Adventures in Malware

[Harlan Huckleby]

I got a nasty infection on my computer that was not highly destructive but devilishly persistent. I say "infection" generally because it was several things, and not sure of their technical classification. Main behavior was browser tabs in all browsers constantly opening-up creepy ads. Other supernatural phenomena.

So I tried every tool under the sun to clear this bug - no luck. The usual downloadable scanners and cleaners were thrown at enemy.

In the end, or I should say middle, I ponied-up $40 for Spyhunter license. What a friggin superior tool! It found so much crap on my computer that other programs missed. Why, it did everything but fix my big infection.

Then the magic happened. A tech at Spyhunter scheduled an appointment to take over my machine remotely, and I was able to watch as he plied his sorcery. OMG. This dude was flying all over my system, spotting potentially suspicious programs and data, deleting many utilities that I had horded. He sped through the registry like a maniac, deleting keys in the most obscure places. He ran many utilities. To make a long story even longer, this savant toiled for an hour and a half at warp speed before the worst problem was finally isolated. (A virus attached to system dll)

Some takeaways: Spyhunter is an awesome antivirus suite, IMO, and the sophisticated consulting service they provided for a lousy $40 was extremely generous.

I chatted extensively with the guy; he said the virus criminals are ahead of the tool makers right now. They are getting more and more clever at hiding infections; the stickiest problems now require a human specialist like this dude to sniff out. Programs are having particular trouble finding infections that hide as data in the registry.

He thought that Windows Defender is by far the most effective of the free tools.

[Harlan Huckleby]

BTW, I think I might of gotten the worst infection from an act of unforgivable stupidity. I clicked on a .exe file that came from a dubious website. I bow my head in shame.

I was able to recover some sense of self-worth in my own attempts to diagnose the problems. I figured-out part of problem was a "dns changer" that was loading my TCP/IP configuration with a name server the FBI site told me is a rat. And the system DLL that contained an infection did wind-up being related to DNS. I pointed out my accomplishment to the Master Geek, and he patted me on head.

[red]

the funny thing is, its probably people like the folks at spyhunter that make and spread the viruses

ever get a virus that has a popup that says, "you have a virus, we can get rid of it, click now"

[Harlan Huckleby]

the funny thing is, its probably people like the folks at spyhunter that make and spread the viruses ever get a virus that has a popup that says, "you have a virus, we can get rid of it, click now"

Ya, it's insidious. The virus I had was popping up those come-ons in new tabs, among other exciting commercial opportunities. The devils have gotten much more clever. Some of the windows looked like the microsoft web site, and a live "tech" claiming to be a microsofty instantly starts chatting to you about your computer problems.

I was very suspicious of spyhunter (their free trial only allows a scan, no removal.) But my experience with them was awesome, they are certainly legit. I've chatted with some computer geeks since my experience, and Spyhunter is first rate.

[SkinBasket]

I remember using some free form of spyhunter years ago for a browser redirect virus, which was the worst I had to deal with - and annoying since it would redirect search results. I was man enough to remove it myself after a couple hours of research though.

[hoosier]

Just have your IT people rebuild your computer. It's much simpler and you don't waste hours and hours in a futile effort at eradication.

[call_me_ishmael]

Why don't you guys just get a Mac or use Linux? I haven't given this sort of thing a second thought in years. Even a Chromebook is more than sufficient for most people.

The days of Microsoft are over.

[hoosier]

Oh, and can you please explain to us how it is that you were duped into clicking on an .exe file? That in itself sounds highly suspicious. I mean, I bet there are more people out there responding to the "my client died in a plane crash in Nairobi" emails than there are people opening execute files from strange domains. You are not that dumb. This thread is just a cheap marketing testimonial for spyhunter software.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I remember using some free form of spyhunter years ago for a browser redirect virus, which was the worst I had to deal with - and annoying since it would redirect search results. I was man enough to remove it myself after a couple hours of research.

It often is possible to figure a fix on your own. But not always.
My man James at Spyhunter says the infection criminals have gotten more clever at hiding. I watched his every salvo on my screen and it took a specialist an hour and a half to find main culprit. No software tool or checklist would have found it.

Ransomware trojans can be broken, but they may leave behind files permanently encrypted. James mention those as a bitch.

I clicked on an .exe because it supposedly contained some compressed goodies. I have a ton of anti-malware protection, so stupidly figured I was invincible.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Just have your IT people rebuild your computer. It's much simpler and you don't waste hours and hours in a futile effort at eradication.

This makes sense. Keep all your data backed up somewhere. Just do a system restore - crisis, what crisis?