(public domain diagram from Wikimedia Commons)
I have had this before and last time it was a trojan, so I knew what to do. I didn’t realise that it was going to take two days. Apparently about a third of all the world’s PCs are infected.
First I updated to the latest version of Ad Aware and the latest definitions file. This found and deleted some stuff, including Virtumonde, but after doing this it was still there. I paid for the latest version of Norton with added bells and whistles and did live update and ran the standard scan which showed nothing. So I ran the full scan, which takes ages, and it found and corrected several things. But still Virtumonde was there.
ClamWin with the latest database update did little more.
ClamWin with the latest database update did little more.
It was Spybot Search and Destroy that got there in the end. Virtumonde had installed itself over 30 times on my computer and was disabling the Windows security centre and taking down the firewall. Spybot could find them but crashed repeatedly when asked to delete them as it told me it had run out of resources. Installing updates helped and repeated running gradually reduced the number of Virtumonde infections to zero.
Over the two days I ran all four of these programmes repeatedly as either the action of one would unearth something that one of the others would fix or it just reinfected. In between scans I ran CCleaner to tidy up and restore the registry to good running order. Throughout the whole process the computer often got far worse, so sometimes it was like stirring treacle. And many times I had to turn it off at the power socket because it had frozen. Occasionally it went into pop up frenzies and often advertising downloads took over the computer.
So now it is fixed and none of the scans can find any more nasties. The computer is working better than it has for ages as the whole process fixed a lot more issues than just the Virtumonde. But I am not convinced, all these scanners are only as good as their databases, which inevitably lag behind the real world.
So why don’t you try it on your computer? Run all four scans and see what you find. You will quite possibly be in for a nasty surprise. And always update the scanner database before using it, without the latest definitions you are wasting your time.
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Yeah I will have to do a scan tonight. Thanks for reminding me. 🙂
I rarely ever recieve Spyware or viruses no matter what sorts of site I look up. Usually when I remember to scan I only get one or two bugs in about half a year. I use multiple programs too.
I’ve noticed this ever since I started using the Opera browser, it’s a Godsend.
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I used to have lots of issues with spyware and malware until I discovered Firefox.
Join the revolution Bruce and save yourself a lot of future hassle.
ActiveX is the work of Satan.
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More evidence for what I am trying to say:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39429909,00.htm
“The amount of web-based malware on legitimate sites has increased by over 400 percent since last year, according to security vendor ScanSafe.
In a security report entitled A comparative look at the state of web security, May 2007-May 2008, released on Thursday, ScanSafe found 68 percent of all internet-based malware was now being hosted on legitimate sites.”
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The best ‘cure’ for malware and spyware is prevention. If you had protected yourself properly in the first place you wouldn’t have had to go through all this hassle!
Oh and LOL at buying Norton. ^_^
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Cool!