Shopsmith Forums

Ya I know, it is SS forum not a computer one, but I know you all here, well maybe kinda do.
A friends computer got high jacked, other then paying the ransom, anything be done?

Do you mean the virus/trojan that "highjacks" the computer and you have to buy a "key" to undo it?

A pop up came up with all the warnings about pass word, financial stuff, ect, call this number. It was not Micro softs, # He hung up at that point, and then they called him back, so hung up again. No legitimate service I can think of would have done that.

No reputable company would do that. He opened the wrong page or attachment, and the computer is basically hosed. The only safe way I know to fix it is to wipe the hard drive and do a complete clean install. It isn't that difficult, and it gets you a new clean start.
If he has backups of his data, it isn't a big problem. Just do a clean install of the operating system and drivers, and use the backup to recover your personal files.

ERLover wrote:A pop up came up with all the warnings about pass word, financial stuff, ect, call this number. It was not Micro softs, # He hung up at that point, and then they called him back, so hung up again. No legitimate service I can think of would have done that.

OK, this can be pretty easy, or impossible. Depending on which ransom ware he has been hit with.

First, I will tell you that he may/could lose everything. (I had to get that disclaimer out of the way LOL). Second, if he can take it to a pro (he can send it to me if he wants) that is probably the safest way. Thirdly he can try to recover himself. If his important stuff is backed up, just wipe the drive and reinstall the OS.

Now, first you will need to enter safe mode with networking. Download Malwarebytes (free) while in safemode and do a full scan. That may very well be all he needs to do. Remember, these processes can take hours, so be patient. If the malware has actually encrypted his files, you are SOL. If not, you can recover ....

BTW, I won't get into a pissin' contest with anyone on this subject. I did this for 30 years professionally. My advise is free, take if for what it is worth.... Good luck!

A clean install is best, and it isn't difficult. I personally have done 7 clean installs on computers in the last 2 weeks. I did 5 Linux installs, and 2 Windows installs. The Windows ones can be done in 2 hours or less. The Linux installs take less than an hour. If you have your files backed up on your network, another 20 minutes or so lets you retrieve your personal files and have the computer running right again.

rjent wrote:

ERLover wrote:A pop up came up with all the warnings about pass word, financial stuff, ect, call this number. It was not Micro softs, # He hung up at that point, and then they called him back, so hung up again. No legitimate service I can think of would have done that.

OK, this can be pretty easy, or impossible. Depending on which ransom ware he has been hit with.

First, I will tell you that he may/could lose everything. (I had to get that disclaimer out of the way LOL). Second, if he can take it to a pro (he can send it to me if he wants) that is probably the safest way. Thirdly he can try to recover himself. If his important stuff is backed up, just wipe the drive and reinstall the OS.

Now, first you will need to enter safe mode with networking. Download Malwarebytes (free) while in safemode and do a full scan. That may very well be all he needs to do. Remember, these processes can take hours, so be patient. If the malware has actually encrypted his files, you are SOL. If not, you can recover ....

BTW, I won't get into a pissin' contest with anyone on this subject. I did this for 30 years professionally. My advise is free, take if for what it is worth.... Good luck!

I'm standing by what Dick just said! 100%

One caveat I might add.

I'd be VERY wary of anything recovered from the old OS installation.
I'd much rather do a complete, clean re-format and re-install. Anything
on THAT HDD, consider lost.

Also, in this day and age, consider moving important files to an external
drive. (Connect the external drive, move important stuff over, then disconnect
drive.) If you get an "issue," do NOT connect external drive!

steve

skou wrote:
I'd be VERY wary of anything recovered from the old OS installation.
I'd much rather do a complete, clean re-format and re-install. Anything
on THAT HDD, consider lost.


steve

I completely agree with you. Consider any and all files on that hard drive to be infected. Don't try to save anything. Do a clean install. Most newer computers today have a restore partition that is to be used to do a new install. Personally, I would not trust that partition to be clean either after this problem and I would not use it.
As I stated earlier, do a clean install and do it from a separate source like a DVD that you know to be safe.

Thanks all, I talked to my buddy, it is a 150$ Asus lab top, I think he said an 11" screen, and he has other lab tops and a PC.
So is it worth it? It has Windows 8 on it.

It is not the worth of the machine, in my mind in these situations, it is the worth of the data (his WP, SS, DB, etc) that he will lose.

If the data isn't important dump the computer. You can easily spend more to save the machine than it is worth, so what you are saving is the data.

JMHO