help! Virus filling up hard drive

[Thorsbolt]

Alot of people are reporting a virus filling up their hard drive with invisible files. I know because I've got it. Nobody seems to know what it is or how to off it, I've just run 5 different anti-virus programs in safe mode with the restore turned off and still have the problem.
Does anybody know what's going on?

[magi13]

^^, Steps you should do.

1. Get Northon Ghost or Acronis. <-- Buy it, it's worth it.
2. Reformat your computer <-- make a partition <-- WHERE YOUR GHOST BACKUP WILL BE SAVED
2.a. Do not connect to the internet yet
2.b. Install drivers
3. Install the things you would like to have in your computer such as cfos, anti crash, word etc.
4. Then make a ghost or clone your files. Here's a link of this very very wonderful program.
5. option, deepfreeze

If you get hit by a virus just apply the ghost clone thingy = then in 5 minutes everything's fresh. That's way faster than any anti virus program.

That's it, no antivirus needed. Amen. Now your a Grandmaster

Norton Ghost - Download

[Chris Cade]

On Windows XP, there's a feature to do a System Restore back to a previous point in time when OS changes were made (like a system patch was applied).

So if you're on XP, just do a System Restore to a date before you started having this problem.

[Barcs]

Where are the invisible files, and what are they called? I could probably help you remove it if you tell me. If you go to control panel and open "Folder options" there is an option under "View" that allows you to see hidden files. You might want to check that.

Download spybot search & destroy from The home of Spybot-S&D!, fully update it and then run a full scan in safe mode if possible. Then download ccleaner from CCleaner - Home and do a cleanup plus a registry scan. This should clean up any loose ends. If you give me the name of the virus or the files I could be more specific, but chances are you don't have to reformat your computer, unless you really don't mind losing everything.

If none of this works, try downloading hijackthis (search google) and run a scan and save the log, then post it here and I will let you know what needs to go. I hope this helps.

Also you mentioned that you tried 5 antivirus programs. Please be sure that you uninstall all of them except 1. You should never have more than 1 AV program installed at the same time as they will cause conflicts with each other.

If you need a good free reliable antivirus program, go to Free antivirus - Avira AntiVir and download avira free edition. When you install it and it asks for your information, just uncheck the boxes and don't fill it out. All in all it's a great antivirus program and uses minimal resources.

[williamsieow]

Originally Posted by Barcs

Where are the invisible files, and what are they called? I could probably help you remove it if you tell me. If you go to control panel and open "Folder options" there is an option under "View" that allows you to see hidden files. You might want to check that.

Download spybot search & destroy from The home of Spybot-S&D!, fully update it and then run a full scan in safe mode if possible. Then download ccleaner from CCleaner - Home and do a cleanup plus a registry scan. This should clean up any loose ends. If you give me the name of the virus or the files I could be more specific, but chances are you don't have to reformat your computer, unless you really don't mind losing everything.

If none of this works, try downloading hijackthis (search google) and run a scan and save the log, then post it here and I will let you know what needs to go. I hope this helps.

Also you mentioned that you tried 5 antivirus programs. Please be sure that you uninstall all of them except 1. You should never have more than 1 AV program installed at the same time as they will cause conflicts with each other.

If you need a good free reliable antivirus program, go to Free antivirus - Avira AntiVir and download avira free edition. When you install it and it asks for your information, just uncheck the boxes and don't fill it out. All in all it's a great antivirus program and uses minimal resources.

I second this excellent suggestion. In addition, once your hidden files and folders are visible, you can download disktective to have a pie chart overview of your harddisk. With this freeware tool you can identify what exactly is stored on your harddisk and see if there are any suspicious files or folders that you can feedback to us.
Here is a screenshot:

The download link can be found here: Disktective, freeware disk-space reporting tool for Windows

[magi13]

Originally Posted by Chris Cade

On Windows XP, there's a feature to do a System Restore back to a previous point in time when OS changes were made (like a system patch was applied).

So if you're on XP, just do a System Restore to a date before you started having this problem.

^^, there is one problem with this once the virus gets into that system restore file it's gone.

That's why I recommend Norton Ghost or Acronis

Still, it's really up to you guys.

I really recommend this webpage. A wonderful techy guy made it.

Gizmo's - Gizmo's List - The Best Freeware Reviewed and Rated | Gizmo's Tech Support Alert

[Chris Cade]

Originally Posted by magi13

^^, there is one problem with this once the virus gets into that system restore file it's gone.

There's lots of system restore files... it just depends how often you install new updates. Just choose the one prior to the infection, and then Windows Update will prompt to reinstall all the missing updates.

When I had a virus that I couldn't get rid of no matter what I tried, I did a restore to a couple of weeks prior to the infection and it was fine. I intentionally didn't use a restore that was within the recent 2 weeks (I had about 5 restore points, so just chose one of the older ones).

I've used Ghost in the past as well when I had a clean base system... and I still am a big fan of Ghost. But for solving an immediate problem, I'd still go with a Restore.

[magi13]

Originally Posted by Chris Cade

There's lots of system restore files... it just depends how often you install new updates. Just choose the one prior to the infection, and then Windows Update will prompt to reinstall all the missing updates.

When I had a virus that I couldn't get rid of no matter what I tried, I did a restore to a couple of weeks prior to the infection and it was fine. I intentionally didn't use a restore that was within the recent 2 weeks (I had about 5 restore points, so just chose one of the older ones).

I've used Ghost in the past as well when I had a clean base system... and I still am a big fan of Ghost. But for solving an immediate problem, I'd still go with a Restore.

That's good, I've never used system restore once since I like to keep my hard drive free. I've got to many data's here from research in my computer and I need constant spaces. ^,^

advance system care free <-- seems like a good product for those who don't use ghost ^,^