Just dealt with the worst malware I've ever seen!

azasadny

Moved to ten*****s.com
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Location
Wyandotte, MI (South of Detroit)
I spent a full day fighting with a laptop infected with the "FULL-DiskFighter" malware. The laptop was playing audio ads every few minutes and sometime several would be playing at the same time. After much work (stopping processes, uninstalling suspicious apps, tried to boot into safe mode to correct it, etc...), I ran the following:

- Microsoft Security Essentials
- Norton Power Eraser
- ComboFix
- CCleaner
- MalWareBytes
- McAfee Stinger

And none of these were able to clean the PC. MalWareBytes was the only program to detect and quarantine the rogue software, but it couldn't remove it. After about 6 hours, I backed up the data (it was uninfected) and formatted the drive and reinstalled Windows 7. All is well now but that was a nightmare! Has anyone else seen this particularly nasty malware out there?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
I had not had the unfortunate experience of dealing with this particular variant...but I have run into challenging ones like this before.

Just out of curiosity, what web browser was used on this machine (Was it IE or Chrome)?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self-Built in July 2009
    CPU
    Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS
    Memory
    8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Acer x233H
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX modular
    Case
    Antec P182
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    ABS M1 Mechanical
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    15/2 cable modem
    Other Info
    Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
Both IE and Chrome were infected and were hijacked by "Su do", "Search Do", "Babylon" and others... Chrome seems to be more easily hijacked than IE or FireFox, in my experience... especially the Babylon malware... None of the anti-malware or cleaning software I tried really worked, and that really discourages me...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
Thanks! I normally submit samples to Symantec at work, but i didn't submit this because I was fed up, frustrated and just wanted to clean the PC. I'm sure the kid will do the same thing and get infected again, it's just a matter of time...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
I spent a full day fighting with a laptop infected with the "FULL-DiskFighter" malware. The laptop was playing audio ads every few minutes and sometime several would be playing at the same time. After much work (stopping processes, uninstalling suspicious apps, tried to boot into safe mode to correct it, etc...), I ran the following:

- Microsoft Security Essentials
- Norton Power Eraser
- ComboFix
- CCleaner
- MalWareBytes
- McAfee Stinger

And none of these were able to clean the PC. MalWareBytes was the only program to detect and quarantine the rogue software, but it couldn't remove it. After about 6 hours, I backed up the data (it was uninfected) and formatted the drive and reinstalled Windows 7. All is well now but that was a nightmare! Has anyone else seen this particularly nasty malware out there?

Disconnecting from the internet is the first step when dealing with such issues because otherwise the bad-guys / programs keep receiving reinforcements. :) Many registry keys get modified in the process and sometimes a clean install is the only thing that guarantees a good repair.

I hope you wiped the malware out entirely.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Yes, I agree 100! I forgot to mention that I unplugged the Ethernet and WIFI was not setup, so the PC was isolated from the Internet and I booted into "Safe Mode". Reformatting the drive and reinstalling Win7 from scratch, applying all updates, patches and drivers and updating the BIOS made the notebook run great! I just want to be sure this doesn't happen again...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
Both IE and Chrome were infected and were hijacked by "Su do", "Search Do", "Babylon" and others... Chrome seems to be more easily hijacked than IE or FireFox, in my experience... especially the Babylon malware... None of the anti-malware or cleaning software I tried really worked, and that really discourages me...


I though Chrome was better protected due to the whole sandbox thing they do?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Athlon II X2 260 @ 3.2GHz
    Motherboard
    Asus M4A88T-EVO
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Radeon R7 240 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek Integrated
    PSU
    Seasonic
I've had problems at work due to IE, but never chrome. That has been my experience.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self-Built in July 2009
    CPU
    Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS
    Memory
    8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Acer x233H
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS
    PSU
    Corsair 620HX modular
    Case
    Antec P182
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    ABS M1 Mechanical
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    15/2 cable modem
    Other Info
    Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
since this is a machine that loves to get malware and Trojans by it user (I have a few of those clients) I installed Kinsgsoft Antivirus 2012 in addition to MSE. It is the only one that can play nice with MSE and the only antivirus program that can run in realtime alongside of MSE. It is cloud based and it also protects very nicely the web browsers. Since I installed it on these computers and also on my test machines where I give them everything bad to see if the antivirus/antispyware programs can grab it, None of them got anything bad including 2 of my clients who NEVER listen to me. You can go to Kingsoft Antivirus 2012 - Best Free Antivirus Software Download to see it. They are in the process of coming out with an English version of 2013 but it is not out yet but 2012 is very stable and you will be shocked on how it installs. It runs on both 32bit and 64 bit machines and also runs fine on Win8 but it does disable WD on 8
Try it out you have nothing to loose
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    4 Windows 7 Pro Sp1- 4 Win 8 Pro, 1- xp pro sp3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 390, 380, 3 Vostro Laptops (7 computers in all)
    CPU
    desktop/laptop
    Memory
    4gigs
    Graphics Card(s)
    atm randioum
    Hard Drives
    350,250
robinb9,
Thank you for the very useful info! I'll download and test that AV in my lab. Thanks again, I really appreciate that!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
Most people don't realize how important to disable Autorun and this is the worst feature that Microsoft has since Windows 95.
Please read this: Autorun FAQs: How autorun works and how to disable it and decide if you should disable it.
For me, after every new Windows Installation, this is the first thing I disable.

