Virus + Blue Screen, Re-install Tips anyone?

[PhreshProduce]

Hello all,

After my battle with a virus, I basically just want to reinstall Windows XP + updates/drivers and then reinstall Pro Tools so that my sessions load up intact like nothing happened. That would be awesome... but does this sound plausible? Any tips?

Somebody got my PC infected with some sort of virus. I blame myself for letting people use the computer and not regularly installing updates, but anyhow, I didn't notice it until I got a blue screen while firing up pro tools yesterday. I checked my startup, using msconfig, and found thematrixhasyou.exe in there. Soon as I saw that name, I knew things weren't going to look too good. To make this short I was able to clean computer of infection but I still get blue screen. I also get blue screen while windows update is installing updates... terrible. Anyhow I get some string that looks like this when my screen turns blue:

0x0000008e (0xc0000005, blah, blah, blah) seems like the first 2 strings are the most important.

I tried googling and searching microsoft support but without a solid solution yet so I think this problem may be something that will require registry fixes etc. which equals more headache than I'm willing to deal with.

I think my BEST option is to reformat my C drive. Currently, my pro tools session files are stored on my E drive (dedicated to music) and Pro Tools 6.7 is installed on my C drive.

What files will I need to save, if any, on my C drive? I'm mainly worried about losing settings. I also have waves plugins and I have personal settings for those as well.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I do appreciate the help I've received from fellow digi-users.


note: I installed pro tools over a year ago and my current version is ptle67cs8. So sadly I'm sure I'm outdated. Probably better updates now. It's just that my pro tools ran fine so I didn't feel the need to update. Is there an update anyone can recommend that runs fairly stable and that will not cause any issues with my sessions or would it be better to stick with 67cs8. I still have the zip folder for it. Not looking to pay for upgrade... for now. Just need to finish the sessions I've been working on before doing any upgrades, both hardware and software.

[Kryst]

When reformatting, you can NOT save anything on your C: drive. You erase that all by reformatting. Save the 6.7 zip file (and I assume you have the full installer needed for your Pro Tools LE), but save it to a CD or maybe the E: drive for now.

Pro Tools 6.9 should be free for you, and worked well, IMO.

As for saving settings to plugins, I'm not sure how that can be done. Maybe zip the plugin folders and save those to the same CD or E: drive as suggested above.

Also, look into an antivirus such as AVG (free), spyware removal (Spybot, free), and Adware removal (AdAware, free) if you're going to allow ANYONE to go on the internet. If you had an antivirus and the virus wasn't caught, sorry. But if you didn't, and you don't say you did, I'd highly recommend them. AVG works well with Pro Tools, just be sure to turn off the option for automatic scanning.

[PhreshProduce]

As of today, computer is off limits to everyone. Of course I had to learn that the hard way. I heard some good things about AVG, think i'll look into that. I downloaded and used Active Virus Shield by Kaspersky to get rid of the infection. Before then I only had AdAware and been 2 weeks since last scan. System restore off and auto update left off for best Pro Tools performance so I cant restore to another date and current windows security updates not installed.

6.9 eh? Hot, may give that a go. Well, I was searching through my C drive to see what I could salvage and found the settings folder for Waves and found .xps files in there, could these be my saved presets? Anyone else know where I can find other presets? For example, settings for EQIII? For now, I'm using the E drive as suggested to hold files I want to keep. Might just burn all of it to DVD just in case.

I plan on reinstalling everything tomorrow after work, I hope everything goes smooth. I also cant wait for the long service pack updates....

[Kryst]

Perfect idea. In fact, everything I've downloaded in the last year (Believe me, 232GBs isn't hard to fill up) goes on to discs, usually DVDs but sometimes CD. I then mark them by importance. Basically, if it's a Pro Tools update, I make sure to write that on the disc and the case, as well as writing my serial number on the disc for easy-keeps. If it's just some stuff I may not want to use, I'll keep it, but I just mark "Download #..." on the disc. Kind of sucks when I'm looking for one specific thing, but I keep them all in order in my desk drawer so it's quick to pop each disc in and out of the computer.

Haha, Service pack updates suck. I just turn off automatic updates right away, then look for a download site for Service Pack 2, install it, and never worry again (After also reinstalling/updating AVG and the other programs suggested). Works perfectly for me, even at the very latest version of Pro Tools LE. Oh yea, and you can keep the AVG updater on all the time, it updates the minute you log into your user account.

[PhreshProduce]

AVG sounds like a winner to me! Thanks! Anyhow, speaking of serial numbers, I can't locate my pro tools manual so i'm going to wait on the reinstall until i can search through all my storage boxes since I moved just recently. I was ready to format today too! Think i'll contact digidesign to see if there's an alternative way to find my authorization code on my computer.

[Kryst]

Good idea

[TheNoize]

ATM, AOL Active Virus Shield, with engine based on kaspersky, is the best free antivirus available. And it tops even expensive anti virus packages in detection - 99.0% for the first time, against just 80% for AVG (which is great too...)

[quietP4]

I hope you see this before you do a full re-install.

Since you may be looking at having to do complete reinstall, try an in-place reinstall first:
NOTE: Make sure you have your Windows product activation key and all of your hardware driver disks ready.

From Microsoft:

To reinstall Windows XP by starting your computer from the Windows XP CD, follow these steps:
1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
2. When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message appears on the screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

Note Your computer must be configured to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. For more information about how to configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, see your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.
3. You receive the following message on the Welcome to Setup screen that appears:
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
Press ENTER to set up Windows XP.
4. On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.
5. Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press R to repair Windows XP.
6. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to reinstall Windows XP. After you repair Windows XP, you may have to reactivate your copy of Windows XP.

This will hopefully get you to a bootable state where you can recover files and settings.

If your system really does have a virus, you're right, a format and fresh install is the best way to go.

Good luck!

--Steve

[The Weed]

The problem you're having is the reason Ghost or Acronis TrueImage are STRONGLY and HIGHLY recommended. Back up early and often, daily or more and certainly before downloading, installing or unistalling anything.

A little late now, but once you've re-installed Windows, back it up and continuing backing up as you install programs and updates to get back to where you were before the virus. That way you'll be able to go back to whatever configuration was working properly if something goes wrong now or in the future.

Cheers,

[PhreshProduce]

Hey, I just wanted to thank everyone for the tips. My computer is up and running. A twist of the arm tells me I should give 6.9 a try versus staying with my "precious" 6.7 so I will install that today.

Man, I must've been drunk when I made this post in the first place. Anyhow, after thinking it over, I didn't care about my plugin settings anymore. I figure start over with a fresh pair of ears. I still wanted to keep certain files from the infected hard drive so I simply bought another one. Wow, HD's really are cheap! What happened? Did I time warp? Last I remember they were a bajillion dollars for a 250 gig.

It was fairly easy for me to get my authorization code. I no longer had a receipt for my digi so I basically went to guitar center and had them print me up a copy and I faxed it to customer service along with my contact info. They got back to me by the end of the day. Cool!