VIRUS: Multiple Explorer's Pop Up and file tries to download

[mtelliott]

VIRUS Question:

This is the second time this has happened to me so I thought I would ask the board if they have noticed.

When I'm responding from my home computer (not work computer) and hit submit, I sometimes getting multiple occuring explorer windows (they just keep popping up). This has happened for the second time in one week. This time, I noticed that it was trying to download a file to my computer. I shut my computer down to stop it but I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this.

Background: I keep my computer updated with all DELL updates, all Windows XP updates, and I'm current with McAfee Virus Protection. I'm running a virus scan again on my computer but the last one showed no viruses or spyware. I also have broadband connection with a firewall installed.

Michael

[OldGuy]

I dont know if thats a virus. that used to happen to me on Rennlist for some reason. It went away about a year ago. same symptoms

[emcon5]

Tom

[Steve W]

Sounds like you have adware and spyware secretly installed in your computer. Download Adaware and Spybot, install and run them once every couple of weeks to get rid of them. Don't be surprised if it finds like a thousand files in your computer.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

[Two Oh]

I'm not getting multiple pop ups. I'm getting multiple posts!

[Shuie]

Originally posted by emcon5


Tom

Great advice here. This will solve 99% of your problem.

[twin plugged targa]

You may also have the sasser worm virus
visit microsoft here to find out if you do have it and they have the download tool to remove it.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/sasser.mspx
It is not a bad idea to have the tool on hand in case.
I have had sasser worms on 2 of my 3 laptops!
Adware and spybot were also reccomended to me by microsoft tech support and Dell tech support and my bosses IT guys.
Good luck
Oh and one other friendly reminder- bad up your hard drive!!!!
- Now why didnt some one give me all of this good advice before my hard drive crashed!!

[azasadny]

Here is a very effective spyware cleaner...

http://www.spywareguide.com/

[911SCcdn]

Do yourself a favour and and make sure your exisiting anti-virus solution has the most recent pattern file update.

Then download Spy-bot....which will help in stopping types of activeX type executeables from afftecting your systems. It will effectively stop any changes that will tried to be made by programs to your IE setup. What is probably happening is that your browsers configuration has been changed. Its important that you have a tool to not allow any external program to "hi-jack" your system and do any changes.

Anti-virus solutions are only as good as the manufacturer's ability to keep up their product current to stop viruses that are already in the wild. It is only a reactive approach....best defense is a proactive approach which is practise safe surfing.

Being in the information securityindustry....Spyware and Adware is because the biggest issue.

Andy

[rcecale]

Another thing you can do, once you've cleaned up the spy/ad-ware is to download and install the Google Toolbar. It works like a champ.

Randy

[Rufblackbird]

I've had both the Google and Yahoo toolbars, and I must say the Yahoo one is better. It prevents pop-ups, but you can over ride it to allow pop-ups on certain websites.

Here's a link that helped me a lot, more info on adware and spyware, and how to get rid of it.

what's up with the effing spam bombs in our post.

[rcecale]

Google Toolbar...just press the CTRL key to over-ride blocking of pop-ups on a perticular site.

Randy

[Rufblackbird]

Guess it helps if you read the instructions

[neiltorda]

The toolbars from Google and Yahoo are nice, but you should really NOT use Internet Explorer at all. It is horrible insecure and most of the attacks that have occured over the last year on the internet are tied to vulnerabilities in IE that Microsoft has known about for over a year without fixing.

Scob Virus This is an article talking about one of the new viruses that is going around that only effects IE. "... [The Scob Trojan works by] logging keystrokes on the infected Windows computer with the aim of collecting passwords and financial data."

For this reason alone you should switch to using one of the Mozilla offerings (Mozilla or Firefox if you want just a browser)

Or,..... you can use a Macintosh. For example, on Windows there have been over 86,000 viruses, on the mac there have been 49. There has not been a single Mac virus realeased since 1998.

As much as we like power and style in our cars, don't you think you should want the same thing in your computer?

neilt

[Por_sha911]

Beware that although most virus attacks hit IE, the reason is that IE is the only browser that will consistently work on all websites. You'll have problems with other browsers not being compatible.
The answer to a flat tire is NOT to replace the car; do your maintenance. Make sure that you have updated your virus software files (without those, no matter what browser you have you are risking major virus damage) and use a spyware removal software. I use Ad-Aware by lavasoft (its free and works great).

