Win32/Ramnit.B

In all my years I have never come across a virus as devastating as Win32/Ramnit.B. The virus targets EXE, HTM(L) and COM files infecting everything on your computer, including your System Restore and antivirus software! The unlucky recipient of this gift was my wife. Where she encountered it I'll never know but as soon as it took hold of her laptop it spread to over 3500 files in an evening! Microsoft Security Essentials did well to detect the virus but as quickly as if disinfected files more were corrupted. Eventually it reached a point where system files and drivers were infected and MSE froze because the infected files were in use by Windows.

I tried various other antivirus and antispyware products with the same outcome. Trawling Google lead me to a few suggestions that were also ineffective at stopping the virus. Most forums just suggested reinstalling Windows. 

I'm saddened to say that I've had to eventually give up the fight. I've scanned all of my wife's documents for signs of infection (which I'm glad to find none) and have backed up all of her documents in preparation for a wipe and fresh install. In a way this might be a good thing as she was complaining recently that Windows was starting and shutting down very slowly. However I'm really disappointed that I've been beating by a really nasty virus. I've one more thing to try that I've been advised is incredibly powerful and also incredibly dangerous for system stability. Now I've backed up my wife's documents I'll give it a go but I don't hold out any hope.