Watch Out For This

[Lee Adams]

This is not about football but about your computer. A really ugly virus recently infected my computer. Comes from trolling the net and getting those informational e-mails. I believe it was called Rouge something or other. It appeared to be attacking versions of Windows XP among others. I had what was supposed to be an excellent ant-virus operating on the computer. This thing disabled it. Finally got the computer operating properly after about 2 weeks.

[zipdiehard]

I feel for you. We got hit twice, and my son once, all in one week. I got hit while on "Ram-nation" after the VCU game. They are everywhere.

[Dr Z]

Before he passed, Steve gave you a solution.

[zipdiehard]

If more people used MACS they would be get nailed as well. Hackers and scammers aren't going to bother with MACS with such a small population of available "customers". I've read there are something like a billion Windows PCs out there. Not saying this to bash MACS, which are great computers, its just that there is just not as many out there.

[akzipper]

If more people used MACS they would be get nailed as well. Hackers and scammers aren't going to bother with MACS with such a small population of available "customers". I've read there are something like a billion Windows PCs out there. Not saying this to bash MACS, which are great computers, its just that there is just not as many out there.

Macs are terrible!

Just saying...

[Dave in Green]

Windows XP is more than 10 years old now and is more vulnerable to malware and viruses than Windows 7. In addition, older browsers also have more security holes. It's always best to have the latest operating system and browser, and to keep them updated with all the latest security patches.

At the very least, everyone running Windows should be using Microsoft Security Essentials. It's a free download from Microsoft and can be set to automatically update every day through the automatic Windows update process. It's rated as good or better than most of the commercial antivirus programs that you have to pay for, it doesn't use much memory or slow down your computer, and it's saved me on several occasions by isolating and eliminating potential threats before they can do any damage.

The Rogue virus is the one that pops up false alerts that your computer is infected with a virus, and has you download and install a phony antivirus program that causes more problems. While it's possible to get something like this on VCU Ram Nation, I've visited that site many times with no problems. Virus writers are now cleverly covering their tracks by designing viruses to install on a computer but stay dormant until triggered by an outside source. For example, a dormant virus can be triggered by an innocent Java applet when visiting a "clean" website. So it's more likely that an innocent Java applet on VCU Ram National just "woke up" the virus that was already on your computer.

As for Macs vs. PCs, that's a debate that's been going on for years. People have their favorite and are unlikely to change. Personally, I've always preferred PCs because they are open architecture and less costly. Macs are proprietary and pricey. I've built my own computers from scratch for many years and like to get under the hood and do my own maintenance. You can do that with PCs. You can't do that with a Mac.

[Lee Adams]

Windows XP is more than 10 years old now and is more vulnerable to malware and viruses than Windows 7. In addition, older browsers also have more security holes. It's always best to have the latest operating system and browser, and to keep them updated with all the latest security patches.

At the very least, everyone running Windows should be using Microsoft Security Essentials. It's a free download from Microsoft and can be set to automatically update every day through the automatic Windows update process. It's rated as good or better than most of the commercial antivirus programs that you have to pay for, it doesn't use much memory or slow down your computer, and it's saved me on several occasions by isolating and eliminating potential threats before they can do any damage.

The Rogue virus is the one that pops up false alerts that your computer is infected with a virus, and has you download and install a phony antivirus program that causes more problems. While it's possible to get something like this on VCU Ram Nation, I've visited that site many times with no problems. Virus writers are now cleverly covering their tracks by designing viruses to install on a computer but stay dormant until triggered by an outside source. For example, a dormant virus can be triggered by an innocent Java applet when visiting a "clean" website. So it's more likely that an innocent Java applet on VCU Ram National just "woke up" the virus that was already on your computer.

As for Macs vs. PCs, that's a debate that's been going on for years. People have their favorite and are unlikely to change. Personally, I've always preferred PCs because they are open architecture and less costly. Macs are proprietary and pricey. I've built my own computers from scratch for many years and like to get under the hood and do my own maintenance. You can do that with PCs. You can't do that with a Mac.

OK. I did get some good assistance from Microsoft. They gave me some online links that scrubbed the virus and fixed the major problem. The Kaspersky anti-malware program was the one that I think actually finally cleaned up the mess. But I had delete my account on the computer,set up a new one,set up anew e-mail account etc,etc. Apparently this one just attacked XP because once I was able to download XP security updates again the patch that Microsoft came up with stopped the infection from reappearing...for now.

[Lee Adams]

OK. I did get some good assistance from Microsoft. They gave me some online links that scrubbed the virus and fixed the major problem. The Kaspersky anti-malware program was the one that I think actually finally cleaned up the mess. But I had delete my account on the computer,set up a new one,set up anew e-mail account etc,etc. Apparently this one just attacked XP because once I was able to download XP security updates again the patch that Microsoft came up with stopped the infection from reappearing...for now.

Oh,by the way,I already had Security Essentials installed at the time of the attack. The Rogue disabled it and the ability to update. Another place you can go just in case is Malwearbytes.com. They have a pretty good FREE download as well as pay to play softwear. The free one did quarantine a lot of the crap. Only thing is that it appears that you can't run that when Security Essentials is operational.

[ZachTheZip]

Just for good measure, you might want to run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. It's free to download and run, but it won't give you realtime protection unless you subscribe to it. I just use Microsoft Security Essentials for realtime and run Malwarebytes if I think I might be infected.

Another piece of advice would be to not use Internet Explorer 6. Ever. Update it to IE8 (the highest version that will run on XP) or better yet use Chrome or Opera. You should also make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player and the newest version of Java.

[zipdiehard]

For what it is worth, our machines are Vista and Windows 7. Both running Security Essentials. I was in the Akron thread on Ram nation when I got hit.

I have added malawarebytes as well. It found several tracking things on ours and our kid's computers. Good program to have. We also switched over to Chrome full time, as it appears to have less vulnerabilities than IE.