[rcecale]

Originally posted by neiltorda
The toolbars from Google and Yahoo are nice, but you should really NOT use Internet Explorer at all.

Neil,

This would be the perfect solution...in a perfect world. Unfortunaltely, there can be issues that could prevent simply "not using IE". Some web pages simply will not load properly in another browser, since they are written specifically for IE.

Now, before you go flaming me over this, let me add that yes, this isn't the case as often as it used to be, but it still does exist. Also, I know Michael said this is predominately on his home computer, and not his work pc, but that could be an issue as well. Perhaps he uses IE at work, because of company policy or whatever other reason, and he may not want to have to "learn" another browser.

I, for one, have experimented with the likes of Opera and Mozilla and a few others and have had success with them, but I still occasionally come across sites that just don't wanna play. We also have intranet web sites where I work that will not display on anything other than IE. Several less-savvy employees have enough problems with IE, but it's "what they know" so are intimidated by the thought of trying something new.

Newer and less targeted browsers are a great idea, if you're willing (and able) to put some time into learning them.

Randy

edit: You beat me to it, Joe!

[TerryH]

Ad-aware is a great tool, however it doesn't catch all ad-bots. I use it in conjunction with Spybot - Search and Destroy.

And never use just any old spybot removal software you see posted. Many are spy-bots/ad-bots themselves. Use software recommended by virus companies or others that have had success.

For pop up banners, ads, and such I use Ad-Smasher from www.popupstop.com. It had a $20 one time fee and worth every penny to me.

It now takes some work just to enjoy the world wide web without feeling violated.

[emcon5]

Originally posted by rcecale
This would be the perfect solution...in a perfect world. Unfortunaltely, there can be issues that could prevent simply "not using IE". Some web pages simply will not load properly in another browser, since they are written specifically for IE.

This is increasingly rare. With Mozilla the only web sites that don't display properly lately are ones associated with Microsoft (MSN, etc).

I work in IT, and for some users that have constant spyware/adware problems, I have had no problems migrating them to Mozilla, provided I preinstall a few common plugins (Java, Flash, etc). Once that is done, set Mozilla as the default browser, and delete the "E" off the desktop. These are users that are not particularly tech-savvy.

For popups, I just turn them off in the Mozilla preferences.

Tom

[masraum]

I have Netscape 7.1, works great, tabbed browsing, built in pop-up stopper. I also have IE with the Yahoo bar and all of the latest updates. I primarily use Netscape. I can't pay my Citibank card online with Netscape, something incompatible about their website coding, so for that I use IE. Occasionally I run into similar problems on other websites, then I resort to IE. With netscape, I never have a problem.

Netscape and Mozilla are basically the same thing. I have tried the latest Mozilla, firefox, firebird, firesomethingoranother, it's pretty cool.

With Netscape I pretty much never get hit with weirdness. I also keep Windows up to date with patches and have a firewall (Sygate Personal Firewall, www.sygate.com). I actually don't have any virus protection on my PC (all of the other PC's in the house do) and I haven't since the 90's, but I do recommend it. I also haven't had a virus since before that. The best thing that I can recommend is educating yourself.

Mozilla and Netscape aren't completely immune, http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5262676.html

http://www.baddteddy.com/tutorials/trojans.htm
http://www.webweevers.com/protection.htm

[rcecale]

Originally posted by emcon5
I work in IT, and for some users that have constant spyware/adware problems, I have had no problems migrating them to Mozilla, provided I preinstall a few common plugins (Java, Flash, etc). Once that is done, set Mozilla as the default browser, and delete the "E" off the desktop. These are users that are not particularly tech-savvy.

Yeah, Tom, I too work in IT, as do half the people on this board, it would seem. And as I stated above, instances of browser incompatibility are a lot less abundant, however they still do exist.

In my case, my company has "in-house" applications that run through browsers. We're actually working on developing a portal for all of our customers to use which, you guessed it, runs only on Internet Explorer.

For those of us who work in IT, it's no big deal to learn how to tweak another browser to function the way we want it to. But for the most part, people don't want to take the time to have to learn all that. they just want to use what's available...right now. For those people, all I can say is update, update update!

Randy