Possible Virus? Help :(

I had that. You won't lose your writing, but it's a nasty annoyance, to say the least, and dangerous.

If you google fake trojan AV you'll find a lot of sites and instructions for removal, depending on how tech savvy you are.

You could try this removal tool:

http://www.registrycleanergeeks.com/trojan/fakeavgen3/

I used something similar, but I don't remember what it was.

Moving forward, I recommend buying a cheap flash drive. You should be able to get one for under $15. Copy your writing onto the flash drive every night and carry it with you in your purse. That way, if your computer is stolen, if your computer gets a nasty virus, if your house floods or catches fire or falls into an earthquake-generated pit, you'll always have a copy of your work. You might also look into other backup solutions such as backing up online.

There's no good reason to have only one copy of your writing. Don't find out the hard way.

Cheers.

Thanks for the copying files to a flash drive tip, Georgina. I'm not always as diligent as I should be about backing up my files. I have an external hard drive and I have a program to create a "mirror" of my hard drive, but I haven't run it yet. This is the week I stop screwing around and do so.

EVERYONE should have an anti-virus/spyware program installed on their computer. No excuses. Even if you use a Mac, you can still get bit--HARD.

There's no such thing as a program that protects you from everything, but there's a lot of good free programs that you can find at Major Geeks and File Hippo. I also recommend trying Gizmo's Freeware Reviews if you aren't sure of what you might need.

And of course you can just go to Staples or some computer store and buy a program. Whatever you do, make sure you install it AND run the updates. Some programs will do it automatically when you boot up or allow you to set up a schedule for them to be downloaded. Whatever works.

Of course, you could be one of those lucky souls who can surf the web, visit all kinds of weird websites and open any attachment that says, "Sexy Pics Inside" and never ever get burnt.

But you're probably not.

nighttimer said:

EVERYONE should have an anti-virus/spyware program installed on their computer. No excuses. Even if you use a Mac, you can still get bit--HARD.

Click to expand...

I agree with the first part, but unless you're running Windows on the Mac, there's not much out there.

A Russian keylogger with a bounty offer if you actually collect a live sample.

A Trojan in a couple of versions embedded in illegal downloads of applications like PhotoShop.

But at this point Mac users running Windows are measurable vectors--that is, they are spreading mal ware without realizing it. So get some protection. Now. Most of the free ware apps will work on your Windows install, all of the free ones, and the Microsoft Security Suite works as well.

I don't think this will last much longer--but all the Mac OS X anti-virus apps suck to varying degrees, and you absolutely MUST NOT install more than one.

There are a lot of good free programs for Windows; do be cautious about installing apps that may or will conflict with each other.

And while it pains me to say this, my former colleagues at the two large anti-virus software companies for Windows tell me that the free Microsoft security suite is so good that they are in total panic mode.

nighttimer said:

Even if you use a Mac, you can still get bit--HARD.

Click to expand...

There are no mac viruses in the wild that should concern any Mac user. And trojan horses are different, as in nothing can really prevent that, except the obvious solution of not giving your admin password to every app that wants to install (just the really trustworthy apps from the original source). And even then, it's usually pirated software that people get bit by on the Mac.

Some key advice is to never give your password if you have no clue what's going on, or why an app, website, etc, is asking for it, always google that app to make sure it's legit and even look for other links (usually found in reviews, etc) to that same site to make sure you're on the right website.

But basically, if you're not running a mac in some type of network, you probably shouldn't be worrying about viruses.

Note that the only three viruses I found with clamAvX were for Windows.

That said, if you're on a Mac, use Littlesnitch. It'll tell you if something on your computer is trying to connect elsewhere, which some trojan horses try to do (that pirated iworks trojan from last year). But being smart with your password and not pirating software is the best solution for that.

Just be smart. If you're on mac, linux, win 7, be careful with your password (and don't disable UAC on win 7), don't click that link if you don't have to, don't trust shiny, yet cheap looking sites (a personal thing for me), and keep everything (browsers, operating system, anti-virus) updated.

Last note. ClamXaV isn't an active scanner, as in don't expect it to pop up if you do download a virus, and install it. I basically run it once a week or so, part of my general maintenance, to make sure everything is okay (and to not infect a friend who uses windows with a virus meant for them). iAntiVirus is an active scanner.

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/03/dear-aunt-tuaw-should-i-buy-anti-virus-software-for-os-x/
http://theappleblog.com/2010/02/04/antivirus-software-on-your-mac-yes-or-no/
http://www.clamxav.com/
http://www.iantivirus.com/ (supposedly very lightweight, and possibly has a free version?)

Edit- I'm now using iantivirus , since it seems lightweight enough to be no problem. Nothing wrong with being paranoid safe (i've been burned by years of using windows), even if nothing is out there...

The only reason there are so few Mac viruses is because the Hackers know those computers aren't as common so they don't bother.


I had that fakeAV too. No clue how it got onto my PC, there was no download in my history, it never asked for permission from me to run. It just popped up out of nowhere , running as a program, not in my browser like most, while my computer had already been running for awhile, and I hadn't downloaded anything that day.
I could only assume it came in with something else and had a timed release for some reason.
Simple enough to clean it out of my registry though.

LOG said:

The only reason there are so few Mac viruses is because the Hackers know those computers aren't as common so they don't bother.

Click to expand...

And that common excuse would be true if it wasn't for the large number of BSD/Linux servers out there, which continue to go unaffected with the large number of viruses seen on windows. Less security holes means less viruses. Asking permission before installing certain apps means less trojan horses.

It turns out that allowing programs to install, and touch your system files without user intervention wasn't the smartest choice.

This is off-topic, so if you want to continue, pm me.