W32MAGISTR.39921 Virus

Bird · Nov 9, 2001

Someone just tried to get me with an e-mail virus. My Norton Anti-Virus said the incoming e-mail had a virus and in the "details" showed it to be a subject of "right.bat" and a virus named W32MAGISTR.39921 and said it had "repaired" it. Then the e-mail showed to be a subject of "This extracts the driver" from "River of Life Health". I just deleted it, but then it came again twice more (3 times in all). I don't know where it came from, but Symantec obviously knows about it. I went to their web site and read more about it. Hope everyone is running antivirus software.

Jeff396 · Nov 9, 2001

Hey Bird,

I had the Magistr virus about four months ago. I found out I needed to re up my subscription to Symantic. Now for some reason my 1 year subscription has expired in 3 months. Both of their phone lines are constantly busy and their internet help seem just to be an exercise in frustration. I have the exact problem listed on their site and their solution seems to do me no good. I don't suppose you have ever had this problem? To make matters worse my cable modem seems to be on the fritz these last 3 days and is going up and down like a ping pong ball (I guess the squirrels got tired). Fortunately I kept my msn account which is a toll call and slow but at least it is working!!! Also, I'm thinking the $15.95 I paid Symantec may be a loss but at least it helped me with the Magistr virus. Anyone got any thoughts on another virus protection program????/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Jeff

rf33 · Nov 9, 2001

There are several others out there, but the Norton actually seems to be the best. If you are disgusted with Symantec though, the other leader in AV software is Mcafee. Their product is a good one, but I would have to give Norton the nod in this case. If you need info on any viruses, you can go to the Symantec AV research center web site at www.sarc.com. Good luck with your virus problems, I hope that everything works out OK.

rf33

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Bird · Nov 9, 2001

Jeff, I haven't had a complaint with Norton yet. This computer came with Norton AntiVirus, but then I bought the Norton SystemWorks and their firewall and installed those. I do have it set to automatically update regularly and leave in on all the time, and it's caught and stopped viruses 3 or 4 times; today being the latest.

njrqs · Nov 9, 2001

Bird

Yes that virus and a million like it are getting around. They are "mass mailers" that send themselves to everyone in the affected persons's address book.

Sometimes though I get them from people I don't know ??

The subject matter normally won't make any sence either, it just seems to copy certain bits from the person's PC.

I use Norton AV & Firewall and the only thing I have had a problem with was the Nimda virus. I didn't update in time to pick it up as it only turned up fast.

I actually got it from a corrupted website.

Scary stuff but Norton is good if updated !

Cheers

Neil from OZ.

CVHoss · Nov 9, 2001

Jeff,
I'd keep after Symantec if I were you. While it's been a while since I had to call or email them for anything, they have always been pretty good about getting back to me. I don't think I've ever waited more than 48 hrs for an email response. I can't keep track of how many of my friends and associates have lost the use of their computers in the last 6 months and all most all of them were running McAfee. Several times, it was because this was what had come on the computer and more than one had never updated the virus definitions, but there have also been several that have had up-to-date definitions. To date, I've not had anything get passed Norton (knock on wood). Since I'm on a cable modem, I have mine set up to download new virus definitions every day at 4:00 a.m. Just can't be to cautious.

p.s. Jeff, have you gone here http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/subscribe/subscription_solutions.html to try to work out your subscription problems?

Hoss

scruffy · Nov 10, 2001

McAfee has also been suffering alot of incompatibility problems with windows, especially the past year and a half to two years. Trial version of F-Prot can be downloaded here:http://www.frisk.is/f-prot/products/ It is every bit as good as Norton's ... some say better ... subscription is $25.00 per year.

Jeff396 · Nov 10, 2001

What version has everyone got? I'm still running NAV2000 which came installed with my computer. I keep seeing references to 2001 and I think 2002. Are there notable improvements there or do they just come with the additional virus protection I am supposed to be able to download through Liveupdate?

Jeff

Jeff396 · Nov 10, 2001

Got one more question. When I had the Magistr virus and Norton wiped it out I am left with one last annoying situation. Every time I boot up this MS DOS STARS window comes up for a short period of time. I assume this is where the virus stashed its code that was doing the damage. It was apparantly running so you couldn't see the window though. Now it's just an empty window with instructions on how to use DOS. Does anyone know where I would go to get rid of this. I would think it's in the Startup file but on these new computers I don't know what file that would be in anymore. Anyone really literate on these things? I feel much more comfortable working on cars and tractors!!

Jeff

Bird · Nov 10, 2001

Jeff, as you probably know, I don't know much about computers, but if you try http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.magistr.39921@mm.html, you'll find Norton's instructions for removal of that virus.

As far as which version and whether you need the newest, or just the updates, I don't know. I'm running Norton SystemWorks 2002, but don't know what's different about it from the earlier versions.

You might look at this link to see what's new in SystemWorks 2002, if you understand it.

Edited by Bird on 11/10/01 07:48 AM (server time).