Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computer and virus

No video input detected on bootup.

TimeTravelSpeed — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:45:01 -0800

Computer froze completely during a game, all subsequent downloads of various installer files were corrupt. BSODs galore. Now, when I turn on my computer, no video input is detected whatsoever. Next step? This problem sounds like a combination of a virus, hard-drive failure, and video-card failure, so I'm not sure what to try next. Any suggestions?

Approximate timeline of events from last Friday night, to Saturday morning:

0. Built a near-top-of-the-line computer 3 months ago
1. Friday, started a game Team Fortress 2 using the Steam client (I play this all the time).
2. An hour or so into play, the entire computer froze, game audio was on a 1-second loop. Couldn't even CTRL+ALT+DEL
3. Performed hard reset, tried to defrag, but it stopped progressing after about 20%.
4. Tried to launch Steam again but was told a game file had been corrupted. Uninstalled Steam.
5. Downloaded latest Steam installation and ran it, but was told the installation was corrupt
6. Uninstalled Avira anti-virus, downloaded Avira installer, ran it, and again was told installation was corrupt.
7. Same results with Adaware installation. However, Spybot installation was successful (no results from SB scan btw).
8. Rebooted and immediately got some sort of "NTLDR, unable to boot" error. Hard reset fixed this.
9. Was able to reinstall Avira and begin a full virus scan. 3/4 of the way through, scan stopped progressing and got a BSOD.
10. Now, when I turn on my computer, I can hear the whirring and humming of the internals, but no video input is detected by the monitor. Neither resetting monitor, nor replugging video cable helps.

I haven't touched any of the physical internals yet (e.g. re-seating video card), but will try that tonight.

I tried to keep this brief, so some details may be missing. Let me know if you need clarification.

Vectors of Computer Virus Infection

mary8nne — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:08:37 -0800

What are the common form of Computer Virus spread these days? I remeber back in the day it was all about Word macros, then Outlook attachmets auto-running, but therse days is it all Internet Browser Exploits? How does your computer get infected these days? Can you get a virus just by visiting a webpage (but not running any aps / agreeing to intall anything)? Do viruses these days need you to explicitly agree to run something?

If you are 'really really careful' about what you do and do not run then do you really need Anti-Virus software / Spyware etc?

I recently seemed to get infected with this Antivirus Pro but I'm not sure where it came from. It could have been a Facebook thing.

Virus Scan Company That Accepts Submissions?

Quarter Pincher — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:31:59 -0800

Do any of the major virus-scan software sites permit sending in a questionable programs for possible addition to the ongoing alerts? Ultimately, I'm wondering whether the Marie Brighton / Synovate computer survey is safe to take -- they're asking me to install and run this program that sends them details about my machine (system name, machine name, installed devices, various settings, etc). It sounds really hokey. I don't want to just share the program with the world, here, in case it has account-related information along with it already.

Pretty much all the details are here, and requests to see whether I can just check off a manual survey of "do you have this"-style questions merely state that I'd only get the incentive ($20) for running the program. I've saved-as the program, but haven't run it yet. I'm just fine with simply not running it, but there doesn't seem to be any coverage of the subject on the web much at all, and I'm sure someone else would like to know also.

As for the original question -- I'm curious as to whether there's a well-established scanner/etc site out there that accepts user submissions of questionable programs, instead of just checking it with a scan. I'd like vastly superior details on the program, not just a red or a green flag.

back it up, back it up

gnutron — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:27:13 -0800

Can a virus on my desktop infect my external HD? Solutions needed for backing up data on a computer I'm about to nuke. Last nite a virus slipped past Avast! and infected my desktop computer. I'd like to backup a few more things before I nuke the box.

Is it safe to plug in my external HD and copy some specific files? I can't boot into safe mode (I get an "NTLDR is missing" message). I've already unplugged the computer from the network.

I can't get online

ihavepromisestokeep — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:22:11 -0800

Norton detected a virus (?), Downloader.MisleadApp, on my laptop. According to Norton, the problem has been "fixed." But ever since then, I cannot access the Internet. How do I get back online? So, here is the story:

Some fishy computer activity made me think my laptop was infected. I ran Norton, which detected the Downloader.MisleadApp (which I think is some kind of generic term?). Norton says the security threat is "high" but doesn't seem to be able to resolve the issue. I download updates to Norton and run the scan again. I click "fix" on Norton and it seems to successfully take care of it. Ever since then I have not been able to access the Internet.

