2 Computers- Both suddely have problems with Scan Results- "Apply" Grayed Out

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Avast Free was working great, but about 1 to 2 weeks ago it stopped taking action on viruses listed in scan results. Also on custom scan of most everything the scan results reflect many high threat viruses of all types (trojans, worms you guess it) and I can hear my hard drive being very busy for no reason while my firefox browser gets hijacked and opens a new tag at random to sites that Avast alerts them as being unsafe. System Restore will not work, in fact many things no longer work, all the signs of corrupted o.s. In other words, two computers of mine started doing this on about the same day and well over a week now I can observe the damage being done from some payload, yet Avast-free detects many bugs but will not take ANY action in automated scans, nor allow one to take any action in custom-scans.

Also I often repair computers for money, so I’m not a newbie with this stuff, yet the only real solution I can find here is to repartition/format/re-install Windows… ’ which I was hopping to avoid if possible. I am hoping I am overlooking something simple, but so far I can not figure out what it could be. I have tried many other things too, but am trying to keep this post short.

Thanks for your time, and if I end up looking stupid then I am ok with that because I rather look stupid than have to re-do two hard drives for repartition fdisk, fdisk /mbr, or ruining Spinnrite etc… and of course reinstall of Windows again. I am hoping to avoid going down that road. Surely there is a better way. I guess I should try another A.V. but I really was convinced that Avast! was the best anti virus around. Now I do not know.

Thanks for reading, I wish you all the best. :slight_smile:

2

Hello Jammer1 and welcome to the forum. :slight_smile:

  1. Can you tell me what your OS(s) are, (32 or 64-bit), and if you are on a network?

  2. Have you done Avast scans or any other malware scans recently? Is anything in your Virus Chest? If so, what is it (screen shot would be nice), and leave all items in the Chest there.

  3. What security software do you have on your system now and in the past?

  4. Can you correlate Avast not working 1 - 2 weeks ago with anything? Did you make any changes to your system or network, different FW, different browser, going on different sites (higher-risk), downloading something, etc.?

  5. Do you have an Image Backup you can revert back to as a “just in case?” I don’t want you to do this now until we make sure you are malware-free, which I doubt you are.

  6. Please check your computer for malware with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM).
    · Download free http://www.malwarebytes.org/ for an on-demand scanner.
    · Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
    · After install, click update so you have latest database before scanning.
    · Under Settings:
    o General: Automatically Save File After Scan Completes is checked off
    o Scanner Settings: Check all boxes
    o Updater: Download and install update if available is checked off
    · Once the program has loaded, select “Perform FULL Scan”, then click Scan.
    · The scan may take some time to finish, so please be patient.
    · When the disinfection scan is complete, a log will appear in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart. (See Extra Note).
    · Click the “remove selected” button to quarantine anything found. You will find the infection details under the Quarantine tab.
    · The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
    · Copy & Paste the entire report in your next reply.

NOTE: You will need to run the MBAM scans for all the machines. Ex: PC #1 with OSxx MBAM log: …, then post.

After this, please go to the first post of this thread under Virus/Worms for you to check your machine for malware: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253.0.

Follow the directions of obtaining OTL logs. Post the two b OTL log for each machine[/b] as an attachment (Additional Options > Attach > Browse (the logs will be on your desktop > Post). We can then analyze this in the meantime for any malware, and if any malware is found we will refer you to one of our malware experts. Thank you.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.

3

Sorry for the delay, I was distracted by some other computer problems I was working on for some friends. It seems there is a big market for repairing PCs where I live (in the sticks!)… Anyway back on topic…

SafeSurf, thank you for your kind reply. Gosh, who could ask for better support for a FREE download?

Thank you for the many helpful links as well. But time is money, and in the end it is simply much easier and faster to go the tried and true method of repartitioning the hard drive and reinstall Windows. Of course I am leaving out most of the details, but I have no doubt you and most any tech knows what I am speaking of. When the operating system gets this badly corrupted it just seems like a better way to go- on second thought. I guess I was hoping you guys could advise me of some easy magic bullet, but I guess the other way might be a longer road and who knows the outcome…?

I am having this issue on computers with WinXp 32 bit and Vista 64 bit. So far my only home computer with Windows 7 has yet to get a virus, and I am running Avast-free on it as well.

I have learned one thing, however, and that is that it seems to me that your A.V. allows an end user to be able to scan with a very high level of detection, and that alone seems to be causing some of my red-flags to various malware with Avast. After all, after trying some of your competition’s free products I have discovered they do not detect 80% of what Avast-free (AV) has detected on my computers. So I suppose I will chalk much of this up to a very sensitive anti-virus, and just like a high level police radar detector, I suppose one has to learn how to accurately interpret the alerts.

Nevertheless I still must wonder exactly how the problems I have been having ever got started. But as of now I rather go another route, and most likely I will stick with AVAST Anti Virus because I can not find another free product that I believe is better. There are many possibilities for what happen to me, but for now I’ll chalk it up to a big question mark until I can learn more. I’ll still use Avast though, I just do not have evidence that can make me believe it was to blame for this, as it can be rather complex when one gets down to the troubleshooting.

I hope you nice folks will allow this thread to remain open just in case any other user happens to stumble upon the answer to what happen to me.

Avast A.V. is way ahead of the rest right now, no matter what one may read in my post. For a free product it is well worth scratching me head a few times. haha I was just wondering if there was something obvious I was overlooking… Maybe next time I’ll go your route. Thanks for the help (I mean that).

Peace. :wink:

Jammer1

4

Obviously when your AV software is coming up with alerts all over the place, the fix won’t be as simple as clearing your browsers cookies or deleting all *.tmp files.

That being said, since your avast! is having problems removing threats (likely due to the extensive damage of the viruses already on your system), you really should try running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and see what it comes up with. It won’t take too terribly long, and if it doesn’t at least help, you can always reformat later.

As for why the malware made it on to your computer in the first place, sometimes when a new virus comes out, they slip past even the best antivirus software, simply because its new and no one is ready for it.

5

The OP’s problem is resolved and I thank him for the compliment. :slight_smile: