Hello, thanks in advance for your help and for creating this kind of forum; my laptop started showing signs of infection on Wednesday night and since then I've been pulling my hair out trying to get it uninfected. This is the first time I've been hit with an infection of this magnitude, and I guess the lesson is I should've been better prepared. The backstory: I was browsing the web on Wednesday when I encountered a popup designed to look like it was from Windows Security Alerts saying that my computer was infected, etc. I rebooted the computer and when Windows restarted I began encountering the symptoms listed below. Please note that I am posting from another computer as I have disconnected the infected one from the internet for the time being. I used Avast for step 1 and can attach the logs if needed.

Symptoms:

• Slowdown in overall speed
• Google (and other search engine) results redirected
• Changing my windows background (You are now infected, etc.)
• Freezing
• Fake Windows Security tray icon
• Fake Windows Security center

In general, I've noticed that I can get the computer to more or less run after ending "suspicious" programs via the Task Manager at startup. If I don't do this the machine will generally freeze a few minutes after Windows loads. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

First, you need to deal with anything found in the mbam log. Delete and or quarantine! Everything else looks ok, nothing suspecious. Download and run Advanced SystemCare free often

Thanks Bobbye,
Hopefully wasabe3543 will see this. I wondered what all the mshta.exe was

I ended up reformatting. After I installed more anti-malware programs that load on startup, Windows kept freezing even more quickly than it had before - I couldn't even cancel programs from the Task Manager in time.

You have a hardware failure... Memory, video, or motherboard. Did you install the motherboard drivers?

Yes. It's running smoothly now.

So what did you do to make it run smoothly?