I have wireless internet, and according to my computer, the connection is excellent. I called my Internet Service Provider and they suggested that Norton caused the problem in resolving the virus issue by making my security settings extra high. They said I should "turn off" Norton and then turn it back on. I happily said "OK," thinking my Internet troubles were behind me and that birds would sing again. But after I hung up, I realized I didn't know what they meant by "turn off." Uninstall? I didn't do that, but I did turn off certain things for a few minutes. For instance, there is the option of turning spyware protection off. I tried that but still couldn't get online.

Argh. So, I'm frustrated and obviously naive about all this stuff and not sure what to do next. If it is relevant, I have a sony vaio and use Windows XP. What do I do now??

Virus-free or virus hiding: is my computer Conficked or just fine?

librarylis — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:44:38 -0800

On or around April 1, my computer caught something that caused havoc with my antivirus programs but now everything seems fine--this can't be correct? On April 1 (bad news, I know), my antivirus program (Avira) warned me that it had not been able to retrieve definition updates from the internet.

It has been a frustrating saga to figure out what might be wrong; if you're not into the saga, skip to the last paragraph for an executive summary.

I immediately had Avira run a full-system virus scan, which picked up what Avira called a Trojan (dropper?) in my Temp files that was promptly quarantined. Searching Google, the only info I found to get rid of Dropper was to install MalwareBytes and run a full scan. Well...

I checked MalwareBytes, which I already had installed eight months ago, to find that it also wasn't updating. MalwareBytes did not pick anything up in its full scan. I tried re-naming MB, but the problem was not accessing it but rather updating, and renaming did nothing.

At this point, I tried TrendMicro to see if a program that was not on my computer would pick anything up. It did not.

I then tried grabbing manual updates for Avira via a USB drive from an uninfected computer. The files fail to correctly integrate with Avira.

I also know that my Adobe, Flash, and Java programs were all nagging me to update, and I had not done so for at least five months (not my brightest move).

Several days later, I checked to see if Windows Update was working, which it wasn't. The internet, yes, Update, no.

I then downloaded Avast to see if that would pick anything up. The most up-to-date version available did not pick anything up in its full system scan. Once Avast was installed, it too was unable to update.

I deleted Avast, then restarted my computer. With restart, the desktop, start menu, and system tray failed to become visible, as did a program (Rocketdock) that I installed two years ago. Restarting again did nothing, but once I restarted in Safe Mode I was able to see the desktop, start menu, etc.

However, at that point, Firefox and IE both stopped connecting to the internet. I know it wasn't my ethernet cord, and I know it wasn't the network. The network has a kick-ass automatic quarantine that I know was functioning correctly at the time, as well as some species of firewall.

I did a system restore to a point shortly before April 1st.

At the exact same time, my power cord died. With the battery dead and no AC adapter, I unplugged the ethernet cable and let the computer sit in hibernation.

Fast forward three weeks, and I was finally able to acquire a power cord and I re-connected the ethernet cable. My computer wakes up, with Firefox open and the tabs all reloaded to current information (i.e. Slate had yesterdays's articles not those from three weeks ago). Well, great.

Avira automatically starts updating, and the update goes through. MalwareBytes updates. Windows Update updates. I immediately do a full system scan, using both MB and Avira. MB once again picks up nothing, while Avira picks up another two Trojans (different ones, this time) in my Temp files. I then deleted the named files. I updated Java, then Flash, but haven't gotten to Adobe yet.

Here is the problem: my system seems fine. Antivirus programs, Update, everything that was haywire, now seem good to go. This just doesn't seem possible when the only thing I did was disconnect the computer to the internet for three weeks, and the system restore (which didn't seem to solve the problem three weeks ago).

Executive summary: Antivirus programs, Windows Update and other critical programs failed to update around April 1, Avira antivirus sees nothing but Trojans in temp files while Malware Bytes sees nothing, power cord dies and is resurrected three weeks later at which point the computer miraculously updates all problem programs and all seems well. This surely can't be right?

Tech specs: I am running Win XP (Media) on a Dell E1405, typically using Firefox 3, with Avira Antivirus, MalwareBytes, and Spybot Search and Destroy all installed and regularly updated, Windows Firewall is on and the network also runs a firewall.

