jus got f***ed up by a virus

[ledzepplin6914]

jus fixed my computer from a fake antivirus software (antivirus action) that installed itself on my comp and it really messed up everything
but i just wanted to warn anyone about antivirus action and thats its entirly fake

-Alex

 

[m4rk0]

had that one before.... I agree, never install anything other than the well known brands..

ironically, Spybot S&D is free, and one of the only ones that will actually remove the fake antivirus programs.. unlike the well known brands.

 

[texicus]

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is another free one that is worth it's weight in gold...or whatever a download weighs...takes out a LOT of baddies

 

[ledzepplin6914]

the thing is it installed itself and i couldnt use my antivirus, CA. but its all good now

 

[Jusatele]

I once lost a laptop to a virus that came in as an adobe upgrade

you really have to be careful now days

 

[Volitions Advocate]

Had one of these last week.  It was a disk defragmenting program that kept telling me that my hard drive was borked.  it blocked task manager from being able to be opened.  It was a fun one to get rid of.  They don't technically damage your computer.  but they do slowly stop all your programs from running.  It's a scam more than a virus.  they fake the errors, then fake a scan and tell you that it can fix the problems only if you buy the full version of the software.

don't get sucked in.

 

[Alfang]

Theres a few out there that popup and says your computer is under attack, and you see the red text counting virus's real fast, those are fake, dont click the click here to fix, just shut down your brouser right away. Most of the time thats all you need to do.

I am using " Windows Essentials" free anti virus and spyware from microsoft, i have used them all and I swear by this one. None of my comps in the house, nor any of my friends using this have had a problem.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all, but I believe a lot of the anti virus companies create viruses so that they have an industry, maybe not, but if I owned an anti spyware virus company, I'd have a super double secret dept to do just that.

 

[JaySwear]

I'm not a conspiracy theorist at all, but I believe a lot of the anti virus companies create viruses so that they have an industry, maybe not, but if I owned an anti spyware virus company, I'd have a super double secret dept to do just that.

thats a good point. i remember back when i started using the internet when EVERY web page had a ton of pop ups. but people are way too smart nowadays to fall for the "You're the millionth person to view this webpage! Click HERE for your free car!" it's like a company making light bulbs designed to burn themselves out. it has to be coming from somewhere, and i wouldn't think those who make them get much out of it financially (unless they were part of the problem and the solution).

 

[nexrex]

Yep, I would swear by Spybot S & D. I use it all the time to remove stuff. Always does a good job

 

[bpmorton777]

the only good way to insure you get rid of a virus is to completley erase the drive(s) and re-install a fresh copy of the OS. We do this at the repair shop that I work at. Yank the drive first and back up your data onto a machine that has a good working anti-virus (i wouldnt trust anything that was free) and then whipe it clean by formatting it and re-install your OS.

Always make your recovery discs the first day to take home a new PC. most people don't do this and they they have problems when a virus stikes or their drive dies.

you might try ESET Nod32 for anti virus. Ive never had a problem while running NOD32.

Also: if you are running any sharing software like LimeWire you might already have a virus on your system. Not worth it for the crappy free files people download.

Brian

 

[nexrex]

Yeah, Limewire has been the bane of my existence. The amount of PC's I have fixed for idiot's (mostly teenagers) that install it. If I had ten bucks for every time.  :icon_scratch:

 

[Panthur]

Just fixed a friend's PC that had exactly the same thing, a fake anti-virus program called security tool. The thing would throw up a scary message any time a program was run and immediatley close the task. It would even close down the task manager making it quite hard to get rid of. It also didn't help that the program itself was running from a hidden .exe in a random location and the filename was a random string of numbers. Nasty shit.

 

[Alfang]

You wouldn't trust anything that was free? Really, why the hell would microsoft put out anything free or not , that would come back to haunt them.

I know they are the big kid on the block, but geeze that's an ignorant statement.  Just cuz essentials is free doesn't mean it doesn't work or that they put less effort into their product.

bpmorton, i understand you have something you trust and works for you, good on ya, but mine works just as well and is free, you can argue this all day long, but i've been using it for 2 years and not one problem. so you keep paying your fee, I don't care. but I'm telling the rest of the open minded people here, theres one out there that works great and is free. And made by the same company providing your operating system. ( Most of you anyway)

ignorance is......... ignorant

 

[Graffiti62]

Viruses were so commonplace when I was a student technician. At my university, a student was mandatorily (I hope that's a word) leased a Lenovo ThinkPad, and, as part of the support, I was on the staff to repair them--best job I ever had!  I'd see viruses come in from every angle. The most notorious way they came in was normally through pornography downloads through LimeWire, Kazaa and eMule. We also saw our fair share of various hardware damage as well. The funniest was when we had a machine come in that had a bottle of GoldSchlager schnapps dumped onto the keyboard. The whole shop smelled like cinnamon, mainly due to the fact that our boss let us hang the keyboard and motherboard up in the tech area as an air freshener.

