Spyware, viruses, & security forum: ComboFix - anyone find it useful?

Hi Willy,

this is NOT a tool for the "average Joe\Jane" as it states:

Due to the power of this tool it is strongly advised that you do not attempt to act upon any of the information displayed by ComboFix without supervision from someone who has been properly trained. If you do so, it may lead to problems with the normal functionality of your computer. Instead you should use this guide to download and run ComboFix and then post the resulting log in a forum that contains helpers who understand how to diagnose them. These helpers will then help you clean your computer of infections so that it is running properly again.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. It is an excellent tool, and is far from "primitive".
Too bad you ignored the warning in ComboFix's disclaimer at the start of the program.

The main precaution that you neglected was working with a security analyst who has access to information about the tool, and who has some idea of what is on the system to begin with. ComboFix is not a general scanner. It targets certain things and can break certain things. When you use it "as a last resort" working closely with someone who has been trained in its use is a must.

before saving to your computer instead of after saving.
Rename it to Combo-fix before allowing the download.

If you have to use Combofix, follow the guide in http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

went back and found i had made a mistake. downloaded combo fix and ran it, it was very easy and i do not believe a helper is not needed if you follow the instructions. it went and did its thing. did not find any spy waer but did find a lot of junk which i deleted. Computer is just getting to old so will have to buy a new one. it only has 256mg of ram with xp running it uses all my ram, it use to be a very fine running computer and had no prob running photo shop until i put XP on it and that was the beginning of hell.

"i do not believe a helper is not needed if you follow the instructions."

That is correct. A helper is needed for interpreting the output logs, for writing the script to accompany the tool, and for what to do about the malware that ComboFix does not fix or that which is a false positive. Nor are daily changes in the tool (that may cause conflicts /issues) included in Bleeping Computer's instructions. ComboFix was recently pulled from the download sites for a few days because it was turning computers into doorstops. People who had downloaded those copies and were running it off the record had no way of knowing this until it was too late, and had no helper available who could report the issue to the developer.

As long as you are happy with the results that's great. However, I would advise others to read the disclaimer and not to use ComboFix unless they are working with someone who has been trained in its use, and knows what to do when things go wrong.

browser redirect virus. From the research I did, almost no anti spyware program will pick up the dreaded redirect virus. I got something a few days ago that included the redirect virus. SuperAntiSpyware got rid of everything else but the redirect. It's so frustrating that my next step would have been to rebuild my laptop from scratch - format c:. Luckily Combofix automatically removes the redirect virus. No need for a helper if all you do is let combofix run. If anyone wants, I can post the log results.