Nasty Virus

[Sailor Steve]

Just ran the one from post #3 - no threats detected.

Am running the online scan from post #5 now.

I have all my files, folders and histories back. The only problem I'm having right now is that every once in awhile Windows Explorer will malfunction, locking everything up and forcing me to reboot the hard way. I'm looking for solutions.

One more thing: What on Earth does DrWatson do other than to tell me it has encountered a problem and needs to shut down?

[nikimcbee]

Red seat for you sailor. (sorry couldn't resist)

[Jan Kyster]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

One more thing: What on Earth does DrWatson do other than to tell me it has encountered a problem and needs to shut down?

Ah! Good old Dr. Obvious!

Perhaps try running a System File Check: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...e-checker.html

Won't do any harm and may solve your IE problems... but good to hear you weren't badly hurt!

[Tarrasque]

I would strongly recommend NOT using MSE. It's let fairly nasty stuff through twice on my system - to the point of potentially almost needing to install windows. There are a number of other free virus scanners out there. I've used both Avast and AVG in the past and both seem OK.

If your files are still hidden, select them and either right-click and go to properties or hold Alt and press Enter/Return. Make sure the 'Hidden' box on the 'General' tab isn't selected and OK it all. This will take a while if you have a lot of files.

[Sailor Steve]

I've tried both AVG and Avast with little or no luck in the past.

But it's all irrelevant now. The thing is back, and with a vengeance. I can't get rid of it this time, and I can't access anything on my hard drive. It's going to be tough to do a complete reinstall because all my discs are in my storage unit somewhere. Looks like I'm back to posting from the library for awhile.

[Skybird]

High time for the Klingon solution. Accept no compromise. I would have chosen it already earlier. When nasty stuff has hit you once, you never can be sure you really got rid of it after you are finished with your repair - and every Windows repair is just improvisation. Time passes by, you invest trust, make backups of your working files - and they all get infested in the background.

And DO NOT trust into free scanners only, but use a payware solution, the full package, make it a solid one. I have learned that lesson myself just before switching systems:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=180346

Neal brought it to the point in there: "Sticking with pay/premium anti-virus software here. I cannot imagine some free AV group has the same resources as Norton or McAfee. If they're not brining in real $$ to pay employees and stay on top of emerging threats, how secure can it be? You get what you pay for. "

Avira Premium for example does not leave you any need to run Spybot. It includes what Spybot does - and then so much more.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Skybird

[...] Avira Premium [...]

Wise choice.


Avira Antivir + ZoneAlarm firewall = best free antivirus+firewall combo.
But you've still got to be careful, and not to open an email attachment/link provided by some anonymous guy.

[Sailor Steve]

So far all's well that ends well. I was able to reach Microsoft's Service Center and a knowledgeable expert spent seven hours of his time helping me get everything sorted out, running various scans and even remotely running my computer until we're pretty sure the thing is truly gone.

Oh, and the cost was exactly $0.00.

[Penguin]

Good to hear that he was able to remove it! Brilliant service from Microsoft

[NeonSamurai]

Think I ran into that exact same virus at the center I volunteer at. Annoying but fairly easy to get rid of (for someone of my skill level anyhow). The good thing is that it didn't seem to bring in a pile of other viruses or delete anything. It did take a lot of manual editing though in the registry to fully restore everything (as usual mcafee, which they have, failed to prevent, detect, or remove it).

BTW as a computer expert, I don't agree with the assessment that norton or mcafee are any good. My personal experience with both of them is that they are very poor anti virus solutions, and utterly abysmal firewalls (and zone alarm isn't a whole lot better).

Last I checked Comodo was the best firewall available (though very naggy). It's virus scanner is decent, though I prefer ClamWin. Both are free, the second is open source. It's also a good idea to overlap anti-virus software as none of them are perfect (also helps with false positives a bit)

http://www.matousec.com/projects/pro...ge/results.php

I'll post some av testing when I have more time

[NeonSamurai]

Anyhow did some re-reading up on where the different virus scanners are atm.

For free anti-virus, Avira personal seems to be the best choice.
For payware, Lavasoft Total security seems good, as do some others (like Avira Pro).

So one of them combined with Comodo firewall seems like the best option.

Some of the sources I used:
http://www.av-comparatives.org/en/comparativesreviews
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

Me, I tend to end up dealing with viruses retroactively (since I usually have to clean up already compromised systems). So my toolbag contains various programs like
Spybot S&D
ClamWin Portable (it is very good at detecting viruses once active, and installer packages, but does not have any proactive defense, it is strictly a scanner)
HijackThis
and various other software and anti rootkits

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

BTW as a computer expert, I don't agree with the assessment that norton or mcafee are any good.

I don't recommend them either, particularly not Norton as it places about a million, (only a very slight exaggeration), entries in your registry. That plus the fact it fails to detect a lot of 'designer' viruses simply because the authors reverse engineer the algorithm as part of the creation process.

IMO, you're better off going with a less popular AV - combined of course with a good firewall and an even better sandbox.