HELP! COMPUTER INFECTED

[quintr]

Yesterday I got a notice that my computer was infected with a worm that gathers email addresses from a compromised computer, also a trojan. I started getting a critical warning on the desktop.

I have long been a customer of McAfee and thought that McAfee would keep these kind of vermin off my computer.

However, now it appears that problems are getting through.

Need any suggestions you may have. My field is analytical chemistry, not computer science.

Does anyone have a better source than McAfee. I'm willing to change -- especially if I can get a vendor that provides a tech support telephone number to its customers!

[Washi]

That’s why I bought an Apple computer, no need for anti-virus stuff.

Well, that was a helpful response. (Not)

It's funny how Mac owners have to pipe up with little responses like this to asuage their embarassment at buying an obscure computer system. Any benefit that a Mac provides, security wise, is due to the fact that it's obscure enough that hackers/crackers just don't care (security by obscurity.)

As to the original post, though: Get a good, free antivirus program (AVG or Avast,) and use THE very best antispyware software (also free) MalwareBytes.

Some malware will actually keep you from downloading these tools, so you may have to download them on another computer, put them on a memory stick, and then install them to the infected machine.

[Matchett-PI]

Thanks for the verification! I had a message like that (not the same one) pop up on my PC a year or so ago. I didn’t click on any of the links in the notice, but instead copied and pasted a big part of it into Google. Sure enough, there were a lot of other people looking for help and were being advised that it was a scam at worst and a money-making marketing ploy at best.

[Neidermeyer]

That’s why I bought an Apple computer, no need for anti-virus stuff.
*********************************************
yeah right! go on thinking that way.

[Bikkuri]

I DITTO Dacula...

[JDoutrider]

In a word...

Kaspersky !

[Still Thinking]

Then what you should be doing is working from a master image. IOW an image of a full installation with Windows and all your apps. Whenever you feel you need to do one of these dump and rebuild cycles, you just reimage your working hard drive from the master. When you install a new program, either do it on both drives or just on the master and then reimage the working disk from the master.

[mbynack]

Thanks. I should have thought of that - we use to do it when we tested software at my last job. I never think of backing up or preparing until after I’ve gotten a virus.

[papasmurf]

"no need for anti-virus stuff."

You're, sadly, misinformed. Your statement would read true if you had said..."very little need for anti-virus stuff."

Last year, Apple recommended the use of A/V and even put up ClamAV on it's ftp for Mac owner's to download and use.

Mac's have suffered from their popularity with virus and malware attacks, just like others have been.



True, Mac's do offer more inherent protections than most, but, they have been attacked many times in the past. So much so, that Jobs has initiated an anti A/V/Malware effort of his own.

THIS is the A/V app which, for the first time in Apple's long history, is now included with Snowbird...



It's a sign of the times, and of Apple's success in the market. Don't be fooled that your Mac is the Fort Knox of security you think it is. That's what will get you infected or p0wned.

Currently, I count more than 80 Security Updates since 2005 issued for Macs by Apple.

NO OS is impervious. Mac's OS's are great, some of the best, but perfect, they are not. Users of ALL Operating Systems need to remain aware of the dangers, and keep their guard up.

What's bad for one OS, one user, is bad for ALL OS's, all users.

[calex59]

Combofix.exe is a great way to remove infected files. It is free and it works. Do not goto combofix.org or any of several other sites with combofix in the title. Go to the following web page, it will tell you how to download combofix and how to use it. It works for me.

Combofix page

Look for the Bleepingcomputer URL about 1/4 down the page for the download link. have a good day.

[ThreePuttinDude]

I've been really happy with ad aware, so as a result
I've not even given Defender a glance.
I'm kinda stubborn that way...LOL

[TurtleUp]

Mark for anti-virus advice!!!

[MichiganMan]

When this happens to me I bite the bullet and reformat the hard drive. I save all my data files to a back up and then reinstall windows. It usually takes a whole weekend to reload all the software and all the hardware drivers, but it’s worth it.

That's always been the way I looked at it.  Once you knowyour system has been compromised, you can never again know that it isn't otherwise compromised by a stealthier payload vectored in by the one you discovered without a full format. 

[CowboyJay]

Malwarebytes, mentioned above is a good scrubber. Haven’t had much luck with McAfee. Kaspersky anti-virus is the best out there, IMHO.

[CaptRon]

I have gotten a window poppin popping up that warns of a trojan horse. It does not come from McAfee. It appears to be someone scaring you into downloading something. It gave me a long list of infections I supposedly had. I ran McAfee which found nothing.

[dfwgator]

Generally if you get a virus, they will download a bunch of files all around the same time.

So simply do a file search on your Hard Drive for any files added on the current day. You should see a bunch of weird files all bunched together at right around the same time. That will tell you all of the files that need to be deleted.

[CowboyJay]

You might have the Anti-spyware 2009 or 2010 scamware infection. It can be a pain to get rid of (but it’s doable).

Good tutorial on removing it here: http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-antivirus-2009.html

I would seriously consider switching from McAfee to Kaspersky.

[chris_bdba]

Wondeful isn’t it! I’ve had a mac online since 1998 and have never had a problem with running no anti virus and spyware just can’t load on this thing. When I first got online in 1998 I kept getting a “Snow White” email and kept opening it thinking it was a comic, well one day hubby tells me it is a virus who knew?

[CaptRon]

It’s stopped. Only got it twice.

[GOPJ]

Ad Aware sounds good. Thanks for the information.