Help! My computer is infested!
Discussion
With loadsa popups. Also, my homepage has changed itself from msn to a search engine called slotch. My Stinger doesn't seem to be working, and I turned on my computer this morning to find a dodgy porn server on my lists.
This happened to my parents PC - someone was using it remotely to download hardcore porn and somehow passing the bill onto us. Thankfully there was no kiddie stuff among it or we would've ended up in court.
Anyone know of an effective (& free) way of blocking the popups and stopping porn servers finding their way onto my computer?
This happened to my parents PC - someone was using it remotely to download hardcore porn and somehow passing the bill onto us. Thankfully there was no kiddie stuff among it or we would've ended up in court.
Anyone know of an effective (& free) way of blocking the popups and stopping porn servers finding their way onto my computer?
This isn't a virus, it's an adware application (I think it comes as part of online casino type stuff, maybe other things as well)
I agree that a good antivirus system is a must, but for this you also need spybot (as mentioned above) or adaware (free from lavasoft.com) to clean this off.
I agree that a good antivirus system is a must, but for this you also need spybot (as mentioned above) or adaware (free from lavasoft.com) to clean this off.
You need three items for safe surfing:-
1. Personal Firewall
2. Anti Virus Tool
3. Spyware killer
They are all available free on the net and work just fine.
Zonalarm is a good free personal firewall from www.zonelabs.com
AVG is a good AV tool. Again, free from www.Grisoft.com
Adaware is a pretty good free spyware/popup killer from www.lavasoft.com.
Get a friend colleague etc to download these three and burn onto a cd. Remove your pc from the internet and install first the AV tool and let it scan your machine and kill any viruses. Then install adware and do the same. Finally install zonealarm. Re-connect to the internet and you should be safe.
You will notice that Zonealarm will prompt when things are trying to access the net, this is good because if anything dodgy is trying to use your link it should show up pretty soon.
Bear in mind that these free tools will catch most nefarious bits of software, but it is vital you keep them up to date. Check for updates on a regular basis and run adaware at least once every two weeks.
Finally, the security settings in IE are quite useful, but no-one seems to bother with them. Add trusted sites to the trusetd site list and then set your security to highest for all other surfing, this should stop most attacks.
HTH
1. Personal Firewall
2. Anti Virus Tool
3. Spyware killer
They are all available free on the net and work just fine.
Zonalarm is a good free personal firewall from www.zonelabs.com
AVG is a good AV tool. Again, free from www.Grisoft.com
Adaware is a pretty good free spyware/popup killer from www.lavasoft.com.
Get a friend colleague etc to download these three and burn onto a cd. Remove your pc from the internet and install first the AV tool and let it scan your machine and kill any viruses. Then install adware and do the same. Finally install zonealarm. Re-connect to the internet and you should be safe.
You will notice that Zonealarm will prompt when things are trying to access the net, this is good because if anything dodgy is trying to use your link it should show up pretty soon.
Bear in mind that these free tools will catch most nefarious bits of software, but it is vital you keep them up to date. Check for updates on a regular basis and run adaware at least once every two weeks.
Finally, the security settings in IE are quite useful, but no-one seems to bother with them. Add trusted sites to the trusetd site list and then set your security to highest for all other surfing, this should stop most attacks.
HTH
Sigh, Norton makes damned sure you PC won't get infected with a virus I'll give it that, it also makes damned sure you won't do a blessed thing as it uses up so much of your resources 
v8Thunder, you need to get yourself some anti malware tools:
Anti Spyware/Adware:
Ad-Aware
Spybot
Anti Virus:
AntiVir
Firewall:
Sygate Personal Firewall
And that will set you up nicely
Make sure you update AntiVir, Ad-Aware & Spybot
edit:: Always last
rlk500 I used to recommend using AVG from Grisoft, but it is truly pants compared to AntiVir, plus in a month or so they are releasing a knock down version of AVG7.0 Pro for free, pointless getting version 6 (it's way of dealing with infected files meant that it removed all the core windows files into quaritine including it's own .exes as well).
>> Edited by docevi1 on Saturday 6th November 11:33
v8Thunder, you need to get yourself some anti malware tools:
Anti Spyware/Adware:
Ad-Aware
Spybot
Anti Virus:
AntiVir
Firewall:
Sygate Personal Firewall
And that will set you up nicely
Make sure you update AntiVir, Ad-Aware & Spybot edit:: Always last
rlk500 I used to recommend using AVG from Grisoft, but it is truly pants compared to AntiVir, plus in a month or so they are releasing a knock down version of AVG7.0 Pro for free, pointless getting version 6 (it's way of dealing with infected files meant that it removed all the core windows files into quaritine including it's own .exes as well).
>> Edited by docevi1 on Saturday 6th November 11:33
Get Firebird from Mozilla: www.mozilla.org Use that instead of Internet Explorer.
Also, if it is not a big deal for you, stop using any Outlook/Outlook Express for mail, and use something like Thunderbird, also available from Mozilla.
Internet Explorer and Outlook are the 2 major vectors for spyware/malware/trojan/virus infections; get rid of them and you're a long way towards being protected. Good antivirus and a good antispyware programs should be installed. I recommend Nod32 (www.nod32.com) and AdAware (Google it, sorry lazy ;-) respectively.
