Virus

[784caroline]

Look up front....I am a regular reader and contributor of TOTV so this is no scare tactic..but I have to ask the question. ON Friday evening and saturday morning (9/25-26) I tried to sign on as normal to TOTV and when I did the normal TOTV screen did not come up and I was redirected to click on _____ if my connection was not made in XX time. I did and all HELL broke loose and I was fighting trojan Horse viruses all weekend. I think I finally got it resolved but Did anyone else experience such a problem?? Once I got the problem resolved I was litterally afraid to sign back on TOTV????

Moderators was this just me or did something happen friday night into saturday morning. Better yet can you eduacte us as to what measures TOTV takes to insure we will not get HIJACKED by by a Trojan or some other virus???? If I had a way to call you believe me I would have..but believeme I was afraid to sign on even with another computer.!!

[Talk Host]

There was a temporary "redirect" over the weekend. I logged in and out of TOTV no less than 15 times during that period and have no ill effects. There was no trojan horse or other malware associated with that.

In any event, the "redirect" is gone and we are on a brand new server that is dedicated to just Talk of The Villages. No site of any kind can guarantee that it will not be hacked in some form. Even the White House and The Pentagon have been hacked. We have a dedicated server that is accessible by no one other than our IT partner.

[rsetterlund]

I have a MAC and do not worry about such things. It just plan works.

[784caroline]

Regardless of what you say.....when I hit the redirect button.....I got nailed with a TROJAN that spread like wildfire. Im just telling you what happened and whoever was responsible for the redirect better look into their security procedures!!!

[mfp509]

The same thing happened to me only I ended up with a blue screen with red lettering spelling out all sorts of warnings. I couldn't do a thing. This wasn't associated with the Talk of the Villages. Nothing I had would clean it up. I called MMD computers where I have my computer serviced and they knew right away what it was and said the only way to remedy it is to clean out the computer and basically start from scratch. I brought it to them and they cleaned it, installed some spyware/malware protection and suggested I use Mozilla Firefox as my browser. It seems that the Internet Explorer is the browser that gets attacked. Mozilla Firefox is a free download - it is different but I would rather use it and save myself from these viruses. I really recommend MMD - they are reasonable and have helped me alot. They are located in the little plaza across from the Medicine Chest in Fruitland Park.

[graciegirl]

I had the same thing and it was not connected to TOTV. It was a trojan that I had allowed somehow and it is called scareware by the computer specialists. I could NOT disinstall it and it threatened that if I didn't buy the program I would have a third party able to breach my privacy etc. etc. I too went to the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy and they said they could clean it and fix it for $200. So I bought a new computer. I did get a download from microsoft that did enable Mcafee to remove it, but the computer was five years old and they say they only do good for five years. It is a malware that attacks the Windows operating system. I sell on ebay and I was unable to post a picture because this "ANTIVIRUS PRO 2010" kept obliterating the screen.

I'll tell you what, if I had been in TV, I would have consulted Katezbox, she is so smart with computers she would have known right away what to do.

It is very likely that it might happen to your computer, and it is NOT the fault of this website.

[downeaster]

thing. I really recommend MMD - they are reasonable and have helped me alot. They are located in the little plaza across from the Medicine Chest in Fruitland Park.

(Actually Lady Lake).

Ditto! My desktop had been getting slower and slower. Took it in to MMD Saturday and got it back yesterday. They came in under the price estimate. Spent a lot of time explaining what they did and why. This was not my first satisfactory experience with MMD.

BTW, as this is a hijack I should mention the original subject. Wasn't able to get on to TOTV for a couple of days but suffered no harm. I did lose one sorta important document but I attribute that to malware already on the hard drive. Also, my fault for not backing up that document. (That sentence sounds awkward but, heaven forbid, I didn't want to end a sentence with a preposition). :laugh:

[Boomer]

......................

Also, my fault for not backing up that document. (That sentence sounds awkward but, heaven forbid, I didn't want to end a sentence with a preposition). :laugh:

pssssst, downeaster,

In that sentence "up" is an adverb modifying the verb "backing" and so you would have been just fine. No object of a preposition necessary because there was no preposition. ;) Sometimes 'up' is a preposition when it is not busy being an adverb.

