Re: another one for the adepts...


Tim Lamb wrote:
In message <1O2dnaqjFqg29O7XnZ2dnUVZ8gGdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Howard Neil <hneil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes

Tim Lamb wrote:
In message <m9SdnW8px9K3TO_XnZ2dnUVZ8vmdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Howard Neil <hneil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes

Is the program you ran, the Microsft Windows Malicious Software Remover? And did you get it from the Microsoft website?
I believe so. We reached the microsoft site through the *help and support* section. Vista is rather different from XP but it looked normal. Obviously this could easily be a false site. The actual scan took an hour or so which would seem unlikely if we had simply downloaded another lot of malware.

That sounds good. You have approached it exactly the right way and your machine should now be free of rootkit viruses. These viruses do open the door for lots of other viruses and spyware but your normal anti-virus program should easily deal with those.

I have now run the malicious software removal tool on this PC, after an hour of something less exciting than paint drying, it found nothing.

So? The PC has been re-booted several times since the original scare and AFAIAA has not shown any symptoms of malware.

The two remaining options are to investigate the router logs, advised by Derek, and to run the Highjack scan from the D-A-L site, Jill.

The site looks respectable. I think I'll ruminate for a bit and avoid financial activities on line.

Paranoia >>>>>>> this way >>>>>> :-)

Running a separate, non windows system, for financial transactions sounds a bit clever for me. I suppose a self contained package might do. What about key stroke loggers though?

regards


In that case you were not infected, in spite of the initial appearances. Please re-read my paragraph (below) re running a virus scan while you have Norton installed. It could cause you more hassle than you have had already. If you wish to run it, remove Norton completely before you start.

For a non Windows system, try Googling for Ubuntu. If you download that (it is a completely free Linux distribution and all the software with it is completely free). When installing it, it should give you the option of having a dual boot computer. The only downside is that you will then have to re-boot to change systems.

I would not worry too much about key loggers with financial services. They all have anti key logging methods to safeguard your passwords (they will typically ask you to enter certain letters from your password from a drop down list and all a key logger will see is a series of left clicks).





Beware of other free scanning software from the net. A lot of them are the source of malware and, unless you are running a Current (and respected) Anti Virus program (in which case you would not need the scan) you have no way of knowing.
Yes. However, Norton was running on this m/c and is never more than 7 days out of date.

You should really update it more often than this, my anti-virus updates 3 or 4 times a day. However, if you are running an anti-virus program, that is another reason why you should not run another normal anti-virus scan (this excludes the Microsoft one as that looks specifically for rootkit viruses) as such a scan will find the virus definitions within Norton and tell you that you are infected. Never have more than one anti-virus program on your computer for this reason. As I said above, if your Norton is current and up-to-date, you wouldn't need to run other scanners anyway.





--
Howard Neil
.

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