So apparently I picked up a key logger.  how the hell do I get rid of this thing?

Download and install Malwarebytes

The good news is that it appears the logger could not call home.

That's what I thought too, but my Steam account was hijacked, and my email password changed on me last night.  I'm running Spybot S&D now and I have Malwarebytes downloaded but not installed yet.  Going to run them both then run them both in safe mode also.

More information on how you might have got the infection: http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojbdoorahk.html

Hopefully you are using a real time threat scanner like Microsoft Security Essentials in the future.

Also download and run CCleaner. This program will clean out your internet cache files and help fix your system registry.

Thanks.  I actually have AVG running with the Resident Shield that is supposed to be scanning files as they are accessed.  Apparently it doesnt work well ....

From my Malwarebytes quick scan ...



As for the CCleaner ... I have NO IDEA what most of this is.  Should I just analyze the registry and hit fix errors?

Guy....don't fuck around with AVG, malwarebytes, etc. They are good programs but, honestly, do you really trust that they will clean everything and get this key logger? When was the last time you when online to your bank or ordered something over the internet? Do you trust that these will clean your computer so you can safely go to those websites and type in your account or cc numbers?





Backup any important files/data and wipe the computer with something such as killdisk, then reinstall, Windows with all applications and drivers, then make sure windows and all applications are up to date. It looks like you are using Windows 7 so I would suggest to you, after all this, to make a backup image of the drive which will make future problems easier as you will only have to wipe and copy the image back.  





Some may disagree with me and say this is overkill, but if this happened to me, that is what I would do. Also, download Microsoft Security Essentials, or pay for a AV subscription. No AV program will get everything, but pick one of the better/best solutions, keep the definitions up to date, and setup a weekly full scan of your computer.





One last thing, stay away from dubious website, especially porn of downloading software, music, movies, etc form untrusted websites.





If you want to do when I recommended but not sure how to proceed, I will be more then willing to help out.



ETA: Also, don't install more than 1 AV program as they tend to fight each other and cause problems, usually thinking the other is a virus. Symantec with Malwarebytes is fine, but AVG and Symantec would not work well.

SnoopFree Privacy Shield

Absolutely correct.  I cringe every time I see someone saying to run malwarebytes.  The only complete  solution to an infection is a wipe & reload.

Thanks, I'll probably just reformat and be done with it.  I'm good with that process, I do it about every 6 months or so anyway.  The only thing I'm not sure on is making the backup image.  Will this make a format and install easier / quicker in the future?  How do I go about doing this?



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Yes it will make it easier in the future. First you will need a place to store the image. If you have a external hard drive, that would be perfect as it will not fit on a CD because your system will be a few GBs, but if you keep it to the basic applications such as Office, adobe, etc, then you may be able to fit it on a DVD, but most likely not. Blu-ray would be the best choice if you have a blu-ray burner even over a external drive as that can fail. If you don't have Blu-ray or an external hard drive, you can create a
second partition on your hard drive and store it there, but again, if the
drive fails, you will lose the image.



When you get Windows setup with everything installed, you click through a wizard and it create an image of the system drive. Really easy to do. Make sure to also create the system recovery disk (SRD). After you wipe the computer, you boot the SRD and select "System Image Recovery" then it will restore a copy of the image to your hard drive. Your computer will be setup with the restored image and you will not have to install Windows or other apps. Basically, you can wipe and restore your computer in under an hour back to new.



The neat thing I like about the Windows 7 backup imager is that it creates the image as a VHD (Virtual Hard Drive) file. If you store it on a external hard drive or separate partition, you can boot this "image" with virtual PC (free download from Microsoft) and add to or update programs.



Image: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/how-to-create-a-system-image-in-windows-7/

SRD: http://forums.techarena.in/guides-tutorials/1114725.htm





 

Ok, I am in the process of reinstalling things.  The only thing I forgot about was that KillDisk.  Do I really need to run that and start this over?  I formatted both my HDs from within Windows Setup before installing Windows.