Heck I write in sentence fragments all the time and I do not even care. I do not pay any attention to what that grammar check thing tries to tell me.

I guess I am on a mission to try make sure people don't worry about that stuff. When people worry about those things, it gives English majors a bad name. Not that I am an English major, mind you. But in my younger days, I had a friend who was an English major and when she would go out and about to maybe meet some guys, she would lie about her major. Actually, she was worse than an English major. She was even an English teacher:22yikes: and so she would just tell guys that she worked for the phone company so they wouldn't move down another barstool because she said she was an English teacher.

Well, I just stopped by here to make sure you know you are OK, downeaster, and now I had better get out of here before I get kicked out for not knowing anything about computers.

Boomer

[downeaster]

pssssst, downeaster,

In that sentence "up" is an adverb modifying the verb "backing" and so you would have been just fine. No object of a preposition necessary because there was no preposition. ;) Sometimes 'up' is a preposition when it is not busy being an adverb.

Heck I write in sentence fragments all the time and I do not even care. I do not pay any attention to what that grammar check thing tries to tell me.

I guess I am on a mission to try make sure people don't worry about that stuff. When people worry about those things, it gives English majors a bad name. Not that I am an English major, mind you. But in my younger days, I had a friend who was an English major and when she would go out and about to maybe meet some guys, she would lie about her major. Actually, she was worse than an English major. She was even an English teacher:22yikes: and so she would just tell guys that she worked for the phone company so they wouldn't move down another barstool because she said she was an English teacher.

Well, I just stopped by here to make sure you know you are OK, downeaster, and now I had better get out of here before I get kicked out for not knowing anything about computers.

Boomer

I am trying to think of a clever response but it is late and it has been a long day. Maybe some day we can talk about "hopefully" and "clearly". Meanwhile I am going to bed so I can get up to leave at oh dark hundred on a short "vacation". We have to get off the reservation once in a while.

[Hawkwind]

For those of you needing virus and malware protection on your computer here is something you will want to try and the price is right, FREE. Microsoft just released today Security Essentials as a free download. Here is the link and in case it does not take you to the Microsoft.com then just cut and paste it into the URL line of your browser.

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

I have installed it and it is now doing a detailed check my 500 gig Vista system.

[chuckinca]

I had the same thing and it was not connected to TOTV. It was a trojan that I had allowed somehow and it is called scareware by the computer specialists. I could NOT disinstall it and it threatened that if I didn't buy the program I would have a third party able to breach my privacy etc. etc. I too went to the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy and they said they could clean it and fix it for $200. So I bought a new computer. I did get a download from microsoft that did enable Mcafee to remove it, but the computer was five years old and they say they only do good for five years. It is a malware that attacks the Windows operating system. I sell on ebay and I was unable to post a picture because this "ANTIVIRUS PRO 2010" kept obliterating the screen.

I'll tell you what, if I had been in TV, I would have consulted Katezbox, she is so smart with computers she would have known right away what to do.

It is very likely that it might happen to your computer, and it is NOT the fault of this website.


I got something similar to what GG describes last Thursday. I use the Mozilla Firefox too.

Took my puter to our company computer fixer and he had to clean it out. Cost me $240. Told me to forget using Norton or McAfee and had me install "Eset" security system.

That was the first time I got a virus that required a complete wipe of the HD and I've had PC's since the late 80's.

.

[zcaveman]

I have used Norton's Network Internet Security exclusively for about 12 years with the exception of one year when I tried the Free MacAfee compliments of Comcast and AVG. I felt uneasy because of no logs and erroneous virus finds. I went back to Norton on all of my PCs and have never had a problem. I make sure my MS updates and Norton are updated every Monday and run a scan at least one a week. I review all of the Norton logs to see if and when they have captured a virus or problem and quarantined it and stopped illegal access both on the inbound and outbound side and analyze the other logs.

You get what you pay for. And I prefer to pay for it.

I have looked at several neighbor's computers and have referred them to MMD for cleanup. The best place around here as far as I am concerned. I also bought this PC from them about five years ago.

Most of the PCs I worked on ran AVG and the Comcast MacAfee BUT they did not keep them up to date. You have to download updates weekly to get the latest virus patterns or you are not doing yourself any good. You must be proactive in your firewall and virus program maintenance.

