Planet Descent
Community => Mess Hall => Topic started by: Alieo on April 17, 2011, 02:46:29 AM
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My 2005 Dell Laptop, "Beta1115" is in the process right now of getting gang-banged and RAVAGED by 18 various malicious viruses. I am on my "Gamma1216" reporting the destruction of my 5 year old laptop LIVE from across the room. Pop-up messages are coming up about how someone is attacking my computer remotely and stealing my identity and credit card info remotely. I quickly disabled wireless internet.
I did a Google image search and hit a bad website. I was using Google chrome browser and in the past, Chrome would alert me if there was something bad on a website and not enter it. This time, it entered it and THEN alerted me. Then the sh*t hit the fan. Now, pooh is flinging everywhere. Wireless has been disabled (by me). Then, since all my files are only accessed on my external hard drive, I unplugged it... if Beta1115 is toast, no harm to my files... or is there? Could that virus have infected an external hard drive plugged into the computer at the time of infection? The virus seems to be focused only on windows system folders. Or so says this weird program called "Internet Protection."
"Internet Protection" was downloaded from a link provided to me by Google Chrome. I don't trust it though. It "detected" these "18 Viruses" and WILL NOT close and keeps telling me that I need to register the product to delete the virus, but sh*t I'm not giving my credit card info out on a computer that's giving me this crap that my stuff's been infected with software that collects information about my credit cards! I do NOT have any virus protection program on that computer and haven't for quite some time, so this is why I think I got this link to download this "Internet Protection" program that has detected these viruses. It makes me wonder if this program is PART of the virus! I just don't know.
Here's some pics of the prompts. What do you guys think?
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Well, that program looks highly suspicious, if not a bad, offensive-marketing product. Your files on the external drive also could've been infected, and I'm afraid the only way to understand is scanning it, and if the anti-virus is insufficient, risking another computer...
The most efficient way to get rid of everything is total formatting, a.k.a. total anhiliation. That means, you'll have to re-install everything from scratch, including the drivers-hope you haven't lost the discs provided with the laptop. And I always afraid of it, I'm telling you.
One more thing. Get yourself a good, real and paid protection software, and that isn't limited to anti-virus. Internet is pretty much like a dark alley where every kind of s**t is lurking around the corner, waiting to get you. Going in without protection (In Descent terms) is like diving into the room full of fusion hulks, cloaked drillers and super hulks, at 0 energy&afterburns, 1 shield, without any cloak or invulnerability...or a spare life.
And don't pick just any program, refer to the computer magazines for the program best suited for you.
Better luck next time...
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Yeah, I want to scan that external hard drive on my Gamma1216, but I need virus protection on THIS thing too! (my antivirus protection recently expired)... once I get it back, do you think it would be safe to plug it in here (Gamma1216) and immediately do a complete system scan? And, while Beta1115 has served me VERY well to have lasted over 5 years, it's not worth saving to me. It's an old XP, and it's a frankensteined laptop with a defunct monitor hooked up to another monitor with a wireless keyboard and mouse. It's been that way for 3 years now. My dad got this one (Gamma1216) on 12/16/09, but then he switched to a MAC when his PC failed and used this solely for compatibility transitions. Then, he gave it to me. I'm thinking future Delta is going to be a MAC for sure!
In case y'all are curious about how I number laptops, it goes sequentially in Greek Alphabet, followed by a 3 or 4 digit number which is the date it was purchased/activated:
Alpha707 HP Laptop, Windows XP 7/7/03 (lasted only 3 months, POS!)
Beta1115 Dell Inspiron 6000, Windows XP 11/15/05-4/17/11 *sniff sniff*
Gamma1216 HP G61 Laptop, Windows 7 Home, 12/16/09-current
Well, after being up all night battling this virus on my computer, I'm wiped. Time to sleep. Gotta start at a new store today bright and early at 3PM! It's bright at 3:00PM, and it's gonna FEEL early!
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Having an anti-virus just reduces the risk, not eliminates them completely. In fact, there are no zero-risk alternatives besides MAC's (I don't know much about them, haven't used them much).
Yet anyways, its worth trying.
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Despite popular belief, Mac's are not immune from computer viruses. I don't own a Mac, but I know enough people who do and got attacked by viruses to know that they are far from immune. Just to make that much clear.