I've used Spybot and Malwarebytes in my time--both are very good pieces of software, but I will admit that Malwarebytes is a little more streamlined in their application. As far as antivirus, I've been using Avira since AVG 2011 came out--they changed too much and made the program too fat compared to how it was.

 

[kboman]

The whole shop smelled like cinnamon, mainly due to the fact that our boss let us hang the keyboard and motherboard up in the tech area as an air freshener.

Priceless! :toothy12:

I used NOD32 before, lightweight and easy to use. Same with MSE when I got unemployed and couldn't afford NOD32 anymore - small, largely unnoticable and competent. For various reasons (cough) I've had to use non-MS software for awhile but AVG is becoming too bloated. I'll either go back to MSE or NOD32, probably the patriotic option of NOD.

It seems to me that Microsoft has way too much prestige riding on it for MSE to be crap, free or not. Also, it does work. Other free solutions will probably always feel a bit iffy to me.

 

[Mor Paul]

You wouldn't trust anything that was free? Really, why the hell would microsoft put out anything free or not , that would come back to haunt them.

I know they are the big kid on the block, but geeze that's an ignorant statement.  Just cuz essentials is free doesn't mean it doesn't work or that they put less effort into their product.

I think he's talking about the stuff like MP3's and pirate programs downloaded over limewire, not all free software  :icon_thumright:

 

[Cagey]

It seems to me that Microsoft has way too much prestige riding on it for MSE to be crap, free or not.

You would think. But, the problem is they're a largely incompetent company that has also gotten far too large to be able to react or innovate in any meaningful or effective way. If they actually wrote their OS in such a way as to give security anything more than lip service, none of these anti-malware companies would even exist. So, to trust Microsoft for a solution to the myriad problems they create themselves via bad design, incompetence, bureaucracy, ignorance, inertia, marketing considerations, etc. seems more than a little naive.

I gave up on Microsoft a long time ago and switched to Linux. I don't have any of the problems Windows users do. But, it's not for everybody. If you have some specific program you're committed to using for whatever reason and it's only available on the Windows platform, or you enjoy high-end gaming, you have little choice. For instance, there's no such thing as a version of Cubase/Cakewalk/Logic/Reason/ProTools/etc. for Linux. But, you could have a Windows machine set up for just those types of things, and don't let it on the 'net. That'll keep you relatively safe. Then all you have to deal with is bugs, which are everywhere regardless of the platform.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

I use all 3 platforms. My least favorite is Mac.  Linux is great, but unless you're a unix expert, good luck.  I still cant compile any program I download. only the little birts of code that I write in emacs.  I've been using ubuntu for a year an a half now and I've reinstalled it far more times than I've had to reinstall windows.

I think windows and microsoft get a lot of flak it hasn't deserved.  (I'm not saying it doesn't deserve any, not at all) I've been running Windows 7 on my computer for the last year or so with no anti-virus software period, and no 3rd party firewall software, just windows defender.  And this is the first and only virus I've gotten this whole year.  As for bugs.  mostly its in the drivers and software that developers pump out, as opposed to the operating system.  and I'd say that expands across all platforms.

In the end, and no offense to anybody here.  I think the amount of malware and viruses that appear on a persons computer is directly related to how the person uses the computer, not dependent on the OS.  The fact that I've been dumb enough to not have any anti-malware software on my computer all year is probably why I got this virus.  It's my own damn fault, not microsofts.

For instance, there's no such thing as a version of Cubase/Cakewalk/Logic/Reason/ProTools/etc. for Linux

http://www.ardour.org/

 

[bpmorton777]

When I said I wouldnt trust a ree program I was refering to anti-virus software. If it's free they probably dont have the rescources to update the virus signitures on a regular basis or maybe even to research them in the first place.

As far as symantec etc. creating viruses to keep themselves in busness...not true. Most of the current viruses are scams to get credit card info. Probably Russian or asian mofia.

Brian

 

[AutoBat]

I have gotten the aforementioned malware on my windows box about a year ago.  t'was annoying, fixed with a format.
I wish I had the funds to make all the computers in my house Apples.  My laptop (macbook pro A1226) is the best running machine I have ever owned.