from 98 to XP to Vista were bigger changes than switching to Linux.

Ubuntu uses a graphical user interface, like Windows or Mac. It comes with Firefox instead of IE. If you're already a Firefox user, you can use FEBE to import your profile (bookmarks, passwords, etc.).

You download and burn the Live CD (instructions below). At this point, you have a bunch of options. You can run it from the CD which is a good way to try it out and see if you like it. Or you can install it under Windows. Or you can install it along side of Windows so that each time you boot you simply choose if you want to run Windows or Linux. Or you can install it in place of Windows. Even if you decide not to switch, it's a good idea to have a live CD handy as a way to recover files in the event of Windows system crash.

At this point I'm worried about downloading anything into my computer directly from internet because everything seems to get infected!!

I understand that! Anyway, you can verify that the CD image you've downloaded and burned to CD hasn't been infected (or changed in any way):
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

[defendandprotect]

17. OK . . . I've read once . . . will be back again ... thank you for the help . . .

I've also come to realize why after 10 years with computers and no problems that this

happened and it's rather ironic because I think it happened due to the fact that we

have always been reluctant to use our credit card on internet. We have computers --

used office ones -- and new ones for 10 years now. No problems.

Always simply used Norton and fire wall --

However, we always renewed our Norton antivirus by check --

Last February for some reason we renewed a little later than usual, by check --

And I can trace the problems to about that time. It just never seemed right after that.

They acknowledged our payment but I don't think they ever put the renewal thru properly.

Every day they would tell me the virus designations weren't up to date and we'd hit "update."

But the update would never be reflected. It was about that time that I began to notice

problems with the computer.

During the summer I started to try to complain to them and it was very difficult to get thru

their wall of isolation -- their FAQ -- no telephone # -- and by August I told them to cancel

the subscription. They told me it would keep running til I removed it. Got a full refund on

it!

I put Malwarebytes on my computer but didn't realize that it wasn't actually an anti-virus --

that it only works AFTER you get a virus! And it was a few weeks before I put AVG on.

So -- I'm sure that the Norton problem opened the door to all of this.

I'm at least glad to know that however because it was kind of frightening thinking about buying

a new computer when you feel so vulnerable to all of this.

I may actually try going to Linux -- I'm just not really very intuitive about computer logic

which seems so illogical to me!

Meanwhile, as usual, everything seems to happen at one time and we also had a TV problem which

took us to PC Richards and while I was looking at computers, I came to find out that they'll

clean you computer for $100. Given worrying about this since last March or so and all the

aggravation, that seems fairly reasonable to me! Thinking about that as well.

I did cancel my Visa credit card -- and will have a chance to dispute the $50 to Antivirus

Live - it's still on my machine because I don't want to try to remove it and then make a bigger

problem. Malwarebytes keeps telling me I have no problems. Ironically the computer is working

better since I added Antivirus . . . but have a feeling everything is quite on surface and

heaven only knows what's actually going on!!



:)


Thanks again for your help --

[pokerfan]

18. Is Windows safe for online banking/shopping?

More and more experts are beginning to think that the best safe way to shop online or do online banking is to replace Windows with Linux.

http://www.itworld.com/security/81556/windows-unsafe-online-banking-shopping

As to Malwarebytes, it addresses 'malware' which strictly speaking aren't viruses. Under Windows, you really need three areas of protection:
1) a decent anti-virus program
2) one or more anti malware programs
3) a firewall