Last week's virus - Update

1. 79

   Aficionadaposted 13 years ago

   I was pretty happy that I didn't have the same computer virus that bothered Nell Rose last week.  Then, a couple of days ago, it appeared to hit.  I'm not certain it was the same one, but it looked similar.
   
   I shut things down quickly. Restarted the computer. Ran a scan with Symantec (that took an hour and a half).  No problems, it said.
   
   But then, my computer ran more slowly on some operations than usual; I tried posting something (a real, honest-to-goodness backlink ) on Yahoo Answers, and it wouldn't accept my post.  The error message mentioned a possible virus.  Grrrrrrr!!!   Surely not.  I had run a full scan!  But I tried nearly ten times and the post never went through.
   
   Other possible-virus-related things began happening, so I decided maybe it was there, after all.  I remembered this post from last week's forum discussion about viruses:
   
   
   and... I remembered that I also have Spybot on my computer (but I hadn't run it or even updated it in a while).  So I ran that scan today.  I am SOOOO glad I did.  It found and killed the virus(es?).  So far, so good.  I will keep checking it over the next few days.
   
   Thank you, climberjames, for the tip!!

   replyreport
2. 86

   KCC Big Countryposted 13 years ago

   I love Spybot.  My computer snagged a virus that Spybot couldn't kill and I had to take my computer in.  I got it home and two days later another showed up.  I think we're good now.  There are some vicious ones out there though.

   replyreport
   1. 79

      Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I hope your computer's well now!
      
      I was embarrassed to see how long it had been since I had updated Spybot last.  I think that if I keep it up-to-date, I won't have to worry so much.
      
      Good luck with yours.

      replyreport
3. 75

   Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years ago

   Aficionada,
   
   I can appreciate your pain and confusion.
   
   As most of the potential nasties these days that infect computers are rarely virus's, its all the other ones that confuse the heck out of people. What I am saying is, these nasties come in two types and usually will mean using various other software to remove them than just an Anti-Virus program alone.
   
   You have virus's...
   
   ...and you have trojans, worms, web hi-jackers, root-kits, keyloggers, etc etc, and when I speak about these types, peoples eyes usually start to glaze over
   
   At the end of the day, having additional software like, Ad-Aware, cCleaner, Spybot & Malwarebytes (all four of these are free to download and operate) used in tandem with your Anti-virus program, will ensure a fairly nasty free and operational computer experience.
   
   Maybe I should write a hub....

   replyreport
   1. 79

      Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      Yes!!!! Please do!
      
      Please write it in very simple terms for people like me (there are really lots of us, and we're the ones who don't exactly know where to find the kind of help we are looking for).  Think about the fact that the more tech-savvy people already know what you would want to tell them, or at least know where to find the answers; so your audience is probably people who have some pretty good computer skills, but who know next to nothing about all those baddies.
      
      I remember a time years ago when one of my e-mail accounts got hijacked and was sending out spam from my e-mail address, and I wrote to the customer service of the account to explain the problem.  Either I did an awful job of explaining or it really was a new problem back then.  CSvc wrote back that they had never heard of a problem like what I was describing.
      
      Anyway, didn't mean to get off-topic, but that's just to say that sometimes we (my kind) recognize a problem, but may not know the best way to describe it to the people who know a great deal more about computers, software, and the internet than we do.
      
      I will watch for your Hub and devour it when it is done!

      replyreport
      1. 75

         Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         As a former 'in-the-field' computer technician, that was my specialty, being able to express hard to grasp computer functions and concepts, and convert it to a way to describe for people to understand and easily digest, using plain English.

         replyreport
4. 86

   KCC Big Countryposted 13 years ago

   I look forward to this hub too.  I think it's a fantastic idea and from your description, you sound like the perfect person to write it, Kangaroo Jase.

   replyreport
   1. 75

      Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Sounds like a very reasonable request to me. OK may take a day or two, but I will post a message here when its completed.
      Thanks folks.

      replyreport
      1. 75

         Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Ok have added the hub, let me know if you cant find which hub it is, I won't put it in here, so I dont get banned from the forum.
         
         Aficionada and KCC, have a look at your convenience and let me know if its readable or still 'too much tech speak'
         
         Cheers

         replyreport