Bleeping Virus changed all my permissons.

I *just* (in the past week) made the move from XP to 7, partly because I was led to believe 7 was more secure and less prone to attack. So imagine my surprise when "heaven only knows what" changed all my permissions, deleted miscellaneous installed programs and a few crucial system files. Worse, it deleted all my Restore Points as well as disabled simple functions (like clicking Browse from the Run dialog.)

I have antivirus software (Avira) installed as well as Windows Defender. How the (bleep) did this happen? All the new "security" features in 7 sure didn't stop some program from running roughshed though the OS, BUT they DO make it harder for THE USER to undo the damage. Thanks a lot Microsoft!

Inserting the Win7 DVD reports that "autorun.dll is either missing or corrupt". It's neither. I can't run a Repair from the desktop. Tried to run ComboFix for Win7 and kept getting errors as it tried to access things like Regedit, only to be told it didn't have permission.

Booted from the DVD to run "Fix Windows", but the only repair options were "System Startup"... which finds nothing wrong because Win7 *does* start & run (I'm in it now); "System Restore"... which it can't do because all my Restore Points were deleted; and Recover from image... which I never made this early on.

Virus scans find nothing (I've tried both Avira and BitDefender), and I told you about ComboFix.

One of these utilities could probably fix this if I were able to reset my Permissions back to normal. I do NOT want to reformat and reinstall from scratch, undoing a weeks worth of installs & tweaking!

I am THIS close to going 100% Linux at this moment! Argh!

Hi Mugsy - Welcome to w7forums

Unfortunately that seems to be the best thing you can do at this stage.

If you do decide to re-install, please make a backup image as soon as windows has finished installing and a few times after installing programs. Then if anything goes wrong, you won't need to repeat the whole process.

PS - Mentioning a switch to linux on a windows forum based on volunteers who spend their free time helping others, will get you nowhere.

Windows 7 is more secure, however without a good antivirus and spyware programs running, regardless of the system (including Macs) they can and will be attacked.

The reason Windows is so vulnerable is because it's on over 92% of all small computers in the world. The reason the hackers don't go after Linux is the user base is so small that it's not worth the effort for the gain received.

Sounds like you got a really nasty one there. I empathize for sure with you. One thing I have learned in the past is to NEVER, EVER use an email client software program, use the browser instead because it's much safer that way.

IE9 is more secure than the old IE8, but still in my opinion Firefox is the best. Whichever browser you use is your decision though.

Avira and BitDefender are both very good AV software programs, both are highly rated too.

I think something else may have happened here, not sure exactly what though.

You can use TakeOwnership from our Freeware Database to give yourself permission if you have an administrator account. You might also try running the freeware version of malwarebytes to scan your system.

Avira & Windows Defender both have active scanners, meaning they run in memory and monitor every file access. You should never run two active scanners at the same time as they can often "fight" for control and bog down your system making everything slower. It is best to pick a good active scanner and then back that up with a manually run passive scanner that you can run as preventive once a week.

try quickheal total security u will love it

I don't know that I would try a relatively unknown Anti-virus program that costs US$52 when you there are good free products such as Microsoft's Security Essentials (for active full-time protection in both 32 and 64-bit versions) and Malwarebytes (for passive manual scanning). If you feel the need for better/different (it's debatable as all AVs have weaknesses) paid protection then I would do some research and go with a more proven name.

Note that even some of the bigger names such as Norton do not have a 64-bit version (as of the last time I checked); if you use a 64-bit browser (on a 64-bit system naturally) this can leave your system vulnerable to malicious scripts. Most of the world still uses a 32-bit browser but as more and more users switch to 64-bit versions many do not realize their A/V protection is inadequate.