Have you had a series of viruses of late?

[Enrica]

Has anybody had a series of virus attacks over the past 3 /4 days?

Computer started slowing - virus scan pick up nothing

Then icons of some unknow programs appeared on the desktop

Then this little red shield ( very similar to microsoft) tell you your computer is under threat.

Still CA(Etrust virus scan) had not picked it up.

Quite a few of my friends have had the same problems Nortons and CA doesnot pick this up.

I just want to see if there was a pattern to this.

Its some form of a Trojan and its been an absolute pain.

Is anybody out there experiencing the same thing?

Thanks

Enrica

[lyall]

we have the same thing, we have paid avg, for years and always worked wonders, now for the last three days it has become such a nightmare, my husband cant open his emails with hotmail, i am with gmail and can, so we have to redirect all emails to me, using my cell phone....and when its about your visa you dont have much patience for this..i have taken to doing a manual scan on my computer twice a day, and the virus vault is packed after each one....

i even considered, as the only two websites i go into is diac and this one, if one of the trolls has been saboutaging(spelling) the site? maybe one of the people who have been banned or something??

i get lots of time outs as well and very slow response, this from a computer that used to fly like the wind just a few days ago..glad its not only me, and I hope we can get it sorted out, im leaving my computer with my daughter, have set up skype for her with a webcam, and dont want to have it all ruined now.

let us know if your problem gets sorted out....

[Enrica]

Lyall,

I have sorted my problem out, but was interested in knowing if it was just me.

I downloaded a different spyware program to the 2 I am using , and that picked up some Trojans.

I am now using Adware and Spyware terminator

I also uninstalled my Etrust anti-virus program and downladed AVG Free , and that did the rest.Well , I hope it has done the rest.

Apparently one of these viruses is a P2P virus- , I had just installed Skype on my husbands computer with a webcam, and I think that this could have been the culprit.

Perhaps, out computer gurus can advise if I have done the right thing , it seems to be working anyway for now!!!

Give that a try.

Regards

Enrica

[GerhardinOz]

Lyall,

I have sorted my problem out, but was interested in knowing if it was just me.

I downloaded a different spyware program to the 2 I am using , and that picked up some Trojans.

I am now using Adware and Spyware terminator

I also uninstalled my Etrust anti-virus program and downladed AVG Free , and that did the rest.Well , I hope it has done the rest.

Apparently one of these viruses is a P2P virus- , I had just installed Skype on my husbands computer with a webcam, and I think that this could have been the culprit.

Perhaps, out computer gurus can advise if I have done the right thing , it seems to be working anyway for now!!!

Give that a try.

Regards

Enrica

I’m still running Norton (New edition) but I’m lucky don’t have it yet.

[psxkim]

There has been alot of spam recently...also could be malware.

Get a good anti-spyware and spam remover, should sort you guys out.

Regards,

[Mythryl]

http://housecall.trendmicro.com

The best spyware / malware removal available and it's a free service. Even stops the dreaded mywebsearch trojan that causes all those unsightly pop-ups

[Enrica]

Thanks Mythyrl

[lyall]

thanks..will try that later today..

lyall

[Rietjie]

thanks..will try that later today..

lyall

I'm not very IT literate. If I'm using a MacBook Pro, is this something I should worry about?

[Jordy]

I'm not very IT literate. If I'm using a MacBook Pro, is this something I should worry about?

If you use a mac then you will be pleased to know there is not a single known mac virus in existence - not a single one. Hence you will not find a anti-virus program for a mac because.....you guessed it....no need.

Computer Viruses are something that only plagues those of us who insist on remaining with Windows and Intel.

[GerhardinOz]

If you use a mac then you will be pleased to know there is not a single known mac virus in existence - not a single one. Hence you will not find a anti-virus program for a mac because.....you guessed it....no need.

Computer Viruses are something that only plagues those of us who insist on remaining with Windows and Intel.

Actually you can get AV software for Mac’s:

http://www.symantec-norton.com/Norton_For_...aspx?lang=en-AU

http://www.mcafee.com/us/enterprise/produc...tops/virex.html

http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-antivirus-mac-edition.html

And they have Intel chips:

http://www.apple.com/intel/

Edited November 15, 2008 by GerhardinOz

[Jordy]

I stand corrected. There are now some Mac viruses but as I understand it only those older Macs that run certian operating systems. Also if they use intel. There are no known viruses on Mac's OS X or Leopard as its called.

[Dax]

Also try these software:

spyware terminator

Spyware Terminator is a highly recomemnded platform, freeware and 100% trustworthy.

The upside is thatit is totally freeware, AV definition can be updated automatically, it focuses on spyware but has a good anti-virus component as well.

It is a good idea to run a few anti virus/spyware platforms on your machines as all products do not catch all viruses.

Be careful how you use firewalls, they sometimes are a bit useless if one does not tweak them correctly, especially McAfee's Firewall.

Hope it helps a bit

Dax

[Jitterbug]

Fortunately we have moved to Apple for our home computing, but there are always threats on whatever system you might be on. For the other mac users have a look a the link bellow.

http://www.macworld.com/article/135900/200.../antivirus.html

Just before i left Windows i read very good things about an antivirus program called NOD32

http://www.eset.co.za/

For all the spyware and stuff like that, Spybot Search and Destroy always did a good job.

http://www.spybot.com/index2.html

A general article about all the free options for windows can be found here.

http://www.download.com/Best-free-security..._4-5163183.html

Good luck

Thankfully i do not need to worry as much these days about all this stuff.

[Avida]

Except for our AV software, we also use Spybot Search & Destroy as well as Lavasoft Ad-Aware. These products both have a free version, which is sufficient for home use.

The other products recommended in this topic all seem fine too.

Do not do a Google search and choose a few Adware/Spyware Removal Tools that "sound nice". Some spyware actually "hide" within these programs. When you install it to "keep your computer safe" it actually infects it!

A

[AndreaL]

Hi there

About 3 weeks ago my lap-top crashed it took a week and $440 to have it repaired- my own fault as I don't back things up and all the photo's of my kids are on it.

The only new thing I did apart from this site and DIAC was to download skype- then everytime I would start the lap-top the skype program would try to run and fail and when I tried ctrl/alt/delete it would say that 80 or more applications were running.

I am extremely computer illiterate- the technician said the hard drive was corrupted?

I am now using windows live one care but will be adding the others mentioned above too.

p.s Do any of you computer boffins know where I could get a replacement fan for a fujitsu siemens amilo pro bought in South Africa?

Fujitsu Australia cannot help and my laptop is overheating and there is no chance of getting near our other p.c as the gamers in the family are hogging it!

AndreaL

[Ausraven]

I used Avast for many years, but the latest free version was to intrusive for my liking, so I switched to Avast (also free, XP & Vista)) last year.

I have not experienced any of the problems mentioned in the above threads.

I also run Skype (ver 3.6.0.248)on my system and use it to video/chat every week end, no strange problems there either - I have not installed the latest ver 3.8 yet, don't known if that has caused users problems.

Hope you get your problems sorted out, can't live without my internet connection.