And yes, it is always wise to have an anti-virus of some sort for your computer. Going without is just asking for trouble sooner or later.
TechPro will probably be along later and give a more detailed explanation about this, being the techy he is...
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Looks to me like you have exactly 1 virus: Internet Protection. Looks like a classic scareware infection to me. Seems to be the most common virus these days. I got one a year or so ago, but the one I got was poorly made and easily removed by Avira (with a little help from me).
There's no need to buy a new laptop, and macs are not immune either (nor worth the trouble and cost, imo). Assuming the laptop has a CD drive, just pop in a windows install or recovery disk and let it do its work. I think my 2 biggest pet peeves are people who think macs are invincible and people who think getting a virus means you need a new computer.
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"Internet Protection" is a "fake anti-virus" malware/keylogger/blah-blah program.
Here's one of many ways to get rid of it: http://freeofvirus.blogspot.com/2011/04/internet-protection-removal-guide.html
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I may have a solution to stop the virus program from running. I had a virus from "Antivirus.net" a while back. It blocked access to a lot of programs and even blocked IE and Google Chrome, and RKill is what helped me. It said "lolno" and zapped that bastard good and it allowed me to update and run my virus scanners to remove the virus. I used Avast and Malwarebytes several times and in several ways. My computer is as clean as a whistle now.
What it does is shuts down all running programs and that includes the virus. It works in seconds. I now have its shortcut handy on the desktop just in case.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/anti-virus/rkill
If you are affraid to turn on your internet, somehow get RKill onto a Flash Drive and transfer it to the infected computer.
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Ok, guys, thanks for all the links and tips. I'm currently running "Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware" on it now. 15 minutes into the scan and it has picked up 17 infected objects.
@IHateHackers: Don't worry... not going to dish out any money on a new computer at this point in time. I must save for my trip to see the final shuttle launch. BTW... can I borrow your screen name for awhile? lol jk. And yes, I heard that MACs CAN get viruses, but you don't hear about them getting one that often. I wonder why? (not sarcasm... like, seriously... how often does it happen?)
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OMG... I just did somethign dumb. I ran the anti-malware program and erradicated 75 infected objects successfully. Internet Security pop-ups were now GONE! Hooray! Then it restarted and I saw the "internet security" icon. I thought. Okay, if it's gone it'll say something like "target not found" or whatever... BAM! Reinfected! I was like, OHHH son of a b****!!! Now I'm running the anti-malware program again.
Honestly I don't know why I'm saving Beta1115. All my sh** is on this computer now. What do you guys use an older obsolete computer for? (OTHER THAN DESCENT!!! LOL!)
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Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, that's all I have left to use my older laptop for, because Descent isn't on my newer laptop yet (not really sure how that ended up...except maybe me just being lazy). :P
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Honestly I'd be less afraid to plug it into the internet than to put my only flash drive in, just in case it decides to hitch a ride.
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Alieo, wipe that machine and reinstall the OS (get whatever you need off it first, of course). Otherwise you'll be spending a ton of time trying to clean it.
Regarding uses for an older machine, one word: Server. :)
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How can I wipe it when my CD-ROM drive is broken? It's Windows XP, if that makes any difference.
EDIT: Foil you just gave me an awesome idea... SURVEILLANCE CAMERA... with REMOTE VIEWING ACCESS ON CELLPHONE!!! hehehehehehehehehehehe
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Fix/replace the CD drive? Check if the motherboard supports booting from a USB CD drive?
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How can I wipe it when my CD-ROM drive is broken? It's Windows XP, if that makes any difference.
EDIT: Foil you just gave me an awesome idea... SURVEILLANCE CAMERA... with REMOTE VIEWING ACCESS ON CELLPHONE!!! hehehehehehehehehehehe
I don't know your budget, but an external CD\DVD drive?
that and/or try IHateHackers suggestion.
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That was what I meant by a USB CD drive, an external one. I don't think there is any other form of external CD/DVD drive that you're likely to find.
If you really feel adventurous (and cheap :P) you could see if your motherboard supports LAN booting. Set up an FTP server somewhere with a windows install CD copied to it and I *think* you can install that way, if the computer supports it.
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A lot of motherboards have boot-from-usb-thumb-drive functionality. If you have one, that's probably the easiest way; try here (http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm) for some suggestions.
