Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Trojan
Not been blogging recently since finding a nasty trojan downloader on the computer. I'm temporarily closing all photo albums since it seems to be uploading images and using my accounts so all these will have to be changed. All spy removers (and professionals!) have failed to get rid of it - I'm writing this on this on a new computer I've bought!!
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13 comments:
Hi Gibson,
Yes i wondered why you had not posted anything recently.Hope the new one is an Apple! You get no problems with them. (Yet)
What protection did you have on the old one and what have you put on the new one?
I understand if you don't want to say.
The trouble these people cause.
My kit is a mac but Sheila uses a pc with Avast anti trouble.
I don't know if you tried a scan with this but it's been very good considering it was free. May be worth a try but i expect you will be cheesed off with it all.
I'm going to sound like I know what I'm talking about here, which couldn't be further from the truth: I'm merely passing on a warning somebody else gave to my son.
The gist of it was that some of this new generation of mobile phones ('Smartphones' I think they're called) can pick up viruses when they're used for internet or email and then pass them to the computer when photos or music are transferred.
I'm not sure if this is relevant in your case, Gibson. I have no personal experience as my mobile is a vintage, pay as you go, cheapo. I use a Mac at home but my work PC had a really serious trojan problem a few months back; it's still not completely trouble free. The IT chap reckoned that only a complete 'deep' reformat would clear it completely (not exactly sure what that means, but apparently it involves multiple passes and takes many times longer than a simple reformat). That would obviously involve much backing up and reinstallation of applications.
Good luck with it. Pity the people who write these things can't come up with something more productive to do.
I have a Mac and have had no problems for about two years. On the Mac I have Parallels software which runs Windows as a virtual PC including all the old files from my previous PC. This is all incredibly versatile - you can work between Windows and the Mac at the same time.
I have a love hate relationship with my computer and sympathise with you, and hope you can get it sorted.
I am currently having problems trying to upload the self publish book of my Welsh walk onto the Lulu publishing site - this had to be done on their template in Microsoft Word so I am using Windows and the virtual PC - problems are something to do with fonts not embedded which is all a bit of mystery despite much research and trial and error.
Sir Hugh,
Sorry Gibson for this little highjack of your post.
Try this for embedding your fonts on the mac with word..
Click on the "Tools" menu and choose "Options."
Choose the "Save" tab in the Options menu.
Click the "Embed TrueType Fonts" check box to enable it if it is not already.
Click "OK" and close the Options window.
Save the word processing file as normal by using the "File" menu and the "Save" option. Word will automatically embed your font selection or selections in the document.
The file may get larger depending on the font but thats not a worry i wouldn’t have thought.
Hope this helps.
Hi Alan - no worries re the 'highjack'!
As far as my trojan problem - I've got full internet security plus two antispyware/malware programmes all kept up to date (plus windows defender). I haven't bought an Apple but another HP laptop, although I'm tempted by an Apple. I suppose the extent of my computer use doesn't justify the cost (I tell myself unconvincingly!) I'll run Avasti so thanks for that.
Byeways - I'm aware of the issue you mention with smart phones but like you I don't have one. In the end the antispyware software company couldn't find any evidence of a trojan in the Root logs, registry logs and other files I sent them after following their instructions as to how to collect such things, eventually claiming it was a false positive. Not sure I believe them!
Sir Hugh
A Mac seems to be the thing to buy, although this is the first time I've ever had a problem with trojans, viruses etc.
By the way, congratulations on completing your Welsh walk.
Hi Gibson,
It's not a problem to have 2 or even more anti trouble packages on your PC. However, you really shouldn't have them running simultaneously. They will fight each other and slow down your start up and some programs.
It's best to pick what you consider is top one and then disable (not uninstall) the others. It's easy enough to swop to one of the others occasionally to keep the virus database updated and do a scan.
Lets hope the trouble has been resolved for you.
Hi Alan - can't say I notice any problem running the two antispyware programs together - certainly the new computer boots very quickly. I know two anti virus programs can cause problems but the others all update faultlessly and don't seem to cause difficulties. Still, I'll keep this in mind if I do experience problems, so thanks for this.
Hi Alan - reading your comment again, I realise that you might be saying that they'll cancel each other out or each will be less efficient without me knowing it?
No they won’t cancel each other out. It’s just that they constantly check your PC and they search the same files generally. If one is searching a certain section the other one will be searching it too and slowing things down.
If you notice a slowing down then this will probably be a cause. But it’s nothing to worry about. The only thing on the efficiency front is that the scan will also scan the files from the other checkers and this will take longer.
Thanks Alan. I don't notice any slowing down on the new computer - in fact it's very fast!
Hi Gibson, sorry to hear about the computer, and to see that your blogging has been curtailed. Our computer caught a nasty cold some time ago and the Geek Police sorted it, but I had to pay our local computer shop to sort out the problems the Blackberry vs Roxio battle contrived to throw up when I plugged the phone into the computer! (Perhaps I should have got Alan to help!)
I've got miles behind on 'reading', but notice you had a good outing on Ben Cleugh. Hope you are enjoying the summer. It has been lovely in Timperley...
Sorry to hear of your other woes, Gibson. I'll try to keep you entertained. Next trip is an experiment, involving heavy 4-season boots that are proving a little tough on my delicate knees, as I try to break them in on days fit for sandals...
Big boots in summer! Not an easy transition physically, or psychologically. My finger woes could be worse Martin - I've just knocked a couple of unstable rocks off a wall in the Ochils which bashed my thumb (much blood and cursing) but luckily didn't break it. One large rock narrowly missed my shin bone which was an even bigger relief.
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