UGH!! First Computer VIRUS!!

[sirrahbed]

Saturday I experienced my first virus ever!! (had lil things before but quickly cleaned by Norton so I saw nothing) I was browsing and reading about a medication I take....suddenly the Norton screen came on and said one of my files had "Trojan.DesktopHijack" attached to a file and to delete that file and replace it. I deleted it right away and started running a Live Update and there were quite a few new ones even though I do this every few days.

Suddenly, my home page on IE changed and popups from he!! started opening so fast I could not close them all. I ran my Ad-aware and Spyware but the Spy-bots were multiplying faster than I could delete them and the software froze. The screen flashed more sites and I watched my hard drive disintegrate within just a few minutes!! I noticed that my Favorites folders was replaced by porno sites - I could tell my the awful names and I have never even SEEN a porno site!! :eek:

It froze, died and will not boot:( So, hubby took it out and that offending box is just sitting on the workbench. I have a new (old) drive in here now but it will not let me load my camera software for some reason, but at least I can e-mail and read PT.

This was WEIRD!!

Anyone else get a bad computer virus and what did it look like???:mad:

[Kiia]

Ughh that's horrible.

I never had one as bad as that, the most I had was when running a virus scan it would catch them in there. That's pretty rare though, my boyfriend is kinda geeky (lol :p) and always runs the latest spyware, adware, and virus checkers on our systems, always updating them and looking for new ways to improve our systems and protection. So we've been pretty lucky so far.

[cubby31682]

I've had several. I am known to open up emails that have a virus in them. I have gone to untrust worthy sites and get them. I have learned how to take care of them though. :) I was playing a game one time while talking to a friend online. All the sudden my computer crashed and I had to reboot. No big deal until windows started up again. I couldn't open my browser at all. I was thankful I could open my chat program so I could ask my friend how to take care of it. He explained it to me step by step. It took me 45 minutes to get rid of it.

I also had a really really bad one. I opened up an email from my aunt, it had a really bad virus in it. So every thing on my computer froze. It wouldn't shut down, the mouse wouldn't move nothing. Hubby got home on his break, took a look at my screen and said what happened. I just laughed because I was to mad to do anything else. I told him my screen froze, the computer froze, god only knows what else froze. It took him 3 hours to fix MY computer. While he was fixing mine I was playing a game happily on his. Lol.

[Jods]

I actually had the same one not to long ago. Thank god we were able to fix it ourselves. It did the same thing deleted all my favorites on the computer and put some real nasty ones :o Hope you get it fixed soon Deb.

[sirrahbed]

Originally posted by Jods
I actually had the same one not to long ago. Thank god we were able to fix it ourselves. It did the same thing deleted all my favorites on the computer and put some real nasty ones :o Hope you get it fixed soon Deb.

Wasn't that weird??? Hubby is going to take the drive back to zeroes - wipe it out completely and start fresh. I had found a list of steps to get rid of it - but it was 12 pages long and hubby just wanted to get the hard drive out since it is old anyway.

I just did not know a virus could do this weird stuff!! I read at the Norton site that it was found just this April 18th so I figure some kids from spring break mischief are laughing their butts off!!

I wish I had thought to pull the computer off of our network - but hopefully it did not spead anywhere else :(

How did you fix it Jods? Didn't the popups start coming really fast?? Did you follow directions and delete a bunch of things from the registry?? WEIRD:eek:

[Jods]

we did a thing dunno what its called, (I think formatting) it wipes everything clean off the computer. It is hard cuz you have to delete everything, but it wipes it right out. All I wanted to save was my pictures so I saved them all to a disc and we cleaned it all out. Make sure to get your pictures off your computer or they will be all gone. Good luck!

[PJ's Mom]

Hubby got one a few years ago that just started deleting files off the hard drive starting with all the system files. By the time he realized what was happening and shut down the computer, half the hard drive was gone. :rolleyes:

[cubby31682]

Originally posted by Jods
we did a thing dunno what its called, (I think formatting) it wipes everything clean off the computer. It is hard cuz you have to delete everything, but it wipes it right out. All I wanted to save was my pictures so I saved them all to a disc and we cleaned it all out. Make sure to get your pictures off your computer or they will be all gone. Good luck!

Don't you just love formatting? :rolleyes: We have to do it atleast once every other month. You are suppose to format atleast once every six months. :) With my old computer (which we just sold :() I became very good and quick at it. Or atleast as fast as my computer would go. It is always a good idea to have an extra hard drive in your computer for storage reasons. We have 3 or 4 hard drives in the main computer. One is for storage of pictures and files. The others are for game storage and downloads that we had to pay for. A virus will affect the hard drive you have windows on. Which for us is only 1 hard drive. So I would always recommend getting a second hard drive just so you don't lose any important documents when formatting. But that's just me. :D

[RedHedd]

Originally posted by cubby31682
You are supposed to format at least once every six months. :) :confused: :confused: :confused: :eek: :eek: :confused: No you're not. I've NEVER formatted a hard drive while it was in use; just once when I was giving my old PC away. Regular maintenance is required, but reformatting a hard drive is the last-ditch solution to problems.

