Virus help? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

darkblust

2010-03-06, 10:43 AM

I recently got a virus on my laptop.It seems to be a trojan horse.Damn. Apparently I did'nt have my firewall up.So,Antivirus XP 2010 said I had 30 infections.I run a full system scan on Norton,find two.I delete them.I do it again,and find two more.At this point,Antivirus still sais I have 28 infections.I run a full system scan again,and i don't find any infections.

I turn off my laptop,and I come back to it a while later.Antivirus XP 2010 sais I have 30 infections again.I run a full system scan on Norton,and find one.I delete it,and Antivirus Xp 2010 still says I have 30 infections.I run another Full system scan,and it does'nt find anything.

Now,when I try to turn on my firewall,it brings up a window that asks me to purchase Antivirus XP 2010.Is this normal?Does anyone have advice as to how to get rid of this virus?

Serpentine

2010-03-06, 10:55 AM

Look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142117) for recent experiences with this. The "antivirus" is fake. Repeat: THE ANTIVIRUS IS FAKE. DO NOT CLICK IT, DO NOT OK IT IF YOU CAN AVOID IT, DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT.

lesser_minion

2010-03-06, 11:10 AM

Simply put, Antivirus XP 2010 is 'rogue'. It's quite possible that the only dangerous thing on your system is either Antivirus XP 2010 or something that it installed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Antivirus_(malware)

Bear in mind that you need to get rid of Antivirus XP 2010 and that it will be pretty difficult.

darkblust

2010-03-06, 11:45 AM

Okay,well,thanks alot!I was scared there.

lesser_minion

2010-03-06, 11:52 AM

Well, disposing of the rogue program is going to be an absolute nightmare, unfortunately.

Melayl

2010-03-06, 03:47 PM

I just caught this virus myself last week, unfortunately. I don't know how it got on to my system (I, too, run Norton), but it spontaneously ran. In the 30 seconds before I hard-shut my computer off, it did massive damage. My computer guy had a few hours work fixing it. It is massively bad.

rayne_dragon

2010-03-06, 04:11 PM

I had it just now even with my antivirus program running... I couldn't get my internet to run. Fortunately reload the system restore point on my computer seems to have fixed it.

Rawhide

2010-03-07, 05:32 AM

(I, too, run Norton)

There's your problem. Uninstall Norton and get an antivirus program that actually works.

Dispozition

2010-03-07, 05:37 AM

There's your problem. Uninstall Norton and get an antivirus program that actually works.

Pretty much this. General consensus on free antivirus is that Avast is the best. I agree.

Rawhide

2010-03-07, 05:49 AM

It's been a while since I've used a free one, but I found AVG to be far less... annoying.

Oh, and if you think I'm just talking out of my donkey about uninstalling Norton, let me mention that I hold an MCSE:Security, CompTIA Security+ and a Graduate Certificate in Information Systems Security.

Serpentine

2010-03-07, 05:53 AM

This review (http://www.freewaregenius.com/2009/04/07/the-best-free-antivirus-a-comparison/) found Avast and Antivir to be better than AVG, which was itself good and had fewer false positives (possibly what you find annoying, Rawhide?).
edit: This one (http://antivirus.about.com/od/antivirussoftwarereviews/a/freeav_2.htm) found Antivir best for viruses and Avast best for spyware.

Felyndiira

2010-03-07, 05:55 AM

Norton is a memory eater, unfortunately. I've tried pointing it at a few infected files and it couldn't find them (all while eating up tons of memory - I tend to disable it nowadays when I'm playing online games).

Since you got a rogue antivirus on your computer, though - those things range from harmless (just fakes viruses, tries to trick you into buying, no side effects) to a horrid nightmare (actually installs viruses, overloads proxy settings, installs itself as a plugin for practically every browser, rewrites your hosts, hiding in registry startups, etc.) I would download and run a good antivirus (Avast) and run it; if it doesn't detect anything or only detects Antivirus XP 2010, remove it and move on. If it detects more than one virus, it's very likely that the program is poly-faceted. In this case, get silent runner; run the script, save a log, and individually compare each entry in Google to find out every nook that the program burrows into.

Yarram

2010-03-07, 05:56 AM

I feel the need to address something that should be a compulsory reference in every Antiviral thread.

Get Linux. Linux is better.

