Wife's PC killed by virus

[kc8adu]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

running linux removes one from the pool of low hanging fruit.
as in easy targets.and in hacking competitions it was plug ins like flash that were compromised.and the operator can often be tricked unless they are wise to "social engineering"aka bullshitting.
this applies to ANY OS!

if you set it up right, linux is one of the hardest things to hack. It CAN be hacked, just as one can tow a 5th wheel camper with a smart car... takes effort, skill, and luck... so its about as secure as anything can be.

I agree that some distros's are bloated... hence why I use arch (with gnome 3.8) but I don't suggest that for non-experts. For non experts who wish to stay current, manjaro is pretty good (arch based but user friendly without the bloat). Both distro's run very well (if your gpu is supported) and aside from a finiky touchscreen on my p400, it's been a treat.

[shovenose]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Than why does it run web servers? And why does the Jefferson county windows 2012 servers crash every 2 months and the linux servers never crash.

Why so defensive?
I've had customers with VPS or Dedicated Servers get hacked because they didn't keep it secure.
But it's definitely not easy.

[goontron]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Why so defensive?
I've had customers with VPS or Dedicated Servers get hacked because they didn't keep it secure.
But it's definitely not easy.

not defensive, just pointing out that windows was built to sit on touchscreen tablet and linux is the workhorse.

[lti]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Before you take actions to remove the malware look into the Internet History of whatever browser she was using just before the infection occured. You need to know what websites she went to as to not get reinfected.

This is a good idea. Find out what she was doing and block that stuff. Of course, there is some stuff that can't be blocked, but any website that only exists to infect computers can be blocked in the hosts file or your router's firewall.

I never use active scanning programs at startup, big waste of resources. The best way to not get infected is educating oneself on how surf the WWW safely.

Thier are some virus out in the wild that will hide a copy of themselves in the bios or the HDD.

I think his computer has enough resources. I remember him having some 6-core AMD CPU and a ton of RAM. Just don't try to run McAfee on it.

Some malware infects the recovery partition on the hard drive, so reinstalling Windows from the recovery partition won't help. Computer manufacturers can't give you recovery CDs anymore because then you wouldn't have to send it back and pay them more when the hard drive fails.

That reminds me that I should get a spare hard drive for my laptop. That Toshiba hard drive can't have much life left in it.

If you want a software package that does everything it will become a bloated beast. Its just the nature of things.

Then the software company tries to make it less bloated and it doesn't work at all. That's why Norton still sucks, even though it isn't bloated anymore. I've seen it detect a few things, but most of those were legitimate programs, some of which I made in my programming class.

Fixed enough to trust with banking/CC info? I certainly wouldn't use it.

I think he reinstalled Windows.

I forgot about this:
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm
You can add more stuff at the end of the file if you need to. I have a bunch of extra stuff:

127.0.0.1 g.msn.com
127.0.0.1 media.match.com
127.0.0.1 www.tv-links.eu
127.0.0.1 www.vidxden.com
127.0.0.1 redirect.ad-feeds.net
127.0.0.1 7.rotator.wigetmedia.com
127.0.0.1 gift-pathway-place.com
127.0.0.1 gottracked.com
127.0.0.1 www.yousendit.com
127.0.0.1 computercheckup.aol.com
127.0.0.1 www.monkeyquest.com
127.0.0.1 secure-online-chat.com
127.0.0.1 travela.priceline.com
127.0.0.1 www.freetube18x.com
127.0.0.1 radiolia.com
127.0.0.1 www.starcelebs.com
127.0.0.1 www.games.com
127.0.0.1 www.essortment.com
127.0.0.1 www.fuckvid.net
127.0.0.1 xxxbunker.com
#127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
#127.0.0.1 connect.facebook.net
#127.0.0.1 external.ak.fbcdn.net
#127.0.0.1 static.ak.fbcdn.net
#127.0.0.1 profile.ak.fbcdn.net
#127.0.0.1 static.ak.facebook.com
#127.0.0.1 s-static.ak.facebook.com
#127.0.0.1 profile.ak.facebook.com
#127.0.0.1 star.p.facebook.com
#127.0.0.1 developers.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 paid.outbrain.com
127.0.0.1 www.youjizz.com
127.0.0.1 www.ehow.com
127.0.0.1 www.searchremagnified.com
127.0.0.1 www.7cycleresearch.com
127.0.0.1 cdnapi.kaltura.com
127.0.0.1 www.blinkx.com
127.0.0.1 www.cduniverse.com
127.0.0.1 www.inflexwetrust.com
127.0.0.1 stitcher.com
127.0.0.1 nster.com

Remove the # from the Facebook lines if you have an old computer or you don't want to see a bunch of Facebook crap.

[Junk Parts]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Well its all fixed now. I had to redo it this morning again. This time I did the "factory Restore" using my backup DVD's. When done this way even the backup partition is formatted and rewritten. All is good now. My wife spends he life on face book and farmville. I also know how the PC got sick now. She got some sort fo fake security pop up and she clicked on it.

[shovenose]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Well its all fixed now. I had to redo it this morning again. This time I did the "factory Restore" using my backup DVD's. When done this way even the backup partition is formatted and rewritten. All is good now. My wife spends he life on face book and farmville. I also know how the PC got sick now. She got some sort fo fake security pop up and she clicked on it.

