Computer Viruses

[hidden]

anyone else sick of them? dealing with a superbug right now on my main pc (on my laptop). disquised as a virus scanner. wants me to give it access to the rest of the computer. it was even able to turn off my firewall! my real scanners are barely running right now with all of the various popups and alerts from the real software. still don't know what it is yet...

going to reboot in safe mode and go from there.

disabled the internet on it.

not too long ago, my sis had a similar but different virus that replaced the background with the fake spyware add. she ended up getting a new computer after that one. don't know what it was since i wasn't the one that fixed it.

anyone else have superbug stories?

[guitar_a_goo_goo_ga]

years ago i got mad at the computer and punched out the monitor. the glass and everything was intact but it would not turn on after that. when my mom asked what was wrong with it i said it was a virus.

[sarah_ab]

get a mac

[guitar_a_goo_goo_ga]

get a mac

i cant live without mine sweeper

[sarah_ab]

i cant live without mine sweeper

get a metal detector.. and plant ur own bombs in the back yard.. much more interactive

[guitar_a_goo_goo_ga]

i dont know shit about computers but i hope someone codes a virus for macs to shut you all the hell up

[PampersPete]

Anyone know anything about a virus called"Downloader"? I thought I zapped it this morning but all day I've been getting booted from sites with the dreaded Microsoft Explorer Has Encountered A Problem And Must Shut Down bullshit. Does this have anything to do with that fuckin' Conficker worm?

[Bettypooh]

I lost my first computer to a virus- I cried and screamed and pounded on it until the hard drive died Then I learned a few things when the next machine came along. It was old but the friend who gave it to me and helped me set it up was an IT guy He started into the PC world in the days of the Amiga(waaaaay back there for those of you who don't know computer history)- and he never ever ran an AV program and still doesn't It's all about surfing safely- that means googling up anything new to look at the URL before going there, and avoiding a lot of sites which look like trouble. Most of those are sex-related sites- the bad guys know how popular these are and how to lure you into them. If they weren't good at it viruses would be rare Email attachments are always blocked and you always use a web-based email that scans for viruses(like Yahoo). Their AV is updated as soon as the AV provider has anything new to add- you probably won't see that update availlable to you for a hour or more later at best because they use these guys to make sure everything is working right before they give it to the people who pay for it. They don't want to risk losing large numbers paying customers if they get it wrong

And Macs aren't immune though there is less malware out there waiting for them The hottest of the bad guys now see Macs as a challlenge- and a way to one-up themselves un the eyes of their bad-guy buddies Add to the the general lack of widespread knowledge about how to detect and combat viruses on Macs and it will actually end up worse for them in the end should they get a virus Till then a Mac is more secure- but no OS is totally safe and never will be- it's the nature of the black-hat's 'game'

I probably killed my frst computer when I went into the registry to remove anything evil there. I only did that after I could no longer get online because of hijacked browsers- IE and Netscape- so I couldn't get to any free AV scans. At the first hint of trouble stop and do a virus scan- several good freebies are out there if you need them. Use a good browser(IE is notoriously easy to target). Learn how to close unused ports and do it now. Always set up system restore points regularly and frequently in case you need to go back to fix things. Steer clear of any site that has anything to do with sex. Use a firewall and an ad-blocker program so they don't 'popup' malware on you(another well used virus distribution method). Update everything and rescan weekly or more often. And funniest of all, use dial-up: if you can't redistribute their stuff quickly they have little or no use for you (and they know how you're connected). Yeah, you're going to miss some thing doing this but it's better than risking your computer and everything on it when you didn't really have to I wish I hadn't learned all this the hard way but I'm glad I learned it!

Bettypooh

[robehouse]

I think it would be a bad idea not to have an anti virus program. No matter how safe you surf, there is always the possibility that something could happen to your computer. I agree with all of the precautions, but I still think it is important to have an anti virus program.

[DL88]

Being a MAC user, I know not of this 'virus' thing of which you speak,...

You also don't know about this thing called computer games (except wowtards).

