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Did Malware Kill my PC?


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We had a PC running Windows XP that had become so gunked up it was virtually useless. I bought some clean-up software and worked through various things to get the system running more quickly and consistently. Then I downloaded Malwarebytes, having heard it was an excellent anti-malware program. I ran a full scan, and in the first two minutes it identified 21 problems.

However, after an hour and fifteen minutes and over 90k files scanned - upping the number of problems identified to 57 - my entire system froze. Couldn't move the mouse, couldn't key anything in - it was completely locked up. Even ctrl-alt-del failed to launch the program manager so I could do a force quit or a hot restart. I finally gave up and turned the computer off cold, sick that my extensive scan data would likely be lost and I'd have to rescan.

But when I cold-booted, my computer wouldn't boot. I'm now getting a message that I need to use a boot disk (which I don't have). I can't even get the thing to start in safe mode. It's dead in the water, and without the boot disk, I'm at a loss. The computer is now a paper weight.

Does anyone have any idea why this might have happened? Is it possible that Malware hit a file with some kind of virus in it, and in moving it to the quarantine file it activated the virus or something? Why would this happen? If I somehow manage to get the system up and running again, will I be risking the same problem if I rerun the Malware full scan and encounter that same sector of files?

I ask this because if Malware itself was the problem, I have recently installed it on a brand new PC and I will need to get it off the new equipment ASAP. I can't afford to flush $500 plus down the drain.

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Welcome to the forum lynnm!

Scan and post logs - read note at bottom in green

If you're having Malware related issues with your computer that you're unable to resolve.

  1. Please read and follow the instructions provided here: I'm infected - What do I do now?
  2. If needed please post your logs in a NEW topic here: Malware Removal - HijackThis Logs
  3. When posting logs please do not use any Quote, Code, or other tags. Please copy/paste directly into your post and do not attach files unless requested.
  • Please do not post any logs in the General forum. We do not work on any logs posted in the General forum.
  • Please do not install any software or use any removal/scanning tool except for those you're requested to run by the Helper that will assist you.
  • Using these other tools often makes the cleanup task more difficult and time consuming.
  • If you have already submitted for assistance at one of the other support sites on the Internet then you should not post a new log here, you should stay working with the Helper from that site until the issue is resolved.
  • Do not assume you're clean because you don't see something in the logs. Please wait until the person assisting you provides feedback.
  • There are often many others that require asistance as well, so please be patient. If no one has responded within 48 hours then please go ahead and post a request for review
  • NOTE: If for some reason you're unable to run some or any of the tools in the first link, then skip that step and move on to the next one. If you can't even run HijackThis, then just proceed and post a NEW topic as shown in the second link describing your issues and someone will assist you as soon as they can.
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By malware do you mean malware (malicious software) or Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware (the software this site is mainly about)? Malwarebytes in itself shouldn't cause any problems. I use it on two pcs and my friend has it on his and we've never had it cause any problems. Although it is possible that the combination of malwarebytes and certain malware being removed could cause issues like your having.

If you need the data on the pc you could download a linux Live cd so you can transfer everything you need onto an external hard drive (Linux live CDs are Linux operating systems that can run enteirely from the CD drive without altering or using anything on the harddrive. This lets you use a system and recover files even if windows is completely broken) I'd reccomend Puppy Linux for this sort of task (only 100mb and pretty easy to use)

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