April Fools Virus

[cement]

Or maybe if you did get hit you wouldn't be posting?

anyways, no problems here. :bananalama:

 

[Flyer_PE]

There was a guy on a local radio show yesterday that claimed Microsoft had actually issued the patch that would defeat that virus before the virus itself was released. Supposedly, the only people that might have problems are those that don't regularly update either Windows or their virus protection.

All I know for sure is that I have no problems here either.

 

[kevo_55]

I've got an old computer at home with no anti-virus software installed on it. Last night I simply updated my Windows OS.

Even if I was infected, it wouldn't matter any more.

 

[Supe]

What's this one supposed to do?

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Another bug overhyped by the media and the compsec companies.

 

[cement]

a clever ploy to sell anti virus software?

don't the virus writers share the same office?

 

[EM_PS]

What's this one supposed to do?

The Conficker worm (can i buy / switch a vowel?). supposedly lies dormant, and code was to activate today (or shortly thereafter), turning your pc into a 'bot' to be controlled by nefarious hacker for whatever nefarious purposes. Thus, any pc may have been infected for some time.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

a clever ploy to sell anti virus software?
don't the virus writers share the same office?

Don't get me started on the anti-virus people. I'm never ever running anything by Norton again.

 

[Chucktown PE]

Side note, my wife’s work computer was infected by the Hallmark virus. She was doing contract work for a while after she left her job and they gave her a laptop computer so she could access the VPN. Long story short is she opened a .zip attachment and it infected a whole division of her company. It put a program on the machine called Spyware 2009 and it is impossible to remove. It blocks access to the internet, malware removal programs, shuts down the firewall, allows about 50 malware programs to run (that’s not an exaggeration) and the only solution appears to be reformatting the hard drive and starting over.

Back in 2001 I had a virus on my computer but it wasn’t that hard to get rid of. Since then they have become so sophisticated it’s difficult for the average user to fix the problems, of course the antivirus software companies have done a good job of staying ahead of most of these things. I’ve been a loyal McAfee user for about 6 years now on my home computer and I haven’t had any problems…..yet. The April Fool’s virus didn’t affect me either. I often wonder what people get out of destroying millions of hours of productivity by designing these viruses. I would love to kick one of these little computer geeks in the nuts.

 

[TouchDown]

What's this one supposed to do?

Our news station said that it may still be a little misunderstood just what it could do, and it may be unrecognizeable on if you have it or not as it steals personal information from the computer... passwords, credit card numbers, etc. Sounded more malicious criminal intent than just to screw with people - they want to steal crap.

They also said, if are infected and you go to:

safety.live.com

That it won't load, the worm blocks you from going to the windows live website.

My stuff updates automatically..

 

[MA_PE]

I often wonder what people get out of destroying millions of hours of productivity by designing these viruses.

I firmly believe the glorified media notion that these hackers/virus writers use these programs to demonstrate to the programming community thier skill/prowess in writing code. when/if they get caught they negotiate out of jail time/ paying restitution by providing the "antidote" and then go and work for the virus protection companies (making big bucks) writing code to compete with work against the next generation of hackers.

We users are simply the pawns in this game.

 

[DVINNY]

It put a program on the machine called Spyware 2009 and it is impossible to remove. It blocks access to the internet, malware removal programs, shuts down the firewall, allows about 50 malware programs to run (that’s not an exaggeration) and the only solution appears to be reformatting the hard drive and starting over.

not impossible. I've taken it off for 2 friends already.

malwarebytes makes a removal tool, but mainly, it takes about 20 minutes going thru the registry to make sure you get all its locations.

It's known as Antivirus 360, Antivirus 2009, Antivirus 2010, etc.

It is a PITA though

 

[Supe]

Side note, my wife’s work computer was infected by the Hallmark virus. She was doing contract work for a while after she left her job and they gave her a laptop computer so she could access the VPN. Long story short is she opened a .zip attachment and it infected a whole division of her company. It put a program on the machine called Spyware 2009 and it is impossible to remove. It blocks access to the internet, malware removal programs, shuts down the firewall, allows about 50 malware programs to run (that’s not an exaggeration) and the only solution appears to be reformatting the hard drive and starting over.

I got whacked with this lovely little bugger called the "Smitfraud-C" virus. Google it to get a solid understanding of just what a gigantic pain in the ass it was to remove. I almost gave up and reformatted, but after 9 consecutive hours I was finally able to get rid of it.

 

[IlPadrino]

not impossible. I've taken it off for 2 friends already.
malwarebytes makes a removal tool, but mainly, it takes about 20 minutes going thru the registry to make sure you get all its locations.

It's known as Antivirus 360, Antivirus 2009, Antivirus 2010, etc.

It is a PITA though

You beat me to it! Almost never impossible and I really liked malwarebytes (it's free) when fixing this virus on my computer (McAfee couldn't touch it)

 

[TouchDown]

Don't know if it would work on any of these... but for spyware / malware...

I use Spybot Search and Destroy.

Free and seems to keep stuff working at a higher performance than without.

 

[snickerd3]

Don't know if it would work on any of these... but for spyware / malware...
I use Spybot Search and Destroy.

Free and seems to keep stuff working at a higher performance than without.

my hubby uses that program

 

[Dleg]

Our IT guys use Spybot and AVG as the only security systems on our computers (not counting the network firewall). All free, and seems to work fine.

 

[FLBuff PE]

Our IT guys use Spybot and AVG as the only security systems on our computers (not counting the network firewall). All free, and seems to work fine.

I use these plus AdAware at home. Things run smoothly for me.

 

[DVINNY]

I use SpyBot, and AdAware both. I also use Malwarebytes

I do not have an anti-virus like McAffee or Norton on my PC or laptop.

If you run the Tea-Timer and have it set up so that any time the registry is trying to be changed it gives you an ALLOW/DENY pop-up. This lets you stop any virus before it can ever launch. Just hit Deny.

 

[Dleg]

^Yeah, but remember the older versions of Spybot? There was a graphical glitch and the words "Allow" and "Deny" were 90% blocked, so you had to look real carefully everytime it would pop up just to make sure you weren't hitting "Allow". I'm glad they fixed that issue.