UPDATE: I know it's been a few days since I got back on here with any news, but I've been pretty busy lately. This might be long, but I want to make sure that everyone knows where I've gone/been since my last post.
I think the first area where I got anywhere meaningful was going with Tw0rld's advice on the RIES resetting. I did that. While it didn't help dramatically, it allowed me to be able to download/install "some" programs that I hadn't been able to get to previously. The first one was Malwarebytes. So, as soon as I was able to do that, I went into Safe mode and ran Malwarebytes. It found a bunch of things and cleaned up the computer a little bit. When I booted back normally, my Norton icon came back but the red X was still there. At least this was progress. I was able to run another program that momok advised me on called ComboFix. I ran that program and it really did some progress. I think it was at that point that the red X disappeared for good. Was really starting to feel good at this point. I think everything was restored back to normal and I could gain access to all websites I typed in and to download any programs. So, once I was to that point, I ran the other programs: Spybot S/D, SuperAntiSpyware, and HJT. Once I did that all those scans (I only did smart scans), I saved those logs (which will be attached). Oh, and I got my Norton back up to speed and did a recovery backup (remember this later on in this post).
Well, things were okay for a little bit but on cosecutive days I've had serious Windows Errors. When my computer had problems to begin with, it started with my computer rebooting itself on its own. That's happened at least 2 or 3 times since I've run all the programs. But the red X has never come back since and I still have access to whatever websites. So, today I thought I'd run full scans on all the programs (probably what I should've done earlier). I ran full scans with Malwarebytes, Ad-Aware, and Superantispyware. Also ran Spybot once again. The only program I didn't run again was ComboFix. All the scans completed after about 7 hours and found more stuff. Now, back to the 'backup" I did with Norton. The things (aside from tracking cookies) that they found this time was a backdoor that I guess was a part of the backup I did with Norton because the file path was "Norton Backup". And the common file or word association all the programs came up with is something to do with "TDSS". Of course, on all the programs, I took the means to remove all the bad files again. I've done all that and have gotten the second set of logs for Superantispyware and HJT. The Malwarebytes were in the process of removing and cleaning my system when - of course - my system rebooted itself on its own. Also, while I was running those programs, my Norton came up and wanted me to reboot to remove a virus as well "the same TDSS" one. I kept pushing that off until I could get the programs to get done doing what they were doing, but that's when I got involuntarily rebooted.
That probably was a lot of babble, but I hope you have a better understanding of where I am now. Also, I should note that ComboFix (that log is attached, too) found the trojan "brastk" and removed it and that's when I started seeing the most dramatic improvement. Haven't seen that virus come back, but I'm at a loss for what's causing my Windows errors and unwanted reboots.
My logs attached are numbered. Anything with a "1" next to it, are the first set of logs I ran after all the smart scans when I first made progress. Anything with a "2" next to it, are the full scans I ran today and most recent. Hope to hear from you all soon.
I'd also like to thank momok, Tw0rld, bobbye, and almcneil for contributing to this thread and getting me as far as I've gotten. Can't thank you enough.
I couldn't attach more than 5 files, so I'm attaching the ComboFixLog in case anyone wants to see it.
Thanks again, and hope to hear back from someone soon.
This TDSS virus/trojan seems to be dormant. I'm curious whether it's because I backed it up with Norton that day and maybe it's really gone now? Or if it's multiplying itself and I'm still infected.
Just a curious post here. I went in just to do searches on my computer for the brastk trojan I had found and am pretty sure I got rid of. The search result came back with one hit. It reads as follows:
Path: C:\Qoobox\Quarantine\Registry_backups
Filename: MSConfigStartUp-brastk.reg
Seems to be a backup of a removal I did when I got rid of it. Should I be concerned with this? Should I delete this backup or leave it be?