Someone sent me an IM tonight that said, "This was cool, check it out" and it was a link and yes, stupid me, i clicked it and opened it.
i didn't save it, i just opened it. but what it does is send the same link to everyone on your buddy list.
THEN he told me not to click it.
So, I signed off and ran a virus scan. I have Norton, which I know sucks, but we're supposed to be getting AVG soon. (Does AVG suck also?)
Anyway, nothing showed up on the virus scan. Is that because Norton is no good, or because I don't have a virus?
I'm going to run ad-aware later.. I dont know if it will show up there.
Questions: Do I have a virus now? How can I get rid of it?
[ May 15, 2005, 12:55 AM: Message edited by: Tater ]
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
Norton doesn't look for spyware, adware, or malware, only viruses. If you virus definitions are up to date, you are probably free of them. I would expect you'll find malware when you run Ad-Aware, though.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
Thanks.
Will ad-aware get rid of it completely? Can I stop stressing out over it?
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
Ad-Aware won't catch everything, but it's a good start. I wouldn't stress about it if I were you. At least you have Ad-Aware and Norton on your computer. Some people have NO protection.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
Yeah, I'm supposed to be getting spybot SD and AVG soon. Do you know how good they are?
Thanks.. a lot. I can breathe again.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
I've never used either, so I can't comment.
McAfee makes a decent stand-alone virus protection utility that you could try called Stinger.
In my opinion, AVG is among the best of virus scanners. Ad Aware is also exceptional. Of course, Microsoft's Anti-Spyware software is pretty good as well.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Can I bother you with another question?
A friend of mine told me to delete everything in my "temp" directory. But I don't know what each thing is.. should i delete it anyway? She said some virus might still be in there.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
Unless you save important items to your "temp" folders, it is safe to delete it. Sometimes, though, it's good to rename the folder first and wait a day or two to make sure an application you have installed is not using a file there.
If you try to rename or delete the folder and get an error message, something is using a file in that folder -- reboot and try again. If that fails, go into safe-mode when you boot up the computer.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
We switched to AVG and I must say I'm liking it a lot better than the prior product. It runs in the background a lot less obtrusively, it updates itself without any trouble whatsoever, and it's free.
I still have to run Ad-Aware and SpyBot, but I've had zero detections of any of that junk for awhile now.
On my laptop, I run a cleanup utility that I also got free. I've had problems on that machine of running out of space, etc, and that cleanup thing gets me back about 10 to 120 Mbytes everytime I run it. I know, it's not much, but I figure if I don't do this as a maintenance task, pretty soon I'll be eating into the Gig range on just random junk that gets stored or whatnot. Sure, some of it would be files that'd be deleted when I finally shut down, but enough of it accummulates to be a concern.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
Where have you people been all my life? Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
What about for a mac?
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
Tater, if you have any spyware such as Adware, SAHagent, etc., you have to get a good spyware removal program. Just deleting items in your temp file, or tossing your cookies, or any other such simple fix will not solve the great depth of the corruption that Spyware brings in--adding things to your Registry, adding things to other programs that will in effect regenerate the spyware programs even if you find and delete the primary ones--a whole host of corruptions too numerous to mention. They can even mess up your Internet connection, interfering with your ability to go to various sites and giving you error messages saying an error has been encountered and Internet Explorer must be shut down. When I discovered my computer was infected with spyware (SAHagent and a few others), when I ran a spyware detection only program, it reported over 1200 locations in my computer where corruptions belonging to the spyware were found.
Unless you are a top-notch Windows programmer and have lots of time, you can't fix it yourself. The vile, dispicable, degenerate, subhuman, enemies of God and man, and dregs of society hackers who create these accursed spyware programs are too fiendishly clever. Your only hope is to run a spyware removal program. Think of it as an exorcism, and hope it casts out all the devils.
[ May 14, 2005, 11:39 PM: Message edited by: Ron Lambert ]
Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :
You should get a firewall, too.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
NOOOOOO!!!
About a minute ago, it just sent out the link again to everyone on my buddy list!!
I already ran my Norton scan, and my ad-aware scan and deleted everything!
NOOOOOO!!!
will it ever die?!?!
Posted by Ron Lambert (Member # 2872) on :
Yes, a firewall will help cut down on new infections, but it will not block all the spyware. Plan on running the spyware removal program periodically. Frequently!
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
NOOOOOOO Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Have you tried SpyBot as well as Ad-Aware?
SpyBot finds different things sometimes.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
no, but i surely will. thanks.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
I installed AVG, and it keeps popping up that i have a virus. it's popped up about 10 times does that mean i have 10 viruses, or that it just wants me to know that i have this one?
and, how can i delete it? I clicked, HEAL, it says it can't, I clicked DELETE, it says it can't, I clicked MOVE TO VAULT, it says it can't..
I'm scared.
it is ins c:document and settings/jennifer/local settings/temporary internet files/content..
blah blah.
help?
edit: down below it, it also says "warning: hidden extension .exe" Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Okay...this sounds not too bad actually.
The reinfection is happening because this virus is either in your registry somewhere or it's somehow running whenever you start your computer. Or something along those lines.
If it's telling you that you have a hidden .exe, it's an executable file which means MAYBE you won't have to edit your registry to get rid of it.
You can always hope.
Here's what you do.
Copy down the name of the virus exactly.
Go searching on Google for ways to get rid of the virus.
Also, since the virus might be one that stays resident in memory, if you haven't rebooted yet, that might be necessary too.
But first, go get the name of the thing (if AVG is giving it to you) and then search on it.
If you can't find anything at all, then go to the various virus cleaning software sites (McAfee, Norton, AVG) and see if you can scan there for that name of the virus.
If you still have no luck, then e-mail AVG and tell them what you're seeing from the scan and ask their advice.
McAfee has people who will also help, even if you don't have their software.
They spend a lot of time tracking down viruses and they're eager to help.
Good luck.
If you have to edit your registry, make sure you follow the instructions EXACTLY.
Back up all your key files (your work, and any software installs that you don't have original media for) and then do the reg-edit stuff.
If you are uncomfortable with that, take the computer somewhere and have them do it.
I won't lie to you, I've ended up wiping a hard-drive to eradicate a virus once. But that was in the dark ages of virus detection.
Take a deep breath. Research it. Then act.
Turn off AIM. If you have to, uninstall AIM (or whatever IM, you're using) so you don't just keep reinfecting other people.
Note, if you install Zone Alarm, you can also just tell it not to let your IM program send or receive until you get this fixed.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Note the removal instructions.
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
Well, here it is.. it's 2:30am, and I'm exhausted, but I'm the kind of person who wouldn't have been able to sleep until this virus thing was resolved.
Thank you all SO MUCH for your help. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you.
Now I've got, Norton Antivirus, AVG, Spybot SD, and Adaware. I updated the virus definitions (thanks to fugu's link. Which, by the way, I'm very glad you found. When I tried to update earlier it said there was an error, which your link told me could have been caused by a virus.) then i deleted temporary internet files and restarted the computer.
when i logged back on i ran every scan, and all showed up negative for viruses.
At last, i can sleep.
I'm not sure what the best "thank you" smiley face would be in a case like this, but you guys got 'em all.
You're the best.
Goodnight Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :
Ive been haveing a virus Problem myself heres what AVG poped up thid time.
While closeing file: C:\\WINDOWS\Temp\tmp1c51.tmp virus identified Java ByteVerify
I had a freind come over to try and help me get rid of it. we thought we did then the same message popped up but the number on this part changed (((tmp1c51))).
we spent 8 hours trying to get rid of it but it would come back but with just a diffrent number after the tmp.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
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