Rawhide

2010-03-07, 06:00 AM

The problem with antivirus reviews is that the detection rate on any given week will change, sometimes quite drastically. It will also change based on the sample thrown at it. As long as your antivirus is in the "very good" category and stays there from review to review, regardless of if it goes up or down one or two places, then you are fine.

What I found annoying was the program itself, not the false-positive detection rate. But again, I have been using a really good university supplied antivirus program for a while now, so things might have changed.

Dispozition

2010-03-07, 06:25 AM

What I found annoying was the program itself, not the false-positive detection rate. But again, I have been using a really good university supplied antivirus program for a while now, so things might have changed.

Which version? The most recent one has a drastically better UI. The old blue UI was absolutely horrible, the newer one is absolutely great.

Rawhide

2010-03-07, 07:17 AM

Which version? The most recent one has a drastically better UI. The old blue UI was absolutely horrible, the newer one is absolutely great.

No idea on which version, but if these a new user interface and it is much better then things have probably changed. If I had any need to install it I'd try it out.

Does it still scan with Luke Filewalker?

darkblust

2010-03-07, 08:14 AM

Okay,well,I'll get Avast,and hope it works better than everything else i've tried.

Edit:I got rid of the virus,with Spybot:Search & Destroy.Finally.:smallbiggrin:

lesser_minion

2010-03-07, 01:12 PM

I feel the need to address something that should be a compulsory reference in every Antiviral thread.

Get Linux. Linux is better.

No. Just. No.

Linux is good. What it is not is some kind of 'internet security panacea'. At all.

The single biggest unpatched security vulnerability on the internet is found between chairs and keyboards, and occurs irrespective of platform.

No idea on which version, but if these a new user interface and it is much better then things have probably changed. If I had any need to install it I'd try it out.

Does it still scan with Luke Filewalker?

That would be Avira AntiVir. It chucks a massive pop-up at you daily, and the interface is a lot less shiny than everyone else's.

It's actually pretty good in comparison with a few things - Kaspersky is utterly hideous.

The Dark Fiddler

2010-03-07, 01:21 PM

lesser_minion

2010-03-07, 01:32 PM

I got myself Avast! after many many recommendations. I've Virus Database Has Been Updated found it pretty good, but I'll tell you the Virus Database Has Been Updated warnings every half hour or so get Virus Database Has Been Updated pretty annoying. Not enough to make me stop Virus Database Has Been Updated using it though.

Yeah... About the first thing I did was Your virus definitions have been automatically updated turn off sounds. Having a random voice announce everything the software does was pretty annoying.

Still, it's an improvement on "Upgrade to Avira AntiVir premium now!"

The performance boost from dropping Kaspersky Internet Security has been amazing so far, however.

Dispozition

2010-03-07, 04:44 PM

No idea on which version, but if these a new user interface and it is much better then things have probably changed. If I had any need to install it I'd try it out.

Does it still scan with Luke Filewalker?

Not sure. I don't know about any of the inner workings of it.

Lioness

2010-03-07, 06:47 PM

Dispozition

2010-03-07, 10:38 PM

Hah. To me, it's an incentive to turn my computer off at night, because if I don't, I get Virus database has been updated at 3am...

You can turn the sound off...You know...I always turn my app sounds off since I listen to music so much...

Serpentine

2010-03-07, 10:51 PM

Okay,well,I'll get Avast,and hope it works better than everything else i've tried.

Edit:I got rid of the virus,with Spybot:Search & Destroy.Finally.:smallbiggrin:Check your Security control panel. Is the "download Windows Antivirus or else!" message gone, now? Keep an eye out, still - I thought mine was gone, then it was back a week later :smallsigh:

Rawhide

2010-03-08, 01:23 AM

That would be Avira AntiVir.

Odd, I don't remember running Avira, perhaps I'm remembering that bit from someone else's computer.

At any rate, the interface I used for Avast looked similar to this:
http://www.bestshareware.net/download/img9/avast4home-edition.jpg (http://www.bestshareware.net/download/img9/avast4home-edition.jpg)

darkblust

2010-03-08, 05:04 PM

Yea,the Security in control panel is back to normal.

Dispozition

2010-03-08, 05:08 PM

Odd, I don't remember running Avira, perhaps I'm remembering that bit from someone else's computer.

At any rate, the interface I used for Avast looked similar to this:
http://www.bestshareware.net/download/img9/avast4home-edition.jpg (http://www.bestshareware.net/download/img9/avast4home-edition.jpg)

Oh, wow, that's older than the version I know. The newest is a massive improvement. Actually user friendly.