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Virus
Hi All,
I just joined this forum! I hope you could help me with a problem I experienced last night with my computer.
I received an email with an attachment from my cousin and as I thought it contained photos from his holidays, I opened it. After that, I started noticing two links at the bottome of my computer which were popping up messages such as 'there is a virus in your computer, Trojans etc' and that 'you should clean up by clicking here etc...'. When I did that I was asked to pay $79 to Support your PC. I didn't pay but later on when I was trying to run Norton and Trend, it was not letting me. The messages kept popping up and it was not letting me even go to Program Files or Add/Delete files. I was also getting a blue screen on my laptop and a message that the computer needs to shut down as there is going to be harm on my computer.
I have gotten some ideas from the Dell website to download free online software, but how do I do that when I cannot even run them? Those pop ups don't let me...
Any advice?? It would be much appreciated!
Roula
seldenb
67 Posts
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November 2nd, 2010 08:00
The "antiVirus" software is actually a virus. Well, 'trojan horse" is a more accurate description. since it pretends to be one thing and actually is something quite different.
Try selecting the most recent restore point from before this happened. A restore point should have been created each time you installed Windows updates .If activating a restore point does not return your computer to a good state, you'll have to reinstall Windows from scratch. Unfortunately, a complete reinstall really is the only safe thing to do. There's no way to know what the malware might have done to your computer, including damaging the restore points.
Argyro
7 Posts
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November 2nd, 2010 09:00
Thank you SELDENB for your feedback.
If say, hackers got into my computer, are they able to get bank details from my online banking site even though I didn't use it after I opened that attachment?
Or do they get the details while I am in the online banking site at the same time....?
Any feedback from anyone would be great!
seldenb
67 Posts
0
November 2nd, 2010 09:00
Argryo,
Sadly, you need to assume the worst. There are different types of malware, but you must assume that all of your banking accounts, passwords, credit cards and anything else you've typed into your computer is now known to criminals who plan to steal whatever they can and run your cedit card charges up to the maximum. You need to use some other (clean) computer to change all of your passwords everywhere, and you need to contact your credit card issuers to get new cards issued.
And do it soon.
You should let your cousin know, too, just in case that message actually came from his computer, in which case it is infected, too. He wouldn't have known that the message was sent, since most such malware scans all the address books on a computer looking for email addresses and then sends plausible messages to them all.
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
0
November 2nd, 2010 09:00
Argyro,
You need to post your problem on the Virus and Spyware Forum located here: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/default.aspx
Please read the instructions before you post. Someone will be along shortly to help you.
Tony
ejn63
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87.5K Posts
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November 2nd, 2010 09:00
If you do this be sure you UNINSTALL any antivirus software you already have. Better: use malwarebytes or SuperAntiSpyware (install from a flash drive in safe mode) -- you should never install a second antivirus package on top of one you already have installed. If you don't have problems before that, you will if you install a second antivirus program - they will conflict with each other.
Argyro
7 Posts
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November 2nd, 2010 10:00
Thank you all for your contribution!
Tony, I had a look at the site and it seems like great help! I will try it tonight from my laptop. Problem is, though, last night before I shut down, I couldn't even get to the sites as the pop ups wouldn't let me access anything. I hope I can at least get in the the Dell website tonight...
Regards
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
0
November 2nd, 2010 11:00
Arygyro,
If you are still able to boot your system, try the following: Go to www.download.com. Download Hitman Pro Cloud Scanner. If you can connect to the Internet at all, it will scan your files and compare them with five online antivirus databases. If need be you can boot into Safe Mode with Networking. That may help you access the Internet long enough to get rid of your bugs. Alternatively, you can download Hitman Pro onto a flash drive with another computer and run it from there. Note that Hitman Pro has both a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version. Download the appropriate one for your operating system.
Let us know how you fare.
Tony
pijai
35 Posts
0
November 2nd, 2010 15:00
arygyro . . . along with tony's latest comments . . . if accessing via another computer . . . you might also download, to the thumb-drive, new copies of avg, spyware-blaster and ad-aware. that way, once your computer is reformatted . . . you do not need to access the internet "naked". let's face it . . . if you have a static broadband ip address . . . the hacker's radar might be tuned in to your protocol . . . just waiting for you to access the internet.
Argyro
7 Posts
0
November 5th, 2010 10:00
Unfortunately, I can't do download anything from my computer as the pop up messages don't let me access any sites. So, I didn't manage to get the Dell one-to-one suport. I will have to format my computer.
tgsmith
2.9K Posts
0
November 5th, 2010 15:00
Argyro,
There are ways to get rid of those popups without reformatting. Go to www.ubcd4win.com. Read the instructions. Download and install the UBCD for Windows program. You will need a Windows XP CD to create the bootable Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. You can update the Avira Antivirus, Spybot and other antimalware programs prior to building the UBCD4win ISO. Once the ISO is created, use Nero, Roxio or whatever CD/DVD burning software you have to burn the UBCD4win.iso file to DVD. If you leave off (disable) the Avira Antivirus, the image should fit on a CD. You then boot your system from the UBCD. It only takes a few minutes to get the hang of using its Windows menus and desktop icons to run programs that will help rid your system of those nefarious bugs.
You can also use its programs to backup your data to an external USB hard drive, flash drive, recordable CD or DVD.
Good luck. Let us know if you need further assistance.
Tony