No you don't need it. Again, I go a little overkill. I like it because it writes all zeros to the hard drive and to me it is about as fresh of a start as you can get. Depending on how large your hard drive is, it can take hours to complete though. A format and reinstall is fine. It is best to do a full (not quick) format as it checks for bad sectors on the drive and will know not to write to any bad sectors, but I usually do a quick format because I'm lazy and don't want to wait.





 

Thanks for the help.  I got everything wiped and am working on getting things installed.  I also got an external HD to create a system image on and made a recovery disk.  With this external HD ... is it okay to leave it plugged in all the time, or should I just unplug it and stick it on a shelf somewhere?  At the moment, I'm really only planning on using it for backups.

No problem! Glad i can help out.



It would be best to keep the hard drive unplugged if you are only using it for backups. Even better yet, store it in your gun safe in case of a fire or burglary. You can also use Windows 7's Backup and Restore program to backup important files. You can also store this on the drive as well. If you did a backup once a week, and if something happened to your computer, you could restore the computer with almost all the data fairly quickly. This would be good practice as you don't always get a warning that something is about to happen. Just remember, the hard drive can fail so it is not a 100% fool proof solution.





After you are setup with an image and backups, the basic steps would be like this: Wipe hard drive > restore image > restore backed up data and install any other programs needed > make sure updates are applied to Windows and other programs.





Here are two sites on Windows Backup and Restore to get you started.





http://lifehacker.com/5144757/first-look-at-windows-7s-backup-and-restore-center


http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1838/using-backup-and-restore-in-windows-7/





There are other programs out there for backing up your files that may be a better option for individual files than what is built in to Windows, so you don't have to get caught up with only built in tools. For imaging, you really can't beat what is built in to Windows 7 for what home users need though.





Honestly, if you want to really go the extra mile on backups, for about $50 a year you can backup to services such as Backblaze or Mozy, but I think we are getting out of the scope of what you need help with right now.





 

NY_crawler, what's your opinion of Mozy and other online backup services?

I think they are a great if they meet your needs. With everything going digital I think it is worth $5 per month or generally $50 a year. Mozy and Backblaze offer unlimited storage so if you have 10GB or 50GB it all costs the same. I never used them because I run Linux on my servers and NAS and they don't support linux yet, but if they did I would be backing up to them.



First, you should evaluate what you want to backup. Important documents, family photos, music, etc. and see how much space they takeup.  If it is less than a few GB then 1 or 2 DVDs might be all you need. It can get fairly time consuming to back everything up, especially with music and other media. The biggest PITA is documents that can change over time and keeping track if the latest file is backed up. These services have a program that will only backup what has been change and not upload what has not, saving bandwidth. The biggest thing is that depending on how much you have to backup, it could take 2 weeks initially to get everything up to the server as most people do not have great up-stream bandwidth.



If the data on your computer is critical, it is not a bad thing to have. I myself am going to scan all important documents onto my computer and save as PDFs and store a copy offsite incase theft or fire.

Call me crazy, but I have serious reservations to storing all of my data out there on the internet, even though it's encrypted, password protected, etc.  I'm just certain at some point some criminal hack (or worse, big brother) will get ahold of everything on my system.  I backup to a network drive in my house instead.



I guess my tinfoil is just a little too tight...  but think about it, you can get a 1.5TB drive for ~$100, why bother with online services?

Your tinfoil's not too tight, but your answer is in red in the post you quoted.

I equate it to this: Do you keep your money in a bank? Do you trust them? If your tinfoil is indeed on too tight, then keep a backup with a friend or relative of important data. I myself have a NAS/SAN with 3 1.5TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration, but I have about 50GB worth of data/backups/images from all my VMs, ISOs, etc. I would hate to loose all that work I put into my setup.



If your that paranoid, get 2, 32GB (or larger) USB flash drives and keep one off site. For about $100 you can get a Blu-ray burner which can burn 45GB of data to a disk.



One of the benefits of Backblaze is that they will send you a CD or USB drive of your data if you need it (for a cost). Also, you are more likely to get a virus/trojan etc on your computer and have your data compromised than one of these places that build their reputation on keeping data secure.



I am not touting the online services, but it is just one option you can use that is a very good option of most home users. It is not for everyone, and if it is not for you, that is fine. I just highly recommend keeping important data off site is all.