Simviation Forum - Picked up a Virus

Apr 18^th, 2009 at 11:23am

pengyman89 Offline
Colonel
At home at CYOW
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Gender:
Posts: 143

Hey all, I've picked up a virus. It seems to be up and down, at times my computer can't really do anything and at other times the computer is working normally so i'm not sure how severe it is. Just trying to decide what to do about it.
I'm using AVG antivirus. I need a way to get the virus and infected files off my computer. Is there a freeware program that could clean it all up? Should I consider taking my computer into a shop, I do have a good one that I use consistently (although i am not computer illiterate)? or should I perform a destructive recovery and reset everything to the off-the-shelf point.

I have two hard drives and most of my music and other media is on the second drive, I don't think there is any infection on it so I can unplug it when i do the recovery to save all the files I want saved.

Any and all help is appreciated, Thanks!

CM690&&Intel e8400 @3.937Ghz&&2GB Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2-800Mhz @ 875Mhz 5-5-5-16&&250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + Seagate 640GB&&Windows XP Media Center -32bit&&eVGA 8800GT 512MB&&Antec Truepower Trio 650W&&LG W2252TQ 22" LCD

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Reply #1 - Apr 18^th, 2009 at 12:02pm

HarvesteR Offline
Colonel
F/A-18 HARV Almost
has my name on it!
Mexico, DF :D

Gender:
Posts: 707

There are ways to check if you've got UpadDown / Conficker on your computer...

one of the symptoms is that it blocks access to some web security sites..

try accessing http://www.grisoft.com or http://www.f-secure.com ...if you can't, it's Conficker alright Wink

but there are simple ways to remove it, just google Conficker and you should find a procedure pretty quickly

Hope this helps

Cheers

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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Reply #2 - Apr 19^th, 2009 at 9:53am

Domj122 Offline
Colonel
RAF Kickass
Wales, United Kingdom

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Posts: 62

run an AVG scan and deleted the virus etc if that doesnt work try out Spybot Search & Destroy, handy little freeware program

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Reply #3 - Apr 22^nd, 2009 at 11:12am

pengyman89 Offline
Colonel
At home at CYOW
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Gender:
Posts: 143

I guess a little closure would be good. Apparently I understated the matter a little when I said I had a virus. What would the plural of Virus be? Virii?

I couldn't visit any sites even remotely involved with virus removal. getting malwarebytes and the microsoft MSRT was a chore. eventually got them both on there and scanned with both of them and AVG but they just couldn't keep up, and were not able to clean it up. I chose to bring the pc into a shop, the owner of which we are on a first name basis with. They eventually cleaned up the machine but some of the files were still damaged by the bug.

So I'll be upgrading from Windows XP" Media Center Edition to Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Fortunately our guy is only going to charge me for the installation of the OS (he already has the machine, may as well get it done right), and is negating the cost of the virus removal. Gotta love the few people nowadays that really have a passion for their trade Cheesy

CM690&&Intel e8400 @3.937Ghz&&2GB Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2-800Mhz @ 875Mhz 5-5-5-16&&250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + Seagate 640GB&&Windows XP Media Center -32bit&&eVGA 8800GT 512MB&&Antec Truepower Trio 650W&&LG W2252TQ 22" LCD

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Reply #4 - Apr 22^nd, 2009 at 7:17pm

Groundbound1 Offline
Colonel
No, I don't work for Mythbusters...
Michigan, USA

Gender:
Posts: 1745

Xp to Vista huh? Good luck. Huh

Specs: Asus Crosshair nForce 590 SLI,
AMD Athlon X2 6400+ w/ZeroTherm BTF90,
4GB G.Skill PI Series DDR2-800,
Sapphire HD4870 512MB,
PC P&C 750 Quad, in a CoolerMaster HAF932

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Reply #5 - Apr 23^rd, 2009 at 5:47am

Fozzer Offline
Colonel
An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

Groundbound1 wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2009 at 7:17pm:

Xp to Vista huh? Good luck. Huh

..Tee-hee..... Wink

...!

...you beat me to it!... Grin

....!

Paul...G-BPLF...FS 2004...Win XP Pro SP2... Smiley

...!

I have so many programs, (recent, and very old), from the past, that run successfully under Win XP, that I am very reluctant to change to Windows Vista, and upset the Apple Cart... Roll Eyes

....

...!

I moved from Win '98 directly to Win XP Pro, followed by Win XP Pro SP2 update.

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
Yamaha MO6,MM6,DX7,DX11,DX21,DX100,MK100,EMT10,PSR400,PSS780,Roland GW-8L v2,TR505,Casio MT-205,Korg CX3v2 dual manual,+ Leslie 760,M-Audio Prokeys88,KeyRig,Cubase,Keyfax4,Guitars,Orchestral,Baroque,Renaissance,Medieval Instruments.

