GRRRRRR!!!!! Hard Drive infested with a virus

[Alektron]

Last night I was browsing the web at home, and my windows explorer froze up. The hard drive kept working on something, but I couldn't even access the task manager. ---I had a feeling of deja vu---. Actually, exactly the same thing did happen to me once last week. I had rebooted then, and kept working normally without any further problem. At that time, I thought it was a random freeze--just an infrequent and probably innocuous event. This time I rebooted and began to boot up windows. However, it didn't make it all the way in; only some of the desktop showed up. Fearing something dreadful, but still unsure, I rebooted again, and didn't even make it to the Windows boot up. Had my hard drive failed??! I was angry because I had bought this 80GB Western Digital hard drive only about 1.5 years before! I know I used it quite on the high side of accesses, but this is well inside the warranty.

Just to be sure this was a hardware failure, I booted up with the Windows CDROM and did a repair. Guess what, it found my hard drive directory, and repaired it! Something had messed up my operating system... so I reboot successfully the next time and start to see that there is some other damage to my applications. I begin a virus scan and find some viruses..63 copies. But halfway through it, the virus infestation catches hold of the computer and crashes the cleansing process.

I've avoided viruses for over 5 years, but one got to my pc somehow. Looks like tonight I will be repairing the hard drive and salvaging anything I can. In my next post I will list the blasted virus.

Nefarious viruses make spyware and adware look nice.

[Alektron]

After about 6-7 hours, the virus is gone and everything seems repaired. Most of the content of hard drive seems to be there, but it will be a while before I know for certain.

The most prevalent virus was one called "JAVA BYTEVER.A", which exploits a security flaw in the Microsoft Java Virtual Machie (VM) that allows hostile websites to infiltrate the virus. (Evidentally, I had not installed the patch.) In fact, all versions of the virus on my drive were related to Java, and were in the same Java class folder. Once I removed them with Trend Micro's scanner, they were gone. There was a lingering glitch: when I opened some windows, like a new browser window, a strange dialog box would appear, telling me that it couldn't find Roxio Media Creator. I went back and installed all the Microsoft patches, and everything seems to be working normally. I disabled the Java VM because Microsoft says it isn't supported anymore.

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusen ... YTEVER%2EA

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusen ... &Period=1y

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/securi ... 3-011.mspx

[tazdevl]

I'd definitely look at upgrading your AV. Give NOD32 a shot or Kaspersky.

Trend Micro is generally at the bottom 1/3 of AVs in terms of its performance.

[Alektron]

This weekend I picked up Norton SystemWorks, which has Norton Anti-Virus. (They are offering an "upgrade rebate" right now for US & Canada.) Only problem now is that the "intrusion attempt" messages pop-up on the desktop during game play, and interrupt my Battlefield2 gaming. I just need to find the option to hide the notifications.

[pranav81]

Good choice.I too have NAV and dont face any virus/worm problems.


::Pranav::

[LoneWolf]

I use NAV or SAV Corporate if I need a commercial product. However, Avast! Antivirus is free and does an excellent job too (running it on my wife's system and tempted to switch to it at home when my NAV subscription is up). I'm really impressed with it. One tip: do the compact install so you don't get any skins. Why you'd make a skinnable AV product is beyond me and the classic interface is far more intuitive.

http://www.avast.com

[MediumRare]

@LoneWolf: just had a look at the Avast website and ran across this:

A functional MS Internet Explorer 4 or higher is required for the program to work.

I don't normally use IE (although it's deeply imbeded in Windows). Do you have any idea why they require it?

G

[pranav81]

I guess it needs IE to display help.Many programs need IE to display their help.


::Pranav::