malicious url blocked

[essexboy]

What is the make and model of your pc as we may be able to do a non destructive recovery

[nabby68]

i think i mentioned in my previous post it is a packard bell easynote TDK

[essexboy]

OK I have located the recovery options - but as usual the amount of information is very sparse.  From waht I can gather this is a non-destructive recovery i.e. your files and docs should remain however, I do not trust them (never do ) So I would suggest that you use the reatogo desktop to back up any important files to a cd/usb drive.  Still not received an answer yet fron sUBs but I will keep you informed 



Restart the computer.
Press "F11" as the computer is loading.
Highlight "Recover PC" and press "Enter."
Press "Y" to confirm the restoration, at which time your computer will be automatically restored.

[nabby68]

ok thanks for all your hard work, will try what you said but will back up my stuff first.
Who are the sUBs?

[nabby68]

Ok tried the f11 key on start up and the same windows boot manager error pops up :'(

[essexboy]

sUBs is the author of combofix

back to check th emanual

[nabby68]

Ok anymore suggestions before you go off for the night?

[essexboy]

Not at the moment - just printing the tech manual to look at

[nabby68]

just to let you know, i managed to get to the Packard Bell Recovery Management Screen was able to select restore to factory settings, i lost everything on my hard drive but taught me a lesson to back everything up in future, thanks for all your help and patience, although i might still need some advice as to what software is best to protect my pc in future as i dont want to get caught out again

[essexboy]

It appears that you had the new variant TDL which in its early incarnation will delete the partition table if it is interfered with.  The later (looking at hours here ) variants do not appear to do that, but we are still researching it   

[nabby68]

Trust me to get the worst type of virus!
Anyway, what programmes would you suggest to help me from getting caught out in the future?

[essexboy]

On my system I have AIS and MBAM pro - and that is it

I check my programme versions by using FileHippo to ensure that they are current.  I do not have Java installed and I use Foxit reader instead of Adobe

I use IE9 only and do not have Firefox or any other browser installed

Plus I do not use any social networking sites.  However, in the course of my investigations I reduce the rights on IE and visit some dodgy sites.  But, as of the present I have failed to get infected...

[DavidR]

Trust me to get the worst type of virus!
Anyway, what programmes would you suggest to help me from getting caught out in the future?

Prevention is one area but having a backup and recovery strategy is another area, for the day something like this happens, not to mention system issues can leave you in the dark brown stuff.

-- SYSTEM BACK-UP & RECOVERY
If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.
If you have a back-up and recovery plan, you can recover from anything in minutes, not hours or days.

1. back-up all the things that you don't want to lose, data files, like documents, spreadsheets, emails, email account details, registration keys, address book, favourites/bookmarks, downloaded files/programs, etc. the list goes on and on but if you don't want to lose it back it up. There are many back-up programs that can simplify this task and run it every day.

2. Recovery - re-installing your system really is a poor choice and one of last resort. There are tools (Drive Imaging software) that take exact images of your Partitions or Hard Disks and these images can be restored in minutes if you suffer a major catastrophe and that doesn't have to be a virus attack.

I do a weekly image of my partitions and save them to my 2nd hard disk, they can also be saved to off-line storage, DVD, USB external hard disk, etc. as part of my weekly system maintenance.

So if the worst comes to the worst at most I lose:

• 6 days worth of program updates or new installations, but with my daily back-up I can recover most of that.
• less than one days data files, emails, etc.

None of these is a problem and much quicker than a system reinstall and I don't have to go on-line to download the myriad of security updates needed to secure my system where there is a chance to get reinfected whilst my system has vulnerabilities because of these missing patches. Not to mention all my system tweaks and program settings are retained and I will have saved myself many hours of work and a huge amount of stress.

At worst you may have lost 6 days of new program installations/updates, etc. and that is a breeze compared to what has happened. There are also backup programs that will backup your data files, etc. and that should be used at least once a day, for your data files that change regularly. Make a backup and recovery plan, what to backup, when and how to recover.

If you don't want to lose it, back it up; if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.