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Assuming you have a thumb drive big enough to fit an operating system on.
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Assuming you have a thumb drive big enough to fit an operating system on.
1gb size is more than enough.
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That was what I meant by a USB CD drive, an external one. I don't think there is any other form of external CD/DVD drive that you're likely to find.
If you really feel adventurous (and cheap :P) you could see if your motherboard supports LAN booting. Set up an FTP server somewhere with a windows install CD copied to it and I *think* you can install that way, if the computer supports it.
opps :-[ I was thinking of what Linux has, a USB thumb drive that has the OS on it. I apologize.
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Assuming you have a thumb drive big enough to fit an operating system on.
1gb size is more than enough.
For windows? What? The Windows 7 installation files require almost the entirety of a DVD to fit, at least for Ultimate. You can find linux and bare-bones OSes, but I'm guessing he probably wants the same OS he had before.
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...but I'm guessing he probably wants the same OS he had before.
Exactly, and he had Windows XP, so it indeed fits on a 1GB stick without a problem. ;)
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He only needs something to boot with long enough to fix his system, not to be his main system.
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I found this tool on Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools called "System Restore." (This is for XP by the way.) I've heard from people online that it has worked for them. Anyways, computer got infected on 4/17, so I'm setting it back to it's last savepoint a few days before that on 4/14. Hopefully this will solve it. It LOOKS like it got eradicated when I installed the "Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware" program.
Also, I was able to transfer over my external hard drive over to Gamma1216 (my Windows 7 laptop) and I did that AFTER installing a resubscription of Norton Anti-Virus AND Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware on Gamma1216. It found 2 problems on the external, but was able to delete them. They were the original unopened downloaded install files for the "Internet Protection" virus. They got deleted and now my external lives on on my newer laptop, Gamma1216. Beta1115 seems to function properly, but I'm unsure if this thing I'm doing to it will undo the Malwarebytes' program I installed on it, or the virus, or both, but I'll update on that shortly.
WAIT... it's finished... okay, it said, "System Restore cannot restore to the date 4/14/2011 because no changes have been made to the system. Please run System Restore again and choose another date to restore to." Not an EXACT quote, but it's along the lines. Oh well... I haven't had any problems with the computer anymore.
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Don't waste money on Norton, Norton is worthless. Though I've never personally used it, I've heard Kaspersky is the one of the best.
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Oh, I know. I hate Norton. This laptop used to be my dad's but he gave it to me because he was using it as a bridge between his crashed Windows Vista computer and Apple. When he was done with it, he gave it to me. He had put Norton on here and it expired. Well, I guess he got an email asking him to pay for a resubscription, and I guess he thought it was for his Apple, but he went ahead and renewed it and turns out it was for my computer.
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Still, I wouldn't use Norton even for free. Too much of a hog.
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I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials.
/me ducks
oh, and system restore won't remove viruses. Just sets some system settings back.
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I use Avast! free version as my anti-virus and it has saved me already a lot of times. I really recommend it. :)
Although I must say I also have Microsoft Security Essentials along with my Avast! antivirus on my Win 7 partition and it keeps my computer protected.
I've heard AVG has also a free version, and regarding paid ones Kaspersky and NOD32 are the best antivirus programs AFAIK, but keep away from Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro and stuff.
I've had some very bad experiences with those (specially Norton and McAfee) on the past, that's why I'm using Avast! (and because it's free :P ).
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I've heard Norton and McAffe cause system meltdowns themselves, creating a need for antivirus.
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When I had Windows, and some virus or viruses, AVG was pretty nice.
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I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials.
/me ducks
oh, and system restore won't remove viruses. Just sets some system settings back.
That's not right. If it's not terribly advanced and it only sets itself up in the Windows system folder then it will be erased when Windows sets the folder back to how it was when it made the checkpoint.
I've had friends' computers go bad with malware and System Restore was the only way of rectifying them. Avira antivirus was absolutely useless in one case.
I normally use ESET Smart Security. Not much gets past that and it's light on the system.
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No, it doesn't make changes to any folder, just to certain system settings. Or at least, that is how I understand it, I could be wrong.
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Don't waste money on Norton, Norton is worthless.
