Malware Alert
Well, I've been really lucky the past few years, downloading thousands of tracks from fellow blogs at Christmas time, and I've never gotten any sort of spyware, adware, malware or virii from any of those downloads. Today, I got hit. I think it came from someone using SendSpace, which I've used before with no problem. The download got about 17% of the way done, and then Internet Explorer locked up. Once I got it restarted, I started getting strange popups. I'm still working on getting rid of it and it's a real pain. So be really careful about what you download and from where. I've never heard of anybody having a problem with the service I use, RapidShare, so around here you can relax a little, but some of these blogs aren't so careful! Let the downloader beware!
Sorry to hear you were hit. If you don't mind trying something new, I'd suggest Firefox with the Adblock, Flashblock and NoScript addons. It's kept me safe so far, knock on wood, YMMV.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia article
Spread Firefox
"and then Internet Explorer locked up"
ReplyDeleteTherein lies your problem. Firefox is your solution, as mentioned above.
OK, yeah, Firefow would certainly have helped. But whatever it is (and that HD is still sitting in the other room getting scanned six ways to Sunday) was bad enough that when I switched over to Firefox after the infection to see if it was affected, I kept getting the pop-ups. Only in Firefox, they came up as new tabs, not entirely new windows. I hope to have it back online here in another hour or so, then I can go home and get some real work done. Or at least take a nice long nap.
ReplyDeleteNasty, I sympathise! If you're still having probs, give this program a go: http://www.superantispyware.com/
ReplyDeleteI'm the local neighbourhood geek and this is the best geter-rider-of I've used!
sorry, have to snicker .... LOL at work?? system-wide or individual station?
ReplyDeleteI wish there was a way I could uninstall IE - it's worthless.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your situation Ernie... hope all is better now.
Capt
Not wanting to turn this into a Tech Help Blog, I wanted to add some final thoughts after I came across the first link below in an newsletter a few minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of mean, nasty, greedy people out there who want your money and we each have to take responsibility to protect our assets.
Listed below are some links that may help you think about your needs and a couple software links (PC/Windoze) to meet those needs. Do the research, talk to friends, and then decide what level of protection you need and feel you can live with.
Oh, and of course Firefox as mentioned earlier.
"Hey, let's be careful out there"
-- Sgt. Phil Esterhaus
ITWorldCanada Article
Wikipedia: Spyware
Ad-Adware
Spybot
Wikipedia: Firewall
Wikipedia: Comparison
ZoneAlarm
Comodo
Well, she's been stable now for a couple of hours. No pop-ups, no crashes, no nothing. So I think I finally got it. Gotta love all that registry editing. Now if I can just figure out how it got to me in the first place...
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the tips and advice.
Switching over to FF won't avoid any malware you already have, but it's much better at not allowing it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHey, Ernie, stop downloading so much p0rn at work and you won't have this problem. What? I'm just saying what everyone else was thinking... :)
ReplyDelete