This. Works perfectly every time.
Given the question the OP is asking do you really think he will be able to format his Pc, given that he knows what you are talking about?
I would do the following for a highly infected Pc. (this is just a simple and free way for average users, there are much much better ways than this)
1. Disconnect the Pc/laptop from the internet ASAP!
2. Download the following programs (on a different Pc/laptop where possible):
-
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
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SUPERAntiSpyware
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Microsoft Security Essentials
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Install the latest Microsoft Security Essentials definition updates
3. Install all of them in the order above then restart your Pc in safe mode (with networking) by continuously pressing F8 while your Pc is booting up, some motherboards have a boot menu and F8 will call up the boot menu instead, if this happens select your hard drive then quickly press F8 again.
4. First open Malwarebytes, it will prompt you to try the trial click "Start Trial", update the program, then on the "Scanner" tab click "Perform flash scan" ...after the scan has completed (should take more than 5mins) removed anything that it finds and restart your Pc into safe mode with networking again.
5. Open Malwarebytes again and perform a Full scan, and remove anything it finds also, you can restart into safe mode again if you want to (however I think it's not necessary).
6. Now to give SUPERAntiSpyware a go, open it and update it, then run a scan with the following settings:
-Complete scan (Enable Rescue Scan)
-Select all your hard drives
-Tick Activate Scan Boost (High Boost)
-Tick Scan inside .ZIP archives (I personally don't think this is necessary though)
-Untick "Only scan files modified within the past 30 days"
Remove anything it finds and restart your Pc into normal mode.
7. Fully update and run a full scan with Microsoft Security Essentials, I'm not sure if it runs in Safe Mode or not, if it does run it in safe mode with networking after restarting from using SUPERAntiSpyware.
Given your problem with the Task Manager, you can use SUPERAntiSpyware to fix it easily for you.
Normally when I install the programs above I change the following settings:
For Malwarebytes:
After using the flash scan feature I disable the whole protection module and all of it's settings due to it only having a 14day trial (unless you are happy with the program and wish to buy it then be my guest)
-Untick "Anonymously report usage stats"
-Untick "Open log files immediately after saving"
For SUPERAntiSpyware:
-Untick "Start SUPERAntiSpyware when Windows starts"
-Untick "Show SUPERAntiSpyware icon in system tray"
-Untick "Show splash screen on startup"
-Untick "Use Windows XP style menus"
-Untick "Integrate with Vista Security Center"
-Untick "Disable Bitmap Backgrounds"
For MSE (Microsoft Security Eseentials)
-Under Scheduled scan change the time and date that would suit you.
-Tick "Scan removable drives"
Update: This thread inspired me to create a blog post on this issue. I will continue to update it where possible.
