spent last 6hrs (still) recovering from viri/malware

[Soundguy]

using kasparsky and it still got me.. some root kit, and some malware.. had to do multiple disinfections.. rebooting from a unix disk, and in the end, still had to roll back a week. think I may be ok.. reinstalling kasparsky as I type..

I wish malware writers would be prosecuted as terrorists...

and don't even ask me what my thoughts are on their punishment....

 

[MasseyWV]

I'd advise a complete reload, because many computer viruses and rootkits can respawn themselves unless the harddrive is completely wiped.

 

[newbury]

And to anyone that reads this - When was your last complete, safe backup? (don't answer)
Do it today, your ok
If you wait it could be too late.

/edit -
And remember a backup isn't good until it's verified. I've had more than one fail in the last 20 years.

 

[rsewill]

There is even one malware on the Mac:

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/...irus-stealing-10000-a-day-20120502-1xxw0.html

 

[murphy1244]

using kasparsky and it still got me.. some root kit, and some malware.. had to do multiple disinfections.. rebooting from a unix disk, and in the end, still had to roll back a week. think I may be ok.. reinstalling kasparsky as I type..

I wish malware writers would be prosecuted as terrorists...

and don't even ask me what my thoughts are on their punishment....

I spilled a cup of coffee on my key board last week and that was the end of Vista. New machine and widows 7. Hey guys is norton 360 any good?.

 

[riptides]

That is a lot of time for recovery. I would suggest another approach to your anti-viral, malware recovery plans.

I use a USB kit, that has recovery software on it and a varient of Knoppix (linux). Bottom line is I boot from that, and hit the latest windows restore partition. Usually up and operational within an hour. And I rarely use pay for anti-viral kits. I just don't see the return on investment.

Those "known" good windows restore partitions are key.

 

[Soundguy]

the 6 hours was the download times for new versions and updates and scans.

my kasparsky dvd is a 2011 version.. and yes.. it does boot in linux off the dvd, so that it can clan the hdd and other drives to prevent the respawning. once I figured out i was being hit by 2 things.. malware and a trojan, i got with the business.. thus some of my efforts were duplicated. had I known fully what I was up against.. it would have been easier.. but then again.. sheer downlaod times of hundreds of megabytes of data on a basic broadband line is slow.. remember.. i use a small netbook on winxp

when i would do the kasparsky bootup and install.. it was of course last years version.. it wanted to dl new ver ( 111mb ).. then once installed.. it wanted to download new sigs ( 89mb ).. then do a complete scan.. 1+hr.. trojan root kit was gone.. the dang addware was harder to kill.. and I eventually, once i was virus and trojan free, just roleld back a week to a restore point beofre the issue.. that solved 99% of my probs.. lost my favorites list in explorer for some reason.... no biggie.. after the rollback i once again had to get kaspasky going again.. new ver.. new defs.. thus the 6hrs...

 

[riptides]

Understood.

I travel a lot, and handle a lot of networks. I usually hit the real office once a month and we have software that burns our "common operational environment" updates to DVD. Those DVD's are then provided as updates to the various networks. Saves bandwidth, is a controlled process, secure, accountable and all that......

I guess once a month you'll have to see if any of your software has updates and then go get them before you have an issue. That's no fun, but may save some hours later. Just think if your external network was down and you had that running amok in your private network.... Ouch.

 

[TCJatko]

I use Avast anti-virus. Completely free, and they update constantly (maybe 2 or 3 times a day). It's worked for me for many years. :thumbsup:

 

[Hakim]

I spilled a cup of coffee on my key board last week and that was the end of Vista. New machine and widows 7. Hey guys is norton 360 any good?.

Sorry for your problems. Actually Windows has an excellent security program built in, Windows Security Essentials (MSE).

MSE is free, and MSE is, in fact, very good; there is pretty much universal agreement on that point. Is it as good as McAfee or Norton (Symantec) or other paid products? That is a matter of debate, but it is at least "in that league" .... and I would go so far as to say that it's the best FREE security software.

As to the paid products, I and many other (but not all by any means) professionals believe that Norton Internet Security (NIS) is currently the best of the paid products. Some people are very down on Norton, because mid-decade Norton had gotten very bad, but the Norton products since about 2008 are among the best of the security software products (note I say "among the best"; arguing which is THE best is like arguing about religion or politics ... you won't get a unanimous opinion).

I do think that, generally, having a fully updated (e.g. critical updates) system and MSE is definitely "good enough". If you want a paid product, I'd personally go with NIS. My gut feeling is that it may be a tiny bit better than MSE, but for many people the "tiny bit" may not be enough to justify the fact that it's not free.

BTW, to get MSE, go to Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Antivirus for Windows

Note that MSE requires activation and validation; it will not run on copies of windows that are not "genuine", and tests for this during installation.

I have been using MSE for almost two years, and have had no serious malware. BTW, I use Anti-Malware Bytes to get rid of the toughest stuff. So far, so good.

All the best,