Is this a VIRUS??

seeminglyshy — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 11:37:08 -0800

Is it a VIRUS? Hi all,

A few days ago I was sent over a program and tried to open it. Once I ran the .exe file nothing popped up, so I tried again. Getting the same result, I gave up - thinking that perhaps it was corrupt.

A few moments later, I resumed my internet activities (using Vista by the way). I clicked my history tab and discovered my history had been wiped out entirely!

In it's place for each daily/weekly folder were sites that I've never visited! (For example, admarketplace, primosearch, blueseek, leadarchive, spreety, blinkx, etc.)

Now, my Norton keeps telling me that it has "just blocked a trojan" or some other internet boogy monster that has been trying to attack my computer. When I run a scan, nothing comes up! There has to be something going on behind the scenes because I'm also getting popups now, whereas I hadn't at all before.

What gives?

Evil, evil c5.zedo

TorontoSandy — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:54:51 -0800

C5.zedo keeps opening tabs on Firefox and redirecting me to poker sites! I've run Sophos and Ad-Aware and the problem keeps continuing. Has anyone managed to get rid of zedo?

Something is eating up my disk space as I watch. What should I do?

Gor-ella — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:03:48 -0800

Something is eating up my disk space as I watch. What should I do? (somewhat urgent) I'm not by any means a computer expert, please keep this in mind in your responses.
I have a 60 GB Acer Laptop running Vista. In the last hour my free space has gone from >2 Gb to 1.37GB. I haven't done anything during this time except browse the internet. I have already received a warning about low disk space. This scares me because that's what computers say before they die. Being concerned, I started scanning my computer for viruses. I use AVG Anti-Virus Free. Is there anything else I can/should do?

Disk Drawer Double Bind

Acheman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:09:57 -0800

My friend's only Admin account on Windows has been ripped to shreds by a virus, an uninstaller program, or both; his CD drawer won't open or shut manually at all; and his BIOS settings, which are protected by a password we don't know, are to boot from a CD in the drive before anything else. Help me to not destroy his computer with an axe. I'm a Mac user who somehow became the Tech Support for our shared house. (It started with showing a friend how to use a bittorrent client and is now way beyond my control.) For various reasons, one friend's computer never got the once-over, with new antivirus software etc., that I'd been meaning to give it. I thought 'Hey, he uses Firefox and hardly ever even downloads anything. Things won't go too badly wrong for the time being'. And boy am I regretting that now.

A couple of days ago, he came to me telling me that his five-years-old antivirus software had detected virus infection, and this was corroborated by the appearance of thousands of popup windows for a poker site. The antivirus told him it had deleted four viruses, but clearly hadn't - the popups continued along with some other strange stuff. He immediately shut the computer down and came to me.

When we started up the computer, the popups appeared to calm down to a manageable level. I decided to get rid of his old antivirus and install AVG. Here's where a couple of nights' terrible insomnia led to my making a mistake: I tried to do those two things in that order. After deleting a bunch of files Revo Uninstaller suggested I delete, I couldn't open any programs from his user account - I got messages saying that it was 'not authorised' to open them. Switching to the Guest account meant I was able to do anything the Guest account can do, but this didn't include installing AVG or repairing his Admin account. The Guest account started to be beset by popups after a few minutes and we shut down.

My friend still has his Windows XP pro CDs and doesn't have any important files he can't retrieve from email attachments, or any music that isn't from his own CDs. So we were all set to do a clean reinstall, until he reminded me about the CD drive.

Since he dropped the computer about six months ago, the CD drawer won't open or shut manually - it has to be opened using his DVD-reading software. Also, his BIOS settings are set to boot from the CD drive if there's anything in it, and always have been. This has already caused problems when he left a CD in the drawer before shutting the computer down, but after attempting to boot for about five minutes it would move on to the HD and all would be well again. Trouble is, this won't work when trying to reinstall Windows from the CD - as I understand it, it can and will just boot from the Windows installation CD again and again and again.

I'd already tried to reset the BIOS settings, but they're password protected and he was never told what the password was. (He got it as part of a government entitlement for disabled students, and so it came from some little outsourced office somewhere).

This weird little logic loop is most tormenting: I can't boot from the hard drive until I've removed the disk with the DVD software, and I can't remove the disk with the DVD software until I've booted from the hard drive.

Will a USB external CD drive work to install Windows from straight out of the box? Can I get a pirate version of Windows and install it from a USB flash drive? Is there some really simple, far less radical solution to this that I'm missing? I'm in way over my head with this, and keep coming back to fantasies about the violence I might enact upon this infernal devil-box.

