Viruses

[Dvandemon]

Okay, WTF!? My laptop keeps saying it has a whole bunch of viruses and people are attempting ID thefts. Seriously!? Good Thing I'm too young for that to really matter (I Think:smalleek:) but I don't want to suscribe to antivirus software so soon

[The Glyphstone]

is it asking you to INSTALL NOW to clean? Then you've been infected with a virus, one that's pretending to be an antivirus program. Don't subscribe to anything, it'll just steal your credit card info.

[Assassin89]

What type of computer is it? If it is something like an HP Compaq 8510w, I think I have seen a similar problem. If an antivirus thing pops up, that's the source of the problems.

On a side note, there is free antivirus software.

[AlterForm]

In addition to what Glyphstone said, see if you can download AVG and/or Avast. They're free antivirus/antimalware software that should be able to detect and remove the offending programs, assuming you the program hasn't blocked their websites.

[Dvandemon]

Its a Windows XP. And yes, what Glyph said is exactly what my parents said.

*sigh*

[Yarram]

You should listen to the virus' instructions. Put Linux on your XP.

[Dvandemon]

I'm not big on Linux. Now its saying someone is trying to hack into my system

*groan* Owning a computer is hard work. Is worth it though

[Haruki-kun]

I'm not big on Linux. Now its saying someone is trying to hack into my system

*groan* Owning a computer is hard work. Is worth it though

Obligatory.
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/computer_problems.png

Your computer will most likely not warn you that someone is hacking into your system, so yes, that's a virus trying to freak you out. I would suggest the good old clean wipe.

Backup your files, format your hard drive. Yes, it is a pain. But it never fails.

[Runestar]

Formatting doesn't always help though.

I once had this virus that somehow managed to stay even though I reformatted my comp three times. Everytime I tried to connect to the internet, it would strike and render my entire PC unusable (oddly enough, my comp worked perfectly fine after reformatting, so long as I did not connect to the net). I suspect it may have been able to transfer itself to RAM or something, allowing it to escape being deleted.

So no downloading of AVG. Got my neighbour to download to my thumbdrive for me, installed it, detected it within seconds, got rid of it and voila, problem solved. :smallyuk:

[Dvandemon]

I don't know how to do those two things.

[dehro]

I don't know how to do those two things.

then don't try them. you're likely to cause more damage than to solve the problem

it's a stupid suggestion but..ask around amongst your more computer literate friends to give you a hand (bettere yet..ask your parents to do so with their friends..so if the friend does something wrong, it's their fault and they pay for it, not you)

[Serpentine]

...but I don't want to suscribe to antivirus software so soonGood lord man, download some already! Already said, but I recommend Avast. Also Spybot and to a lesser extent RogueRemover and AdAware. If it's one of those annoying "OMG UR COMP R TEH HAXORED QUIK DOWNLOAD THIS NOW OR ELSE!" ones, those should clean it up.

[Seffbasilisk]

I track them down.

I'm not going to say that certain things are put into order by a number of seemingly innocuous actions so as to bring ruination and pain unto them in a very personal way...

I'll just say I'm not a fan.

[Dvandemon]

Okay, quick question, have any of you ever heard of My Security Engine? I have its icon on my desktop (even though I never downloaded anything) and it looks noticeably low rez when compared to the others. also my friends recommends AVG, what do you think I should do? Why am I listening to mostly complete strangers on the internet and not my friend?

[AlterForm]

Okay, quick question, have any of you ever heard of My Security Engine? I have its icon on my desktop (even though I never downloaded anything) and it looks noticeably low rez when compared to the others. also my friends recommends AVG, what do you think I should do? Why am I listening to mostly complete strangers on the internet and not my friend?

Considering the results (http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=my+security+engine&btnG=Google+Search) from Googling MSE, it's definitely not something you want.

AVG is as good a free antimalware program as any; I personally use Avast!.

[EDIT]: A platitude that I find very important in dealing with malware: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Protect yourself first; learn what a scam looks like and you may never have to rely on your firewall or antivirus program.

[QuantumSteve]

Viruses? What are those? ...Wait, I vaguely remember something like that from before I switched to Linux. I don't know; it's been a long time. Sorry.

[Runestar]

I recommend AVG as well. In the very least, it is the only one amongst all the anti-virus programs I used which has actually successfully detected and gotten rid of viruses. :smallsmile:

[Kiren]

Download Avira, then turn on safemode, you can do so by watching your monitor during startup for 2 options, I forgot which one but one of them allows safemode.

Safemode makes it so the viruses cannot interfere.

Run Avira virus scan in safemode.

Remove all that it detects.

You should be good, if not, in the same menu as safemode, their should be a revert to last working settings, turn that on, then turn off the computer and repeat the go into safemode and run avira steps.

Edit: For good measure, download Spybot search and destroy.


Edit Edit: THE PROGRAMS ARE FREE!!!

[Mando Knight]

Its a Windows XP.

Ooh, there's an issue that you should solve. An 8-and-a-half-year-old OS? Yeah, you'll want to fix that. Win7 is a touch more user-friendly and barks at anything trying to install itself without your say-so.