If you are smart about what you do and download you won't get a virus, pure and simple. Don't let kids on your computer eighter, otherwise, you will undoubtedly get MANY of them. People who make that shit actually intentionally target sites that kids frequent. Honestly though, I would use Linux if I wasn't into gaming.

[Yvhuce]

Anyone know anything about a virus called"Downloader"? I thought I zapped it this morning but all day I've been getting booted from sites with the dreaded Microsoft Explorer Has Encountered A Problem And Must Shut Down bullshit. Does this have anything to do with that fuckin' Conficker worm?

Get firefox. IE is screwy, anyway... I have a friend who's really good with computers and he said that it's more of a problem with IE than anything else. I've got a couple of layers of virus protection and whatnot and they catch the viruses when they try to get into the comp in the first place (and update daily). So far, all of my scans on the computer have come back clean. So you're probly just having IE trouble, like I was (and still do if I use IE again).

[PampersPete]

If it was my computer,I'd switch to FireFox. I really got to stay away from those gay porn sites

[DailyDi]

Been using Firefox for a few weeks now myself. IE kept crashing.

[Parole Diver]

Really you just need an antivirus, antispyware, firewall, keep your OS up to date and not do anything stupid. If you run obscure programs from dodgy sites or open programs you got sent by email you are just begging for a virus or trojan.

[DailyDi]

... and stay away from "free" porn sites, warez sites (including password and keygen sites), and the free wallpaper/icon/smiley/etc... sites that are always loading stuff in the background to make you pay for your freebies

[hidden]

turned out the bugger was Spyware Protector 2009. think i finally got rid of it. the pc is slower than my laptop so all i use it for is to play Star Trek Armada using gameranger.com software since the game doesn't like vista (my pc is xp and my laptop is vista) the official armada server went down late last year so i had to get the gameranger software to still play online.

i also go to youtube and neopets on it too.

my mom uses it too so i don't know where she goes but i doubt it is bad.

[BabyDavey]

There are quite a few things you can do to protect yourself (in any OS, but Windows mostly).

1. Ensure your patches and updates are up-to-date. For Example: Windows uses the Windows update program to keep it's core files up-to-date and patched.

2. Practice safe-browsing. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. If you're looking up videos and it asks you to download a codec, I'd probably stay away from it. (Unless the codec is familiar). If the page try's to install an executable file - stay away! If you go to a website and it says you have viruses and offers to install a program for you - STAY AWAY! I'd hate to tell you, but just from browsing to a website, it can't tell you that you've got a virus.

3. Practice safe downloading. While I don't condone downloading of copyrighted material without compensation, I'm not so naive to believe that there aren't people out there that do. So I offer thee my words of advice: Check the comments on the tracker, or what have you. Sometimes they are an indicator of an illegitimate file. Also, scan the file after downloading. Be cautious of key-gen software. Sometimes you get the software cracked for free and end up with a bad case of computer herpes. The best advice: download from a reputable source. I know, sometimes that means paying for stuff, but hey - you get what you pay for (and not what you didn't).

4. Malware, Spyware and anti-virus software is only as good as it's definitions. That is to say - keep them up to date. They can't detect undesirables if they don't know about them.

To the Mac people out there: There are actually mac viruses and malware. Perhaps they aren't as prevalent, but they do exist. They are 'caught' in the same ways on on PC's. While Mac's are more secure when it comes to the core of the OS, they unfortunately don't protect against ignorant or inexperienced users. Just like on PC's, users are pretty much responsible for letting the virus in, despite the protections built into the OS to keep them out. Giving a program administrator or root privileges to install them is just great, in fact some times you need to, but I would second guess installing any warez or keygen or anything like that under admin rights.

One other thing: The more people you push towards Mac and OSX, the better it looks good to those virus coders. Really, though, they're just looking for market share. While there are viruses on the Mac, they are few and far between. The vast majority of Mac users don't have a virus scanner and realistically (for the time being) probably don't need them, if they play safe.