Got a virus that you can't get rid of?

[RAF_Quantum]

Hi guys,

My PC recently got infected with a 'virtumundo' virus which was extremely difficult to eradicate. Browsing Google for possible fixes I came across the following forum :-

http://forums.techguy.org/

In the 'Internet & Networking/Security' forum there are a bunch of advisors that will help solve your problem. I initially tried self help by searching the forum for fixes on this particular virus and downloaded various tools to see what I could do. I got rid of most of it apart from one file (I thought) which caused me so many headaches I posted requesting some assistance. Now 24 hours later (would have been quicker if work hadn't got in the way) my PC has a clean bill of health. Hats off to this website.

One of the tools I downloaded was 'SUPERAntiSpyware'. I already use Adaware and SpyBot S & D but the prog SUPERAntiSpyware founds lots more stuff that the other two had missed.

Norton AV will be uninstalled from my PC very soon and I intend to replace it with AVG. The file that infected my PC had been specifically virus scanned and declared clean by Norton!

Hope this helps someone some day if they are unfortunate enough to get a virus infection on their PC.

Rgds

John

[TSR2]

Be wary of AVG John, its very good, better than Norton, but tests in the computer press over the past 12 months or so indicate that the big two are a fair bit better.

The payware AVG might be comparible, as the tests where comparing the freeware AVG with McAfee and Trend.

[RAF_Quantum]

Thanks for that Ben, I'll investigate further.

rgds

John

[DaveB]

Be sure John that if you go for Trend.. you'll not get a virus. You won't get any emails either I'm in the fortunate situation that I pay for my hotmail account.. for various reasons. A) I can receive large file attachments and B) I get 2gig of online email storage. The downside of this is that hotmail uses Trend as the AV and anything I really want never gets through.. especially anything which has an attachment containing XML (what aircraft model doesn't contain SOME XML these days) :roll:

All is not lost though. I've configured Outlook (something you can do if you pay for hotmail) to accept hotmail mail so if I DO get something I want that bounces.. I download it in Outlook instead

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Sl4yer]

The payware AVG might be comparible, as the tests where comparing the freeware AVG with McAfee and Trend.

As far as AVG goes, the freeware and payware versions are supposed to be identical in terms of virus detection.

I've always used AVG, but I switched to Avast! a few months ago, for no reason other than curiosity. I found (coincidence or not) that a disk performance problem vanished at the same time. Our other machine still runs AVG though. Both are fine, although I would probably install Avast! ahead of AVG (purely because Avast! has a better reputation).

James

[DaveB]

According to the AVG site, about the only difference between the freebie and payware versions is the level of support.. eg, full support for the payware version and none for the freebie. I have it installed in two of my systems and haven't had a problem. OK.. you could argue that I have a problem and won't know about it until it's too late but this can be said of all AV progs!

Interesting to note that if any of you buy stuff off Abacuspub.com, you'll see their mail is checked by AVG so if a software publisher uses it, you'd imagine it wasn't half bad :think: Whatever

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[petermcleland]

I've used Avast for a couple of years now and found it just superb...Far superior to the Norton and McAfee. While I have been using it, I have noticed a gradually improvement in its software and also it is updating automatically as often as twice a day. I have also installed it in my wife's laptops. I would certainly never go back to that big name bloatware.

[Quixoticish]

My vote is split 50/50 between Avast and NOD32. They both seem to do just as well detecting viruses however the former is a bit more user friendly whereas the latter is slightly more customisable for an advanced user. Their memory footprints are tiny compared to the bloatware that Norton and McAfee churn out. In my experience Norton can at times behave like a nasty little virus itself; it eats your memory, slows down your system and when you want to get rid of it you can't.

I've been called out in the past to fix a number of incompatibility issues and the vast majority of them are always traced back to either an improperly set up firewall/router or installation of a big name virus scanner like Norton and McAfee.

Obviously your mileage may vary and you may get away with having no problems with them but in my experience they always end up causing problems sooner or later.

[Kevin Farnell]

One of the tools I downloaded was 'SUPERAntiSpyware'. I already use Adaware and SpyBot S & D but the prog SUPERAntiSpyware founds lots more stuff that the other two had missed.

Rgds

John

As an avid reader of several PC magazines, I have never heard of 'SUPERAntiSpyware'. Although the same magazines highly recommend Adaware, Spybot S&D, Windows Defender, along with AVG anti-virus'.
The pages of the same magazines are awash with letters from readers who have downloaded 'anti-spyware' or 'anti-virus' programs found via the internet, which then 'find' enormous amounts of malware on their PC. These programs either require payment to eradicate the 'infection', or infect the PC during their download.

Do not download any security software that you have not read as 'Recommended'

Regards

Kevin

[RAF_Quantum]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the warning but that anti-spyware prog is one of the tools that is frequently requested to be used by the 'experts' on that site to eradicate peoples virus/adware/malware infections. Take a look at the forum and see some of the 'case histories' of how they attack the virii etc, it makes fascinating reading. Amongst the 'tools' that I used to get my PC clean were :-

Vundufix, Combofix, HijackThis, Killbox and SUPERAntiSpyware.

Some of these malware reside in memory and automatically regenerate themselves when you think they've gone. Using the above tools as instructed has got my PC running better than it has been for a while.

Rgds

John