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badflash
12-12-2010, 08:52 AM
I have virus protection up the yin-yang, but this sucker sneaked in and none of my virus scanners had a clues. I found this free product:
http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/ ... killer.exe (http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.exe)

Downloaded it and it killed it.

This is a very annoying virus. It re-directs the google links to add sites making searching for stuff useless.

jackalope
12-12-2010, 11:46 AM
I haven't used any virus protection software, since I started using Linux. Another good one that has a free version is AVG Clik ;) (http://free.avg.com/ww-en/get-basic-protection). Our ISP in Kalispell used the commercial version for their Internet customers - they swore by it!

To get rid of ads, I use Ghostery (on Firefox, but I don't know if you can get it for Internet Exploder), as well as putting a long, long list of ad sites into my /etc/hosts file, and I very, very rarely see any ads. There is a list on the Internet and it will show you how to do it in either M$, Mac or Linux.

Just my 2 centavos ......

urbanfarmer
12-12-2010, 12:35 PM
I don't use virus protection either. I have had 1 virus over the last 2 years on the half dozen physical computers I use regularly. I was down for about 10 minutes as I loaded a fresh image onto my computer quickly using a product called "BAckup Exec System Recovery" (previously Symantec Ghost). There are many other imaging softwares out there, but I have a free copy and I know it well since I used to work there, LOL. I use Firefox with an add-on called "NoScript" and the only time I got a virus was when I turned it off by accident (misclick).

badflash
12-12-2010, 01:23 PM
The virus came back after the 1st reboot. This one is tough. I'll keep you posted.

urbanfarmer
12-12-2010, 08:41 PM
The virus came back after the 1st reboot. This one is tough. I'll keep you posted.
If you have windows XP, you can try the following command AFTER cleaning it. This replaces a lot of key files so that they are not infected.

SFC /SCANNOW

It takes a while, and you may need to have your CD in the drive or edit the registry and put the i386 folder on your HDD.

jackalope
12-13-2010, 10:24 AM
We had some malware recently on my wife's M$XP box .... it wouldn't even let me log on or use the restore partition or the restore disks .... we had to re-install three times before we could get a half-way usable install on it for her .... and we're using the original HP install disks! I don't know if we were root-kitted or what, but it's still having an occasional problem, even after the drive being formatted three times. If it keeps up, I'll probably have to download "Darren's boot and Nuke" and start over. This HP has always been a little flakey (it was a Black Friday/Midnite Madness special).

BTW, she hasn't been real good at saving to the storage drive instead of the C drive, so she lost a whole lot of stuff that was on the C drive ...... lesson learned - watch where you save to :!: :!:

badflash
12-13-2010, 01:44 PM
The virus came back. I was told to try Hitman Pro. It found & "removed" the virus along with my operating system. Now I'll be doing a re-install of the operating system.

urbanfarmer
12-13-2010, 05:42 PM
A virus can't survive a true format and re-install unless your installation image is infect. Sometimes a virus can infect the MBR (master boot record) or other storage area. In some cases the "back up" data you take off might be infect and every time you finish re-installing you simply re-infect your system.

I believe they started including a command in the FORMAT command to "wipe" the entire drive by writing all 0's. I haven't really played with anything beyond XP/2003 server, but I swore I saw it the other day on someone's PC. Anyway, try that.

These viruses are created to avoid automatic detection and removal; so, using tools to remove them like that does not really work in this sophisticated day and age.

badflash
12-17-2010, 09:49 PM
I'm writing from my resurected computer. I added a 500 GB drive for $79 to replace the 32 GB drive that was corrupted. Thise suckers take FOREVER to format. One of the benefits of working for a big company that has an IT department is having access to software. My computer came with XP Pro loaded, but no CD. I had a legal copy with a CD key, but no way to load a new copy. They get 100 PC's a month and those CD are a dime a dozen. On Ebay they are at least $30.

Anyway, got my PC back on my wireless network and got all the drivers and conflicts resolved. Tomorrow I reload my e-mail system and load Office. I'm hopeing to get my wireless 1 TB raid up tomorrow too. Auto backups to a remove location will save my bacon next time.

urbanfarmer
12-18-2010, 05:20 PM
Glad to hear it sir!