Not to say that you're wrong, but I've been using Norton on my new laptop (it came with a sixty-day free trial) and for the whole month and a half I've been using it, I haven't had any complaints, so it seems to be doing it's job.
Not to say that I'll stick with it, of course, because when the trial runs out, I'd have to start paying for it, and I can get just as good anti-virus service for free with something like AVG (which is what I believe my old laptop runs).
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I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials.
/me ducks
oh, and system restore won't remove viruses. Just sets some system settings back.
That's not right. If it's not terribly advanced and it only sets itself up in the Windows system folder then it will be erased when Windows sets the folder back to how it was when it made the checkpoint.
I've had friends' computers go bad with malware and System Restore was the only way of rectifying them. Avira antivirus was absolutely useless in one case.
I normally use ESET Smart Security. Not much gets past that and it's light on the system.
Yes and No. The System Restore will replace both files and settings ... but anything in addition to the files and settings that System Restore restores ... are not touched at all. This easily allows things to slip past the System Restore. Also, System Restore has been known to on occasion restore virii and trojans that had gotten saved in a System Restore. Essentially, System Restore can be a very good thing... but it can also burn you.
... with something like AVG (which is what I believe my old laptop runs).
Yes, it is.
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I used to have AVG, but it made my computer run really slow so I deleted it... That was 3 years go. Haven't had one problem... till 4/17/11 when I got that Internet Protection Virus. But I think it's gone now. That Anti-Malware software got rid of it. (I think.)
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Well this bit of malware in particular was difficult because it hid itself under multiple filenames, which it generated at random in the Windows/System32 folder.
So it was impossible to search manually in Safe Mode for a pre-defined filename (because no part of the virus had one).
And, like I say, this native (and supposedly amazing) Avira antivirus with its 'Luke Filewalker' thing, which the user had installed, couldn't even see the virus let alone remove it.
So, the virus didn't just store itself as a corrupted, existing Windows file. It was an addition to the Windows folder and I didn't expect System Restore to kill it. I was about to put NOD32 on there and, if that failed, Zero-Fill the hard disk the next day but the System Restore, amazingly, worked fine.
Infact, actually, I remember it was someone else that suggested it and once they had the idea they were quite insistent. They were sure it would work (because they clearly didn't know how it worked or what it was really for) and, for the same reasons as you, I was sure myself that it wouldn't work. Anyway, I was glad he insisted.
Odd, because on most of *my* installations, System Restore never actually takes. It goes through the motions and in the end says "Couldn't restore to an earlier time, no changes have been effected to the system" or whatever.
Infact, you should see the positive results that Avira gets on AV Comparative reports but those did not correspond to my brief experience at all.
When I found out that you could get a free version, I installed it on my server once when my ESET license expired and after *3 or 4 days* the machine was infected badly. The machine had been clean with ESET for well over a year, since its OS was installed. That tells you something. I understand from a relative that the free version also pesters you *incessantly* to pay to upgrade as well.
Generally speaking, the Eastern European antiviruses get a good write-up. Kaspersky, ESET, (Avira must be the exception) perform well. The Western ones like McAffee and Norton used to be rubbish. I still maybe wouldn't use one myself but I know that they've had to improve a lot in the last couple of years. AVG is supposed to be German, right? I used that for a while (paid-for version) and it allowed something really nasty to walk all-over one of my systems. Never used it again.
ESET on the other hand has never put a foot wrong for me and it never gives a false-positive.
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I use MS Security Essentials on ALL my machines (my home server, my gaming rig, my media center, my laptop, my netbook, and my work rig), and haven't had a single issue.
Just my experience. :)
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I used to have AVG, but it made my computer run really slow so I deleted it
I've noticed something similar with my old laptop from time to time. To be fair, a LOT of things easily made it run slower than what would be optimum, but I noticed it was generally at it's slowest when AVG was running one of those scheduled scans of the computer. That, and when it was working at updating itself without telling me (which I never could figure out why it, and the rest of the computer for that matter, insisted on doing that).
Those scheduled scans are actually pretty nice, though, because then you don't have to remember to stop and run the scans yourself regularly. But like a lot of nice things, it comes with a price. :|
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I use MS Security Essentials on ALL my machines (my home server, my gaming rig, my media center, my laptop, my netbook, and my work rig), and haven't had a single issue.
Just my experience. :)
Ok, I feel better now ;)