Is it safe...? (Computer advice)

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L

Lally

Sorry to all my twitter friends as this overlaps a bit... but I need some advice.

Tuesday night my computer was attacked by a virus. It was a pretty persistent little bugger, too, although I finally got rid of it with Malwarebytes.

After leaving the computer running for about 12-18 hours unattended, I came back yesterday to find my firewall had blocked about 20 attack attempts. So I ran two different scans (Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials, both completely updated), and I found a few pieces of malware, which I removed.

Today, I ran both scans again and didn't find anything, and haven't had any attacks blocked. I am not willing to risk logging on any of my banking websites yet, but is it safe to log on my email or facebook, at least? I took the chance here because my username and password are different here than any other site, but I haven't logged onto anything else on this computer just in case it has got the latent plague.

I am not a total computer idiot, but I'm far from an expert and I basically know enough to get myself in trouble. Anyone have any advice?
 
D

Dusty668

Try a secondary scan site like housecall.trendmicro.com There is a free version there you can run from the site without having to install it permanently. If in doubt backup and format C. Good luck.
 
Shakey

Shakey

Viruses are so damn persistent now it's almost not even worth cleaning anymore. This is coming from someone who always thought that you should always try to clean it rather than reformat. Root kits have made it nearly impossible to completely clean your computer without a full reformat. The only way to be 100% sure is to format and reinstall.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

The way to get around many (if not most) rootkits is to scan your drive from another computer. Just remove it, mount it in a USB sled or something and set your scanner loose on it. If you don't boot to it, it can't load any "this is not the file/code you're looking for" process(es).

Unknown virii/malware can be spotted if/when they try to 'phone home,' but that usually requires more time/effort than most people (including me) want to spend.

--Patrick
 
Shakey

Shakey

PatrThom said:
The way to get around many (if not most) rootkits is to scan your drive from another computer. Just remove it, mount it in a USB sled or something and set your scanner loose on it. If you don't boot to it, it can't load any "this is not the file/code you're looking for" process(es).

--Patrick
Click to expand...
Problem is most cannot do that. If you can, you already know what you should/can do to take care of viruses. Make your life easier and backup important files and do a clean install.
 
L

Lally

Alright, I was afraid I'd have to do that. Thanks for the advice, Shakey. I went ahead and backed up all my important stuff on my external HD and I'm going to just do a clean sweep. My boyfriend's cousin offered to fix it up for me and install a program on here for me that would revert the computer to a previous version any time I restart it, so I think I'm going to go that route.

Blah. At least I got to save my stuff and my computer will be all clean and shiny now, but this whole process has been a nightmare and I definitely depend way too much on the internet to get stuff done!
 
doomdragon6

doomdragon6

Staff member
I've gotten to the point where I just use System Restore to before I got the virus instead of trying to clean.

I'd suggest that if you haven't already. I haven't had a virus yet that survived TIME TRAVEL!
 
Shannow

Shannow

Staff member


---------- Post added at 10:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 AM ----------
doomdragon6 said:
I've gotten to the point where I just use System Restore to before I got the virus instead of trying to clean.

I'd suggest that if you haven't already. I haven't had a virus yet that survived TIME TRAVEL!
Click to expand...

Ummm...they can bury themselves in the previous restore points and you can get fucked over that way...
 
strawman

strawman

If your bank offers it, get and use a security code key (such as secureid).

http://images.google.com/images?q=securid

Even if they get your password and username, they can't access your account without that little keyfob that gives you a new number every 30 seconds.

Regarding your original question, if it came back after your effort, a clean wipe and reinstall is a good idea, but you're liable to be attacked the same way you already were the first time. Do you have any idea how you got it in the first place?
 
Siska

Siska

I got a virus/malware too, last week. I don't regulary download stuff, so I got it from clicking some evil link, most likely. Ended up formatting. I always run a virus scan before doing anything important on my computer, so my credit cards and such should be safe. Changed all my passwords to stuff I remotely care about, though. But my e-mail has gotten more suspicious junk mail than I normally see, this last week. Including one from Blizzard saying "we know you been trying to sell your account, mail us your info, or else you get banned!" :D. So I think they got my e-mail adress on some frikken list now. Haven't decided if I should get a new e-mail, or not. I had this one for a decade.
 
KCWM

KCWM

You can also get a free scan from PrevX, which I've used to clean some nasty viruses off of my dad's computer that some of the big name (and, IMHO worthless) AV programs couldn't put a dent in.
 
R

Roxxoredizorz

Buy a Mac.

You might get a virus, but the chances are slim to none.

No one wants to bother.
 
KCWM

KCWM

Roxxoredizorz said:
Buy a Mac.

You might get a virus, but the chances are slim to none.

No one wants to bother.
Click to expand...
I've used PCs since 1998 (when I purchased my first one) and the only viruses I've found myself with were all preventable. I've never once gotten one of the "big" viruses you hear about on news stories. Updates and a good, cheap (possibly free) anti virus will do a lot of good. Purchase a PC for MUCH less and keep it updated unless there's something specific that you want a MAC to do for you.

For the average user, a PC is a much better way to go. Anti-Virus + Windows Update (set for critical updates) = much cheaper.
 
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