I use Norton Internet Security, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware and make sure all are regularly updated. Set Windows Update and Norton to update automatically. Run Windows Disk Clean-up and Defrag regularly and I haven't had any major problems.

[mina'smomma]

I had the exact same virus dear. I had to have my whole computer reformatted.

[cubby31682]

I have always been told to format once every six months. So that is what we do.


I use Norton Internet Security, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware and make sure all are regularly updated. Set Windows Update and Norton to update automatically. Run Windows Disk Clean-up and Defrag regularly and I haven't had any major problems.

We do all of those things as well. Like I said I have always been told every six months. I wasn't meaning for only major problems. We have to do it every other month or so because of certain issues we have with our computer, that aren't really fixable with out a format.

[Orca]

That sounds horrible, I'm sorry that happend! I hope you can fix it and get all your files back.

I just got a virus recently, but it wasn't that bad - it only affected my AIM, task manager (the vontrol, alt, delete thing), and a couple other small things, but enough to be annoying. I had to take my tower to tech. services at school and waited there an hour and a half for them to fix it. Now I have Microsoft AntiSpyware and it is working great - I haven't had any pop-ups or anything.

Again, good luck with yours!

[RedHedd]

Originally posted by cubby31682
I have always been told to format once every six months. So that is what we do. Ah yes, that is what newbie tech support people tell you to do when they don't know the solution to the problem - it's either reinstall Windows or reformat. What a pain, but if you're used to doing that, have at it.

[sirrahbed]

Thanks all! Yes, I do (thankfully) nackup all my pictures and really special files to a hard drive on our network so nothing priceless is gone. I also do the exact things redHedd mentioned "Norton Internet Security, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware and make sure all are regularly updated." :rolleyes:

But THIS was a nasty virus. As for reformatting - yes, I know some folks do it pretty regularly but if my geek hubby knows what he is talking about - regular reformatting just postpones more troubles. There is something he does calls "going back to zeroes" that is more than reformatting - it strips the old drive bare with no operating system on it - that's about all I know.

Interesting that some of you had the same virus! Quite an interesting thing to watch your hard drive disintegrate before your eyes as if taken over by an entity!!:eek:

I am currently using an older stripped one and got my good ole files back from the network - but think we will splurge and buy me a BRAND NEW drive.:D Now, if I can just keep it bug free:rolleyes:

OH! We still use Win 98 and now 2000 but if you have 2000 or better - Microsoft has a free Spybot that is supposed to be even better than Spy-Bot! Hubby loaded it to the server last night and it found a handful of spyware-bots and ads on a freshly scrubbed drive. In fact, I think it has "Scrub" in the name.....

[catnapper]

Debbie, how TERRIBLE! I saw this thread earlier, and immediately logged off, did a spyware scan and virus scan. I had more spyware than normal (ick, those aways make me feel creepy) and no viruses. Updated all my virus and spyware stuff too. Now I want to toss a lot of stuff on some CDs, but need a run to Staples for more. I think I'd die if everything was lost - especially all my photographs of the cats and my artwork (oh yeah, it'd be sad to lose the photos f hubby and the kids too :p )

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by catnapper
Now I want to toss a lot of stuff on some CDs, but need a run to Staples for more.

Just a little thing I "discovered." I have way too many pics and videos to back them up to Zip drives, CDs and I couldn't even considered old fashioned floppys. I even tried a few of the mini USB drive thingys and the last one I bought was around $80 or $90 and was (I think) 256 MB. I started doing some research, and for a little over $200.00 I got a 250 GIGAbyte drive!!! Yes, most people have hard drives that are 40 - 80 gig, this external one is 250! The 400 gig was over $400.00, so I went with the 250 gig. So with this external hard drive, I can back up my entire laptop, Terry's entire PC, my entire PC at work, my boss's entire PC and still have room left over! So for a little more than double the money of the mini USB, I got, like, 1,000 times the space!

So my point is, instead of spending money on CD's that only fit relatively miniscule amounts of data, look into an external hard drive for back up purposes. Kim, I know you're not loaded and coming up with an extra $200.00 might be a stretch, but they do have "smaller" hard drives for less money, maybe around $50.00 or so, so look into that before you spend money on CD's. The one I got connects through a USB port so you just install the driver and plug it in and you're ready to start backing up! I got my from Amazon.

Debbie, that is weird! Terry once got a virus and he got this spiral thingy going in the middle of his screen. He could still use the computer - he just couldn't see anything in the middle of his screen where the spiral thingy was. Thank goodness he could still use it though, because that was a long time ago now and I hadn't backed up anything on his computer prior to the virus so I was able to get the important stuff off before I reformatted. Learned my lesson about backup, and now do them on a regular basis.

And just FYI, I too would not format unless absolutely positively necessary. Doing it every month is a little extreme and would be a total pain in the rear! I've had to do it a couple of times and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy! ;)

[catnapper]

Thanks for the tip Debbie! I was thinking about a backup external hard drive, but never figured they could be had for aroun $50. I'll have to consider that when I go shopping next. It would be a life saver should anythign ever happen to my computer -- I have soooo much information on her for work that if it was lost would be devastating to me and my work.