Hi All
Sadly, it's not good news that brings me to this site, but I hope that I can resolve things with your help
Okay, so I use Avira Anti-Virus software (the free version) and today it gave me a message that said something about the CRC and that the AVGUARD.exe (or some similar file) had been deleted or altered and that the program would shut down.
I tried to un-install Avira but it wouldn't let me, saying something about the initialisation of the modules. I then ran Spybot - Search & Destroy followed by Malwarebytes. Once they'd run, Malware said that it was unable to remove one of the problems and that it would be resolved upon restart.
When I restarted, my desktop was empty except for the wallpaper. No icons, no start bar, nothing. I opened Task Manager and tried to run explorer.exe but it said it wasn't there. I checked, and it wasn't. I downloaded a new version of Avira and installed it successfully and upon running for the 1st time, it said it had detected "W32/Virut.Gen" in wmplayer.exe (I then checked, and my Windows Media Player .exe. had also vanished).
After searching about this virus, I read that it opens all kinds of backdoors for hackers to remotely access your pc. Thinking, better safe than sorry, I disconnected my PC from the internet. I ran Search & Destroy again. Got a few more problems that were quarantined, but a Win32 one that it couldn't fix.
By now, Ctrl+Alt+Del wasn't bringing Task Manager up, instead showing some application error. After the latest Search & Destroy scan, I decided to restart, only this time when Windows booted up, it asked me for a password. I tried my admin password, but it didn't work. I tried leaving the field blank, and it opens up into my desktop, but instantly flashes the message box with "Logging Off" in it and returns me to the password screen.
I don't have any original discs for Windows as my machine was built years ago by a friend of the family. I keep reading other peoples posts around the web saying that this virus destroys all your .exe files and that the only way to sort it all out is to re-format your hard drive. I get this sinking feeling that all these people are right, but thought I'd try here 1st before I do anything drastic.
Can anyone shed any light/point me in the right direction with this?
Any help would be massively apreciated!
Cheers
Chris
Sadly, it's not good news that brings me to this site, but I hope that I can resolve things with your help
Okay, so I use Avira Anti-Virus software (the free version) and today it gave me a message that said something about the CRC and that the AVGUARD.exe (or some similar file) had been deleted or altered and that the program would shut down.
I tried to un-install Avira but it wouldn't let me, saying something about the initialisation of the modules. I then ran Spybot - Search & Destroy followed by Malwarebytes. Once they'd run, Malware said that it was unable to remove one of the problems and that it would be resolved upon restart.
When I restarted, my desktop was empty except for the wallpaper. No icons, no start bar, nothing. I opened Task Manager and tried to run explorer.exe but it said it wasn't there. I checked, and it wasn't. I downloaded a new version of Avira and installed it successfully and upon running for the 1st time, it said it had detected "W32/Virut.Gen" in wmplayer.exe (I then checked, and my Windows Media Player .exe. had also vanished).
After searching about this virus, I read that it opens all kinds of backdoors for hackers to remotely access your pc. Thinking, better safe than sorry, I disconnected my PC from the internet. I ran Search & Destroy again. Got a few more problems that were quarantined, but a Win32 one that it couldn't fix.
By now, Ctrl+Alt+Del wasn't bringing Task Manager up, instead showing some application error. After the latest Search & Destroy scan, I decided to restart, only this time when Windows booted up, it asked me for a password. I tried my admin password, but it didn't work. I tried leaving the field blank, and it opens up into my desktop, but instantly flashes the message box with "Logging Off" in it and returns me to the password screen.
I don't have any original discs for Windows as my machine was built years ago by a friend of the family. I keep reading other peoples posts around the web saying that this virus destroys all your .exe files and that the only way to sort it all out is to re-format your hard drive. I get this sinking feeling that all these people are right, but thought I'd try here 1st before I do anything drastic.
Can anyone shed any light/point me in the right direction with this?
Any help would be massively apreciated!
Cheers
Chris
