Beware of Computer Virus

[DulwichGnome]

Hi all, I was just surfing the web looking at Stewarton Octagonal Bee Hives, as you do, when one site I went to told me I had a virus and it was doing an 'online virus check' and was showing me a long list of them and told me to download their software . However I have seen this kind of thing before and it is their software that is the virus and it will kill your PC.

First thing is the scan was too fast and there was no activity on my hard drive, so how can they be scanning it! Second the logo is a shield with the windows colours but it is the wrong shape and wrong colours.

I may be wrong but it is strange it should be on a site whose demographics might be seen to be less computer literate than say a gamers site. So beware, just because you are not paranoid it does not mean they are not out to get you.

Stay safe, use AVG, it's free and very good.

Mike.

 

[JCBrum]

Thanks for the warning DG, what does the virus do ?

 

[GingerNut]

Stay safe, use AVG, it's free and very good.

Or use http://www.avast.com which is also free and a lot better than AVG, and you don't keep getting those annoying ads to try and get you to upgrase.

Yours Roy

 

[DulwichGnome]

Thanks for the warning DG, what does the virus do ?

After it has installed on your computer it starts to slow down and you get lots of pop up windows, it then says for $30 it will solve the problem for you. You pay and they have your details but it only gets worse till it grinds to a halt.

 

[DulwichGnome]

Or use http://www.avast.com which is also free and a lot better than AVG, and you don't keep getting those annoying ads to try and get you to upgrase.

Yours Roy

Thanks Roy, does it have e-mail scanning on the free version?

 

[Brosville]

Viruses...... I remember them, they come with Win-doze......
Says he, smugly running Ubuntu.......

 

[Onge]

yea a distant memory for me too (mac user).

So far

 

[GingerNut]

Thanks Roy, does it have e-mail scanning on the free version?

Yep

Yours Roy

 

[peteinwilts]

This type of pop-up\webpage is co-incidentaly called a honey trap.

One of our users at work saw a warning like this and installed 'xp anti-virus' as he thought he was being helpful.

What he actually did was install a 'bot'. An automated program that is disguised as a normal process that sends spam emails. As a sideline in trawls your drive (including network drives) for interesting information and uploads the details to a server in Russia.

Unfortunately this happened on a day off, and when I spotted 'unusual' activity on the firewall over the weekend it was too late. Our IP Address had already been brandished a threat to many DNS servers around the world which crippled our email system for several weeks and had to create a workaround.

There are a number of honey traps that do a variety of things and is estimated 9 million households in the UK have such programs installed.

If a dodgy link is clicked on a website (facebook and social networking sites are a magnet for these people!), your IP Address will be logged on a suckers list, as will emails address's if replied to.

I personally use AVG (free version co's I am tight!) and Spybot (also free) as antivirus programs do not catch brand new virii, and spybot watches for activity rather than direct threats.

Even then the odd one gets through, and I simply just wipe the hard drive and reinstall. Unfortunately many PC's are now sold without the means to do so...
The first rule of correct computing is to back everything up. Digital photo's can be lost in the event of a catastrophe (including hard drive failures). Programs can be replaced... photo's cannot.

I am waffling now!

 

[peteinwilts]

yea a distant memory for me too (mac user).

So far

Macs mostly suffer with redirection attacks... there are plenty of MAC based virii about!!.... including ipod virii

... also virii for mobile phones as they are getting more complex these days..

 

[Onge]

Quote:
Macs mostly suffer with redirection attacks... there are plenty of MAC based virii about!!.... including ipod virii

... also virii for mobile phones as they are getting more complex these days..

Yea thats why I covered myself by saying so far

 

[thurrock bees]

hi all, i need your help if poss. i managed the catch a virus on my pc, i run xp, it has disabled my Three antivirus software programs, stopzilla,avast and spy doc. any advice please??
chris tb

note im not going to sign into my online banking till fixed !!

 

[BKF Admin]

Do an online virus check to find out what it is first if you cant run your own.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/

Trendmicro are a well respected company.

 

[Cie]

I'm serious when I say that there is another way. Virus free, secure computing is alive and well.

You can download a CD, with the whole Operating System on, for free. No need for anti-virus, because it's not Microsoft Windows.

Pretty much everything you can do with Windows can be done with Linux, and the software is all free. The great thing about the CD is that you can put it into your CD drive and restart your computer, and there it is, running as a Live CD. Browsing the net, working on documents, without touching your hard drive.

As has been mentioned before, it's called Ubuntu, and can be downloaded here.

 

[thurrock bees]

hi admin, ive tired that link, as i started the scan, it switched itself off, and wont run again. HELP !

 

[Brosville]

I could rhapsodise for pages over the excellence of Linux, and Ubuntu in particular, but won't.......... suffice it to say I've been running an old laptop that was destined for the scrapheap (sooooo slow and clagged up, running Windoze XP) on Ubuntu for two years - it gave the old laptop a new lease of life - speed was several fold better on everything, no worries at all about viruses or firewalls, and incredibly easy to teach a "newbie" to computing - unlike Windoze, it's intuitive....
If you are running the incredibly awful Windoze, dip your toe into Ubuntu gently by downloading "Wubi" from here - http://wubi-installer.org/ - and let it download and set up a trial of Ubuntu for you- what happens is that you are presented with a choice on startup - Windoze, or Ubuntu, so you can "give it a twirl", and revert to Windoze at any time - if you don't like it, wubi can be removed like any other Windows programme. I went that route, and in two years booted into Windows about 5 times....
I'm so convinced of the excellence of Ubuntu that I've just taken delivery of a new desktop computer with Ubuntu as the only operating system (it flies in comparison to Windoze bloatware!)
I know that assorted smarty pants will leap out of the woodwork yelling "you CAN get viruses on Linux" - I know that it's theoretically possible, but I've never had one..... and the other cry is "I can't run Word/Photoshop/Outlook Express (etc etc etc) in Linux.......... no, you can't (easily), buy you'll soon discover the
Linux alternatives, which usually spank the pants off the 'doze versions (Open Office, The Gimp, Thunderbird etc)
Go back to Windows? - that'd be rather like chucking out a state of the art flat screen TV and using a 405 line b&w job..........

Nearly forgot - all the operating systems, updates and software are completely FREE (saved me wasting £85 when buying the new computer)....... PAY for software? - how "last century!"

 

[RoofTops]

Too late now, but Stopzilla and spy doc are not true anti-virus programmes. I've not heard of Avast but if you have a virus on your PC then I suggest when things are eventually sorted out you ditch it and get something better. I use BT internet, which may not be the cheapest but it comes with anti-virus softwear which is updated automatically very regularly.

 

[Hombre]

Ubuntu version Jaunty Jackalope (it's a Linux thing) is ace. Linux Mint is based upon it and is very easy to install and get running for Windows people.

Yes there are one or two Linux virii, proof of concept jobs developed in the laboratories and never made it into the wild. Linux users run "Clam AV", for email that comes from Windows and to protect Windows when it goes back out.

If you try any flavour of Linux and don't like it, then I'm reliably informed that you are entitled to ask for your money back!

 

[JCBrum]

I usually run OS X, I tried Ubuntu and thought it excellent, I like Vista but all those updates, and it's slow on older kit, and Windows is such a kludge these days it puts you off if you can do without it. Only MHO though.

 

[peteinwilts]

hi admin, ive tired that link, as i started the scan, it switched itself off, and wont run again. HELP !

Some virii, once they are embedded cannot be removed without toasting the operating system as they destroy too many drivers than it is worth patching together again. Do you know what Virus you have??