Doggy's got a virus...

[Doggy]

No, not distemper or hardpad, it's the pooter.....

Can't access this forum - keep getting redirected to anything but, (but nothing interesting)
Wierd though, just about every other site works OK.
Running XP, installed service pack 2 yesterday & tried every burger & his dog's antivirus - nowt seems to work.

As I don't have a huge amopunt of personal stuff on this machine, I may just give up & re-format / re-load everything, unless someone has another solution?

[swiss]

Have you only tried anti-virus? You might also want other malware scanners, such as Malware Bytes or Ad-Aware... put them in random folder names to disguise them from any nasties you might have.

Also, using Firefox? NoScript addon, FTW!

[gumby6371]

I do quite a few clean ups for people and all I ever use is Avast free anti-virus, ad-aware (by lavasoft) and spybot search and destroy (spybot will flag an issue with ad-aware buy I just click ignore and never had an issue) all free versions downloadable from t'internet.

As my machines all sit behind the firewall in my router I've never had a problem with windows firewall.

Both machines get full scans weekly and they stay in pretty good order.

As I've saved plenty on free security software I do splash out on Tune-Up utilities which I'd highly recomend to keep things running nice and quick.

Having said all that my hard drives do get a nice factory reset (zero written) and a fresh install of windows roughly every 12 months but I do have just over 2TB of storage space so backing up isn't much of an issue

[steve_earwig]

Funny it should target just this site, doesn't really sound like a virus or trojan or Viking or whatever

I had a nightmare with Avast! It flagged up just about everything on my computer as some sort of virus

Actually, I've just had to do a re-install. My bro brought me over a couple of 1TB SATAs, one for the pc to replace ageing drives and one for a box for back-up. The motherboard wouldn't see the internal one so I used an old controller card I had and I could access it, but that was running very slow so I tried to upgrade the driver.... freeze.... BSOD....no o/s The weird thing is I could still look at the contents of my C: drive, it just wouldn't boot from it Neither would my Windows installation disk rescue it, I went through all the installation guff twice but it just wouldn't boot (mbr gone for a Burton?) In the end I did a fresh install and it's working fine now. And I still have the contents of my old C: drive in a folder on another drive

[sirwiggum]

If you only use the PC for the internet, email, watching films, listening to mp3s etc. then perhaps try a Linux distribution?

Fair few about, easiest to get up and running on the ground quickly is probably Ubuntu from the Wubi installer.

If you download and burn a liveCD you don't even need to install.

Less virus prone than Windows. Windows is about as reliable in this regard as a COM2000.

The problem is that the default accounts in Windows were all the admin user. In linux you need to specifically login as root / specify root password to perform system-buggery commands.

[teamster1975]

Run exefix as some of the buggers hijack exe access
Run spybot, be prepared for a long wait!
Run Combofix
Run TDSS Killer as this is doing the rounds at the moment.

Hope this helps, get XP SP3 installed as SP2 is no longer supported for security patches!!

[Doggy]

Thanks for all the helps & suggestions, guys - I'll give it a whirl....

BTW is XP SP3 64-bit only?

[teamster1975]

BTW is XP SP3 64-bit only?

Other way around! It's 32 bit only.
WinXp x64 is built off Win Server 2003 code base so its latest update is SP2.

[plod]

I do quite a few clean ups for people and all I ever use is Avast free anti-virus, ad-aware (by lavasoft) and spybot search and destroy (spybot will flag an issue with ad-aware buy I just click ignore and never had an issue) all free versions downloadable from t'internet.

I used to use the above 3 programmes until recently and upon someones reccomendation switched to Microsoft Security Essentials

Never seems to find anything which is disconcerting, plus about a week ago, couldn't log on Amazon, and had to change password, and same with my email from sky.

Find that a little worrying to be honest, and wondering whether I should go back to the above 3 programmes

[sirwiggum]

Microsoft Security Essentials is like saying

Peugeot Multi-Function Stalk Essentials

Never trust security to Microsoft.

[steve_earwig]

Mainly 'cos they're a bunch of amazingly greedy feckers so everyone's targeting their products.

[sirwiggum]

They used to be the great satan of the IT world.

However, after the Vista / mobile / Zune shambles they got a lot of sympathy.

The big baddie is now Apple that is skimping on QA and treating their customers as a joke. 10-15 years ago we would never have thought that would ever happen!

[Doggy]

BTW is XP SP3 64-bit only?

Other way around! It's 32 bit only.
WinXp x64 is built off Win Server 2003 code base so its latest update is SP2.

Dawned on me too, eventually

Last night I tried the Firefox Noscripts, thingy, then went to download SP3. Like a mug, I read the instructions which say 'do it via auto-updates'. Tried. Still waiting.
Looked into exefix, tried to get a download, but that got re-directed too.
Also tried Spybot & 3Ad-Aware, gave up at 1:45

[gumby6371]

Sounds like it's time for a good format to me, my rule of thumb is if I can't clean it in a couple of hours, wipe it and start again as it'll probably be quicker !

the back up options in vista/7 are pretty good as long as you've got a nice big drive to send it to

Don't get me started on Apple !!!!! Microsoft have had so much stick over the years (most of it justified I admit) but when did they release a product purposely hold back most of the features (which in the main are standard features on any other mobile phone) so they can trickle feed updated versions out within weeks of each other so that all those 'must have the latest iphone cos it looks cool' types will buy 3 of them in a year !!!!

I can almost hear the bods in the design office for the ipad, 'where is the sim card slot going for the 3G connection ?' the whispered answer 'version 2, now stop asking dificult questions or you're sacked!'

Did I mention their refusal to run flash on any of their products, or the fact that the MAC os in all it's guises looks pretty but does little else.

As for Microsoft stifling competition;

where can I buy a computer to run apple software ? - Apple
who can repair my apple computer ? - Apple
can i do it myself ? - no cos you're too dumb to touch it
can i upgrade my apple components ? - no buy another one if it's too slow

I've just bought a pc what can i do with it ? - anything you want mate, it's yours !!!!!

Ok rant over, and no I don't work for Microsoft if you're wondering, I just hate that smug look that you get from MAC users. I have the same opinion of SAAB owners - It's a flaming Vauxhall Vectra but you paid more for it, now go and buy a 406 you muppet.

Ok back to work

[sirwiggum]

Now now, Im a secret fan of Saabs surely a more apt response to pretentious car owners is "it's a jumped up Passat" or "it's a boring Bavarian sleigh".