Subject: The pit is infected?
Author:
Posted on: 2010-04-28 16:50:00 UTC
Dear lord, how appropriate.
I was surfing FF.net yesterday. Everything seems fine, though... does anyone know if it has some kind of incubation period? Like, is it a logic bomb or something.?
Hey all,
I'm wondering if anyone else has picked up a particular type of Trojun while surfing FF.net? It is a rather nasty one which calls itself things like XP Total Secruity, or Vista Secure Protection 2010.
It bypasses your regular security programme (although a good one will deal with it), and if your PC allows it to it will change settings to disable your firewall, and start up with your PC. Also it flashes up messages telling you that loads and loads of malware has been found on your PC.
It's nastiest trick however is that it redirects your .exe files (i.e the stuff on your desktop) to its own server which then flashes up a message telling you that "this programme is infected" meaning you can't open stuff like Windows Media Player or any games or word processing programmes.
It also hijacks your internet and bars you from looking at any site except its own one, which then tells you to "buy this programme".
I've had three versions of this little sod now, and am getting rather sick of it. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I think that it is coming from FF.net, but I'm not 100% sure.
Crystal
Hmm...XP, you say? A hacker with a sense of humor...
Disturbing, and annoying, but unfortunatly not unusual...
Dear lord, how appropriate.
I was surfing FF.net yesterday. Everything seems fine, though... does anyone know if it has some kind of incubation period? Like, is it a logic bomb or something.?
I had that one on my laptop. I found this site.
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/forums.html
You post on the Virus, Spyware, Trojan removal forum, and someone from their site adopts you, and helps walk through getting it off you computer.
They also have a guide that lists programs to install to put a multi-layer protection web around your computer. I haven't had a major outbreak of anything since then, and some of the programs really make things handier such as blocking ads and warning of sites with bad reputations. FF.net actually doesn't have a bad rep with that program--of course that one is based off user reports, so sometimes it over or under rates things.
Anyway, they have fixed my laptop and my desktop over the last year, and I never got a condescending vibe from them. And it is free.
I hate that thing. It's stuck on my computer, and I can't do a system restore without loosing an enormous amount of stuff. However, it is possible to neutralize it. I created a shortcut in my Startup folder (Start menu --> Programs --> right click Startup --> Open) pointing to taskmanager.exe, and that pops up before the virus can stop it. Go to the Processes tab, and scroll down, searching for a description that is the same name as the program it goes with (including the .exe ending). End any that you find. And switch to Firefox—I think that is the virus that also prevents IE from working (Tools --> Internet Options --> Connections tab --> LAN Settings --> uncheck "Use a proxy server" to fix that, but that is a lot of work). Whatever you do, though, you will have to repeat each time you start up. Oh, and I use (and dislike) Vista, so your paths might be slightly different.
I got it a while back. It masqueraded as Vista Anti-Spyware 2010. As much as I click out of the fishy stuff, it must have lodged itself in somewhere.
I had to return to a previous state in my computer before it got the virus. (I can't think of the proper term for that at the moment...)
I've been of ff.net since then... but I won't say anything to jinx myself. XD Originally, I thought I got it from facebook. Never thought about ff.net being a possible culprit.
I've had to do that to kill off similar viruses in the past, and it usually seems to work. It's still a shame that we even have to go the trouble to fix these things, though.
I've had a few occurrences where that nasty little bug has come up. My computer has the McAfee system, which blocks trojans automatically. They still manage to get through security and try to download crap onto the computer, though...and I try to click out of the webpage as soon as possible to minimize the damage, but I'm not sure if that works.
I commiserate.