Recent malware problem

[jimlongley]

You're laying the blame on the Mac user when the original offender was the PC user who sent him the infected file in the first place.

As far as I can tell, he was the originator of the file, this was not a re-forward of an attachment from someone else, I don't know the origin of the file, nor do I much care, he passed it to me and is ultimately responsible for the content.

[CopOnce]

You can't just look at the email and tell if it has been forwarded or not. When I forward emails, I remove all information from other email users that may be showing and I blind copy to everyone unless it's just one person I'm forwarding to. Although, you can track the routing with in the properties to see where the email originated. I'd investigate a little further before writing off a friendship.

[Locksmith]

. .

[justintime]

I got kootiefied with Vundo on 03Jan09 and malwarebytes got it for me and now McAfee is catching it as well they were just behind the curve.

Being in the IT bis and educational to boot I deal with both Macs and PCs as well as Linux. The average users (winders and mac) are ignorant to what can happen if they click on a link on a web site or whatever. Mac users however tend be like BMW drivers....... Higher and mightier than thou. They tend to believe they do not need virus protection because they have a superior OS. Yeah I like MACs and use Linux on a daily basis but my "work" computer is a Windows base OS. Why? Because that's where the market share is.

Where I work I also run our wireless network that scans ALL computers via a Java script for virus protection, firewall, and other items. I can only laugh at the annoyed mac users that can't get on the net because their machine is infected and they didn't know about it.

Ain't nothing safe anymore.

[magicglock]

I'll start by saying that I use and own both Macs and PCs. Just like I own Glocks and non-Glock weapons. The truth of the matter is that when it comes to enjoying my toys, I use the ones that work and are reliable. Go ahead, bash Glocks and Macs and call the end user what you may. I'll take comfort in the fact that I have more time to enjoy my toys that don't require high maintenance and work. I guess if this was a MAC forum I would call myself MagicMac. The magic is that they always work and work and work.

[CopOnce]

Too bad the Mac users won't know how to do the repairs when the problems do hit them...Maybe I shouldn't say that; there's a lot of PC users that don't know how to handle problems on their PC's either.

[Crossfire]

I spent all day yesterday working on my own laptop. trying to rid it of MS Antivirus 2008. It disabled Norton update, redirected my web pages, and wouldn't let me install any new programs. I finally gave up and wiped the disk and did a clean install of Windows XP. This is bad stuff.

BTW, I am not a newbie. This is what I do for a living. I can usually hack the registry and remove most malware, spyware, etc, manually. I don't know where this one was hiding, but it just wouldn't die.

[Keith B]

I spent all day yesterday working on my own laptop. trying to rid it of MS Antivirus 2008. It disabled Norton update, redirected my web pages, and wouldn't let me install any new programs. I finally gave up and wiped the disk and did a clean install of Windows XP. This is bad stuff.

BTW, I am not a newbie. This is what I do for a living. I can usually hack the registry and remove most malware, spyware, etc, manually. I don't know where this one was hiding, but it just wouldn't die.

I have had to eradicate two different systems of MS Antivirus 2008. It is not easy, but can be done. Took about 4 hours on each one to finally track down the registry keys and files that ran to re-install it after getting rid of the program. Each one had a different set of files and registry keys, so it apparently morphs itself depending on various factors.

Now, if these guys would only put their skills to good use instead of evil we could probably solve world hunger.

[ScubaSigGuy]

Thanks for the tip.

I have been fighting the Spy Guard pop-ups for two trying weeks now. My corporate IT department got involved, but it won't even let them log in or access the hard drive . It seems to constantly mutate. The multiple DOS windows are the worst. I had over 100 of those gems after leaving the computer running for a few hours.

[iamomeed]

Malwarebytes is my absolute favorite spyware tool. I had that AV 2009 crap on mmany computers and It takes care of it so fast. Norton and the other big guys cant get rid of it for some weird reason. Also its free! If you upgrade you just automatic blocking and weekly scans something like that.

[lrb111]

I found a new (to me) tool. It's the Avira Rescue disk. Download the program and click the program to start it. It will then burn itself to a blank CD. On reboot, The CD boots into Linux on start up, and runs the scanner from there. It does some correcting, scanning, disinfecting, all with only one click to start the scanner after boot up.

It's cured about half a dozen problem children for me, in the last couple of weeks. Oh yeah, it starts in German, click the English flag at the bottom left if you prefer English.
here's the direct link. http://dl1.pro.antivir.de/package/rescu ... mon-en.exe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Selection page for free software. http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[LaUser]

There is anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-spyware software out there that is free and runs on a PC. It is called Linux. One of the best and most user friendly is Ubuntu.

I use it all the time. It does every thing I want to do without all the hassles of Windows or the expense of MAC.

BTW, Mac is my second choice.

[WarHawk-AVG]

I have a copy of Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

Its a Windows livecd that has alot of repair apps on it..if you need a copy I personally built it and know it works

PM me if you would like to get a copy..its like 600 something megs

I’m not going to get into the long instructions of how to get rid of your viruses/malware, but I have found a number of freeware that works great for your protection. I use McAfee anti virus because Comcast offers it free to its users. The best free anti virus I believe to be is AVG. I’ve seen the free version catch things that have gotten through Norton/Symantec’s. A free software bundle that works great for keeping your machine in top shape is: Ccleaner. You can download it from http://www.ccleaner.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It also cleans up your registry. The free malware program mentioned in this thread is really great. I’ve stepped other through the not so friendly install and had them run it after they have run everything they have on their machine and it would always catch something that the others missed. The Mac…lol, the writers of bad script aren’t doing it for the Mac because it’s a big waste of their time. Not too many software packages for the Mac like there are for the PC. It won’t be long and you’ll be seeing the problems with the Mac too and you’ll find the problem much larger because most Mac users are totally oblivious to computer issues. Here’s some links for the freeware:
http://www.ccleaner.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.avg-download-free.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Make sure you have only one instance of anti virus running on your machine. Running more than one may cause conflicts with each other and really screws your machine up.

+1...these are the same I use and I have no problems

[MCook806]

Thanks again!

I dumped an old version of NOD32 and picked up the free version of Avira.
I will evaulate it for awhile before purchasing the Pro version.

Please let us know how you like Avira. I've wanted to try it out but have heard pro's and con's so I haven't yet.