Digital Art Zone

My computer that is….

I got an email virus that norton can’t remove nor norton support or norton deep clean. malwarebytes failed as well.

It’s the dromedan.downloader virus and i can’t get rid of it!!!

Turns out all my recent memory issues and harddrive space issues were because of this virus. :(

I’m afraid i’ll have to do a wipe and loose everything.

I can’t back it all up because it’d back up the virus too, and anyway I don’t have an extra harddrive that can hold my daz runtime!!

I’m going nuts…. help would be welcome… :(  VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY welcome.

Solve my virus and I’ll think of a way to thank you (in the form of a GC to the store of your choice!)

belovedalia - 27 September 2012 05:05 AM

My computer that is….

I got an email virus that norton can’t remove nor norton support or norton deep clean. malwarebytes failed as well.

It’s the dromedan.downloader virus and i can’t get rid of it!!!

Turns out all my recent memory issues and harddrive space issues were because of this virus. :(

I’m afraid i’ll have to do a wipe and loose everything.

I can’t back it all up because it’d back up the virus too, and anyway I don’t have an extra harddrive that can hold my daz runtime!!

I’m going nuts…. help would be welcome… :(  VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY welcome.

Solve my virus and I’ll think of a way to thank you (in the form of a GC to the store of your choice!)

Online scanner:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ 

They’ve saved my computer more than once!

There are others available too but this isn’t a time for shopping around and many are the scams.

Somebody else might drop in with a trusted link.

....................

There’s also Microsoft’s malware removal tool: http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx

i have no idea if/what works on that virus but hopefully something does.

..............

okay i found a couple sites that claim they can clean it but one I really don’t know and if it’s a hostage site you won’t thank me so ...
you said Norton’s couldn’t clean it, they have this here:
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2011-101915-4058-99&tabid=3
a Norton Power Eraser ... I’m not their customer so am not clicking on the link to see if it’s still valid though it should be.
The more information they have doesn’t sound good, however ...
Another website said it’s being sent around as a zip with an email about a failed delivery attempt.
hmmm ... if it were my computer, I would delete ALL zips from emails on the computer and then run the scanners again.

Also if you have a restore point; can try that ... however if it’s infected the computer there too, then one turns off the restore points erasing them all ... and again try an online scanner ... hang in there. It can be exasperating.
But hopefully Housecall will catch it for you.

did you check through everything that Symantec recommend to get rid of it

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2011-101915-4058-99&tabid=3

Edited to add, for cloud storage have you tried Drop Box.  A lot of people are using it nowadays

https://www.dropbox.com/

Yes i tried all of Norton’s suggestions, the last being deep clean, but all failed…

will try housecall as soon as current scan finishes.

won’t cloud storage just save my virus too??

Man :( so depressed…. what a waste of a week….

There is some advice here:

http://www.removemalwarespyware.com/downloader-dromedan-virus-how-to-remove-downloader-dromedan-virus-manual-removal-guide/

belovedalia - 27 September 2012 05:53 AM

Yes i tried all of Norton’s suggestions, the last being deep clean, but all failed…

will try housecall as soon as current scan finishes.

won’t cloud storage just save my virus too??

Man :( so depressed…. what a waste of a week….

Was actually suggesting it for future reference rather than to use at this moment.  I personally have all my runtimes, and all my Poser and Bryce scene files and my textures saved to external drives, only my program files were ever on the main drive.  With the new PC I am installing programs to a 2nd internal hard drive, was the best way I could think of to keep my content as safe as possible from any possible virus infection, although so far I have been lucky, using Avast, Malwarebytes and spybot installed.

@Chohole - Dropbox sounds like a great idea!

belovedalia - 27 September 2012 05:53 AM

won’t cloud storage just save my virus too??

I don’t think Trojans infect files. But it downloads other malware. And it might be possible for something (like a rootkit) to infect across a network.

I’d use a make a backup to CD or DVD, instead (CD would take eons). Unless others can tell you that an unbootable external is safe from having it’s file system infected by some other malware. I’d use a backup program that can be set to only backup/restore data. You’d put the backup into it’s own propriatory kind of archive file, which would go in the shared folder. Then you’d restore only data files, on the other computer. I’m sure Acronis can do this, but I’m in a hurry.

I’m behind the times on malware, so I’m hoping I don’t put my foot in my mouth… but I’m sure some expertly folks will come in here.

So there’s bound to advice on exactly what precautions you’d need to take.

Edit (of brain farts that might’ve been read, and):

Taozen - 27 September 2012 06:19 AM

There is some advice here:

http://www.removemalwarespyware.com/downloader-dromedan-virus-how-to-remove-downloader-dromedan-virus-manual-removal-guide/

Awesome! I manually removed a trojan once - piece of cake, once you know where to look.

If there’s a lot of other malware, you might end up using a bootable-CD antivirus scanner. Some antivirus utilities let you make one, but it’d have to be made on a clean computer.

Run MalwareBytes ( www.MalwareBytes.org ) in “Safe Mode with Networking”.  It sometimes catches the infection before it wakes up.  MalwareBytes is good for Trojans but not true viruses.

Also try to run your regular anti-virus in “Safe Mode with Networking” some do, some don’t. 

Running in a Safe Mode is not guaranteed, but is more likely to succeed.

As far as saving your data without a spare archive hard drive,...  here’s where you need a geekish friend that you trust with your data.  Safest way is to have him(or her) remove your hard drive and add it to another computer as a simple data drive and scan it with a couple of good A/V apps then copy your data to a temporary archive drive.

MalwareBytes is a very good soft, I used it once at work when the PC in my office was infected. Our tech recommended it as the best software for virus removal.

Also, about half a year ago I had a very nasty trojan virus in my home PC which I could not get rid off with any antivirus software I tried and the only what saved me in the end was an utility called Kaspersky TDSSKiller. I don´t remember where exactly I downloaded it from but it worked like a charm. It does not install as far as I remember, you just run it and choose Start scan.

Also, you might try SpywareTerminator, SuperAntiSpyware (but cautious, SuperAntiSpyware is hard to get ridd off afterwards, so I´d rather not recommend it) and any other virus removal tools you can get your hands on. When I had my virus & trojan problem, I tried several virus removal tools any each of them found some virus which the other did not. So try several, one of them MUST work. But it is better to not have them installed at the same time, as they might start to fight each other for hegemony , so it´s better to uninstall one before you install another.

You can save your content…

Since all the gibberish in your content folder is just ascii text and some image files, you can back those up without backing up the virus too. Then wipe your computer, reinstall everything, update till you’re blue in the face, and restore your backed up content folder.