Help! All of my programs got corrupted by a virus

Hi people,

Im new here.. I encountered a big problem with my laptop now. I bought my laptop a month ago, its Acer extensa 5620. and I installed a Norton 360 anti virus,.. Last monday sept. 15, i was surfing the net, using mozilla. but then a pop-up appear saying I need to add plug-in. yet, instead of clicking cancel, i accidentally click "add plug-in"
Now, what happens is, when I minimized the window, i was so shocked all of my programs icon turned into a Media Player Classic icon. then when I tried to open a certain program (e.g Calculator, Paint, MS Word) All opens at the Media player classic, and a pop up error message saying "Cannot Render File" even my Norton antivirus got corrupted when I tried to do System Restore, it got corrupted also.. the only program didn't got corrupted was my Mozilla Explorer n Internet Explorer..

I hope anyone can help me or give a solution to this..
i would really appreciate it

 

Oopppsss.. that looks a major mess up..

I wouldn't be surprised if the comment / response "time to do a clean install" comes up now.... and I think its time for you to probably do that...

 

^ Yeah, that is probably the case. Although it is possible to remove the virus (running scans in Safe mode), one can usually never be sure if the virus has never been fully removed from the system; even though AVs detect viruses, there may be multiple copies of the virus across the system.

However, I would recommend that you try using System Restore instead of a complete reinstall and keeping an eye out for the problem recurring; it sounds like the virus has only infected your icon settings. In that case, a System Restore should replace the infected file(s) with clean copies and hopefully lead to a quick, clean fix.

 

^^ Bog >> But the OP said he/she already tried system restore and it also got 'corrupted'..... So... I was just thinking about doing a complete PC restore (assuming the OP has a complete PC backup of some sorts)... in this case, he/she could probably do a complete restore to some date/time well before the "dreaded plugin", No??? *just a thought*

OP > do u have a complete PC backup or something???

 

****, i didn't know you can catch virus surfing the net! what website was it?

 

Sorry, I missed that.

In that case, the only options are to either run a scan in Safe mode or reinstall Windows altogether. Unless, of course, the OP has been prudent enough to keep a full backup image on hand.

 

LOL... Are you serious, you didn't know this?

 

A very useful add on (and a very safe one) is NoScript for Firefox.
If you install it together with Ad Block Plus, you will eliminate most drive-by risks.
Cheers.

 

The bad thing was,, I wasn't able to backup any before my laptop got corrupted

 

How can I scan my laptop in a safe mode? because my Norton 360 AV, also has been corrupted..

 

A friend of mine, tried suggesting me, to do the "Restore to Factory Default"
by pressing Alt and F10 while turning on my laptop. but i was not quite sure if its right.. was it advisable? If i will do that, do I need to re-install the whole Windows Vista and some other old programs? *cheers*

 

Safe mode is an option offered when you press F8 during booting.
So, when you turn on your notebook, press F8 a couple of times, then a black screen with white text will appear; the Windows Advanced Options Menu. ( link for XP and Vista safe mode instructions)

Choose safe mode, let Windows load (it will take longer than usual) and then perform a full scan with Norton.
Cheers.

 

Ok.. one thing you can do is get in another good, free AV tool (look in the sticky here) and that would complement the corrupted Norton 360.

And while you are at it, see if you can use one of the popular free AV / ASW tools to scan and detect the virus or bug or whatever and completely delete them with the options available.. Ok, I know some times this does not remove the virus completely from the system, at least you can try to see if you can get some stuff to work again..

And a quickie here

 

Baserk >> will the corrupted Norton work in safe mode?? Because the OP said even the Norton he had was corrupted! *confused*

And also to the OP >> before you run the scan with whatever tools in safe mode, you might want to completely disable the system restore thing... so that the virus doesn't get located there in whatever infected files...

 

If you can get on the net try an online scanner.

http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

 

Best of luck to you, buddy.

Once you get your system up and running again, I would suggest you avail yourself of some of the free anti-spyware/anti-malware programs, in addition to a good anti-virus (I don't know if you are staying with Norton.)

Spybot S & D
Adaware
SuperAntiSpyware
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
CCleaner
SpywareBlaster

I use all of these... In addition, of course, to the ESET Security Suite, including NOD32

 

I already done it.. Still my Norton, won't work anymore cause of it corruption though I opened on a safe mode, then try to run the Norton, still it opens on media Player Classic, n pop up an error message "Cannot render file"

 

Now, heres the bad news either.. sinced My norton is corrupted, I tried downloading Spyware Doctor, but to my suprise, after downloading it to my notebook, instead of an EXE icon, it also became Media Player Classic Icon. and when i tried to run the installer, it also openned at media Player classic

So, a friend of mine suggested me to do the restore factory default, but im scared to do it, cause one thing is, i dont have any installers with me.. Can anyone tell me, about the restore to factory default?

 

If you restore to factory default it will be like it came to you. You'll lose your newly installed programs (they can be reinstalled) and most likely lose your data if it's on the same partition as your OS.

Either that, it's a fresh install but, you'll need to drivers etc. (if Vista is anything like XP)

Added: Once you get it back up, if you need help putting some good security software on it and developing a back up strategy, come back.

 

That's because the file associations have been messed up so that the OS associates everything with media player. Have you tried to reset file associations from the files->properties dialog window?

 

Hi chrisnicey,

This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team.

Norton 360 does can not be run in Safe Mode.

To resolve a corrupted installation of Norton 360 you will need to properly remove it and then reinstall the program and make sure all available updates are applied.

1. Click on the following link to download the Norton Removal Tool:

Norton Removal Tool and Instructions

2. After you run the tool, please restart your computer. Then log in to Windows again and run the removal tool again. Restart your computer after it is finished running the second time as well.

3. Make sure that your internet connection is working properly, and then reinstall Norton 360. Towards the end of the installation process, the LiveUpdate feature will automatically run and download and install updates to both the program files and definition files.

4. After the installation is complete, launch Norton 360 and manually run LiveUpdate to check for any more available updates.

5. Perform a "Comprehensive Scan" with Norton 360 to check for infections.

Thanks,
Mike

 

I already did the same thing.. still after I install again still opens the same thing.. I think the whole system got corrupted..

 

I'd give F-Secure Online Scanner a try as a last resort.
An OS reinstall might be more appropriate by now though, with half a day of work you'll have a clean notebook and ease of mind.

 

+1; OP, you should try this, the "Cannot Render" message is because the Media Player cannot display .exe's and other files that are not Movie Files, although it might take a while to solve the problem depending on how much file extensions the virus modified.

Good Luck on fixing the issue.

 

Similar happended to me and it was a mess. I couldn't even get safe mode to work. Need to reinstall everything and it was a pain! Good Luck