New Viruses, Malwares, Worms are created every day and unless you have an up to date database definition in your PC from those anti virus software, it is not gonna help after the fact that you are the first lucky one to get it then report them. So it depends on which anti virus software has their database definition updated then it will detect the virus while the others don't, for that reason I've come to conclusion that there is no such good anti virus software. In addition, I've been helping people in this forum with BSOD and about 30% of the problems were caused by anti virus software conflict from Norton, Avast, AVG etc...and also once your PC got infected, there is no anti virus software can completely clean it since they come infected in all shapes and forms, camouflaged as legitimate system files and if the anti virus software removed it, your PC will later run into another problem if that file is needed by Windows and sometimes caused BSOD because of the missing System files etc...

Windows defender came bundled with Windows is sufficient enough to detect some forms of malwares, however, we are as PC users should take some extra precautions:


  1. When surfing the internet, sometimes you'll get popup with offers, don't click on Yes or No, Yes means Yes and sometimes No also means Yes. In this case, open the task manager and kill the browser.
  2. When installing freeware (only download from the author's site), pay close attention of what being offered, don't click too fast.
  3. Separate important data from Windows OS so you can do frequent backup fast and always run sfc /scannow to ensure that all system files are clean, not infected before backup.
  4. If unfamiliar emails show up in your inbox. Just delete them, don't even open.
  5. When open the browser, cross check the Title bar too see if there's any add-ons, toolbars added to it. if so, remove right away.

Having said that, It does not mean my PC sometimes don't get infected, especially when my friends come over for a visit with their kids and they want to play games with my PC and it is hard to deny them. It only takes me about 7-10 minutes to restore instead of spending hours trying to figure out where the heck does it hide and not counting if the registry is also got infected.

So that's my 2 cents and you don't have to agree with me for not using any anti virus/anti malwares.;)
Having good backup is always good solution for me.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
have you tried HijackThis?

here's some details about it. the community is pretty decent and pretty helpful:
HijackThis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

here's a good summary of how I've seen people use it (from the wiki page):
A common use is to post the logfile to a forum where more experienced users can help decipher which entries need to be removed. Automated tools also exist that analyze saved logs and attempt to provide recommendations to the user, or to clean entries automatically.[3] Use of such tools, however, is generally discouraged by those who specialize in manually dealing with HijackThis logs: they consider the tools dangerous for inexperienced users, and neither accurate nor reliable enough to substitute for consulting with a trained human analyst.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
Thanks! I've tried HijackThis in the recent past and have not had it work successfully for me. I also tried ComboFix, which has always worked before and it didn't work, either. To be fair, this malware was probably on this notebook PC for a long time and the longer malware is on the PC, the harder it is to get rid of it...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
That's where yesterday's or last week's image comes in handy.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Last Update for hijackthis: 2012-07-31

HiJackThis | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net

HJT improvement Plan, organized by priority:
- Adding registry entries support
- Rootkit discovery
- 64 bits full support
- Improve clean capabilities
- Language localization (ES, FR, IT, DE)
- Randomize HJT exe name when loaded in memory
- Update source code to VB# or C#

it'd be sad if hijackthis didn't get updated. it was really helpful the last time I needed something like this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
actually if you run a full scan of superantispyware you might find it will get rid of the malware, I also run it in safe mode with no networking and find it can get out lots of mean stuff
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    4 Windows 7 Pro Sp1- 4 Win 8 Pro, 1- xp pro sp3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 390, 380, 3 Vostro Laptops (7 computers in all)
    CPU
    desktop/laptop
    Memory
    4gigs
    Graphics Card(s)
    atm randioum
    Hard Drives
    350,250
I image all of my PC's with Acronis TIH 2013, but I'm always fixing PC's for other people and almost nobody backs up their PC at all, so I have limited sympathy for them. When I work on a PC, I start with the caveat that "All of your data may be lost" and then go from there. In this particular case, I was able to backup the data, so nothing was lost...except my tiny mind!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
I image all of my PC's with Acronis TIH 2013, but I'm always fixing PC's for other people and almost nobody backs up their PC at all, so I have limited sympathy for them. When I work on a PC, I start with the caveat that "All of your data may be lost" and then go from there. In this particular case, I was able to backup the data, so nothing was lost...except my tiny mind!
Well, unless the disk is dead, you can always recover the data. I used to use Linux distros like Puppy to do that. But nowadays I make an image with a Macrium WinPE CD.

You can download the WinPE .iso from my skydrive. Burn it to CD and boot with it. You can make and restore images with it. Once you have the image, you can mount the VHD in any system and copy the data.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
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