anyone ever get this virus?

[dranger21]

i got some message about some hacktool.rootkit virus that i now cannot get off my computer. looked up some stuff on the internet about it and said "attacker may have full control of your system". Do these people really have nothing better to do? Im in college with no credit cards or money for that matter but if they do have full control of my system i hope they can see this

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Never got that one that I know of, but back when I was in college I had a problem with virii on my comp, backed up a couple really important things and wiped the system clean. I mean the entire harddrive clean in a reformat. Loaded all my programs back on, spent nearly a month getting things back the way I had them configured, and sucked in another one that crashed my comp. Went through it all again, and son of a b.... just over a month later, I was doing it again.

Kinda makes you want to go bust some fingers with a tire iron, don't it?


If you have the disk to put Windows (presuming you have a windows machine) and the disks for all the programs, you can download a program for free (pretty sure it's still out there) called Ultimate Boot Disk. Burn it onto a CD. Back up only the really critical things, the more stuff you back up, the greater the risk of transferring the virus to your fresh install. The boot disk will give you the tools to wipe your harddrive clean. I'd have to look at mine to be able to instruct you exactly on using it, but I suggest only like 3 passes... I did 10 passes once and it took a couple hours on a 900mhz P3.

 

[97RangerXLT]

How to avoid getting a computer virus:

1. for the love of God, stop using Internet explorer!!! This is the browser that most virus creators attack, and it has quite a few security issues. Microsoft is getting better at addressing them, but do you really want to risk it? Get Firefox or Opera. both are very decent browsers, and Firefox has add ons that will let you block ads and other malicious stuff. If you run AVG free virus, it puts an add on that checks every link from what ever page you are on for malware.

2. Make sure you have a decent antivirus program on your computer and make sure it is updated regularly. at least have it look for updates daily. you can set it to look for updates and scan while you are at work. Norton sucks, I have had a few well known viruses blow by Norton. Norton is also a resource hog... I recommend AVG free, it works very well, and is like the name implies, free. There are others out there that are decent as well such as PC Cillin (costs about $40)and is pretty effective. Avast! I have heard good things about but have not used it personally, and it is free as well.

3. keep anti spyware/malware programs on your computer and updated regularly. Get Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware. update both regularly. Spybot S&D has a feature that will immunize your browsers from bad websites. it will not load known bad webpages. And note that there is an exponential increase in bad web pages blocked for IE as opposed to Firefox or Opera...again, refer to step 1.

4. watch what sites you visit. many "warez" or porn sites are infected. be well equiped antivirus wise if you want to visit these sites...And if you do any bit torrent downloading make sure you scan each file before opening it!

5. and a word about bit torrent and downloading pirated copies of software... While I will not get into the legal ramifications of this, Do not use a pirated copy of antivirus software!! remember, antivirus software deals with the security of your system. if it is pirated, the security of that software is compromised. a good chance that all the hacker did was disable the antipirating portion, but how do you know? it could be he set it up to skip a certain virus description in its scans..

6. and while this step will not help you from getting infected, this will make your life easier if for what ever reason you need to reformat. Make regular backups of everything on your HD that you do not want or can't replace such as photos, save game files, documents etc onto a cd r or flash drive. you can also back up your bookmarks, config files and other folders that set your computer to the way you like it, so that all you have to do is copy over these files and you are up and running the way you had it before the reformat.

AJ

 

[Shran]

I can't figure out how people get viruses or spyware. I see it all the time as an IT worker but personally I have always had very little security software on my own computers, and only had probably 3 viruses and one spyware infection. Those were all from stuff people had given me to "try"...Symantec Antivirus caught all of it though.

 

[pocket-rocket]

I agree with 97RangerXLT. I use pretty much everything he said, lol. Firefox, Adblock plus, No Script, AVG Free, Spybot S&D, AdAware. One thing though. If you have the dough, while I was going to school for my A+ certification (doing Net+ now) they said that NOD32 by Eset is supposed to be the best antivirus and it isn't a resource hog like Norton. Right now Newegg has a sale going on for it and you can pick it up for $29.99 for a year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832114005

 

[LearjetMinako]

I stick strictly to the basics. Microsoft, Norton, and other safe programs. Only install what you need and keep it clean. Has worked great for years and still works great. Now if you are like my dad where he installs everything from the internet, best to just reinstall the OS. Will save a lot more time then trying to track down every file that makes the PC slow up.

FYI: I do massive amounts of BitTorrnet. Still no viruses with my setup. I download on the verge of 1GB or more a week and upload back 1.5x times that amount. I also Raid 1 2x 1TB HDD and keep a third 1 TB HDD just for the OS. So if I do get compermised, it will not be a huge loss. And I'll just use the old Win XP OS to clean up the Vista HDD.

 

[dranger21]

well thanks for all the advice. and yes I always use internet explorer. I guess ill start using firefox. I run adaware and ran symantec antivirus that wouldnt get rid of it. So i uninstalled symantec and downloaded avg and that wont get rid of it. It catches it everytime it tries to open new files but this just keeps happenening so I dont really know what to do. I'm assuming restoring the system to an earlier date wouldnt work? I think its going to have to go the IT building at school because I dont wanna get in too far over my head on this one.

 

[pocket-rocket]

No, system restore won't work. System restore only works with drivers and settings, not files.

 

[97RangerXLT]

a system restore will archive a virus already on the computer. turn off system restore, boot the computer into safe mode (hold down f8 while booting up) And run the virus scan. make sure your antivirus is up to date before doing so.

AJ

 

[864x42.9tsr]

hmm sounds like bad maleware, download http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html its malewarebytes onces it downloaded run it in safe mode, to get to safe mode turn off computer tap f8 untill it gives you booting options do not choose safe mode with networking ( unless you need on the internet to download malewarebytes, but you seem to be on this forum just fine) okay once in safemode run malewarebytes. always works for me no matter how bad the infection.


oh and its totally free, i dont know if it still is an issue or not but for awhile maleware was not easily detected or deleted by your average anti virus.

 

[superdave1984]

Go here and follow the directions. It works.
http://www.osiris-spywareguide.com/

 

[Mark_88]

I've also heard that booting from a bootable floppy and then scanning for viruses (viri??) is a good method...but for some reason I've never gotten around to creating a bootable floppy for this computer...

 

[Ozwynn]

what ever my computer got infected with disabled my ability to update my antivirus and spyware detector...... also disabled my ability to restore....... gonna do a clean wipe with XP64 maybe

 

[Jspafford]

Disconnect from the internet and use another PC to research and download the fix. As long as your not connected to the net, they cannot do anything with your personal info, if they have access to it at all.

 

[Ozwynn]

I've also heard that booting from a bootable floppy and then scanning for viruses (viri??) is a good method...but for some reason I've never gotten around to creating a bootable floppy for this computer...

wouldn't work for me ......... I don't have floppy support and ever trie to make a boot disk for windows XP? you would need a zip drive and it is very difficult to get the mother board to recognize a Zip drive as the A drive ...... it can be done but the Bios does't want to do it.