Warning msn messenger users

[cherrybee]

I clicked a link from my sister in messenger and it installed a program with a file called x.exe it is all over my computer despite me finding some and deleting them.It is making the computer go haywire and every time I am on line another tab opens advertising loans or anti virus and it tends to freeze.Norton is constantly blocking a Trojan horse and saying the computer is safe.I am not emailing anyone or using messenger at the moment.I have installed spyware doctor as windows defender reports there is nothing wrong.It is at the moment doing a full scan and when that finishes.I am doing a antivirus scan.There are a couple of you on here that are on my messenger buddy list.If anything comes from me please ignore although Norton seems to be stopping this Trojan from communicating I want to be sure.If anyone else has had this and got rid of it I would be grateful if they can tell me how.I am at my wits end with the damn thing.I thought I had got rid but obviously not as every now and then a window will pop up that I dont want.I hope I can find a solutions as I really do not want to format

[Beryl]

Ok.
Sorry to here about you prob.
One thing might help to roll back to the day before
Or you could go to regeditand get it out of the registrery
But I think uou probably know that.
Hope you can sort it out soon
Beryl

[nightshade]

I abandoned messenger when I recieved (unsolicited) a site ad for
"hot kisses" I do not like pornography it is demeaning to both sexes
Everytime I tried to delete it it multiplied
I eventually tracked the root program down and deleted it with some
help from an internet site.I just typed in the program name as a google
search and also e-mailed my antivirus helpline
good luck

[cherrybee]

Thanks but for some unknown reason my system restore wont work,and although I have tracked down the x.exe and deleted them all there is still a problem with the browser opening on different adverts and I keep having to close it.Not just a popup but a full size new tab.It is driving me mad.Mostly it is a site for anti virus and it doesnt like to leave I think the exe file also installed other programs.I have disable system restore I have started a full system scan with Norton and also spyware doctor which has already picked up 2 infections.We will see when that is finished.The symantic site said to disable system restore before the scan so in case any infected file wont delete because of being protected.I dont think it is a virus as such it seems to be a trojan but its a pain in the u know what

[Lords and Ladies]

Hi cherrybee,

You should really start windows in "safe mode" to try to make sure the trojan isn't active when you scan with your antivirus etc. stuff. You start in safe mode by pressing F8 at the appropriate point during the bootup of your computer (this can be a little tricky to time but there should be a brief text message during bootup if you're quick enough to spot it).

When in safe mode try all your scans with system restore disabled.

If you're able to use the internet, you could try downloading AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 which seems to be quite effective.

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by Lords and Ladies

Hi cherrybee,

You should really start windows in "safe mode" to try to make sure the trojan isn't active when you scan with your antivirus etc. stuff. You start in safe mode by pressing F8 at the appropriate point during the bootup of your computer (this can be a little tricky to time but there should be a brief text message during bootup if you're quick enough to spot it).

When in safe mode try all your scans with system restore disabled.

If you're able to use the internet, you could try downloading AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 which seems to be quite effective.

spyware doctor has got rid of a couple of infections and I am no longer getting the browser opening up on pages I haven't asked for so that looks cured.My Norton antivirus is the latest one and scans for trojans spyware etc.It has blocked a program called infostealer.I have looked in every folder on my pooter this afternoon without finding anything odd.I have a large hard drive and another which I use for backup and the Norton scan has been going since mid day and hasn't finished yet.So far so good nothing found.Is it any quicker in safe mode .If I have any probs tonight I will do it all again in safe mode and leave it overnight.Thanks for the tip

edit Norton has finally finished with no virus's or spyware and the like so cross fingers it is all A ok

[Lords and Ladies]

Originally Posted by cherrybee

Is it any quicker in safe mode

Not that I know of It will still take ages..

As well as the usual antivirus software, there is a nice little utility called RegistryProt which simply asks you to confirm any changes to the registry. So if it shows that something is trying to change the Registry, and you yourself aren't installing anything, it gives you a heads up that something may not be right and you can choose to disallow it.

[Gaina]

I can also recommend a program called Winshredder 2.0 that my Dad and I have been using successfully for a few months. When you delete a file it gets rid of all the 'residue' and you'll find your computer runs much faster.

Regarding REGEDIT, that's a good idea just to have a look and make sure it's not running. If you use AOL you might want to uncheck that too, as it makes your computer run faster.

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by Lords and Ladies

Not that I know of It will still take ages..

As well as the usual antivirus software, there is a nice little utility called RegistryProt which simply asks you to confirm any changes to the registry. So if it shows that something is trying to change the Registry, and you yourself aren't installing anything, it gives you a heads up that something may not be right and you can choose to disallow it.

Thank you I have just downloaded it to try it and see.So far since spyware Dr and norton have done there scans everything seem to be running fine now thanks everyone

[Paul mabbott]

Hope that all is safe now.
A couple of general comments - I tend to go for belt and braces (and a bit of string) and have anti-virus, firewall, RegistryProt &c &c .... I would have thought that Sygate Firewall would have protected from this?
Incidentally, I gave up on Norton some time back - it seldom achieved what it was supposed to do (told you that you had a virus but couldn't remove it!), crashed a lot, took an awful long time to check the system ... and it cost money. We have all been using AVG software AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security - Welcome for a few years now and have had no problems. In fact. most people I know use it .... and it's free ....

