Viruses-Malware-Trojans Oh My!

[Structo]

Man, I spent all last night and this morning trying to clean my PC of about eight nasty Malware and viruses.

I got some kind of warning on TC Electronics site.
I thought my Avast blocked it but when I started my PC later in the day, it was crippled.
No connectivity and the antivirus program was screwed up.

It still isn't 100% but I'm most of the way there.

Be careful out there boys and girls.

[vibratoking]

AVG isn't as tight as we would all like it to be.

At my company, the approach is to rebuild the OS rather than trying to clean anything. As soon as a trojan/virus/whatever is found, the machine is removed, formatted and reinstalled from scratch. The IT guys say the machine will never be fully correct after cleaning.

[martin manning]

Same story at the outfit I work for.

[katopan]

I hate it how anti virus is supposed to block the nasties but every single time for me the warning goes off but it still gets through. A full system image that's up to date is your friend.

[Structo]

AVG isn't as tight as we would all like it to be.

At my company, the approach is to rebuild the OS rather than trying to clean anything. As soon as a trojan/virus/whatever is found, the machine is removed, formatted and reinstalled from scratch. The IT guys say the machine will never be fully correct after cleaning.

NOOooooo!

I don't want to reformat, I don't want to reformat.....

Even if I do a repair install it probably isn't the same security as a wipe and re-install is it?

[vibratoking]

Tom - it's not that bad!

I pretty much do it once a year regardless of virus'. I find that it gives me a chance to start over with a clean OS and get rid of all the 'stuff' that I downloaded and installed and then decided I really didn't need.

As long as your self-generated data is organized nicely, it is not that bad. I keep all my stuff locally on hard drives, but I am considering moving it to the cloud. That move would make rebuilding even easier, but the cloud makes me a little nervous.

[crbowman]

I can't say it enough.
Set up a regular backup routine! I know it's a pain in the ass but it's not as bad as a crash with no hope of recovery and makes a periodic OS rebuild much less stressful.
Lost my contacts list twice before I learned this.

[MCK]

reBOOT that PC and get a Mac... Harrrr. Sorry. Couldn't help myself there.

On a serious note though, format / install is good advice but first you should make sure you don't get infected in the first few minutes after the format. A fresh Win install is unprotected since it lacks the later OS updates + security fixes + antivirus etc. Suggest you make sure at your router level that your PC is not reachable from the outer world. The constant scanning on the net looking for vulnerable PCs usually get to your unprotected PC in a few minutes.

Also look into MS Security Essentials for AntiVirus. I run it on my remaining PCs and it seems to be quite ok. Also free like AVG.

Best of luck!

[sliberty]

If storage in the cloud makes you nervous, buy a NAS, install two drives (RAID mirror), and store all your data there. This also risks (fire for example), but it will be more in your control. And by separating your data from your OS, rebuilds are much simpler.

[Structo]

Yes, I have most all of my data on a separate drive.

But the pain in the ass is all the drivers and things I will have to hunt for.

Right now I have it back to around 90% but I think something is broken because it takes a while to respond.

THis is an old machine by PC standards.
Windows XP Pro SP3.

It has a AMD 64 Athlon +4800 processor, 2G RAM, WD Raptor 74GB system drive and a WD 250GB storage drive.
I also have a external 200GB drive.

How about if I re-install SP3?

[vibratoking]

Tom - Windows XP SP3 is a very stable platform. Maybe the best version that MS ever put out IMO. I am still using it at home. MS is going to stop officially supporting XP sometime next year, I believe, but that is not a reason for me to stop using it.

Keeping your data on a single drive can be really bad news. Don't ask me how I know.

[Structo]

Yes I don't really plan on "Upgrading" to any of the newer OS.

I've gotten to know XP pretty well and I can usually fix it.
I had started backing up drivers and such in the even that I had to re-install XP.

So in my efforts to salvage this installation, I did some registry restores and other assorted things.
Then I got into the dreaded Windows Authentication loop.
When this happens, you can't get into Windows to activate it.
So through some command entries I was able to get past that.

It seems whatever I did after that, things are working better.
I don't have that long pause after I click on something and my internet seems back up to speed.

Hopefully I can stay out of trouble now.
I was really surprised that I got the malware from TC Electronics.
No porn or any other risky sites.

I would contact them to let them know their server has been compromised but there is no way I am going back there!

[amplifiednation]

I reformat once a year. It makes my old computer run like new! The drivers are pretty much all online for anything you would need. Its always stressful because its tough to remember to back up everything, favorites, iTunes, but well worth it!