Damnable Trojans

Beardman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:44:13 -0800

Do I have a computer virus? How can I get rid of it? I have a PC, running XP SP2 with Avast! and Windows firewall. I was downloading an album and I got a bunch of notices saying that Avast had identified a Win.32.Trojan or something to that effect, which is apparently just Avast's generic name for a virus.

When this has happened in the past, it's said, "Don't panic--just click here to delete it or move it to the safe chest." But this time, I tried to do these things, and Avast said it wasn't able to perform those actions.

I deleted the offending album right away. Then I rebooted the computer and did an Avast virus scan. It didn't up any viruses. However, a few days later, the computer is acting pretty slow.

How can I find out if there's a virus--preferably without buying any software--and how can I eliminate the little bastard?

How to get rid of the phisher?

iconomy — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:12:40 -0800

Someone went phishing, and hooked my daughter. What can she do now? I'm asking this for my daughter. Macbook, OSX. I know nothing about phishing so couldn't help her with this. I've been bragging about AskMe for years, so I offered to post this here. The rest of this post is from her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

On 10/10 I realized that I couldn’t log onto a couple of wesbites I normally visit. Facebook wouldn’t accept my password, Hotmail
(different account than the email linked with facebook) wouldn’t accept my password and my bank’s website wouldn’t recognize my log-in name. I got confirmation from the bank that nothing was being used and I changed my Facebook password (which sends an prompt to the uncompromised email address) and was able to log on and use it until 10/15.

Last night I tried logging onto Facebook but the same problem arose where it wouldn’t recognize my password. I tried changing my password but still couldn’t log on. This morning I changed my password again and when I finally logged in I saw that there were about 15 messages sent from my name to various individuals. All of these messages looked exactly like this:

Hello Seller.

Good Day..How are you doing and hope that everything is okay...Actually i come across this your item you placed on site which i have interesting on buying it , kindly may i know present condition of this item including your latest price you are willing to sell it to me...in other for us to be able to able about this item i will be happy to read back from and you should kindly get back to me vai this email address...******@hotmail.com

Cheers

All of these messages were sent to people posting laptops for sale and the email was different than my own. I changed my bank log-on through the phone but I still cannot access my email (because I can’t remember the access question “who is your favorite teacher?” from when I started my email in middle school!). So I’d like to know if anyone has any advice or insight into my problem, or even something I could run to find/get rid of what is compromising my computer. Thanks so much for any help!

Which anti-spyware and anti-virus programs are best at detecting and removing spyware and viruses respectively and why?

Fluffy654 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:59:58 -0800

Which anti-spyware and anti-virus programs are best at detecting and removing spyware and viruses respectively and why? Everyone seems to have a personal preference when it comes to anti-spyware and anti-virus programs. However, what I never see is any reasoning to back this up.

For the purposes of this question, I am not interested in things such as ease of use or extensive feature lists such as real time scanning. I am only interested in which anti-spyware and anti-virus programs are best at doing their respective jobs: detecting and removing spyware and viruses.

I also want to know why a particular program is better than the rest.

Wierd noise whilst surfing interwebs

mikoroshi — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:31:11 -0800

Computer making strange noise as I surf. Am I invaded? As of yesterday my computer makes this weird noise, sounds kinda like a DJ scratching a record, when I surf from one website to another.
I've run AdAware and SpyBot Search and Destroy and they come up with nothing. My firewall is intact.
I'm using Firefox, is it possible I accidentally turned something on or off, r does this mean my system is infected?

What the heck is wrong with my laptop??!!

osloheart — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:36:31 -0800

What the heck is wrong with my computer?? So for the past week or so, my computer has been freezing up on me about 80 percent of the time I log onto the internet. It is out of control. I get this message "this program is not responding" and have to end the program, etc. Sometimes it takes a while to freeze and sometimes it is almost instantly. I noticed that when I log onto sites I use often (like Metafilter) it doesnt happen. But if I do a Google search and then click on a site I dont usually go to, it freezes right away.
I went to look for answers on the internet, but after about 3 times, I got frustrated and came here to ask you guys because I am clueless.
Its a two year old Dell Inspiron with Windows XP.

