Posted on 04/22/2012 7:00:47 AM PDT by 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.
For later
Have you run them in safe-mode?
When it comes up, Control alt delete and shut it down from your task manager.
Google MSE and you will find posts from other people and their method of removing the app. Its probably more of an annoyance than a true virus, but you do have to dig deep to remove the tentacles of the app. This type is fairly common and removable with the right app.
I'll be monitoring this thread for solutions.
Run a program called ‘Combo Fix’ from a disc after you start your computer in safe mode.
I had such a nasty virus from Drudge I had to restart my computer from day one. It would not allow me to restart it from previous days, weeks or even months.
I saved my pics on an external hard drive quite some time ago, so I lost everything but those.
I am not computer literate, so that was the only way I could remedy the situation.
First thing you need to do is right click the network ‘icon’ in the task bar and click ‘disable’.
This prevents the trojan from accessing the internet to ‘update’ itself.
Secondly, reboot into ‘Safe Mode’ and then re-run Malwarebytes and your antivirus program.
Thirdly, reboot normally and re-run ‘Malwarebytes’ again to be sure the trojan is gone.
If everything checks out ok, then ‘right click’ the network ‘icon’ on the task bar and click ‘enable’.
Get AVG for your anti-virus software (it's free here)
Then.........download and install 'SpyBot Search and Destroy'
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html
Then, remove McAfee - and don't use it again. Install AVG. It is the best anti-virus on the market (has been for 10 years, or so).
You can keep malwarebytes, just run it separately from 'SpyBot'. (always search for updates).
Couple things.
First, go to www.download.com and get AVG (Free Edition) 2012; a fantastic antivirus package.
Install it, UPDATE it, then update your Malwarebytes....then run both.
That said, two things: I suggest you run both, after you update, etc., from Safe Mode (reboot your computer, and before you see the Windows logo appear, just keep tapping the F8 button; have it come up in Safe Mode with Networking). Safe Mode loads just enough of the operating system for the computer to function.
Once in Safe Mode, THEN run Malwarebytes and AVG (full scan for each, and yes, you can run both simultaneously). Whatever they find, let the package*=(s) get rid of it/them.
Then....reboot again (”Start Windows Normally”). I suspect you’ll then be fine.
Here’s the thing: Packages like antivirus software and anti-malware software (e.g. your Malwarebytes....which is VERY good, by the way) are only as good as the currency of their definition files. IOW, they can only protect you from stuff they actually KNOW about. KEEP THEM CURRENT.....BARE MINIMUM, UPDATE ONCE A WEEK (I tend to do that more often, myself).
Malwarebytes is not an antivirus package. Between AVG and Malwarebytes, your system should get a very thorough cleaning.
Ping if you have any problems.
The problem with Combo Fix is if you don’t ‘uninstall’ your antivirus program, it can,possibly, delete files that you don’t want to get rid of.
I would suggest going to the ‘Combo Fix’ website and following the instructions before just running it.
Even in ‘Safe Mode’.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say your "IP" uses McAfee. "IP" is usually an abbreviation for "Internet Protocol".
Reboot into safemode, and run your scans from there.
Also, you might want to try Spybot - Search & Destroy
I stopped going to Drudge over ten years ago, due to the cooties.
I replaced it with Avast, and all seems good.
I had the same issue as well. I was looking at funny videos when i got whats called Malware. The virus essentially puts up false alarms that makes you go to there website to buy the software that is bogus. The thing is real deceptive and real difficult to get to the root of the virus.
The easiest way to remove this virus is to reinstall the Operating system, whether its XP or Windows 7.
That particular piece of scareware can be a very tenacious little piece of garbage. Read all the above posts. Disabling the network adapter, booting in safe-mode and scanning are your best first efforts. Failing that, it will require more effort. Do you have your anti-malware, anti-virus set to auto-update? Are they set to “real time” scan of all traffic? Last time I had this on a machine, it took several hours and three attempts to eradicate it. Then, I locked the machine down and dumded-down my kids’ user privileges.
Note: the above is the most extreme solution. But it will in fact resolve the problem. It is probably not your first resort, but it may be your last. And in the interest of full disclosure I once had to resort to this last resort.
Sorry, my mistake. I meant to type ISP.
The new AVG is so streamlined and smart. I’ve used AVG for 8+years and I’ve worked for many many years in the ‘computer’ industry. I’ve never heard of Avast, but, hey...if it works for you, then great. Speaking of “bloated”, Norton and McAfee bloated-away years ago, in my opinion.
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