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Hope that all is safe now.
A couple of general comments - I tend to go for belt and braces (and a bit of string) and have anti-virus, firewall, RegistryProt &c &c .... I would have thought that Sygate Firewall would have protected from this?
Incidentally, I gave up on Norton some time back - it seldom achieved what it was supposed to do (told you that you had a virus but couldn't remove it!), crashed a lot, took an awful long time to check the system ... and it cost money. We have all been using AVG software AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security - Welcome for a few years now and have had no problems. In fact. most people I know use it .... and it's free ....

Thanks Paul I also have as much as I can and this is the first time this has happened and all through msn messenger.I never click links unless I recognize them and in was in the chatbox from my sister and it looked a perfectly harmless one and the sort of stuff she would send.She rang me last night and told me it wasn't her.Apparently all her sons contacts got it too and of course it pinched all the contact addresses off messenger and it looked as if my sister had sent it.I have had Norton for several years and have always been happy with it .So much so when it comes to renewing I normally upgrade to the latest which I did this time.It was blocking the Trojan and as such no one had any message from me from my messenger.The only thing I do find it slows up the computer when I start it and also takes ages to scan it but a small price to pay as until this happened I have been safe.Told sis not to send links to sites anymore as I wont open them No matter how funny or near the bone they are

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Hope that all is safe now.
A couple of general comments - I tend to go for belt and braces (and a bit of string) and have anti-virus, firewall, RegistryProt &c &c .... I would have thought that Sygate Firewall would have protected from this?
Incidentally, I gave up on Norton some time back - it seldom achieved what it was supposed to do (told you that you had a virus but couldn't remove it!), crashed a lot, took an awful long time to check the system ... and it cost money. We have all been using AVG software AVG Anti-Virus and Internet Security - Welcome for a few years now and have had no problems. In fact. most people I know use it .... and it's free ....

A recent test by Computer shopper concluded that anti-virus was a rip off, at least most of the commercial ones are. Norton did badly, with "underwhelming virus detection" The best was Kaspersky Anti-virus 6, or Eset's NOD32.2.7. AVG also came out very well, it's far better than Norton or Mcafee, and it's free.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by glsammy

A recent test by Computer shopper concluded that anti-virus was a rip off, at least most of the commercial ones are. Norton did badly, with "underwhelming virus detection" The best was Kaspersky Anti-virus 6, or Eset's NOD32.2.7. AVG also came out very well, it's far better than Norton or Mcafee, and it's free.

Glad to hear that they agree with me! I'm increasingly conviced that there are free programmes for all general use and that they are better insofar as they don't have so many useless, space- and time-consuming 'bells and whistles' as the commercial programmes. You don't need to look far, even the basic Word has become a massive programme which can do almost anything - if the user only knew about it!

[DaiTheDragon]

I use a Mac but I have PC as well that my children use. My son uses MSN and I had a Trojan last week. I dont even bother trying to get rid of them anymore, I just do a clean install.

Dai

[Blackdog]

I, like many others have been using Norton since the year dot, believing it to be the 'puppy's parts' if you know what I mean.

My Son recently introduced me to XoftSpy, what a difference that has made; it found nearly 100 sneaky files that Norton could not see.

You can get a 'try before you buy' download here: XoftSpySE by ParetoLogic If you are being plagued with spyware and other nasties, give this a try

[brainfarmer]

im paranoid about viruses and trojans in e-mails and messenger. i have one e-mail address that i only use for financial transactions. im very very careful about who has any of me e-mail addys, as from past experience people will insist (without trying to be malicious) forward things to all their contacts with out making it a 'blind' copy so everyone on their contact list gets your e-mail addy. i also never open any mail from people i dont know.
i used to use AVG but ive found norton does a better job for me even though a lot of people dont like it.
i think sometimes we are a bit blase about security on the internet and if people are like me and a complete pc idiot sifting through all the info about anti virus software, firewalls, trojans etc is very daunting.

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

I use a Mac but I have PC as well that my children use. My son uses MSN and I had a Trojan last week. I dont even bother trying to get rid of them anymore, I just do a clean install.

Dai

Up to 2 oclock this morning it is still playing silly beggers.I have just had internet explorer open another window for ebay without me clicking anything except to get here.All scans done but something is still there so bye bye for now about to do a clean install Luckily all my stuff was backed up

[nightshade]

Best Anti-Virus Kaspersky 6,£28 next Steganos Anti-virus 2007 £20
These two programmes are identical and beat Norton hands down

[cherrybee]

I am back the computer is flying along at the moment.Have a lot of programs to install but am getting there.Thanks to all for all your hints and tips

[DaiTheDragon]

Glad you got it sorted.

Dai

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by DaiTheDragon

Glad you got it sorted.

Dai

thanks in the middle of downloading all the windows updates it takes sooooo long I still have a load of programs to put back I think I will be here till midnight or later

[Beryl]

Well I picked uop a trogen afew days ago and realised what was going on today . Spent all afternoon sorting it out
Mostly my PC is running ok but if it goes any slower it may go backwards. Looks like a clean install for me too.
As if I have nothing better to do.