Help my father troubleshoot a pesky virus.

micawber — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:37:54 -0800

ParentTechSupportFilter: My father has a virus. *sigh* before I send him to Geek Squad, what else should I tell him to do that he hasn't done already? I don't know how this virus arrived. A sibling suggested blame being cast in the direction of my mother, who probably downloaded something she shouldn't have. Note that my father uninstalled his virus software because he felt it slowed his machine down. *sigh again* He is running XP.

That said, my father has done pretty well: he booted up in safe mode, he removed the offending program. He tried to install the Yahoo (i guess there's Yahoo internet now? heck if i know) antivirus, but his computer tells him he already has virus software installed. He called Norton tech support and they talked him through various uninstall scenarios, and ultimately said what my first response was - it's in the registry.

My father went into the registry and 1) found the virus there and 2) couldn't see anything from Norton or McAfee.

Now it's in my hands.

I am not far from him but really don't want to waste a saturday on this, mostly because my father is extremely unpleasant in these situations. plus i don't know that i can actually help him any more. what else should i be looking for or asking? what else can i tell him to do - besides wipe the machine and start over, which he will absolutely NOT do?

Clueless Mac user seeks help deleting viruses from PC.

dropkick queen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:45:59 -0800

Anti-virus software managed to remove most of the viruses from my mother's computer. However, two files remain. How proactive do I need to be about deleting them? I am a Mac user and have no experience dealing with computer viruses, so please pardon any stupid statements I might make here. My mother's computer was recently infected with a whole slew of viruses, because my brother the PC user gave her anti-spyware software but completely neglected to make sure she had any virus protection. I used Defender Pro (don't know if that was a good choice, but it and McAfee were all that was available at 10 PM at Wal-Mart in my hometown) to get rid of almost all of the viruses. However, two infected files and their subfiles still remain - mtewdh.dll and tdffdl.dll. Google tells me that these files host viruses that steal online gaming passwords. My mother doesn't online game, so it's not an issue, but should I be more worried about them and be more proactive about getting rid of them? If so, what on earth do I do? Or should I assume that Defender Pro will update its antivirus definitions at some point and will get rid of them? unfortunately, I am not PC savvy enough to have any clue about what to do here. I've found this explanation for how to get rid of one, but I'm nervous about screwing something up.

I want my Google back

leigh1 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:34:48 -0800

I can't figure out what's wrong with my computer and I can't Google the problem. Can you help me bring my Google back? - Google will load the front page, but hangs on search results indefinetely
- Gmail will also not load, unless I use "https://" instead of "http://", than it works fine
- 90% of other pages are fine, couple of them also won't load

I've tried AdAware/Spyware Doctor/TrendMicro.
I've also tried cleaning the cache/temp files/restarting Firefox, reinstalling Firefox, restarting computer, System Restore, turning firewall off/on, pinging Google, deleting all cookies, allowing only Google cookies.
My Internet connection is fine.
I don't have any pop-up blocker except Firefox default one.
It behaves exactly the same in Internet Explorer.
I cannot Google the problem, so I'm asking you.
Tell me the name of this thing and I will kill it with my bare hands (I love my Google very much).

Last Try Before I Shoot Old Yeller

StrikeTheViol — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:47:42 -0800

Windows XP TrojanFilter: I caught a trojan, cleaned it out, and now...100% CPU usage making my computer unusable, and I can't turn on Windows Update besides. With System Restore off, and every piece of software I've run so far telling me it's now clean, how can I fix my system without wiping my hard drive? My computer runs fine in safe mode, and I used Autoruns to delete some suspicious looking dll files. I'd use my Sony VAIO a690's restore partition, but I'm worried it won't do the trick. I don't have enough media to fully back up my computer, and I don't seem to have a Windows XP disk. With my tech wizard friends out of town, I'm stuck, and these kinds of problems aren't my forte. Any ideas before I reluctantly start from scratch?

(I've been using up to date versions of Norton Antivirus, Ad-Aware free version, Spybot S&D, and HighjackThis.)

I'm really not looking at gay porno

My Bloody Pony — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:13:37 -0800

When checking out a gchat link from a friend to nbc.com, my firefox froze as "jew.wmv" tried to run (unsuccessfully) and a screaming chorus of "I'm looking at gay porno" came out of my computer. Does anybody know what the hell this is? Being at home, alone, secure in my sexuality and the fact that I wasn't looking at porn of any type, it wasn't embarrassing, but I'm also on a mac, and not used to getting viruses any more as a result. I can't imagine that nbc.com would have caused this, even on their SNL Politics page, and when I tried again, it happened again. Anybody run into this or know why it might have happened? (I'm running Firefox on Leopard.)

