Virus/Spyware

I got anIM about a picture in facebook and got Trojans and other shit from it.

Ad-aware didn't work and neither did AVGanti-virus. Can anyone name a protection program that atually works that will stop pop ups, and I don't know, might be free? Please?

You sent me that message, about a picture on facebook.

I can't remember if I clicked it or not.

Uh oh?

Somewhere, I've found the AIM fix for it.. I had the trojan before. When I re-find it, I'll let you know.

Ah ha!
http://www.jayloden.com/aimfix.htm

Download that, its called AimFix. It should get rid of it.

You could also try doing a system restore to before you clicked the link.

If you stop clicking on links from people you don't know, that'd solve some of the problem...

It doesn't have to be from someone you don't know though.

Vercetti sent it to me.

I said "some" of the problem... people you know are the *rest* of the problem...

And of course, Vershitty is probably most of the problem to begin with.

Mhmm.. surrree that's what you meant.

Vercetti

Try this one - my friend swears by it and it's free:

AVG

I use AVG too, but when I had the virus the first time, it didn't pick it up.

The AIM fix works.

Buying anti-virus software helps, too. It's a lot better, more efficient and reliable and keeps on top of itself a lot more than the free stuff. Norton or McAfee would be a lovely purchase.

As for free, online scans, I've always found Trend Micro Housecall pretty spot on.

Good luck. Viruses make me want to cry, and I'm not kidding.

Update, update, update. It does no good to buy or download those programs unless you also continuously update the database of potential threats and fixes. AdAware, Spybot Search and Destroy, Norton, and the remaining mainstream anti-virus/anti-spyware programs are continually adding fixes as quick as a new threat is identified. And those programs all have what amounts to a "one-click" update function as long as you have an internet connection. Download and install updates!

Also, check for Windows and Mac security updates using your respective operating system update tool.

tony b.

There must be something going around. My son's laptop is infected to the point where we cannot even start it up. My personal computer is running so slow and now will not even let me access the internet! And my laptop, the one that I am using right now, is begining to run slow and there are pop ups almost every time I do a search in the internet.

All this happened to the three computers within the last several days.

Usually my Ad-Aware cleans everything up. But this time it's not doing squat.

I get a trojan horse in my email at LEAST once a day, plus a virus or two a week. Symantec Antivirus does a splendid job of quarantining them. Sometimes you can go on a website that will then "hijack" your computer, or you've received something by email. Mr. Babe has cleaned up and restored many of our friend's computers. It's amazing how this stuff gets past your security, no matter how well you think you've protected yourself.

I keep getting pop-ups from a website called "OuterInfo"

Anyone get these and/or know how to get rid of them?

I never get pop-ups or viruses or anything. But I only use four or five websites regularly.

Even I visit only a few websites and I have had no viruses/ads. I use Mcafee and just downloaded windows defender from microsoft website. Don't know how good it is. But I have noticed that my comp has slowed down quite a bit. But only during the starting. I am not sure of the reason. Maybe too many programs in the startup. I have to run some kind of diagnostic to see what's occupying the memory.

Also - DV - and this is a good tip for anyone - copy and paste the link into something like notepad, never launch it. I'm hyper careful about this, for reasons you now understand. If the URL looks suspicious, don't open it.

Confirm with the person who sent it (i.e. hey, retard, did you just send me this link?) and don't click until doing so. I had a friend's IM that kept sending me pics of us hanging out that summer...yet, I hadn't seen her in two years.

I've been getting a bunch of emails lately, telling me I've "received an e-greeting/virtual postcard from a friend or family member".

The emails *look* valid, until you hover over the link in it -- NEVER CLICK ON A LINK THAT ENDS IN .EXE IN AN EMAIL !! That is a program file that is surely not there for your benefit.

ALWAYS hover over email links and verify where they are going before clicking on them.

If you're infected, try a google search for instructions and software to help...

As of the last week, I've been getting a lot of e-mails from different countries (mostly the UK for some reason) saying how some wealthy person wants to give me money. What's up with that??? I've heard of these scams, but don't know why now I am receiving 3-4 a week. Not to slam myself, but why would a complete stranger want to share the wealth we me?? Anyway, I simply delete them. Anyone else getting these e-mails?

TIS

I use McAfee for all my "anti-virus" needs, and SpyWare Doctor for Spyware and Adware.

I've heard Norton is better than McAfee...but McAfee is free with Comcast High-Speed...so it's a-ok with me.

SpyWare Doctor works great for detecting and removing spyware and adware. I usually conduct a scan with both programs at least once a week.



My computer starts up rather slow, too. I'm also assuming I just have too many programs set to "Launch at Start-Up." Usually...it takes anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to be able to do anything after booting up my computer.



TIS...I've been getting 2 or 3 of those e-mail PER DAY for the past few months. Judging by all these rich dead people that want to use me to transfer funds...I oughta be the richest man in the world, right?

I just delete them too, but you wouldn't BELIEVE how many people actually fall for it and send their personal information to these crooks.

The best one I've used is Spysweeper from http://www.webroot.com. But you have to buy it.

Sounds like my love life.

That's me! I won the lottery last week, and have been offering all of my money to the members of this board!

My Hotmail account has been receiving spam from SQL Server Magazine for ages now. Just junk I delete straight away.

Well, if it's you that's giving away money Capo, feel free to share the wealth.

You know what's even funnier, I've gotten several e-mails by the address from a female, with the subject: "Wanna see some naked pictures of me?" WTF??????

One time I wanted to get to the Kelly Girl site (a temporary job service that I worked for in my young days). I think I simply put in "Kelly Girl" and I was connected to some porn type site which had a page of pictures of topless busty women. Now, I know that wasn't the Kelly Girls I worked for. Perhaps connections/mistakes like these automatically collects your e-mail and sends you this junk.

