Doesn't seem like viruses are such an issue anymore... it's spyware, trojans, worms, rootkits. When faced with a choice of having your data destroyed vs stolen, which would you choose? That's why trojans and spyware are so dangerous. They also seem much more difficult to remove. Traditional anti-virus programs generally suck when it comes to trojans. I have used Zonelabs, AVG, SpySweeper, AdAware, Spy Protector, Kaspersky, A-Squared, Panda ... they all seem to find different things when a machine is infected. A-Squared just found an EXE on my machine that nothing else found...wtf. Here's a great primer with some software recommendations: http://wiki.castlecops.com/Roll_your_own_Free_Security_Suite
How to avoid spyware: Don't click on or install crap. It's really simple. I am really selective about the links I follow and the applications I install, and I never have any of that junk on my machine. My family members however consistently do and I always have to clean it up for them. You're not really going to get free gas for a year. That animated monkey isn't really going to give you $10,000. Be smart and spyware is easily avoidable.
dont click on crap? how im a suppose to navigate? i downloaded adware..but to be honest im skeptical of some of those smaller anti-abuse software that you download.
So....what's the best way to figure if you have a problem on your machine?? I've got both AVG and Counterspy running (paid versions) and don't download much of anything....no games, no file sharing, no torrents, etc. May have glanced at a few questionable sites referenced from here -- gotta keep up with popular culture -- but no downloads of note. Yet, lately, the machine crawls. Slowwww. And, sometimes....web browser suddenly does it's own thing and closes? Not really sure.
One of the nasty pop-ups proclaiming that your system is infected is a pernicious version of malware. It took me a number of hours to clean that off of a firend's PC. I only like to use anti-malware software that has rec'd awards.
I think I caught one with code downloaded from a tech site. I never would have imagined they would be so bold as to put a trojan in such an easily traceable spot.
I had to fix one of those pop-ups that tell you your pc is infected on someones computer last week. It took 1 hr because you have to wait for the scan but I used: 1. Spybot (had to run it twice since it couldnt remove some files that were in use on the first attempt). 2. Ad-Aware (Ad-Aware actually got rid of the annoying icon in the system tray that Spybot didnt catch) All clean now.
If you look at the forums where folks are diagnosing their systems, they always seem to be using reports generated by HijackThis: http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10379544.html?tag=toprated If you identify a culprit file, you can upload it here and they will test it: http://www.virustotal.com/en/indexf.html
You're lucky. It took a number of reboots into safe mode before I found the last remaining source hiding in a System Restore directory.
Thanks Cohen. I ran the program and printed a three page report of 'running processes.' When I have more time I'll try to decypher what this means...
