inquiry: "Virus Total"... legit or scam?

Hi there.

So this is probably going to be a long one. Sorry. (Not entirely sure it goes in this forum, but it my best guess.)

Anyone here familiar with the Segurazo malware?
I'd like to know how much systems it can invade and affect. I understand it can even act as a rootkit and infect the system's key registry files.
Basically, my question is: can it survive a full laptop reformat and Windows reinstallation??
If so, what signs should I pay attention to, and what measures can I take?
Also, if it can infect the wifi modem, and other devices through it.
And, just in case, if there's any extra measures I can apply to attempting to recover backup files I made on pendrives and online cloud backup. (Aside from personalized scans with Spybot while in Windows safe mode, of course.)

I recently found it on my laptop, through Spybot S&D Pro detected the "Gen:Variant.Application.Segurazo.1" in quarantine. I assume it was undetected in my laptop for several days at least. I also found a strange user on my laptop's users (found it through folder, properties, security). By then, blocked. But by then, damage done. Finally decided to reformat and reinstall the whole system. And did a safe-mode Eset online live scan, with no threats detected. No new strange issues until now, but haven't really risked much online activity yet either.

Any advice will be very appreciated.

Just that. Wasn't sure where this question should go.

Been looking for additional safety measures while exploring the net on my phone. Seen several online scan pages. One of the most named for scanning individual sites and files seems to be Virus Total. Like to know how trustworthy it is.

Thank you for the help!

Hello SpiralGalaxy,

Commonly used:

VirusTotal - http://www.virustotal.com/
Jotti's VirusScan - http://virusscan.jotti.org/
VirScan - http://www.virscan.org/

Hi SpiralGalaxy,

Segurazo Antivirus is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) most likely downloaded with other software.

See: Optional Installs: https://forums.spybot.info/showthrea...l=1#post286306

A reformat is a fresh start, if you backed up that particular software onto an external be careful not to reload it again.

In future if you suspect an infection you could start a topic in the Malware Removal Forum so a volunteer analyst can take a look at the system.

The forum's FAQ includes instructions in post #2 on how to provide the logs from Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and aswMBR, which are the logs used in the preliminary analysis.
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=288

Best regards, tashi

Okay. I understand. Thank very much.
I'll read it all.
(Much clearer on the rules here as well.)