Of Viruses and Gifts

[Thaliat Everwood]

First of all, many thanks to all of you who gave me gifts for my birthday. I greatly appreciated your sweet well wishes...and Sav's, uh, unique greeting. It is great to have such wonderful Gaia friends!

And now on to the real topic. As some of you already know, my computer got his with a nasty string of viruses and adware recently. I've got most of it off, though there seems to be a relatively persistant virus still on my computer. It mostly just likes to hijack the web browser when I'm online, which is proving rather obnoxious. It won't let me access sites like norton.com or many other antivirus related sites. It also wants to install something on my machine, frequently trying to target the system32 folder, but I deny every attempt. It is a pain and my antispyware is not able to isolate it yet. At least my files appear safe. I'm not opening any of them until I'm sure my computer is clean again. Better safe than sorry!

I was finally able to download Spyzooka and got most of the vile files off my machine. Still working on the squatters, I'll get those too. I run daily scans and updates, so I am not worried. Then I'll be able to register my Norton and be doubly protected.

I was wondering if anyone had tips of what to watch out for, or experience with viruses and how to irradicate them from a computer. Perhaps we could make this a rolling discussion for sharing updates on what to be wary of interms of threats to our computers since there are so many out there at any given time. Many people who use this site may not know what to watch out for, and since we all are internet users we are all at risk of exposure to computer viruses, adware, and the like. It does help to know what to watch out for so that we can protect our machines.

Tips and Advice:

Be wary of any pop up "warning" window, especially any claiming your machine may be infected. Be especially leary of any with grammatical errors in it!

Do not open attachment files unless you know what they are and who sent the file. If you do not know the sender, don't open it. If it is at all suspicious, even if you know the sender, do not open it and check with the sender to be sure they know what was sent. Some viruses will attack the address book in an email file to send out it's attacks to other machines.  

[Jafthasleftthebuilding]

I don't like Norton.

Good luck though. How did you get it in the first place?  

[Phaeton]

This is just personal experience but I'd say grab Avast! (Yeah, that exclamation point is in the name.) It's free, and it's been a better scanner to me than Norton.  

[Kerrigan_dragon]

Oh... I thought this had something to do with something... completely different... ninja

I'm sorry I forgot about your birthday, Thal. D: *huggles* Would you like me to send you a birthday letter? 4laugh

Well my friend Brian who is a super computer programmer/hacker recently informed me when I was thinking aloud about anti-virus programs that Norton can act as a virus. razz I don't know what to recommend to you though. <:3 Sorry. I hope your computer gets better soon.  

[Taeryyn]

There are viruses going around right now calling themselves Windows Security Center, Anti-Virus 360 or Antivirus 2009, Spyware Defender, etc. They all impersonate anti-virus or anti-malware programs, and quite often try to appear just like the real Windows security center.

Just like Thal said, it'll do a "scan" of your computer in a few seconds, and then insist you have oodles of threats on your computer. The catch is that they want you to pay for the "full version" of their product, and they block access to legitimate safety software or even helpful websites.

They are a b***h to get rid of, or so I've been told. mad When I was at the call centre taking calls for MS, we were taking sooo many calls about this. The worst part is, I had several customers who had called Norton about the issue, and Norton referred them to Microsoft, saying it was a Microsoft program! rolleyes I hate Norton immensely.  

[Kalstolyn]

Kals is questing again!

tools that are helpful in this kind of situation:

rogue remover
smitfraudfix
and possibly dial-a-fix if you're having restrictive policy issues or something stubborn in the registry.

Kals' Collaborative Crossword Puzzle!

PM for details!

 

[AlcoholicPancake]

Kerrigan_dragon

Oh... I thought this had something to do with something... completely different... ninja

I'm sorry I forgot about your birthday, Thal. D: *huggles* Would you like me to send you a birthday letter? 4laugh

Well my friend Brian who is a super computer programmer/hacker recently informed me when I was thinking aloud about anti-virus programs that Norton can act as a virus. razz I don't know what to recommend to you though. <:3 Sorry. I hope your computer gets better soon.

Well, technically that's because anti-virus programs ARE viruses themselves. Well, not full viruses, but viral programs. They work the same way viruses can, but in a way beneficial to the computer. Using it's scans it's able to wipe MANY different type of programs and files your computer normally wouldn't allow you too.

My combination for safety:
AVG + Daily Updates
Spybot + Every update that's released
Teatime ( Comes with spybot )  

[Thaliat Everwood]

I probably got the viruses from a porn site. We all know the internet is for porn, lol. Yes, girls can look at that stuff too...

Anyway, I have defeated the viruses. And one of them was that Antivirus 2008 or 2009 (not certain which it was). It is a pain in the neck and a half. Spyzooka got rid of most of the viruses. Registry Mechanic got rid of a lot of other issues I didn't know about. And then Norton started working. Between the three, I got everything off my machine!

One of my coworkers said there are a few viruses going around that come as email attachments and will totally erase your hard drive. I'm not opening any attachments unless they are family videos (we labll those pretty specifically in my family)...I don't care ifthey files are funny jokes or what, I will take no chances.  

[Saverio C.]

Thaliat Everwood

I greatly appreciated your sweet well wishes...and Sav's, uh, unique greeting.

Well it fit the gift! God I was making up for poising your computer and this is how you treat me, this is why I don't do nice things.  

[Thaliat Everwood]

Darn, I was gonna peg Viral for that...you could have got off easy!

Anyway, I am really happy I got the scar, I've been wanting it for a while. Thanks, Sav! heart  

[Saverio C.]

Thaliat Everwood

Darn, I was gonna peg Viral for that...you could have got off easy!

Anyway, I am really happy I got the scar, I've been wanting it for a while. Thanks, Sav! heart

That's a first, someone getting thanked for giving you a scar. I guess it was good for you too  

[Thaliat Everwood]

Scars are sexy!

Anyway, back on topic, I'm glad I was able to clean the viruses off my computer, but I am going to be very cautious for a while...the fear of losing my book is going to see to that. I'm a big fan of backing up files now, lol. Guess what I'll be doing the weekend? mrgreen  

[Saverio C.]

I just formated my drive. I think I am going to get some linux working on this b***h!  

[YunieCookie]

Thaliat Everwood

I probably got the viruses from a porn site. We all know the internet is for porn, lol. Yes, girls can look at that stuff too...

Anyway, I have defeated the viruses. And one of them was that Antivirus 2008 or 2009 (not certain which it was). It is a pain in the neck and a half. Spyzooka got rid of most of the viruses. Registry Mechanic got rid of a lot of other issues I didn't know about. And then Norton started working. Between the three, I got everything off my machine!

One of my coworkers said there are a few viruses going around that come as email attachments and will totally erase your hard drive. I'm not opening any attachments unless they are family videos (we labll those pretty specifically in my family)...I don't care ifthey files are funny jokes or what, I will take no chances.

There's a virus spreading through MSN. It sends you a message from one of your friends (who, oddly enough, is always offline at the time...BIG HINT) that says, basically "hey check out this cool/funny site" and a link. Dun click it D: It's a virus. A few of my friends had/have it.  

[palnoki]

Hey thal were you able to get the rest of the virus out? that is the most resistant virus I ever seen!!