Got a virus

[Emil]

Now what

Been using free version of Avast for sometime now. Been doing a good job till now. Somehow this virus snuck in.

If I went out and bought an antivirus such as Norton, would that eliminate the virus?

[richidoo]

Stay away from Norton, it's a resource hog and a ripoff.

Install Malwarebytes
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
update it during the install when prompted.

If you have a very nasty infection you may have to rename the mbam.exe file after installation to get it to run. Or you may have to rename the download install file to get that to run. But that is rare. The important thing is to update it on first run during install.

You can also use "Hijack This" to manually remove any traces of funkystuff.
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

These two should be enough to remove just about anything. Reply if you have trouble with them.
Good luck,
Rich

[Isobarik]

Microsoft has improved their anti-virus software recently. It is free, but must be downloaded and installed. I used AVG for years, but switched over to this as AVG seemed to slow down my pc. So far , so good. I have used it on three computers for four months.

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

.

[Black Sand Cable]

Microsoft has improved their anti-virus software recently. It is free, but must be downloaded and installed. I used AVG for years, but switched over to this as AVG seemed to slow down my pc. So far , so good. I have used it on three computers for four months.

http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

.

I have been playing around with this myself after Avast missed a few on me. I normally use NOD32 but thought I would give some other programs a try. The Microsoft offering has been pretty darn good so far. I was initially concerned that it would be a resource hog but much to my surprise, it's not a resource hog.

So far, so good.

[shep]

Just an agreement with the above: Malware and MS Security Essentials  worrk very well. A full scan with Malware will reveal numerous unexpected bits of spyware and stuff. Amazing what crap creeps into our puters.

[Emil]

Thanks for the help guys.

This virus seems to be a nasty one. Everything I try or click on, the virus intercedes with some pop-up.
i might need professional help on this. maybe a need to reformat but unfortunately I don't have the reboot discs.
Fortunately i have nothing of importance on the hardrive.

[richidoo]

Thanks guys. I'll check it out. Will it run in Fusion on a mac?

[richidoo]

You don't have to reformat.  What is the name of the virus, I'll help you.   Did you try Malwarebytes AntiMalware? What was the result?

You may be able to shut off the visible virus app with task manager, enough to get control of the machine. If not boot to safe mode. Somehow either you or your fixit man has to get mbam running. You could start with hijack this, just google the questionable entries before you delete anything. Don't use Hijack as uninstaller.

[richidoo]

I switched from Avast to  MS Security Essentials. The computer runs faster. Thanks!!

Tip: Remove all existing protection software first.

SE installer should remove MS Defender, but it did not remove MS Antimalware in my case and some other people. So if you have a problem installing it or a problem starting SE after install use Microsoft Windows Install Cleanup application to remove Microsoft Antimalware. Then reinstall.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

[Emil]

 Thanks to everyone who helped

Its gone!

Ran some recovery program ( f10 at startup). restored my computer to its original state minus a few programs but thats ok.

Why do people send out viruses? Why do  they do this?

Downloaded Spybot as well as AVG antivirus. Should be covered now.

Any comparison between AVG and the Microsoft antivirus

[djdube525]

Stay away from Norton, it's a resource hog and a ripoff.

I would normally agree with this statement, but the 2010 version is reportedly much much improved over prior versions.

Other well respected pay for programs... Eset Nod 32, Kapersky and Bit Defender.

I was a fan of Bit Defender in the past, but they had a bad couple of years with bloat. Supposedly, they are good now. Eset is nice and light. A year ago I had switched from Eset to Kapersky due to some large rebates. If I had a preference and $ wasn't factoring $ I'd go with Eset.

Dave
 

[richidoo]

Darn! I forgot about System Restore! Glad it's fixed emil

I used AVG for a long time until guys here told me about Avast, it ran faster. But the MS Security Essentials is much faster still.

[bacobits]

I use Avast for quite some time. Isn't that MS Security Essentials like Malwarebytes?
So this can be used in place of Avast? I will change over if that is true.

That virus could have very well been transferred in the stored restore image.
It's a good thing it worked. I had one awhile ago and Malwarebytes saved my rear end.

They should draw and quarter publicly these useless pieces of crap who write this stuff.
Most of them do it because they can or identity theft is involved. It costs a lot of money in down time.


D

[Bob in St. Louis]

Why do people send out viruses? Why do  they do this?

It entertains them? 
If they'd only use their knowledge to improve things.........

Glad you're back running again. Any idea how much time you spent fixing it? 
Been there, done that.

Bob

[Emil]

I tracked the bastid down. Beat the snot out of him
Wasted a whole afternoon of my life fixing it.