Graphics driver crashing with strange security popups at startup

[stephenj5]

Hello all, I come to you with an issue that my computer is currently having.

This morning I went to turn on my computer and once it loaded and got to the desktop, it was black, start menu showed no programs, though I could search for them, and a bunch of popups showed up along with my catalyst control center/driver is crashing. I get a popup for WIndows 7 Recovery, stating that my hard drive isnt repsonding to system commands, that i have damaged boot sectors, and a few other errors, but to fix these errors, I have to pay for this program... which isnt correct, and doesnt even really look like a windows application. All this stuff for Win 7 Total Security 2011, which is what its calling itself.

I went to my other hard drive which has windows Xp installed to do a virus scan on the whole computer, but when that drive loaded up I noticed that all the icons on the desktop were sort of grayed out, and the My computer and default windows Icons werent. I went into the start menu and there were no programs listed under my Programs. I also got this graphics driver crashing as well. But I ran a virus scan anyway. I was however unable to update and AVG kept giving me a general error, so I ran with what I had. I will note that the fan on my graphics card is running at almost full speed when it really isnt doing anything. And since I cant see any programs in my XP drive, I cant run my spyware software.

Now im at the point where im not sure how to fix it. I dont have recovery points setup, and if the possibility that I actually have a bad hard drive, or if this virus, which im sure it is one, has or is destroying components of my computer. So doing a bit of research to see how I can remove this junk. But looking for ideas as well.

Thank you for any help and advice

[stephenj5]

Okay, so small update, I went into safe mode, trying to get a spyware program or something to run, luclily adaware was running in the background and kicked in and did remove something which did get rid of all those popups and the graphics driver crashing.

But now all my programs arent working, everything is still there, files, programs, stuff like that, but windows doesnt seem to know how to open an .exe file now, and even then, im not sure if all the program .exe's are still there, havent gone in depth with it yet. My XP drive though seems like it may be gone, I cant get windows to fully load anymore, but that isnt that big of a deal, was just my old hard drive that I kept in the computer, but now its my Win 7 drive im curious about. How do I go about getting these programs to work, or is this something where I need to take all my files and just reinstall windows and all my applications. Kind of stumped about this one.

[tehboris]

Just reinstall...

[staggeredsix]

[EDIT] Just noticed your exes arent launching. Dont reinstall, that's a waste of time. Just google ".exe registry fix" and install the right one for your OS. Viruses and malware will change your registry and disable .exe launches. They kinda hijack the entries and redirect them to say "YOUR EXE IS INFUNCKTED PLZ PLZ PLZ BUY OUR ANTI-VEER TO FIX!"




If your able to get into safe mode ---- ---- ----

Go to safe mode with networking.
Google Combofix
Google Malwarebytes
Google Windows Cleanup!


IF you are using AVG - DESTROY IT LIKE A COCKROACH. Uninstall. Combofix wont work with AVG.

Run combofix. Let it do it's thing.

Run Windows Cleanup!

Run Malwarebytes.

install a good AV such as Eset NOD32.


Video still not working? Go back into safe mode and uninstall the video device, then restart. Still not working? Use another card (if it's a discreet) and check to make sure the PCIE/AGP/PCI controller isnt jacked up. If it's not and another card works, replace it.

w00t, fixed computer without a reinstall.