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Barry Parkof · 04-27-2009, 05:40 PM

I am writing this from my laptop. On Saturday, I believe that my desktop computer became infected with a virus from this website. The program is called "personal anti virus" and it has attached itself to my hard drive. I can't delete it or un-install it. It continually reminds me of many threats and directs me to download the program at a cost of $$$$, and wants my credit card info etc. It is a very convincing program, looks very much like any Microsoft or Windows program, but it does not have a copyright, or author, etc.
Has anyone had this problem and if so, what have you done to rectify it.
My computer seems to work OK, but it blocks certain websites after a few seconds. So, before I spend money at my local computer fix it place, I would like to know if anybody knows what to do.
Thanks,
BP

HowieE · 04-27-2009, 05:43 PM

Google the site URL or any other ID you have for the virus. They often have solutions posted on line.

Lumatic · 04-27-2009, 05:45 PM

My virus scan is up to date and has not detected anything, yet.

Melody Ranch · 04-27-2009, 05:53 PM

Mozilla and ISP and Norton...nothing noted ....yet.

redstart · 04-27-2009, 05:55 PM

i saw a similar message last night when i clicked on this site. I closed my internet explorer immediately. if anyone else sees it, don't click on any part of the window, just close your browser.

**Kevin245** · 04-27-2009, 06:11 PM

I had a pop-up last ran Malware and Symantic today with nothing noted.

Jim & Susan · 04-27-2009, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redstart

i saw a similar message last night when i clicked on this site. I closed my internet explorer immediately. if anyone else sees it, don't click on any part of the window, just close your browser.

Ditto for me. Same thing last night. I closed IE and re-entered the site without a problem-multiple times.

Everything seems fine today. Maybe those of us that were affected could provide a few details for the site moderators so they can check it out if need be.

I'm running:

Windoze XP home edition
Avast Anti-virus

All software is up-to-date with the latest Windoze bloatware.

Jim

Boondocker · 04-27-2009, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Ditto for me. Same thing last night. I closed IE and re-entered the site without a problem-multiple times.

Everything seems fine today. Maybe those of us that were affected could provide a few details for the site moderators so they can check it out if need be.

I'm running:

Windoze XP home edition
Avast Anti-virus

All software is up-to-date with the latest Windoze bloatware.

Jim

Same here, it took some effort just shut down, it wouldnt let me shut the tab- closing the browser worked (I hope).

Jim & Susan · 04-27-2009, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gen Disarray

Same here, it took some effort just shut down, it wouldnt let me shut the tab- closing the browser worked (I hope).

That reminds me---I need to run my anti-virus & spyware software. But I need to finish accessing all my online bank accounts first.........

Jim

**Janet H** · 04-27-2009, 06:42 PM

Just a heads up. I am not sure what this is, but is possibly some malware attached to an ad. If you see this again and can take a screen shot it would be helpful to know what ad is showing.

The forums proper is fairly bullet proof as far as viruses go, but third party content may not be.

These kinds of malware schemes are all over the net. If you see a pop up anytime you are browsing, do not click on it even to close it. Instead open your task manager and close the application that way and then run a virus scan. In the meantime, I've let the tech wonks know about this and will post any info they discover.

Janets Husband · 04-27-2009, 06:47 PM

I have seen these types of attacks before, but not on the forums. Not that it can't happen. One often seen attack is a pop up saying you have a virus and need help to get rid of it.
Do not try and close it by clicking on any of the tabs or buttons, Clicking anywhere on the pop-up will start it running.

The best way to close this is to perform a Control, Alt, Delete to bring up "Task Manager" under applications tab close your " Browser ". This will shut down the pop-up and your Browser.

This is the safest method of closing any suspicious pop-up or program.
Once you close it, then immediately run a virus/worm scan. Do not shut your computer down or do a restart before you perform the scan.

tksbaskets · 04-27-2009, 06:47 PM

Same thing happened to me on Sunday. I immediately disconnected my wireless router, ended Safari, and ran my Norton AV. Nothing there. I have had to fix my son's computer when they clicked on the site when it said "DANGER you are infected".

Took a couple of hours but I found directions on Norton's help board.

Jim & Susan · 04-27-2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet

Just a heads up. I am not sure what this is, but is possibly some malware attached to an ad.

That would be my (purely uneducated) guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet

If you see this again and can take a screen shot it would be helpful to know what ad is showing.

Tried that, wouldn't work. Just got a warning from Avast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet

These kinds of malware schemes are all over the net. If you see a pop up anytime you are browsing, do not click on it even to close it.

Yikes! Very worrisome.

Jim

Over59 · 04-27-2009, 07:05 PM

Got it on my wife's pc last night on this site. I don't thing this thing shows up on scans. It does want to sell you some software you do not need.

bibbs · 04-27-2009, 07:08 PM

Yeah I got that too. I clicked "block traffic" ran norton AV, took a couple hrs to fix.

Bibbs

Barry Parkof · 04-27-2009, 07:34 PM

Thanks Gary,
If I try to piece together what happened, I may have clicked on the pop up that said I had a problem, and it started the program. I use Trend Internet Security Pro, and it did not detect anything. I just tried AVG and it is also not finding anything. Any suggestions on how to get this thing off of the computer? I appreciate everyones response to this.
Incidentally, I never click on the ads, so I am still not sure how this happened.
FYI, I have a separate computer for my calender, business, and personal files. This computer is not connected on line. It seemed to me that was the safest way to safeguard important information. I have another computer in addition to my laptop that are on line.
So, I just ran another scan and it detected nothing. Tomorrow I will try to contact Trend to see if they can help me with this problem.
TKSbaskets, what did Norton suggest?
Thanks,
Barry

reggiemon · 04-27-2009, 08:01 PM

Barry, as these things evolve, the tools you can use to get rid of them change also.
At this time I am having very good results with Malwarebytes anti-malware program. It is a free download that you download, install, update and tell it to scan. When it finishes have it "fix" what it finds. No purchase necessary. You can purchase the license for it to be actively looking for malware if you want.
I have used this to clean up machines when I could not get Micrsoft removal tools to load.
At this point in time we are finding the regular antivirus programs ineffective against malware but that can/may/will change.

airedale · 04-27-2009, 08:13 PM

Thats so funny to see this on here, I had the same thing attack my computer yesterday, after downloading AVG and firefox, i was able to get rid of it, after reading a lot online about it. Its bad!!

Happycampers · 04-27-2009, 08:16 PM

Hello...Now I know where ours came from... it is in the shop as we speak.. needed a new laptop anyway...

**jcanavera** · 04-27-2009, 08:30 PM

I picked up something like that a couple of years ago. The warning about a possible virus, then pop ups. We had Symantic installed, but it never saw it. The only thing that saw it was a product called Ad Aware. I picked up the free version and installed it. When I ran it to disinfect it, the virus actually rebooted my PC. Apparently it had some type of defense to reboot the PC before software could kill it.

I went back to the Ad Aware site and they that another piece of software that started up at boot time and disinfected the PC prior to the virus getting executed. Nothing else our IT department had could find or kill it.

I wouldn't guarantee you that it came from here though. I've seen stuff come down the pipe based on these things coming down by random IP address. Stuff is out there attempting to talk to your PC by pinging IP addresses. Once they get a match they sometimes push this crap down. My firewall log show lots of attempts. Not all firewalls, Windows own firewall included, do a good job in keeping all the ports closed down.