Need help with what I think is a computer virus

Hey, I need help knowing what's screwing with my laptop, and to be honest I am just generally curious.

So, the other night I was sitting there and noticed that a bunch of my files, along with some desktop icons, went missing. I checked recycle bin and few were in there, but not all. Then, I checked my UPP and everything from the entire folder was gone.

Well, in a weirder turn of events I woke up today and checked my laptop, and apparently there's a song playing on my media player and a picture of what I think is a russian revolutionist from 1917 as my desktop.

you can find the image here: http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/826...dupdesktop.jpg

Also, playing on my WMP is something entitled "internationale". Which I have yet to listen to.

Anyway I think it's obvious I have a virus from somewhere. My question for you all is threefold:

Do you know which virus I have?

Can I fix it or do I need to format?

What the fuck do those words mean in Russian, who the fuck is the blackish looking guy in the picture, and what the fuck song is internationale (somewhat figured out this question)?

Edit: Some details on the song playing:
- Sheffield socialist choir
- composer: Pierre Degeyter

The guy in the picture is some russian president whatever, thats about all I can help you with ;(

Edit: its Vladimir Lenin

That's definitely Lenin, and he's not blackish; he's Bolshevik (hence 1917). I can't read Russian, but I guess the words are a slogan like, "Peace, Bread, Land".

My guess is that somebody's pranking you. Do you live on or near a college campus? I've never seen a virus with a communist agenda.

If this does turn out to be a virus, don't fuck around with it; just reformat. A reformat isn't hard, and it'll only take you a few hours to get back up and running.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samsonlonghair

That's definitely Lenin, and he's not blackish; he's Bolshevik (hence 1917). I can't read Russian, but I guess the words are a slogan like, "Peace, Bread, Land".

My guess is that somebody's pranking you. Do you live on or near a college campus? I've never seen a virus with a communist agenda.

If this does turn out to be a virus, don't fuck around with it; just reformat. A reformat isn't hard, and it'll only take you a few hours to get back up and running.

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Yeah... I will probably have to reformat. It's definitely not a prank. Only two things I can think of are virus or remote access. The song was under the my application data/temp so it must be coming from the net.

malwarebytes.org

install, update, and run a full scan... see if it finds anything. I see your norton 360 did jack shit to stop this ! Just like the backdoor.bot I removed from somebodies computer earlier w\ malwarebytes because symantec sucks and did not stop it from being on their computer.

Malwarebytes is a great software; %100 better than norton, BUT if this virus has damaged your registry, it's better to simply reformat now. You'll save yourself headaches later.

Yes, Norton fails. Only reason I got it is cause it came with my laptop.

I will try the malware thing, and see if it finds anything. And to avoid a headache like samson said I will back up everything and just format if stuff starts screwing up.

Do you think this is more of a 'backdoor.bot', trojan, or was there a possibility someone took control of my computer through remote access?? I am completely illiterate when it comes to stuff like this, lol.

As for your translation question, it reads:
Lenin - lived
Lenin - lives (I think....not sure about the verb tense or aspect, but it seems to fit)
Lenin - will live

Yay for two semesters of Russian!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by joker-kun

Yes, Norton fails. Only reason I got it is cause it came with my laptop.

I will try the malware thing, and see if it finds anything. And to avoid a headache like samson said I will back up everything and just format if stuff starts screwing up.

Do you think this is more of a 'backdoor.bot', trojan, or was there a possibility someone took control of my computer through remote access?? I am completely illiterate when it comes to stuff like this, lol.

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If you feel like playing around with it a bit more, you can turn remote access off and see if there are any more changes. That'll rule out a hack via remote access, but not necessarily a trojan or some installed service that allows similar remote control.

Not that it really matters since you're pretty set on reformatting anyway. What's funny is that despite the abundant anecdotal reports of Norton being crap, they still do pretty well in detection tests.

Did you know that some believe that Lenin is still alive but kept sleeping in his mausoleum?
First time seeing such weird virus.
this "Internationale" is revolutionist song.