Keep your Windows machine up-to-date with the service packs from Microsoft for every single application installed on your machine, regardless of whether or not you actually use these applications - if they're there, their files should be updated.
Mozilla - both Firebird and Thunderbird - are free, AdAware has a free version, and I'm not at all sure of the pricing of Nod32.
Get rid of Norton - IMHO it's rubbish.
HTH
Ciao
Zak
Also, if it is not a big deal for you, stop using any Outlook/Outlook Express for mail, and use something like Thunderbird, also available from Mozilla.
Internet Explorer and Outlook are the 2 major vectors for spyware/malware/trojan/virus infections; get rid of them and you're a long way towards being protected. Good antivirus and a good antispyware programs should be installed. I recommend Nod32 (www.nod32.com) and AdAware (Google it, sorry lazy ;-) respectively.
Keep your Windows machine up-to-date with the service packs from Microsoft for every single application installed on your machine, regardless of whether or not you actually use these applications - if they're there, their files should be updated.
Mozilla - both Firebird and Thunderbird - are free, AdAware has a free version, and I'm not at all sure of the pricing of Nod32.
Get rid of Norton - IMHO it's rubbish.
HTH
Ciao
Zak
All good advice above - whatever you get, make sure it's up to date. Also worth using the "Windows Update" feature so you get all the latest patches and whatnot. Hijack This is a good utility if you're suffering from browser hijacks (the reset home page problem). Run it, then post the log it generates in any of the numerous spyware and security forums and someone will pick out what's causing the problems and tell you how to fix it. Trend and Symantec also do some good free online security scans.
As for firewalls, I'd normally suggest Sygate, but for some reason the new 5.6 release keeps falling over on my PC (XPSP1), so I've switched to Zone Alarm. Generally though, all the security you need is out there as freeware, just make sure you keep it up to date!
As for firewalls, I'd normally suggest Sygate, but for some reason the new 5.6 release keeps falling over on my PC (XPSP1), so I've switched to Zone Alarm. Generally though, all the security you need is out there as freeware, just make sure you keep it up to date!
hornet said:5.6 is fine on my XPSP1, you could try BlackIce as thats another firewall, better than ZA
As for firewalls, I'd normally suggest Sygate, but for some reason the new 5.6 release keeps falling over on my PC (XPSP1), so I've switched to Zone Alarm. Generally though, all the security you need is out there as freeware, just make sure you keep it up to date!
ed up, so I just switched to firefox instead of fixing it.docevi1 said:
As for firewalls, I'd normally suggest Sygate, but for some reason the new 5.6 release keeps falling over on my PC (XPSP1), so I've switched to Zone Alarm. Generally though, all the security you need is out there as freeware, just make sure you keep it up to date!
5.6 is fine on my XPSP1, you could try BlackIce as thats another firewall, better than ZA
At the risk of getting swamped I would suggest Service Pack 2 as it contains the Zonealarm equivalent. It has mixed reviews by people on here but I am in favour. I have rolled out 17 PC's, and only one with problems. Also as mentioned on here, there is no better basic protection than having your system upto date with all the latest security patches. Sadly if MS wasn't so greedy, we wouldnt have so many bloody viruses
It won't be long before MS includes AV as part of their OS. Say good bye to yet another 'little man'
Thanks for the advice guys - I have a firewall, a spamkiller and a virus scanner, none of which seem to want to update themselves and/or work properly, so I'll get my computer-minded housemate to see what he can do.
If not, I'll check out the links.
Most worryingly, I've found when I turn on the computer sometimes, a spyware infester disguised as a virus scanner. Thought it was dodgy when I saw it's tagline: 'Don't get caught with porn on your PC'.
If not, I'll check out the links.
Most worryingly, I've found when I turn on the computer sometimes, a spyware infester disguised as a virus scanner. Thought it was dodgy when I saw it's tagline: 'Don't get caught with porn on your PC'.
ultimasimon said:
It won't be long before MS includes AV as part of their OS. Say good bye to yet another 'little man'
ROFL -> MS AV
Incoming virus - (thinks) dum de dum don't look shifty
MSAV - "Oi you! are you a virus?"
Incoming virus - "Me? no just passing through"
MSAV - "Oh OK then thats alright"
Incoming virus - (thinks) Bwuhahahhaha!"
I've updated my AVG Firewall and Virus Scanner - Stinger is bloody useless! It won't update!
Managed to isolate the viruses and get rid of them - it was Trojan Horse Downloader, which explains why my PC was full of porn links. My firewall is nicely updated, and I must remember to update the AVG rather than the Stinger, now it's let me down like this.
Still, can't get rid of these pesky popups, which is probably where it came from in the first place - can anyone recommend a really good free popup-blocker?
And I know working through Opera rather than Internet Explorer blocks popups, but I can't access PH on Opera for some reason.
Managed to isolate the viruses and get rid of them - it was Trojan Horse Downloader, which explains why my PC was full of porn links. My firewall is nicely updated, and I must remember to update the AVG rather than the Stinger, now it's let me down like this.
Still, can't get rid of these pesky popups, which is probably where it came from in the first place - can anyone recommend a really good free popup-blocker?
And I know working through Opera rather than Internet Explorer blocks popups, but I can't access PH on Opera for some reason.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff