new trick from a virus,

SexyGreyFox · 21 Apr 2011 at 14:01

simulatorman said:
Virus bun fight developing, grabs popcorn.

I really am confused how mejinks can take this statement as an offence to him -

dmpoole said:
Arknor has obviously experienced cowboys like I have who will just format without thinking about what data is on there and it is annoying.

No bun fight here.
I reckon everybody in this thread have witnessed the same thing happen several times to people they know.

If anybody can sort out what he may be offended at please let me know.

David_VI · 21 Apr 2011 at 14:24

I thought I had it removed, maybe I have and its just everywhere now.

I clicked a google images picture (of a Zalman case actually :rolleyes:

) and then when it loaded the page the image was from suddenly that "Leave Page or stay on page" thing popped up and firefox closed, upon restoring the tabs it was the box telling me I have an infection and asking me I want to scan.. all a load of rubbish of course.. eek though.

Got outa there and nothing seems to have happened. Is it really that easy to pick up these viruses/mallware, just clicking a website link? :confused:

SexyGreyFox · 21 Apr 2011 at 16:15

David_VI said:
Is it really that easy to pick up these viruses/mallware, just clicking a website link?

Yes but you did the right thing and didn't click on anything else.
Of course clicking the X top right could also have started the malware off so the very best thing is press ALT-F4 or get to the Task Manager and close your browser.
Some people get very scared of these pop-ups and think they are for real but the lesson is that if something pops up in a browser saying you've got a virus then you haven't.
The really clever thing with the one my daughter got was that after she had pressed OK the virus alert looked like Microsoft Security Essentials and even loaded in her programs with that name.

arknor · 21 Apr 2011 at 16:35

yea never click ok always X out of those stupid websites or alt+f4

David_VI · 21 Apr 2011 at 16:38

dmpoole said:
Yes but you did the right thing and didn't click on anything else.
Of course clicking the X top right could also have started the malware off so the very best thing is press ALT-F4 or get to the Task Manager and close your browser.
Some people get very scared of these pop-ups and think they are for real but the lesson is that if something pops up in a browser saying you've got a virus then you haven't.
The really clever thing with the one my daughter got was that after she had pressed OK the virus alert looked like Microsoft Security Essentials and even loaded in her programs with that name.

Yeah exactly what popped up for me, the Security essentials looking page and it loaded a pretty convincing looking windows explorer window too.

Then I ran!

Can't win with those popup choice boxes can you, clever virus people... :mad:

steve-h · 21 Apr 2011 at 17:01

David_VI said:
I got this virus two days ago on my crappy laptop.

format

David_VI · 21 Apr 2011 at 17:25

steve-h said:
format

Nein, its alright now.. unless these things can spread through LAN to my partners PC and my new build coming up.. GASP!

SexyGreyFox · 21 Apr 2011 at 17:34

David_VI said:
Yeah exactly what popped up for me, the Security essentials looking page and it loaded a pretty convincing looking windows explorer window too.

IF it's the same one as my daughters then go to your installed programs and look to see if it installed MSE and Malwarebytes on the day you clicked on it.

David_VI · 21 Apr 2011 at 18:41

dmpoole said:
IF it's the same one as my daughters then go to your installed programs and look to see if it installed MSE and Malwarebytes on the day you clicked on it.

It seems i'm clear from that. I do have Malwarebytes but I installed at as part of the trying to fix the virus.

joey1211 · 24 Apr 2011 at 14:22

Have had to clean this virus twice from a pc. Am I right in thinking that Firefox and adblock will stop the popups and the installation?

gambitt · 24 Apr 2011 at 14:38

I picked up a virus from simply clicking on a picture in google images (no not a naughty one) the other day... obviously linking to a dodgy site. Avira flagged it straight away though.

joey1211 · 24 Apr 2011 at 14:45

That's happend to me aswell. Luckily Chrome threw a warning.

David_VI · 24 Apr 2011 at 19:13

gambitt said:
I picked up a virus from simply clicking on a picture in google images (no not a naughty one) the other day... obviously linking to a dodgy site. Avira flagged it straight away though.

Yup same here. I was looking for pictures of a case for my new build. Twas a finnish site, dunno how this virus works so dunno how its on these sites.

No-One · 24 Apr 2011 at 19:33

I had to look at my mates machine last week. It had the typical scareware thing of a fake antivirus that claimed you had an infection and wanted you to pay an activation fee to remove it. It wouldn't let me open task manager etc. Thankfully it wasn't too sophisticated though as when I booted into safe mode I was able to get rid of it with ease

Dokinator · 24 Apr 2011 at 20:18

RiskyRix said:
thanks for the info

Sayso · 24 Apr 2011 at 22:33

SiriusB said:
Have been laughing at the squabbling in this thread. Makes it even better as no one's opinion is any more right or wrong than the other. How you fix a PC is completely down to you and the wishes of the owner.

As much of a complete and utter numpty arknor is, he is not wrong to suggest you should try and preserve the OS. Very few viruses will be so ingrained you can't get rid. Plus, your average Joe is a bloody genius at losing install media and product keys and probably wouldn't be thrilled about losing their software and settings.

On the flip side, if you are willing to put in the work recovering product keys, game saves, settings, documents and anything else important, then by all means reformat. I have done this in the past.
snip*

]

the only sensible post so far tbh. (apart from the arknor the numpty but

)