Computer Help Needed

Former Fetus

[Former Fetus]

First of all, since I am asking for help with viruses, let me say that I am posting this from my husband's computer!

My IP uses McAfee, I have Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware in my PC. So I felt pretty safe.

Fri morning, I was reading Jewish World Review when a pop-up claiming to be MSE claimed my PC was infected. It was not one of those pop-ups you can X out from. In my panic, I could not remember what someone here, at FR, had told me in the past that I could do. So I turned off my PC. When I rebooted, I ran MSE and it showed 9 trojans. After removing them, I ran MAM and it still showed 2 or 3. I kept this game going on all of Friday morning and most of the afternoon. I would "scan and remove" with one program, then the other one would find something. By midafternoon both programs claimed my PC was cleaned and finally I could breathe. It is hard to hold your breath for 8 or 9 hours, LOL!

I was gone all day Saturday, when my son was running at a track meet. This morning I got on-line to see the results of all events and, you guessed it, the pop-up was there again. Only this time neither MSE or MAM found anything.

Ok, so these are my questions:
1)do y'all think that this pop up is a phishing attempt?
2)How do I get out of it without turning the PC off?
3)If it is a case of phishing, why did both av programs show any problems last Friday?
4)Besides running both MSE and MAM, do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you very much.

[deweyfrank]

bttt

[sportutegrl]

I had a similar virus. It looked like MSE, but had a slightly different name. It wouldn’t let me surf to any sites, like Microsoft or Bing, kept saying they were infected, and I couldn’t override the popup. I tried everything I could think of, I couldn’t even launch the real MSE. Finally, I went to program manager, saw the program name in the list, and deleted it. I couldn’t believe that worked. Haven’t had a problem since.

[rightly_dividing]

I have gotten the same thing a couple of times on my computer and my wife’s. I went to Bleepingcomputer.com, to their virus page and selected the one with the same name as the one hitting on your computer. Then, to shorten the process go straight down the page to where you can load Rkill onto a thumbdrive. Stick the thumbdrive into the affected computer and run rkill and it’s cleaned. Then run Malwarebytes and go back to your normal life. It is so easy, only a few clicks, and you’re done in just a few minutes.

This has worked for me three times. Good luck.

[reformedliberal]

A few months ago, my husband’s laptop, running AVG paid with all the extras, was infected with one of those ransomware viruses. Nothing at all worked, as the thing had immediately inserted itself into AVG.

After a few days of frustration, he went to Geek Squad. They fixed it and the $200 charge includes a package for all our machines whenever they are in need. They see it all the time and it is evidently a PITA to remove/repair. Not sure, but I think they finally just gave him a new hard drive, but they were able to transfer everything, so nothing except bookmarks were lost.

We also back up to external drives often, separate drives for things like Quick Books, so we lost nothing.

BYW, the site where he was infected was the forum for Ferfal’s Living in Argentina. I’ve been afraid to access it on my computer since.

[Former Fetus]

First thing you need to do is right click the network ‘icon’ in the task bar

Sorry for my ignorance, is that the icon that looks like a monitor and a plug/trident (Windows 7)?

[ican'tbelieveit]

We had to dump AVG after they released a patch that was not compatible with Windows 7. Switched to Avast. Really like it, after turning off the update notice sound, that is! Son runs it on his Droid, too, haven’t heard any complaints from him.

[Vinnie]

I stopped going to Drudge over ten years ago, due to the cooties.

Me too.

[WestwardHo]

*

[rellimpank]

—bflr-

[Calvin Locke]

I noticed that too, with AVG. The ID protection was sucking up a lot of cycles. I disabled the ID protection because my IP's "toolkit" installed its own.

I'm assuming they were in conflict.

Since I actively check the AVG at least once a week, I make sure it stays disabled.

[MtBaldy]

“worked for many many years in the ‘computer’ industry. I’ve never heard of Avast”

These statements are incompatible unless you worked for a computer company in a position that never brought you in contact with computers. Any IT guy has at least heard of Avast!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Download SPYBOT, install and update it, and run a scan. Download SPYWARE BLASTER, install it and make sure it is updated weekly. AVAST is the best virus software I’ve tried and I only have the free version.

[Mr. K]

There is a virus that masquerades AS AN ANTI-VIRUS program

You have to boot in safe mode and run malwarebytes AND a good anti-vurus (I use AVAST and it is free for home use and I love it)

I also discovered that if you have multiple usrs set up you can log in as GUEST and download and run those two (run tham as administrator)

Search ONLINE for the text you see on-screen and you can find detailed instructions on deleting it

[rightly_dividing]

I got ahold of it two days ago when I copied a picture. It was a a national news site and I was following a link from a FR thread.

For those of us(me) not tech orriented, a tech website bleepingcomputer.com offers all kinds of help without even a sign up, of course if you cant find what you need and have to ask someone, then you have to register.

[Texas Eagle]

It popped up for me right after I clicked on the thread that contained a link to a youtube video called, "If I Wanted To Destroy America".

The vid is pretty good but I wonder if that's where the bug is.

[hobson]

The quickest way to get rid of a virus is to restore to a date prior to the infection. Go to computer/properties/advanced and select Restore. You will then be able to select a date for the restore point.

You will not lose files but if you installed any new software after that date you will need to reinstall it.

This works 99% of the time.

[trebb]

Most of the nasties make Startup entries which run an app to re-replicate them They also make Regisrtry entries to ensure they get retsrted. Whenever I thin k I have something bad on my PC, I check Startup entries and disable them, then go and "quarantine" the target file to ensure they don't get tagged again. Then I go through a in-depth cleaning process with some of the apps available. Once they get in, they can be hard or impossible to properly clean for most "novices" and even for some of the more astute. Even with protection, I still limit myself as to where I go and what I click on to help ensure I stay clean. I use the Windows Defender Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware and CCleaner and haven't had any problems for the 8 months I started that format. Used to have some old apps to help stop things, like Startup Control Panel and Startup Monitor. The Startup Control Panel allows ready access to Startup entries and the Startup Monitor runs in the background and will pop up and notify you if something is trying to make a Startup entry. You can tell it Yes/No depending on whether you just installed something that would normally make a Starttup entry.

I have just loaded Startup Monitor and will have to see if it works with Win7. The Startup Control Panel would not install, but CCleaner and other apps allow you to look at and/or disable Startup entries. If it works with Win7, the Startup Monitor will still be useful as it gives you a chance toi nix new Startup entries. They are available at an old Mike Lin site and the url is: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Didn't want to include an active link, so you can copy/paste it into the address bar.

[Poser]

Lots of good advice here to get rid of a Windows virus. I keep an old PC running Ubuntu Linux (actually I dual boot on my quad core machine now). When I’m going to spend time surfing sites I don’t know or when I’m going to click on anything my uncle Bob sends me, I do it with Linux running. No problem. I can click on anything.

After a while you may discover that you have no need for Windows at all. For me, I have to keep Windows because I teach advanced Access and Excel to my business students. They do some things a bit differently in Microsoft Office than in Open Office.

It is surprisingly simple to download Linux to a thumb drive and install it to allow your computer to boot in either operating system, independent of the other and safe from malware.

[Bigh4u2]

Yes

[molson209]

I’m not sure what you mean when you say your “IP” uses McAfee

Sorry, my mistake. I meant to type ISP.

but is it installed on your computer ? My friend never had anti virus installed ,he said because his provider had McAfee ,a virus wiped his hard drive, all I did was go to safe mode and use a restore point then installed Avast anti virus