Posted on 01/02/2009 7:44:38 AM PST by Non-Sequitur
Sorry for the vanity but it's part warning/part SOS. My computer has been infected with a rather nasty virus and I'm wondering if anyone else has faced it.
I was watching the bowl game last night about 9 when my wife called me. She was doing some research on vacations and she got a warning about a virus. I go up there and it's a pop-up for some spy-ware download. Warnings that my computer may be infected, down load the software and save my system, the usual stuff. My wife is pretty savy and knows better than to respond to things like that so she called me.
I sit down and it's the damndest thing I've ever seen. I don't hit the execute on anything, just try and close the windows which was probably what it wanted. I also keep getting two icons to some porn sites, which I keep deleting but they keep reappearing. I finally stop that by clearing the recycle bin. And eventually the popups stop.
I've got Norton 360, in fact I downloaded it on Wednesday. I try and do a system scan and I can't get Norton to start. The Icon on the lower bar that is usally there saying I'm protected by Norton 360 has disappeared. It's getting late so I do the only thing I can think of and run Spybot on the off chance it may find something. It runs it's course and finds 6 errors. I let it correct them. Then I shut down for the night. At this point I'm annoyed but not overly concerned.
This morning I go to restart it and find that the system had never completely shut down - the final "Windows is shutting down" screen was still displayed. I start it and no Norton 360 start up. I try and start it manually and nothing. I try to get to the Symantec website and I get "Page Cannot Be Displayed" screens. I get occasional pop-ups for the ADS Anti Virus software. I start up my work laptop and can get to Symantec with no problems. So now I'm waiting for Geeks On Call and wondering just what the hell I picked up.
To recap: 1) It kicked off around 9 PM Central on New Years Day. This makes me wonder if it could have been downloaded earlier and lay in wait for January 1.
2) With two exceptions the popups are all for anti-spyware downloads. Warnings about system being infected, download now to protect your computer, that sort of stuff. ADS Anti-Spyware seems to be one of them.
3) The two exceptions are that during the original battle with the popups, two icons appeared on the desktop. Both advertised porn sites. I highlighted and deleted those several times but they kept reappearing until I finally emptied my Recycle Bin.
4) It seems to be blocking my anti-virus software from running at all. I can't get any response from Norton 360 whenever I try to start it. Spybot and Ad-Aware seem to run fine.
5) Possibly weirdest of all, it's blocking access to www.norton.com and www.symantec.com. Try to access them directly and I get "Page Cannot Be Displayed". Try to google them and then access them from Google and get the same thing on some links or get directed to another site offering "Advanced anti-virus software" on others.
6) System is an HP pavillion about 4 1/2 years old. Runs Windows XP. Service packs are up to date.
Anyone out there come across anything like this?
I had countless virus problems with XP. Since then, I bought a new computer with the new version of Vista. I have had not one problem since. I have also kept Norton. It caught that same virus you describe (did the identical thing you said.) and it washed it clean. It works fine. I also had many problems with AVG. Hackers have ways around every virus program in existence.
XP has many vulnerabilities and problems. Vista is much better from a security standpoint.
To all you Microsoft bashers on this forum, please refrain from expressing your vile hatred for one of the greatest products known to mankind. It's the main reason we are typing on our keyboards this very moment.
I’ve installed the free AVG and found it less than “robust”.
AVG I paid for worked just fine.
I use Norton 360 so I would hope that it would include that. Besides, whatever it is is completely blocking access to Norton or Symantec websites.
I use the paid version of AVG7.5. When my subscription expires I will then have to update to AVG8. I've heard some less than complimentary things about AVG8 -- people describing it as "bloatware". Can you confirm any of this?
Highly recommended.
I had this about a month ago..
I unplugged the cat 5 cable to the modem
then I deleted my virus protection
(On another computer I owned)..I went to download.com
and put AVG free addition on a flash drive.
Then I went back to the infected computer with no virus protection and put in the flash drive and installed AVG.
After installation...
I ran a scan...3hrs later it found and quarantined
all Trojans and virus’s that were on my computer.
I haven’t had a problem since!
Hope this helps.
I would start off with Smitfraud fix:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/files/smitfraudfix.php
Run it from safe mode.
Next I would use Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
I believe MS, with its hydra-like tentacles, has involvement with AVG now.
I switched to Clamwin.
I would suggest malwarebytes at malwarebytes.org.
WinPatrol is free - and much easier...
Exactly
I ran the Hijackthis...got the log...then had it analyzed at hijackthis.de
Then reboot into SAFE MODE...and delete the offending buggers.
I run AVG free...LavaSoft's Ad-Aware..and SpyBot..pretty regular.
And run Hijackthis now and again....
Seems to keep my machine running okay.........
fwiw-
The problems I have from those “free” virus programs, is they do not have large R&D because the bulk of their users are too cheap to pay the annual fee. So, they have a minimum of funds available to develop an ironclad program, or keep up with all the millions of hackers out there.
Most of the new viruses disable System Restore. Also Windows Update. Also your virus scanner. Also access to antivirus websites.
For those of you not yet infected I recommend doing a backup of System State. This is equivalent to setting a System Restore point, but it can’t be disabled.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302894
http://www.lwcomputing.com/tips/static/sysstate.asp
I abandoned Norton after doing battle with their tech support people and getting no help whatsoever. I’m sure they were out sourced help and I had a difficult time understanding what they were trying to tell me to do.
It's going around and I had it the day after Christmas and it took me over a day and a half to get rid of it all!
One of my grandkids downloaded a "cheat-sheet" for her X-Box and I got the Downloader 2009 malware! It infests the computer so badly that it will shutdown Windows Firewall, it blocked access to my AVG antivirus. AVG was showing 'no components'!!!
The most amazing thing the virus does is block access to any 'help sites'. The only way I could get to any forum or help site was by clicking on the cached page.
Go to Downloads.com and get Malwarebytes. It is fantastic, the first time it ran it found 32 trojans and downloaders! I have done two full scans [take 2 hours each] and seem to be clear of it now and my AVG antivirus is up and working again since the last scan.
A computer guy I talked to said that kids go to these sites to get cheat-sheets and 'stuff' and that parents don't know it but the kids will shut down the firewalls and antivirus to download the cheatsheets and your computer immediately gets infected.
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