Very odd virus

[RitualBlack]

Yesterday I was playing on my computer when suddenly a new file appeared. It looked like my computer scan, and did have my cpu information correct, but it said that my hard drive was having some major issues. I was very suspicious about it, but since my drive only had a couple of gigs remaining (cleared up like 60gb after the virus :sweat: ) I looked into it a bit. When it was scanning my drive I canceled it and it shut me down. When I started my computer up I couldn't access my bars, and my desktop was black. I instantly knew it was a virus because my windows button opened up the hidden start bar (if my hard drive couldn't access my files or OS it wouldn't have popped up). I also found that my desktop could be changed back, and a new file with the same name as the "hard drive checker" was in my desktop properties. To me this virus seemed pretty "smart" as I was quite worried for a while about all the stuff that was going on; Hidden OS, supposedly large hard drive errors (it hid all my documents, and wouldn't let me access applications about 75% of the time), it was shutting my computer down, logging me off, and restarting the computer, black desktop, and it kept suggesting to defrag hard drive and when I went to do it without the suspected virus (I wouldn't be smart to do it through it) the c: drive defrag opened up the virus, and lastly it opened up error windows all the time saying I had drive issues. I installed Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware trial and it recognized something going on but my computer was shut down in the middle of a scan. To fix it I started up in safe mode without networking and removed the virus, which was chilling in my temporary files folder. It turns out I had over 1.5 gigs in there, and it hadn't been looked at for years...

 

Anyway, I suspect it was a Trojan virus, but I am not sure. The name which came up as in task manager was 20048031.exe and I think it said it was called hard drive rescue or something in the program that opened up.

I don't have virus protection, but that is because my computer is probably worth less than the software, and I plan on getting a laptop around the holiday season

 

If anyone else has had a similar virus, it would be interesting to hear about, as I have no idea what it actually was and the number doesn't come up on Google, but the virus did give me quite a fright as I thought I lost my semester long school project :wacko: )

Edited December 12, 2010 by tttttt

[Vagrant0]

http://www.avast.com/index

 

Seriously... There's a free version which is better than some of license based software out there for an on-demand scanner. There is NO excuse these days for not having some antivirus installed unless you like reformatting bi-monthly and never log in anywhere. And even then, there are viruses which can stick around even after re-formatting. I'd use the condom and $2 prostitute analogy, but I hope you get the idea.

 

And for passive protection... Also a free and rather capable program.

http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

 

Even the windows security essentials isn't that bad if you have a more recent version of Windows installed (still better than McAfee and Norton).

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

[RitualBlack]

I was using a freeware anti virus (panda could light) and in general virus protection doesn't seem to get along to well on my computer. When I was using Panda Cloud it would spike up to 90% usage and I could barely play a game :unsure: . I do frequent cleans with the freeware, but I normally don't have one running in background. My computer is about eight years old(!!!) now and has been upgraded significantly (went from 512 ram with nothing else to 2gig ram with a decent 512 graphics card. It used to be a really decent machine up until about five years ago :biggrin:. It is by no means good based on the standards of today, but it will have to do until I get my new computer. I also can't even upgrade to SP3 (can't remember the reason, but my computer goes into permanent safe mode when it was upgraded). Thank you for the links, and II will check out avast and spybot to see if it works well on my computer, but if it ends up like panda cloud I will just continue with regular scans of Malwarebytes (as 10% remaining of 2 gig isn't enough to do anything :tongue: ). I do plan on buying real virus protection as soon as I get my new computer, so I was wondering, which Virus protection is the best in your opinion? Edited December 12, 2010 by tttttt

[AWarGuy]

Do not get AVG 2011 if you have Windows 7 64-bit, there latest update basically screws your PC and you will either have to Reformat it or use a Recovery Disk since you can't even login in to Windows.

[prandiningrat]

you can try antivirus with many definition of viruses, such as Kaspersky. but dont install on your PC which virus already on it, install with another PC then connect your hard drive then scan it..

It's very difficult to install programs especially antivirus when virus already on your PC . we know the character of some viruses won't let the programs to be installed.

or mightbe best do clean install your OS then install antivirus first.

[Vagrant0]

Panda Cloud

This might be part of the problem. Many of the reviews suggest that this product misses many common viruses, is prone to false positives, uses up enormous system resources after awhile, and doesn't really tell you much about what it is actually doing or what it finds. And in not really telling you much about what it finds, and has a frequency of false positives, it can potentially screw up your system removing things which aren't really there. It's also reportedly impossible to install. I wouldn't personally touch this program with a 10' pole, even if I had a computer with very limited resources.

 

Before you install any software, you should really look at the user reviews from an unaffiliated source. Lately there have been many rogue antivirus/malware software packages around with catchy names that install malware and viruses themselves, run fake scans, and demand money to remove those things that it reports were found.

[RitualBlack]

Kudos to all :biggrin:

 

Thank you for the advice AWarGuy, I will stay away from AVG :tongue:

 

Some noteworthy advice Bandit Ngebak. I will definitely take it into consideration when getting virus protection, and may check out Kaspersky.

 

Vagrant0, I will definitely make sure that I look at the reviews, and look around more to insure that whatever brand I choose is in fact a reputable brand.

 

Thanks everyone :thumbsup:

Edited December 12, 2010 by tttttt