Just say "never click on anything" LOL or just take the mouse sure maybe that might cause some issues if she wants to open a program but it will be safe

[kaboom]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Just say "never click on anything" LOL or just take the mouse sure maybe that might cause some issues if she wants to open a program but it will be safe

"Pest" control:

[Junk Parts]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Now you guys might remember my sister inlaw Anna the PC killer. My home built PC's were not good enough for her. To get her out of my hair I bought her a brand complete new Core I5 PC with and on site service contract. Money was tight so I let her contract lapse. Well I talked to her yesterday and she has killed this core I5 PC too. I told her to unplug it and don't even think about messing with it. I'm going down there next weekend to run the restore from her backup partition. I hope that I made the backup DVD's for her PC. I'd rather do the factory restore using these disks. Some things never change!

[goontron]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Now you guys might remember my sister inlaw Anna the PC killer. My home built PC's were not good enough for her. To get her out of my hair I bought her a brand complete new Core I5 PC with and on site service contract. Money was tight so I let her contract lapse. Well I talked to her yesterday and she has killed this core I5 PC too. I told her to unplug it and don't even think about messing with it. I'm going down there next weekend to run the restore from her backup partition. I hope that I made the backup DVD's for her PC. I'd rather do the factory restore using these disks. Some things never change!

i've seen new pcs without recov partitions, i hope you verified this one had one.

[smason]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Than why does it run web servers? And why does the Jefferson county windows 2012 servers crash every 2 months and the linux servers never crash.

If a Windows server is crashing, it's either got a hardware problem, or crap software installed.
I haven't seen a Windows server crash in over 5 years. Last one was when a shitty Symantec product BSODed the server when I tried to restart the service.

Hate MS all you want, the server OSes (I have many 2003, and 2008R2 at work)
are very stable.
I'm no MS fanboy, I have Windows and Linux each have their place.

Though MS is pissing me off lately. Ping is STILL broken in Win7 Win 8 and Server 2012. And now Robocopy in Win 8 is broken. Bah!!!

[goontron]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

If a Windows server is crashing, it's either got a hardware problem, or crap software installed.
I haven't seen a Windows server crash in over 5 years. Last one was when a shitty Symantec product BSODed the server when I tried to restart the service.

Hate MS all you want, the server OSes (I have many 2003, and 2008R2 at work)
are very stable.
I'm no MS fanboy, I have Windows and Linux each have their place.

Though MS is pissing me off lately. Ping is STILL broken in Win7 Win 8 and Server 2012. And now Robocopy in Win 8 is broken. Bah!!!

damn it, now microsoft figured out how to break robocopy? thats just pure buggery!

[shovenose]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Windows Server is quite stable (even though 2012 looks retarded - don't get me wrong Windows 8 is nice but it's not idea for a server).
but Linux is MORE stable.

[LLLlllou]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

I hate pricks that write crap like this for no other reason in that they have nothing better to do.

If only that was the case . . . spyware and addware are a billion dollar biz.

[LLLlllou]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

She has been up and running naked for years.

Sounds like a fun gal.

[LLLlllou]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

I've only seen that once. It was a boot sector infection. I low-level formatted the HDD, and that computer hasn't been back since.

Massive overkill, Kasperky has a one click, 60 second, fix:

http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/tdsskiller

Nasty little bastards, these bootkits, even a system restore won't kill them.
TDSSkiller is the shit though , it kills the bootkit, rebuilds the MBR, kills the rootkit, and restores the infected file(s) from known good files.
At that point just reboot into safe mode, run Malwarebytes and Hijackthis and you're 99% clean. Remove the 300 toolbars from add/remove and now you're 99.99% clean.

[ben7]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Wait is my sig the same *looks*
And thats why i run linux!

Uh ... LOL ... then explain to me why my father's tablet got hacked into! It runs android, which is actually linux under the hood. You read that right! In all due respect ... please, don't be such a -ahemmmm- snob about it!

If a Windows server is crashing, it's either got a hardware problem, or crap software installed.

Ever heard of PEBKAC?
Yes, I know, not all computers have a keyboard hooked up...

I haven't seen a Windows server crash in over 5 years.

That proves that windows isn't a pile of dog turd ... I mean look at it, does it look brown to you? Any OS can be made stable ... you just need more bug spray!

[NUKLEAR-SLUG]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

Uh ... LOL ... then explain to me why my father's tablet got hacked into! It runs android, which is actually linux under the hood. You read that right! In all due respect ... please, don't be such a -ahemmmm- snob about it!

He likely downloaded a compromised app, but that would be a user issue not a Linux one and would apply equally to any operating system irrespective of how secure it is.

You can put up all the fences you like but if someone leaves the front door open..

[ddscentral]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

You can put up all the fences you like but if someone leaves the front door open..

Agreed.
Problem is not with Android, problem is with user.
Android will ask user for permission first before installing anything.
A problem is that most uneducated users don't read the permissions list.
Most Android viruses can be avoided by checking app permissions before installing.
(and of course, not installing apps from dubious sources)

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Wife's PC killed by virus

People that browse random web sites with an administrator-permissions account deserves malware.