More darned malware - now is it dying?

[ChrisR]

I'd already reset IE and used the Norton Removal tool.
I don't know how much of an indicator it is, but looking at CPU usage in Control Panel, things are pretty quiet. Previously there was a background level of activity and regular pulses every 12 seconds or so.

I made the hosts file ( I assume it's with no extension??)
I haven't noticed any difference. Is the file actually doing anything, with everything commented out?

I did find some malware on an SD card which hadn't been plugged in for a long time. A shell script was in an ini file to execute a file in the Recycle directory. MSE found it.
If I rerun HijackThis and compare log files, am I likely to see if something has popped up again?

Thanks for your help guys. I'm away for a week or so, and really needed a quicker PC anyway, so I think I'll leave it as is for now.
Formatting and rebuilding isn't too appealing after using the thing for 5-6 years. I don't thionk I could find all the discs etc now!


I'll ask again, what do you guys use as an AV program to sit on your machines??

 

[AdrianMealing]

I use Avast Free, however you still need to be careful, where you go and what you do, Facebook, MSN, Emails, Torrent sites, Flash gaming sites etc etc etc ... can all be sources of Malware and Viruses.

 

[ChrisR]

Thanks.
Hmmm. I "need" to revisit a torrent site to replace something disabled by the virus or the cleanup process

 

[EFCLee1]

Formatting and rebuilding isn't too appealing after using the thing for 5-6 years. I don't thionk I could find all the discs etc now!


I'll ask again, what do you guys use as an AV program to sit on your machines??

Firstly if your install is 5-6 years old then trust me you are long overdue a fresh install, any reasons for your PC to slow down that you may or may not know about will be gone!! and if you want to be super efficient source some backup media like ACRONIS or GHOST their are many guides on how to create an image just google it!! partition your main HARD DRIVE to C and D, ideally C needs to be at least 30GIG which is ample for just WINDOWS and PROGRAM FILES with rest of the available space going on D, if you have 2 HARD DRIVES then no need to partition, ACRONIS or GHOST can backup your entire DRIVE?PARTITION to a single file, so once infected with MALWARE or VIRUS simply do a restore and your back to a fresh clean install in less than 10 minutes

Hope that helps



Secondly I use AVAST, no need to look elsewhere although its a personal choice as everyone will swear by the one that they use

 

[Monsterminty]

Avast,
Avira,
Avg,

the choice is yours really, there's not a lot in it.
personally i use avira

 

[alumni]

And as the question was asked.
I use Kaspersky.
The recent incidents showed it dong its job.

 

[ChrisR]

I looked at a CF card via a reader on the pc, put it in a Nikon, put it back in the card reader, and 2 things had appeared -
one was a recycled folder
and the other a .inf file containing:
[autorun]
open=.\recycled\info.exe
shell\1=ä¯ÀÀ
shell\1\Command=.\recycled\info.exe
shellexecute=.\recycled\info.exe

Does that mean there's still vermin lurking?

I removed them and repeated the actions but it hasn't come back.
Nothing was visible in the "recycled" folder, even using command prompt.

 

[EFCLee1]

It may well be a fascinating learning curve but not many people drill down so much, the time you spend re-searching the myriad of problems compared to a fresh install or even an image restore is quite different

Problems like this become futile when you are set-up with an back up image

 

[ChrisR]

Fresh install - wouldn't be 100% possible for me, and that's only because of a few things I know about. I'm positive there would be other problems, as there were when the PC shop changed a dud motherboard.

I wouldn't know how to make an image without copying malware, for example.

It would be more cost effective bearing in mind learning, inconvenience and time to just buy another pc.

On the whole it seems to be OK now. Hence the question.

 

[Rider]

I'd say to get a new computer because you fancy one but not just because the one you have at present has software faults on it that you can't sort out.

5 to 7 years is a fair length of time to have a computer. The specifications of computers can improve 5 to 7 months after buying one let alone 5 to 7 years. So if you get a new computer, you will end up with a better one. It will use Windows 7. Quite a good OS in my opinion.

On the other hand, if the current computer was OK for your requirements before these problems began, then there's no reason why it couldn't be OK again once the problems are gone. Replacing the computer purely because it has software problems, seems a drastic (and expensive) way of overcoming the difficulties. It would be less expensive and maybe better to just put your computer in the hands of a local repair shop.

 

[ChrisR]

Replacing the computer purely because it has software problems, seems a drastic

Well obviously if it wasn't old it would be.
A shop would keep it for a week so I'd need another pc for the week...

As I say It's generally OK now. Office and the like a run as well as they ever did, which is almost as slick as a new pc would be, so I'm just asking about the one event...

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Classic response from people who don't really know what they're doing is to do a re-install!

 

[EFCLee1]

Classic response from people who don't really know what they're doing is to do a re-install!

Only me and 1 other person (monkey) on here believe that a re-install is a MUST after being compromised, and maybe that's because we know how to do it

So apart from being flippant can you explain why you disagree!!


Oh and regarding installing windows on a PC, millions do it it has to be one of the easiest things to do in IT, it on page 1 of the IT Support hand book, a very worthy thing to be able to do and save money in the process


@ Chris - Let me know if you want to go down that route I will give you all the help you need!! Possibly you would need a laptop or another PC to relay your information to me part way through when you need assistance, would be glad to help and for you to see how easy it can be

 

[ChrisR]

Classic response from people who don't really know what they're doing is to do a re-install!

Well it's the appropriate response then isn't it? .
I don't even slightly know how to do a reinstall.
I was once advised not to reinstall windows

I expect the first part may involve finding some discs which haven't been used in all those years.
I've pre-empted that, being mega intelligent and had a look. I can't find them.
Ok, next??

They may be somewhere. I'd be concerned about the other stuff I've been "loaned" or has been downloaded from gawd knows where now.

As I say, apart from that one oddity the pc seems to be well within the bounds of "ok" at the moment, so I'll do frequent scans and see how it goes.

I'm away for a few days now - so I'd better turn iit off
I expect I'll be back...

 

[Igorian]

Classic response from people who don't really know what they're doing is to do a re-install!

Not necessarily.

Even with all the tools available, it's difficult to determine if the damage caused by malware has been fully repaired even if the cause has been removed successfully.

From a commercial point of view, it's not cost effective to the User or the technicians.

Personally, and generally speaking, I could rebuild an O/S, perform the updates, install the applications and restore the data much more quickly than I could provide a guaranteed repair following a malware infection.

Fresh install - wouldn't be 100% possible for me, and that's only because of a few things I know about. I'm positive there would be other problems, as there were when the PC shop changed a dud motherboard.

I wouldn't know how to make an image without copying malware, for example.

It would be more cost effective bearing in mind learning, inconvenience and time to just buy another pc.

I sympathise with your views, as it can be a minefield for someone who just wants to use their machine without all the hassle. However, I think it would be useful for you to invest some time exploring how to build and image your machine. You are likely to have similar issues in the future, so a little pain now might save you a lot of time later.