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Author
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Topic: Due to unforseen circumstances...
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Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-09- 07:27 PM
   
Like a ****ing sheep I opened a .pif extensioned file in an email with no header and no text (I thought "hmm, looks like a virus. Hmm, not sure, why don't I just look and see!") and I now have the W95.MTX virus Please don't send me any email or attachments especially, to me. I don't want to have to wait a week to download my email again once I get this thing fixed. Work email will be bad enough. Anyways I'll spare you the vitriol which is sloshing back and forth in my head right now but suffice it to say my computer is now a big paperweight until I can get this thing fixed. This also means I'm out of action online, Abbeville Field won't get updated, etc. until I can remove this cancer from my comp. If you absolutely must get in touch with me, send email to mikoyan-gurevich@usa.net, my correspondence lifeboat for times like this. Yours in grounding, Werner IP: Logged |
Jerry
Pilot
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posted 12-09- 07:42 PM
Pisser!!! Sorry you're having such problems Werner.  Hope you get back on, and in, the air soon. SDOE needs you. IP: Logged |
ArgonV
Pilot
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posted 12-09- 08:30 PM
Two words: "Ah Crap!"  Thats bites the BIG one Werner. P.S. A bit of advice, if you chunck that paper weight out the window it would go faster....  IP: Logged |
nealg
Pilot
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posted 12-09- 09:29 PM
Werner; this is a total bummer. I fail to understand how anyone can get any satisfaction out of creating these in the first place....sheesh. We missed you today at the war session; you will eventually get the word from JG3, but from my side, it looks like the loadouts were extremely successful. Just wanted you to know, in case you read this.  Hope ya can get it fixed soon! Best of luck in it.
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nealg=FC= IP: Logged |
ReaperMan
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 12:31 AM
Sorry to hear about your infection.
I work at an ISP, I've removed this virus from several computers. There is a fixmtx.exe available from Symantec's site.
Which of course you can't get to since MTX replaces WINSOCK.DLL with it's own copy that crashes your browser or other software any time you try to access Symantec (Norton) or McAfee's sites.After running fixmtx.exe you still have to go in and manually extract the WINSOCK.DLL and another file or two from your Windows CD or WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS directory. I can send you a zip file with fixmtx and a batch file to extract the files that have been corrupted/replaced by the virus. Of course, at this point you're probably a bit leary of opening e-mail attachments P.S. you'd be surprised how many people either don't have any anti-virus software installed, or haven't updated their virus definitions or run a full drive scan since they bought their PC. ------------------
-=TheReaper=- IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 02:13 AM
Reaper - I know, I was actually going to go out and get some soon... the irony is sickening.In regards to fixmtx.exe... Well thanks to some local connections within two hours of the infection I got my hands on a copy, ran it, but it didn't cut off the head of the damn thing. It couldn't touch 4 files, the ones you mentionned plus mtx_.exe I thought I had isolated and destroyed the exe file by completely deleting it from my computer, but the other files dropped it back in. I'm working from another computer in the house that has had no contact with the first one, but it's like trading in your ferrari for a bicycle. Anyhow at least when I could get into windows I could mess with this stuff, now when I fire it up I get "explorer.exe failed to run, you need to reinstall windows" and then it shuts itself off. My plan is as follows: 1. Buy a sledgehammer
(no, just kidding. At least I can still laugh, somewhat) 1. Buy Norton AV
2. Run it as per the instructions at www.norton.com/avcenter/venc/data/w95.mtx.html Guys, I really appreciate the comments, it's a big boost to know that there are people who care. As icing on the cake... final exams for the next two weeks. Happy holidays, folks. Werner **edit on Reaper- just reread your message, missed the batch file part the first time around. I'm running win98, and I didn't have time to create a boot disk before windows quit working. If you were to send the batch file to mikoyan-gurevich@usa.net (don't bother with fixmtx, I have it) is it small enough to fit on a 1.44 floppy? Once on the crippled computer, how to I stop it from starting windows so I can access a dos prompt? From there, switch to A:\ obviously, but how do I run a batch file? I don't think I've ever done that manually before. If you think the above will work, please send me the batch file at mikoyan-gurevich@usa.net! Thank you so much! [This message has been edited by Werner Molders (edited 12-10-2000).] IP: Logged |
CrazyHorse
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 03:45 AM
Sorry to hear about your problem. Thanks for alerting the rest of us.
