Computer Virus/Spyware Question - Need Knowledge

[The Fixer]

My computer got infected with the "Security Tool" spyware/malware crap a few days ago, and it was an improved strain apparently. I wasn't able to access the taskmanager, either with CtrlAltDel or by running it in the Run window. And, it wouldn't let me launch any anti-spyware programs like mbam (malwarebytes.org), so I was beat. After much frustration and annoyance, our home computer is back alive again, and better than ever (knock on wood). We built this thing 6 years ago, so it needed some upgrades anway. I bought a new 320 gig hard drive and installed Windows 7 on it, and added an extra 1meg of RAM (up from just 256k LOL). I know its still a dinosaur, but I like it and it works well.

Now, here's the question/problem. Does the malware only affect the OS on that particular hard drive, or could it infect the whole machine? I ask, because all of my family photos and iTunes are on the original 80gig HD that was running my old Windows XP, and I need that stuff. Ideally, I'd like to just connect the old 80gig HD as a slave unit to the new 320gig which runs the new OS. As long as the infected drive is a slave and not running the OS, I should be in the clear, correct?

[nj85z28]

Steve do you use any kind of virus protection? Just curious. I havent had the pleasure of having this virus but my friend was plagued with it for a while because they had no protection like Norton or similar.

[The Fixer]

No, no virus protection yet - I should do something about that I guess.

[racethesunlive]

As long as you don't click on whatever application installed the virus the first time you'll be fine on the new drive.

Still I would install something like Avast (anti-virus, free) and spybot and do a full scan of the slave drive just to be safe.

[NastyEllEssWon]

you can run a program called R-kill to kill the rogue installer (security tools). once thats done, run Malwarebytes. This is the key, once its done uninstall malwarebytes, delete it and reinstall it to get rid of the infection totally. once youve got the new malwarebytes installed go to www.Avira.com awesome FREE antivirus that updates DAILY.




any ''spybots'' or specific spyware remover usually adds its own spyware....so its redundant

[ryanfx]

Originally Posted by TPI Monte SS

...and added an extra 1meg of RAM (up from just 256k LOL)....

For asking a legit question properly I'll subdue my troll side and let this one pass

Malware, *could* potentially affect other mounted data devices on your machine. This can include network shares, USB drives, and internal drives.

Once you execute those files in the new OS it is quite possible to reinfect your machine.

**however** Spyware rarely does this - this behavior is much more common in worms rather than this obnoxious stuff like "Internet Security 2010"

I would recommend moving all of your data onto another drive, bring it up in your new OS (dont click on any files though!) and run a tool such as Malwarebytes on the entire drive.

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756

[The Fixer]

Originally Posted by ryanfx

For asking a legit question properly I'll subdue my troll side and let this one pass

Malware, *could* potentially affect other mounted data devices on your machine. This can include network shares, USB drives, and internal drives.

Once you execute those files in the new OS it is quite possible to reinfect your machine.

**however** Spyware rarely does this - this behavior is much more common in worms rather than this obnoxious stuff like "Internet Security 2010"

I would recommend moving all of your data onto another drive, bring it up in your new OS (dont click on any files though!) and run a tool such as Malwarebytes on the entire drive.

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5756

Thanks! I meant 1gig, but I was just utterly frustrated with this thing and made a typo. That sounds like a plan then, I'll transfer everything over first, then run Malwarebytes on it to make sure nothing that transferred over is infected with anything. Then I'll probably wipe the other drive clean and just use it as extra storage.