TIS

EDIT: Now all you guys will be signing in to Kelly Girl I just know it.

Sometimes you need a professional.

Ok, I received another of these "get rich" schemes just now. This time from China. I don't know why I am getting all these all of a sudden.

Here it is:



Good Day

My name is Mr. Chan Lee, I am a staff of Bank of China, Our late client named Mr. Hamadi Hashem made a fixed deposit amount of $17.3m he did not declare any next of kin in any of his paper work, I want you as a foreigner to stand as the beneficiary to transfer this funds out of my bank into your account, after the successful transfer,
we shall share in the ratio of 30% for you, 70%for me.All I need from you is your readiness, trustworthiness and dedication. Please email me directly on my private email address:(chan_leeinfobankm@yahoo.com.hk) so we can begin arrangements and I would give you more information on how we would handle this venture.

Regards,
Chan.


Oh yea, just send them my bank account number and all my personal information????? Unbelieveable. I guess I'm the chosen one hu?

TIS

Sorry TIS, you are too late. I already gave my bank account number and all other details to Mr Lee and received $5 million. I guess I can retire now peacefully.

I have absolutely no pity for anyone who is stupid enough to provide personal information to a stranger. How can any adult fall for this crap? Why in the world would anyone think that out of 300 million Americans, someone just happened to pick them to receive money or anything else of value.

You mean I have to cancel my offer on that Beverly Hills mansion???? I guess I can forget about my Porsche, yacht, and cruise around the world too. Man, I was just waiting for that money to appear in my bank account. You could share the wealth a little you know.

On a sad note, like mentioned above, there probably are people somewhere who actually fall for something like this.

TIS

I recieved an e-mail last week that was supposedly from EBAY transaction and was supposedly sent from ebay. It claimed that the seller agreed to refund my money and that I should provide them with my financial information so the proper credit can be made back to my account!

Obviously a scam to try and get financial information from me. I never bought anything from this supposed seller.

I forwarded the e-mail to EBAY. They have informed me that the e-mail was in fact a scam e-mail designed to get financial information from me and that they were going to investigate further and aksed if I would be willing to give a statement on their behalf against this scam artist if they are able to indentify him/her.

I told them that I'd be more than happy to!

To whom would you report e-mails like this to???


TIS

Well in my case i just forwarded it to EBAY.

In a case like yours I guess your state attorney general.

Kudos!

A case of sour grapes, huh

Sure TIS, since you are a nice person, I will give you $1 million. But since this is a large amount, I will have to verify some details. Email me your bank account number, pin, password, social security number, address, date of birth and name of your mother. You will immediately receive the amount in your account

I have Ad-aware, Spyboy, and Symantec anti-virus.

Nothin fucking works. I still get pop ups no matter what I destroy.

Oh yeah, Yahoo and Good pop up blocker? Useless shit.

Cocksucking viruses.

DV, did you try the windows defender that I mentioned. since it is from microsoft and is free, no harm in trying it out.

I haven't gotten a virus in like 10 years, and I probably get more spam than the entire board here combined -- so some common sense should help to prevent it...

At this point, just back up your data files and reformat... the best cure there is.

Have you tried doing a "System Restore" to an earlier date (before you had these problems)?

SC, do we need to backup periodically to go to a previous state? I have never backed up even once

System Restore is automatic by default, I believe... it does the backups for you, but just system files I think...

Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > System Restore

That'll tell you what it's monitoring...

If I do a system restore to a previous date does it delete my music?

System Restore isn't supposed to delete data files (such as your music)... just restore system files...

Windows Defender deleted 1 severe file.

I click IE and a few seconds later, pop up. I fucking hate people.

I'm gonna run one ful scan with defender.

IF it fail, someone reply telling me how to restore to a previous date, please. I followed Geoff's directions but it just asks whether I want to turn it off or not.

If Ad-Aware didn't work, try Spybot-Search and Destroy. It works pretty good.

Not for me.

You have to go to: Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore

Make sure you pick a date older than when you started having problems.

If worse comes to worst, DV, get all the music you can onto your MP3 player, get all other files you want to keep onto some kind of external storage system - buy a USB memory stick, for instance; or, if you don't have many files (Word stuff, Excel stuff, etc.), you can E-mail them as attachments to yourself, then you've got them in your E-mail folder, which can be accessed from any computer (so long as they're not infected).

Once you've got all you want from the hard drive on some kind of portable means, you can reboot the whole hard drive and start afresh. Heart-breaking, but, once you get over the momentary depression, it's very refreshing in a "I liked having shit on my underpants but at least they're clean now" sort of way.

Better yet, do what I do - get a second hard drive and/or partition the main drive to store your music, photos and data files and downloaded software, etc. You can even reassign your "My Documents" to drive D: for instance, like I do. Periodically copy your email and other stuff over to D:, like your browser Favorites, IM logs, address books, backups, or whatever else you wanna keep. Recently I've been using a 3rd, external USB drive to back things up in case the computer itself craps out.

That way, if you need to reformat the main drive, you still have your data. You'd just need to reinstall your software (keep all those CDs and downloads handy!). This is how I've managed to keep all my email since 1996 (since my last major virus)

Spyware usually isn't this stubborn. I bet there's a virus or trojan
also involved.

The system restore worked. I'll keep Ad-Aware and Symantec on my PC.

Thanks.

If anyone is looking for free Anti-Virus Software, check out Active Virus Shield. Don't fooled by the AOL name on it. It's actually a slightly stripped down version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6. One of the best AV programs there is. I replaced Norton with it on my computers because it uses much less resources.

I've also been invited to save a family in Uganda in exchange for diamonds, been a long lost cousin of a member of a recently deceased royal family member, and can mlake mah pen1s! bigger in two shrot wekes!