[AlterForm]

Ooh, there's an issue that you should solve. An 8-and-a-half-year-old OS? Yeah, you'll want to fix that. Win7 is a touch more user-friendly and barks at anything trying to install itself without your say-so.

And is generally better than Vista at not barking at things attempting to do so with your say-so. :smallcool:

[tribble]

Well, I still use XP, and it beats the heck out of vista.:smallyuk:

anyway, if you don't want to bother with antiviruses, be prepared to do maintenance. I know a guy who doesn't use antiviruses and has to re-install system 32 every few months. (He lost his collection of naughty pictures once, and still winces and whimpers a little bit when he talks about it.)

[Mystic Muse]

Viruses? What are those? ...Wait, I vaguely remember something like that from before I switched to Linux. I don't know; it's been a long time. Sorry.

Thanks for making me laugh.:smallbiggrin:

[Cealocanth]

I find that any popup or window on your conputer that pretends to scan your system and tells it that it's critically infected is simply a jerk's virus trying to get you to buy their software/ let them steal your info. I have [a lot of] antivirus programs installed and I use them every [day of the week removed due to any hackers that might be snooping] to do a clean wipe of any problems on my harddrive. They also help with upgrading my system.

As far as constantly on programs go? Have your parents get you a real, windows approved, virus protection software that costs money. That's the only way to be sure you're getting what you are asking for and not a cheating trogan. BTW, could anyone post a list of the different known types of viruses so we know what to look out for?

[Winter_Wolf]

Going online without some kind of AV on your computer is about as safe as tying a bunch of raw steaks around yourself and dousing yourself in a bucket of blood, then jumping into shark infested waters. You might be fine, but I wouldn't bet on it.

In your situation, I strongly advise the following:
Find some knowledgeable person who actually gets paid to deal with computers for a living. Geek Squad won't cut it, go to a local privately owned store where you know the people or at least they have many good references. Explain the problem. They'll fix it for you, and really, it's better to pay a person to do it right, than it is to pay a person to do it right after someone else screws up your computer even worse beforehand.

If you elect to take matters into your own hands: Avast! or AVG are free, and I know that Avast! works perfectly fine 99% of the time. Get and install Spybot Search & Destroy, it catches a lot of things, and it's free. Avast! and Spybot S&D can both be set up to run at computer boot up, before the OS loads, which really helps when you need to get rid of that horrible nasty trojan/virus/other malware. I've had to do that twice, and it took about 5-6 hours for the scans to finish, but it killed the problem dead each time. Get a firewall program, it helps. You really don't want to rely on XP's firewall, it's basically worthless.

The Last Resort: Complete reinstall of your OS. This means wiping your drive with that one option that triple erases everything on it. Then make sure you install an antivirus program and something like Spybot S&D or Ad-Aware (both of which were free last time I did an install). I can also recommend CCleaner to help clean up some other glitches that might crop up.

[MCerberus]

You can root out viruses really easily on an xp system by starting up the task manager. Hit the "processes" tab, and google everything that seems suspicious. Note that "svchost" should be running multiple times.

Right, so after that, hit the run command from the start menu. Type "msconfig" and head to the "startup" tab. If anything matches something you found out is a virus, first disable it. In fact, disable everything and then go back and turn things on that you want. This goes for non-microsoft things in the services section. Take control of how your system starts up!

If you feel comfortable enough to make potentially big changes to your computer that could backfire...

You should get a registry value from msconfig for these things. If you're 100% sure this matches a virus, run regedit from the start menu and delete the entry.

Be careful, if you click the wrong thing things can get BAD

You should also be running a non-MS web browser. Not for many of the vague reasons commonly listed. Only Explorer supports Active-X controls. These are bad.

This is essentially the methodology used by anti-virus programs, albeit in manual form.

[Katana_Geldar]

Going online without some kind of AV on your computer is about as safe as tying a bunch of raw steaks around yourself and dousing yourself in a bucket of blood, then jumping into shark infested waters. You might be fine, but I wouldn't bet on it.


LOL and so true!

But I payu for my AV.

[Lev]

Solution to all viruses, forever:
1) Download Ubuntu and make sure it's clean.
2) Burn to disk, and set your computer to boot its OS off of CD
3) Make sure your OS is set to format your hard drive after every shutdown
4) GG.

When your computer is literally physically impossible to hack, you are golden, until then you're just gambling that some bunch of other suckers with your AV program will get it before you do, report it, and the company updates your product and fixes it. Oh, and if you think that owning a Mac makes you safe, you buy into hype too fast. Active X and Flash are what it guards against, mainly because Mac just has policies up to disable it on most of their devices.

[Dvandemon]

Viruses? What are those? ...Wait, I vaguely remember something like that from before I switched to Linux. I don't know; it's been a long time. Sorry.

I want to hurt you so bad right now

[Yarram]

Take our advice.


"I don't trust you and I don't want to."

If you don't know how, get your parents to take your computer to an IT man.