So, I ended up with a virus on my laptop. I started getting pop-ups from my Symantec antivirus last week that it had detected and captured a trojan virus and had it in quarantine. Then I discovered a fraudulant charge on my Paypal account which I am having investigated. The guy at Paypal told me that it was probably from the virus and that even though it is quarantined it could still cause problems. My antivirus was unable to remove it. DH reformatted my hard drive last night to get rid of the thing. So now my question is how did I get it in the first place? I am extremely cautious and never open attachments, I don't download anything without thoroughly checking it out, and I never click on links that come in emails - I always go directly to the website myself. I know that Clif posted a warning recently about a link to an article on here containing a virus. I do tend to click on links posted in these forums and wonder if that may be where I got it (even though I saw Clif's warning in time and did not click that particular link). So I guess my question (for Clif especially) is how did he get a warning first before actually getting the virus? My antivirus is set to run automatically, but in this case it didn't detect the virus until it was already in my computer. I know nothing about virus's since this is my first one ever, so I would appreciate any advice/info. I need this to be antivirus101 as I am not very technical. Thanks!!!
Well you could take what I know about viruses (sp) and fill a thimble BUT I can tell you from recent experience that you can get viruses from myspace and other sites like that. DD got one this weekend from myspace. She didn't have to open a file or anything, just logged on and boom there it was. I also know that Limewire is famous for downloading viruses on computers. Good luck! I spent 2 hours on the phone with tech support before finally having to restore the computer all the way back to the way it came out of the box and DD lost everything.
I never go on myspace, but just goes to show they are everywhere. Kind of scary. I was able to back up all of my files before DH reformatted my hard drive, so fortunately I didn't lose anything. Just a pain to put all of my settings back in.
I use Anti-Vir. The program is free, doesn't take up too much space, and is user friendly. I've had really good luck with it.
It helps if you tell us what software your using. Vista? Internet Explorer? Firefox? I warned about the IE backdoor in here a few weeks ago. If you have not done a Windows update, do it now!! Remember, after you do an update, go back and do it again & again till it says no more updates available. It never does them all in one shot. My personal opinion .... 'Symantec Sux's'. That's why it comes free on new PC's for 90 days. They get you familiar with it's features and then nag you till you buy it. Kind of like women and marriage. :lol::lol: J/K Check my post on Michelle's laptop post for info.
speaking of 'Symantec' how the heck do I get them to quit pestering me every single time I cut my laptop on? is there a way to make that message go away?
Thanks for all the info! I'll have to go look for your posts regarding the backdoor. I use Internet Explorer and my DH sometimes uses my laptop and he uses Firefox. I do the Windows updates whenever the popup tells me there is one available and sinced DH just reloaded Windows yesterday, I know he would have done any updates available. He also has a firewall on our home network, just don't ask me anything about it, cause I sure don't know! He has all that covered. I was mainly just trying to figure out how I got a virus with being so cautious and having antivirus software on my computer. What antivirus to you use?
Yes, your machine can get F-ed up just by visiting a page on the Internet. That has a lot to do with the browser you use and its settings, i.e. what have enabled or disabled, turned on or off, filtered or unfiltered, etc. Of course your machine can get just as easily F-ed up by opening/running or installing unknown or untrusted programs via e-mail, Web- browsing, peer-to-peer (file sharing) networks, etc., but if your not doing/using any of those things, that's not your problem. My wife has an occasional problem with her machine, and it happens on average about once a year. We run the same operating system, use the same browser, and run the same anti-virus and anti-spyware software. I have some add-ons for my browser though and I make it more of a PITA to browse, i.e. I turn scripts off and deny cookies by default. I only allow/save them for trusted pages. She also plays Yahoo games and I don't, she chats on messengers and I don't, etc. I occasionally clean my registry and uninstall or turn-off (don't load) unused programs, and she doesn't. Although it has nothing to do with browsing and downloading or running programs, we also have our wireless network locked down as securely as is possible. We use the following protective software on all of the machines on our home network: avast! Home Edition (anti-virus) SpywareBlaster (anti-spyware) SpywareGuard (anti-spyware) ZoneAlarm basic (firewall) (laptop only, for when we are on unsecured Wi-Fi networks) We used to use AVG anti-virus but I found the 8.0 version to be bloated and it slowed down our machines. Yes, I could have turned some of the features off, but what Grisoft did with the 8.0 version annoyed me, so I dropped it.
Symantec is slick. Even the standard un-install in windows will not remove all of their crap. They like to keep tabs on past customers also, just like the spyware they prevent. This 'remover' takes it all, and it's by Symantec. Go figure why this program is not part of the uninstall???? I think we know the answer. Norton Remover
thanks for this link dan....I am doing it as we speak and will then defer to your advice for my laptop (that you gave michelle)