Computer exposed to internet without a firewall, now what do I do?

miasma — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:28:48 -0800

My computer has recently been exposed to the wild internet without being behind a firewall. I'm running Windows 2000 without a software firewall. What should I do now to clean my machine and make sure it hasn't been subject to an exploit? I made the mistake of putting a gaming device in the DMZ of my router for a short while. When I came back today, the dynamically assigned IP had switched, and it was my computer that was in the DMZ. As a result, my computer has been exposed to the wild internet without a firewall. I have all the latest service packs and hotfixes installed. What else should I do to make sure that my machine hasn't been exploited?

I have Spybot S&D for spyware and AVG for virus checking.

Virus protection stats?

flibbertigibbet — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:23:58 -0800

I need your help to settle a debate. Could you suggest the safest antivirus setup, within the confines of Windows XP and a wireless internet connection, with the least bloat, and provide the statistics to prove it? I need more than simple AV comparatives. I need stats on the virtues of Firefox versus IE, on using two function-differentiated user accounts (admin versus everyday, with the 'everyday' account having no admin privileges), etc. Can you help? In essence, my father trusts a bloatware "known vector" that is eating up my laptop's resources (Norton2008) to alternative setups that he claims would "let the vampires [viruses] into the house."

This is the same man who blamed the beginnings of a hard drive failure (which was at that point mainly limited to weird behaviour) on my installing Firefox and WinAmp "because [I] like to use 'weird' software just to be 'cool,'" which, you guessed it, "let the vampires into the house." He later recanted that position, given that virus scans were clean, and that the hard drive actually failed catastrophically due to a manufacturing defect.

Basically, I put in the anecdote above to prove that he prefers the things he knows, no matter their faults, to new, potentially better, solutions. This is why I need cold hard stats, lest I go crazy because of the slowness Norton's bloat brought to an otherwise pretty decent computer.

The fact is, Norton is still more efficient than some of the AVs I'm considering (AVG-free, avast!, and maybe shelling out a bit to get NOD32, etc.), but if my setup as a whole is safer that his setup, I may have a case.

Any help?

CRTphobia

DU — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:01:59 -0800

Can my computer kill me without warning? In Cryptonomicon, there's a scene where a hacker sets up someone's computer to overdrive their (CRT) monitor, causing it to explode and send glass shrapnel into their eyes, brain, etc. Ever since then, I can't use a CRT-connected computer without thinking about it. Particularly the monitor I have at home, which makes these loud clunky clicking sounds whenever it switches modes, comes out of screensaver or turns on. Sometimes I even squint and cover my eyes, even though I know this is probably not very likely, if it's even possible.

I haven't been able to find anything about this online and sometimes the absence of evidence IS evidence of absence.

I would like to get an LCD (not just for this reason--I'm far from debilitated by this) but they are still too expensive.

How do I get rid of this email virus?

fvox13 — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 06:39:16 -0800

I'm at my wit's end trying to remove this virus! My boss brought in his computer (WinXP Pro SP2) for me to work on, complaining of popups and such. I ran scans with Norton, AVG, Avast!, AntiVir, Spybot, AdAware, and Stinger, but it's still infected with something. I even tried creating a new profile and copying over his documents... that didn't work either.

Within minutes of plugging in a network connection, it attempts to email hundreds, if not thousands, of emails. Most of these are being sent to hotmail accounts, and they seem to have a subject line of "fledge". I wouldn't even know these emails were being sent if he didn't have Symantec Email Proxy installed. I could uninstall it, and it would fix the popup issue, but the computer would still be infected with something.

I've tried to find a site where you can search viruses by symptom, but so far I haven't been able to find one. Does anyone have any suggestions for either removal or where I could research this further?

Too Much Information

Maishe — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 08:57:13 -0800

Why is my computer sending and receiving so many bytes of information in such a short amount of time? I recently noticed that right after I boot up (XP), the Local Area Connection status indicated that I have sent 1,500 bytes and recieved 5,000 bytes. And the numbers just keep getting higher from there even though i am not browsing---after about 2 hours I am logging about 14,000,000 bytes recieved and 5,000,000 sent. In the past I never have seen the numbers in this vicinity. What is going on here, and how can I fix it? Is it a virus or something?