Had a computer virus

Dustin1981

Now I am really pissed off. Out of nowhere my computer got nailed with a virus yesterday. I talked to a friend of mine and he said this was a very common one that really screws you. It blocked most of my programs and made my anti-virus think it was part of it. Every 30 seconds a window pops up that says a file is infected and asks if I was to turn on my anti-virus program and then wants you to buy it. I found out this is a program that no anti-virus can remove since they think they are part of it the only way to get rid of it was to do a full factory restore. So I just finished the restore and have nothing on my computer. I have to reinstall all the programs and hope that it didnt get into my portable HD with all my pictures.

wwhwang

Actually, that was the same virus that beat the ever-loving sh!t out of my laptop. Got so bad that the hard drive crashed and deleted Windows (and no, I'm never going to the Mac). I dunno how I got it, either.

Amos Umwhat

Dustin1981:

Now I am really pissed off. Out of nowhere my computer got nailed with a virus yesterday. I talked to a friend of mine and he said this was a very common one that really screws you. It blocked most of my programs and made my anti-virus think it was part of it. Every 30 seconds a window pops up that says a file is infected and asks if I was to turn on my anti-virus program and then wants you to buy it. I found out this is a program that no anti-virus can remove since they think they are part of it the only way to get rid of it was to do a full factory restore. So I just finished the restore and have nothing on my computer. I have to reinstall all the programs and hope that it didnt get into my portable HD with all my pictures.

Just went through this EXACT experience last week. Trojan Horse virus. We don't really spend a lot of time on computer, either. Fact is, my forum time here probably accounts for 50% of our computer use, so I'm really hoping that it isn't from here! I've always had the impression that nearly everyone here, whether they are in agreement on social or political issues, seems pretty mature, but I guess it would only take one sociopath to screw things up. Made me nervous to see the I.C.U. posting. Hope all remains well with the true BOTL's.

mrpillow

Had the same virus a while back, but I managed to stop it. Trick was to overload it with task manager, stop the process, then go in safe mode and delete the root program.

sightunseen

mrpillow:

Had the same virus a while back, but I managed to stop it. Trick was to overload it with task manager, stop the process, then go in safe mode and delete the root program.

How does one "overload it" with task manager?

mrpillow

The virus has a function that doesn't allow you to open task manager, posing as an anti-virus program saying you do not have permission to open it. If you open it over and over and over again in rapid succession, eventually it overloads that function and allows you stop the "program" through task manager. You can then go into your C: drive and manually delete its components.