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Reply #6 - Apr 23^rd, 2009 at 1:31pm

pengyman89 Offline
Colonel
At home at CYOW
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Gender:
Posts: 143

i'm a little skeptical myself as xp has performed well enough over the last little while. But most of the bugs have been worked out so i'm willing to give it a try.

edit: I also have very few to no old programs, nothing so old that it wouldn't work under vista

CM690&&Intel e8400 @3.937Ghz&&2GB Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2-800Mhz @ 875Mhz 5-5-5-16&&250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + Seagate 640GB&&Windows XP Media Center -32bit&&eVGA 8800GT 512MB&&Antec Truepower Trio 650W&&LG W2252TQ 22" LCD

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Reply #7 - Apr 23^rd, 2009 at 2:41pm

Fozzer Offline
Colonel
An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

pengyman89 wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2009 at 1:31pm:

i'm a little skeptical myself as xp has performed well enough over the last little while. But most of the bugs have been worked out (in Vista) so i'm willing to give it a try.

edit: I also have very few to no old programs, nothing so old that it wouldn't work under vista

When you've got the rest sorted out give Uncle Bill a call, I think he needs your help... Wink

...!

Paul.... Grin

...

...!

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
Yamaha MO6,MM6,DX7,DX11,DX21,DX100,MK100,EMT10,PSR400,PSS780,Roland GW-8L v2,TR505,Casio MT-205,Korg CX3v2 dual manual,+ Leslie 760,M-Audio Prokeys88,KeyRig,Cubase,Keyfax4,Guitars,Orchestral,Baroque,Renaissance,Medieval Instruments.

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Reply #8 - Apr 25^th, 2009 at 2:06am

HarvesteR Offline
Colonel
F/A-18 HARV Almost
has my name on it!
Mexico, DF :D

Gender:
Posts: 707

sorry I just had to Grin

Cheers

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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Reply #9 - Apr 25^th, 2009 at 6:18am

charlesed Offline
Colonel
Twin Cities, MN, US

Gender:
Posts: 532

apparently I'm the only person here to actually defend vista... Cheesy

I think I'll go hide in a corner now

Unintentionally halting all discussion on forums since 1992.

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Reply #10 - Apr 25^th, 2009 at 8:44am

Groundbound1 Offline
Colonel
No, I don't work for Mythbusters...
Michigan, USA

Gender:
Posts: 1745

I've always been a big believer in the idea "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so I never saw the need for Vista. To me, it would be like having a car that is in great shape, running fine and getting great milage, but still going out to buy a new one to replace it just because it's the new one is "prettier".

I could understand if the performance hit that comes with Vista was offset by something useful, like added stability, compatability, or usefullness, but, well you'll see.... Roll Eyes

Specs: Asus Crosshair nForce 590 SLI,
AMD Athlon X2 6400+ w/ZeroTherm BTF90,
4GB G.Skill PI Series DDR2-800,
Sapphire HD4870 512MB,
PC P&C 750 Quad, in a CoolerMaster HAF932

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Reply #11 - Apr 25^th, 2009 at 10:12am

pengyman89 Offline
Colonel
At home at CYOW
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Gender:
Posts: 143

unfortunately my computer was very broke, lol, and needed something. It would be like if you had a car in great shape...and then the engine blew

Its a little confusing right now as the set up is so different. also while the files on my second hard drive were untouched, my C drive seems to have changed around quite a bit. finding my files has been interesting as well as getting all my regular websites set up, installing whatever i lost, etc.

The nice thing though is that my computer does seem to be running faster than it was with XP Media Center. It is using more ram while idling, but over all it is much snappier, which I am not complaining about.

CM690&&Intel e8400 @3.937Ghz&&2GB Patriot PC2-6400 DDR2-800Mhz @ 875Mhz 5-5-5-16&&250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive + Seagate 640GB&&Windows XP Media Center -32bit&&eVGA 8800GT 512MB&&Antec Truepower Trio 650W&&LG W2252TQ 22" LCD

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Reply #12 - Apr 25^th, 2009 at 1:54pm

Fozzer Offline
Colonel
An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

charlesed wrote on Apr 25^th, 2009 at 6:18am:

apparently I'm the only person here to actually defend vista... Cheesy

I think I'll go hide in a corner now

...it can be a very lonely World... Cry

...!

Paul....G-BPLF... Grin

...

...!

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
Yamaha MO6,MM6,DX7,DX11,DX21,DX100,MK100,EMT10,PSR400,PSS780,Roland GW-8L v2,TR505,Casio MT-205,Korg CX3v2 dual manual,+ Leslie 760,M-Audio Prokeys88,KeyRig,Cubase,Keyfax4,Guitars,Orchestral,Baroque,Renaissance,Medieval Instruments.

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Reply #13 - Apr 25^th, 2009 at 3:15pm

charlesed Offline
Colonel
Twin Cities, MN, US

Gender:
Posts: 532

pengyman89 wrote on Apr 25^th, 2009 at 10:12am:

unfortunately my computer was very broke, lol, and needed something. It would be like if you had a car in great shape...and then the engine blew

The nice thing though is that my computer does seem to be running faster than it was with XP Media Center. It is using more ram while idling, but over all it is much snappier, which I am not complaining about.

Same situation I was in when I switched from XP to Vista, my computer broke and I had to switch.

Good to see I'm not the only person who noticed a faster computer. Grin

Fozzer wrote on Apr 25^th, 2009 at 1:54pm:

charlesed wrote on Apr 25^th, 2009 at 6:18am:

apparently I'm the only person here to actually defend vista... Cheesy

I think I'll go hide in a corner now

...it can be a very lonely World... Cry