woooah computer chill out!!

[the wiggle baron]

Just spent the last 24 hours trying to get rid of some nasty fucking malware i picked up somewhere recently. My norton subscription ran out and i didnt replace it with anything...got reamed

Got a google hijack virus first which was pretty epic, you search for anything in google and it works fine, but when you click on a result it doesnt send you to that page, just wherever the fuck it wants. A bunch of malware infested sites ive got to assume. Anyway, i then had proxy server set up on my browsers that stopped me viewing any pages, which when removed just meant the browsers crashed all the time. Anyhoo, this then put the cherry on the cake this morning when turning on the computer i was greeted by not windows, but a grey screen with a fake met police warning thing for looking at violent and gary glitter style images. They then go onto explain how you can only release your computer by sending £100 to this account within 48 hours lol Pretty impressive amount of control taken of the system though, couldnt do a thing. Just had to turn it off at the power, then restart in safe mode. Have been since launching every malware/virus scan the internet has to offer. I had tried a few that had sorted some things but definitely not everything. Ended up trying combofix from bleepingcomputer.com which sorted it...second time. The program is a pretty aggresive solution it appears, they only really recommend it to be used by trained peoples but fuck it, i dont mind nuking this thing that much. Anyway, i tried to be careful as possible...to then watch the power run out (were on a pound coin meter lol) while its deleting various files. Shiiiiiiiiit lol

Anyhoo, i tried again a couple of times, and once i had completely removed AVG it ran well and seems to have cleared it out. Will be vigilant though...

Any experiences with these? Savage stuff.

[JTMMusicuk]

had the google one before, took me like 2 years to find a program good enough to get rid of it but i guess that one is the least of your worries haha

[Sexual_Chocolate]

had virus' like that before

usually have a rescue disk laying around, so ill use that and just completely clear my HD (i back up all my important stuff)

run a malware/virus check to see if anything is lingering, and if there is i just repeat the process until its clean

[pikeymobile]

you need to change the gas in your router, i'd recommend argon

[knell]

You should invest in a windows version of Time Machine, like Genie Timeline or something.

[Dub_freak]

MSE + malwarebytes + adblock/noscript + avoiding dodgy websites = no viruses

I have a ubuntu partition on my hard drive in case of windows mucking up.

[AxeD]

I haven't had any anti-virus stuff for years

[yoowan]

i had that exact virus a few weeks ago

i really couldn't be arsed with fixing it so i backed up all my media from the guest account and reformatted windows

fixed the pc and of course is running like brand new. thank god for gary glitter

[pikeymobile]

don't be a fucking idiot

this is the only step you need to take to avoid viruses

[Dub_freak]

don't be a fucking idiot

this is the only step you need to take to avoid viruses

True

[apmje]

Just reformat.

[garethom]

don't be a fucking idiot

this is the only step you need to take to avoid viruses

Not true. The other day, opened firefox on XP, with Avast running as always. Pages I have on start up were Google, BBC, Facebook, Soundcloud. Straight away firefox shuts, VIRUS DETECTED. LONG. Baffling situation. Stayed away from dodgy sites, have adblock on, malware bytes always kept up to date, avast running, all windows updates applied, flash updates automatically.

Obviously blocks Malware Bytes, takes ages to get round that. Completely fucked my net connection. Could not get my machine to reconnect to the net, considering it was one of those "fake disk error BUY THIS TO FIX IT" viruses, thought that was a bit weird. I've got a feeling somebody had got hold of the code for the virus, tampered with it and fucked it up. Finally got rid of the virus, but still couldn't connect to the net. Checked every setting we could find, replaced the host file, reg clean, all that gubbins. Me and my dad both work in IT, like, 20 years combined experience, and we were there for a good 2 days trying to get it working. The only time we've ever sat there and gone "fuck it, let's just wipe it". I remember the good old days where to remove a virus, you went Processes > virus.exe > End Process > navigate to wherever it was > Delete > Done.

Got Windows 7 now though. MSDN licenses kill it.

[farman]

I had the met police virus, claiming i had been looking at gory images and videos also suggesting child porn.
I spooked for a second but its a nasty virus to say the least, no way im fooling to spend money to essentially bribe/pay a fine to the police.
Restart in safe mode, malware bytes, boom.

[SunkLo]

Even if it appears to have been fixed, I'd reformat anyway. Especially if you do any banking or use your credit card online. Once the system's security has been compromised it can't be trusted again.

Everyone should have their HD partitioned into system and data drives. The 40 minutes it takes to reinstall windows and programs can be faster than trying to get rid of viruses and actually gives you peace of mind. Not to mention the performance benefits of having a newly installed OS.

Always helpful to have a linux partition or liveCD or USB stick incase you need to back up your files and can't boot windows.

[garethom]

Even if it appears to have been fixed, I'd reformat anyway. Especially if you do any banking or use your credit card online. Once the system's security has been compromised it can't be trusted again.

One of the reasons I like banking with Barclays (not sure if any other banks have this for online banking) is the PINsentry device, similar to what we have at work. Generates an 8 digit one time password. Keylogger can look at what I just typed in if it wants, it won't work again.

[wub]

but a grey screen with a fake met police warning thing for looking at violent and gary glitter style images. They then go onto explain how you can only release your computer by sending £100 to this account within 48 hours lol Pretty impressive amount of control taken of the system though, couldnt do a thing.

Had the same issue come up a couple of weeks ago, but mine was in German and requested 150 EUR.

Anyway, used a combination of RKill (which instantly stops any Malware processes active on the machine) and then Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to kill the little fucker.

[garethom]

but a grey screen with a fake met police warning thing for looking at violent and gary glitter style images. They then go onto explain how you can only release your computer by sending £100 to this account within 48 hours lol Pretty impressive amount of control taken of the system though, couldnt do a thing.

Had the same issue come up a couple of weeks ago, but mine was in German and requested 150 EUR.

Anyway, used a combination of RKill (which instantly stops any Malware processes active on the machine) and then Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to kill the little fucker.

Rkill is a life saver.

On those virii, there should be an option where you can go into an exe that virus generates, and click a button that says "I'm not stupid" and then it will delete itself from your computer.

[phrex]

wiggie - you always have issues with your computer or internet... lol

[RandoRando]

microsoft security essentials + peerblcok for me

[Electric_Head]

Malwarebytes and ccleaner

don`t use any antivirus anymore