[krash]

caroline... I too was re-directed and I now have a bunch of trojans, namely SHeur2BHVX and Generic14.BMSA, and also a program which is popping up called "AntivirusPro_2010" , which is telling me I'm infected and it will kindly remove all nasty things from my computer for $$. I've looked this up via Google, and it is malware - beware, if you should get these pop-ups, don't click on them - I haven't - they disappear and then reappear randomly....

I really don't travel anywhere on the internet except here and couponmom.com, so I don't have a clue how I picked this up. Please let me know how you rid yourself of this nastiness... as I have run AVG antivirus, and it got rid of most of it, but there's still junk lingering, I'm sure.... thanks!

[cwnavy1]

I had the same virus come on late last week with the whole Antivirus 2010 thing come up to offer to remove it. Scared me, so I downloaded a piece from Cnet.com to eliminate the Trojan horse and it did. It was very scary, but it's now completely gone. I was visiting TV at the time and it made it almost impossible for me to check out stuff I wanted to do the next day. Sounds like most everyone was able to finally get rid of it.

[mac9]

Same thing happened to me early Sat morning, around 3 or 4 am. McAfee through Comcast is worthless. Spent over an hour on the phone with them and they were unable to access the internet. Geek squad wanted $429 and couldn't come out until 10/5. Called a local Villager who had to completely clear the harddrive. Had him install Avast. Total cost $100.
It also happened to me while I was on TOTV. Apparently there was a real security problem in your turnover!

[zcaveman]

Did any of you that caught the AntiVirus PRO 2010 click on a pop up that said you need to do a virus scan? This is usually how this virus gets on your system. And every time you check on any thing that it pops up after that will take the virus deeper and deeper into the bowels of your system until you are dead.

This is the only way I know that you can get this thing. I am not aware that you can get it passively.

[Hawkwind]

At the company I use to work for our department supported over 1500 lap top users alone and another 2000 desktop systems. When anyone called to report any problems with trojans or malware we first had them go to this site, http://www.malwarebytes.org/ download the software and run it. MalWareBytes cleared up a lot of the trojans and was free. It prevented hundreds of systems from having to be sent back for rebuilding. All of are systems had Symantec anti-virus but users refused to keep the definition files up to date.

Even though I just downloaded the Microsoft Security package I will still run MalWareBytes every week as it does that good of a job.

[barb1191]

For those of you needing virus and malware protection on your computer here is something you will want to try and the price is right, FREE. Microsoft just released today Security Essentials as a free download. Here is the link and in case it does not take you to the Microsoft.com then just cut and paste it into the URL line of your browser.

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

I have installed it and it is now doing a detailed check my 500 gig Vista system.

I uninstalled my AVG virus protection software and also SPAMfighter and upon installing this new free Microsoft security essentials software, I'm wondering if it covers spam? I didn't find any reference to it and now wonder if I need to reinstall SPAMfighter.

Any advice is appreciated....barb

[Hawkwind]

Barb

Spam is associated with e-mails and although it is annoying it is not a virus or trojan. Spam e-mails are not destructive to your computer. The e-mail may contain an attachment, link or something else that is the virus or trojan but spam e-mails will not. If I were getting a lot of spam e-mails I would surly install a program such as SPAMfighter.

[barb1191]

For those of you needing virus and malware protection on your computer here is something you will want to try and the price is right, FREE. Microsoft just released today Security Essentials as a free download. Here is the link and in case it does not take you to the Microsoft.com then just cut and paste it into the URL line of your browser.

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

I have installed it and it is now doing a detailed check my 500 gig Vista system.

Interesting Boston Globe article today re your suggested link on Microsoft Security-Essentials.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/10/01/microsofts_free_antivirus_program_changes_game/

[cashman]

Computers are like people. If a person that you do not know sends you a package you are taking your chances if you open it.

[WesternGolfers]

If you have "Anyivirus Pro 2010" you can eliminate it, as I did, by installing this malware detection free software. It works!

[njgranny]

I have occasionally had a virus get on my computer. It says that it's a virus program and that if you don't buy it, you won't be able to run your computer because your computer is full of viruses. It's a scam.

I've gotten rid of it simply by rolling back my registry to an earlier version (after I tried a zillion other things). Now that I know what to do, it's much simpler.

Good luck to all.