I don't know you, but I appreciate the work you have done for this community and want to say thanks and I am outraged that was passed to you.Good Luck on your exams and take care IP: Logged |
ArgonV
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 11:38 AM
Can you start your computer up in DOS mode? If so why dont you format your hard drive WITHOUT the /S command so no system files will be created (command.com and such) Or do you have important files on there you want to keep? If so put them on floppies... Chances are your going to have to reinstall Windows no matter what.Then again the virus may still be there... [This message has been edited by ArgonV (edited 12-10-2000).] IP: Logged |
ReaperMan
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 12:53 PM
You can replace those files that MTX screwed up. However, you will need to be in MS-DOS mode in order to do that. Since you have a Win98 machine, you can get a boot menu by holding down the CTRL key while your machine boots. From the boot menu choose "Command Prompt only" and it will bring you to a C:\>
prompt. From here it is a pain to extract the files by hand... that's where the batch files come in.
Be sure to have your Windows 98 CD handy in case the setup files weren't copied to your WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS directory.I'll have those files out to you in a few minutes, along with instructions. ------------------
-=TheReaper=- IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 05:02 PM
Well, with the assistance of Reaper I know have this sucker cornered like the Nazis in Berlin '45. Not dead yet, however, but awfully close! Reaper - mail on the way! Werner ------------------
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 IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-13- 11:53 PM
...so I get the computer fixed, all my WORK software is running fine, and after a hard day's exam writing, I come home to a litte SDOEage. Or not. When I try to run either SDOE or Hypersnap, my little arrow turns to the arrow with the hourglass for about ten seconds, my hard drive gurgles, and then nothing. "Sdemons" shows up in my taskmonitor, but I can't alt-tab to it. Same for Hypersnap except the window loads, but none of the contents do and it becomes a visual artifact on the screen. Has this happened to anyone else????ARGH!!! I renamed my sdoe folder, reinstalled the game, deleted the folder and then renamed the old one, thinking that the reinstallation might have fixed what I blindly guessed was a registry problem. No luck. Help! Werner P.S. Nealg - unless I email you otherwise, I won't be able to make it to our meeting online in a couple days. ------------------
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IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-14- 12:27 AM
Here's the latest...I uninstalled three other sims to make room on my HD for a duplicate copy of sdoe. My current copy is installed to C:\Program Files\Fighter Squadron. Long ago I had a copy at C:\Fighter Squadron, installed one of MH's betas, decided I didn't want to keep the beta, but to get sdoe to work again I had to install it to a totally new directory, Program Files. Anyhow, that may become relevant real quick here, because I installed back at C:\Fighter Squadron (new copy, straight off the cd) and when I try to run it I get this message: "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" "If the problem persists, contact the program vendor" (lol) in the details section... "SDEMONS caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL (etc, etc, lots of numbers and a reference to stack dump)" Anybody?? MH? Help! Please! Werner ------------------
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IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-14- 12:48 AM
A Last Post (hehe, how ironic ) before I go to bed. I rebooted to a command prompt, and extracted this kernel32.dll from CABS into windows, hoping that would do it, but no. I tried to launch Hidden and Dangerous, to see if any other sims would work or if it was just sdoe, and this time I get a little "program crash" window with a reference to kernel32.dll having screwed up somehow. *sigh* I'd say "oh well, just wait until IL2 I guess" but it looks like my computer has been hit by the capitalism bug - only products that are important for work, will work. Werner ------------------
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ArgonV
Pilot
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posted 12-14- 07:37 AM
Werner, did you reformat? I would if I were you. It appears that the Kernal32.dll got screwed. That my friend is a bad no no. Format your entire hard drive.. and then reinstall Windows.IP: Logged |
Gustang
Pilot
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posted 12-14- 11:45 AM
Before you format you really should run fdisk.exe from a floppy to repartition the drive and make sure your drive is clean. That means first remove the existing partitions and recreate them. Format.exe should be on the floppy as well as an autoexec.bat and cdrom drivers so you can use your cdrom drive from a floppy boot.Because not all floppies are equal, make sure you test your bootable floppy before cleaning the drive. When dealing with boot-sector viruses Make sure that the drives you store these files are on are clean, including your boot disk. You know why they call it 'nuking' the hard drive... Again, if there's any special files you need saved, set them aside. IP: Logged |
Werner Molders
Pilot
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posted 12-14- 12:10 PM
Oh my god.... I'm really out of my league. I think I'll have to keep things like they are right now (read: my computer is as fun as a siberian labour camp with no sdoe, etc) until I go in for my RAM upgrade and second HD, which should be next week. I think I should leave this one to professionals, I have no idea how to reformat my hard drive and not seriously screw something up along the way.Werner ------------------
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