Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

[mauijim]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

My Safari has been playing up over the Easter holidays but am assuming that once it connects into the main system at work, then it'll be fine again. As it's a work laptop I'm not permitted to download any anti-virus stuff but was told by one of the techie guys that Mac's don't get viruses.

Hmmmm. Seems a tad optimistic to me....

The MAC can get a virus but they are quite rare when compared to Windows PCs. The virus needs permission from the system Kernel to run its code and replicate. In Windows this is easy because the kernel can easily be tricked into think the code is legitimate. The MAC uses a Kernel based on a UNIX kernel which is much more secure and robust.

So while a MAC can suffer from a malicious piece of code it is rare. The other reason is that Windows is so widespread it makes it an easy target, plus a lot of people hate Microsoft software which makes it the main target.

[PriorityOne]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

My Safari has been playing up over the Easter holidays but am assuming that once it connects into the main system at work, then it'll be fine again. As it's a work laptop I'm not permitted to download any anti-virus stuff but was told by one of the techie guys that Mac's don't get viruses.

Hmmmm. Seems a tad optimistic to me....

[mauijim]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

Is it worth running these even if you do not appear to have an issue?

Yes mate because sometimes you have hidden registry entries that can cause havoc without your knowledge. It certainly won't do any harm BUT you must disable any AV scanner prior to running Combofix because it can give spurious results. It will usually turn off AV products but just in case I advice temporarily suspending them.

RKill is only needed if you cannot run an AV scanner locally or if a virus/Trojan is preventing internet access.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

Is it worth running these even if you do not appear to have an issue?

[mauijim]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

If you ever get a persistent virus or Trojan that seems to reappear or simply won't go away then use RKill and ComboFix. These are both free and as yet have never failed to cure a an infected computer.

RKill will terminate malware processes that can prevent AV software from running or cleaning correctly. It's very useful if you get a persistent virus

ComboFix This will scan your PC and remove almost everything malicious. I have yet to have it miss something and it creates a report upon completion which gives useful info.

Well worth using on nasty infections especially MBR/Rootkit type attacks.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

then download this, run it and problem solved!

--> Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows


It finds most things and because windows support it, all the latest virus/spyware etc are updated and included.

No need to download any other spyware or antivirus so long as you ONLY use essentials....

We've been here before, I remember telling someone else this lol

* it found 4 virus I had the other day and wiped them in seconds. It's so easy to use, so long as you keep up to date or allow auto updates

Yup was me, never had any issues since.

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

I've got that on my spare PC, I really like it, but if I put that on my main one I'd have to find something to replace my Avast Safe Zone (a completely isolated desktop for banking etc).
Sadly I've not always used that which is why I was so worried that my bank/paypal etc login details were compromised..

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

^^^ it's free

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

then download this, run it and problem solved!

--> Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows


It finds most things and because windows support it, all the latest virus/spyware etc are updated and included.

No need to download any other spyware or antivirus so long as you ONLY use essentials....

We've been here before, I remember telling someone else this lol

* it found 4 virus I had the other day and wiped them in seconds. It's so easy to use, so long as you keep up to date or allow auto updates

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

Yep

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

are you using windows 7?

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

Good point Oscar...I'll try that thanks.
While I'm at it going to blow out the processor etc with compressed air. The dog creates a lot of dust and when it builds up the pc goes a bit haywire

my god elsa didnt know you spoke martian!!!

No Nanna..men are from Mars...I speak Venusian

[oscar]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

Another point would be to use an online AV scanner, such as Panda Active scan or HouseCall. As the software is not on the PC, any virus Trojan etc cant hide from it or bypass it - so they can pick up things your installed AV doesnt always see.

Plus its good as a double check.

[nanna58]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

my god elsa didnt know you spoke martian!!!

[Undercover Elsa]

Re: Santa brought me spyware.passwords.xgen

So true..after days of faffing I usually end up going completely OTT and reinstalling Windows, but I think I've caught this

Going to rescan everything again tomorrow just to be sure