Malware - Virus, Trojan, Spyware, Adware, etc.

[AceLogan]

Hmm... I love my Mac.

Here's a whole list of Free Anti-Virus Scanners: http://www.1nova.com/blog/?p=296

[Zaranthos]

Some of the new malware seems to love changing NTFS permissions on files so you can no longer run them. Nifty trick. To make it worse you can't edit permissions (easily) in XP Home unless you boot in safe mode. They break Windows so safe mode won't boot. Cute.

I hate Microsoft. I tried some utilities and gui's for them to attempt to get around this but they frankly suck. Same reason I hate Linux and Apple (yeah Mac OS X isn't exempt when it gets messed up). Design a "user friendly" environment for people but when it comes to fixing stuff it's all based on 20 year old technology a normal person can't use. Oh, I could do it if I went to a 4 week Microsoft boot camp which is what they want people to do. Right now I want to punch Bill in the face.

[sex_factory]

Some of the new malware seems to love changing NTFS permissions on files so you can no longer run them. Nifty trick. To make it worse you can't edit permissions (easily) in XP Home unless you boot in safe mode. They break Windows so safe mode won't boot. Cute.

This is exactly what happened to my old computer.  Managed to get rid of it by erasing the user it was affecting (myself) which transferred permissions to another user.  It was around this time I decided to save for a new computer.

[Ihsor Retsam]

My brother was using my computer and somehow got this program called baetsysguard.exe which tries to download on start up and messes things up, it`s alright if I just choose cancel but I don`t want to have to mess with this everytime I log on but I have no idea how to get rid of it (I`m computer illiterate), I would appreciate any ideas on how to get rid of it please.

[Zaranthos]

Lately the malware/anti-virus scanners have been behind the times for the most part. I've been removing a lot of crap manually because the scanners aren't finding it. The malware is pretty good at breaking the malware scanners but fortunately a lot of it isn't good enough to prevent easy ways of disabling them with simple things like ctrl-alt-del (task manager before the malware loads). Probably a string of malware based on the same code. Easy to kill if you know what to look for. This is still a great program (along with others mentioned earlier in this thread) http://www.malwarebytes.org

[Ihsor Retsam]

Thanks Zaranthos, I got rid of it now.

[Smashasaurus]

I have a bit of a bizarre question. I clicked on a link to a "ceckoutmypix.com" (note the misspelling) and it redirected me to Facebook of all places. This I found to be a bit creepy, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the deal is. I'm a little concerned that whatever it is, is on the un-kosher side. Anyone have any info?

[Zaranthos]

The real facebook or a fake facebook? Maybe it sent you to virus facebook.

[anonsi]

The real question here is, "What were you doing clicking on ceckoutmypix.com in the first place?!"

[Zaranthos]

I thought the only way you could win at Internet was to click every link there was? 

[kerowyn]

I just got a new lap top (XPS Studio 16, 64 bit) and I want to make sure it is well protected. I was wondering if any of you guys had some suggestions of what I should install on it?

 It currently comes with a month of McAffee, I've downloaded Malwarebytes and adaware (even though adaware totally sucks now) and I can get Norton for free from school.

Also, should I be downloading multiple anti virus? I'm told they can conflict and may actually compromise my system if I have more than one. Is this true? Thanks!

[Aoi]

I've found that Microsoft Security Essentials coupled with online meta-scanners and a dose of sensibility is more than adequate for me. If you do intent on working a lot with potentially questionable files, then virtualization software might be a good idea. Alternatively, if you're really cautious, just VM your entire box and rollback every time you use it.

[Xenthes]

Avoud Noreton like the plague. Every computer I have seen it on gets bogged down horribly.

[Mandoline]

Norton is a resource-hog, and so is every Adobe product
I use NOD32/64 on my machine, and I really hate the "block potentially unwanted products" feature, but otherwise it's tip-top.
As for McAffe, well, I use it at work (both retail and enterprise). They defintely do not suck: both are very good at finding viral infections. Unfortunately, they both tend to do "ignore" as default cleaning action, so, skip them altogether.

And definitely do not install 2 products of the same family: antiviral or anti-malware

[HickDead]

I vote double what everybody said about Norton - I've never liked its performance ding. A former job used McAfee: it was effective, but a little slow IMHO.

I'd suggest AVG Free. I've (re-)built 100's of systems for friends and family and always put it on first thing after taking off whatever they had previously. It's on all 4 of my home systems, and I (gasp) actually started paying them for it a couple of years ago.

Another 100% A+++ product is Sophos. The last time I used it was in a commercial setting where it wasn't my money! It still is quasi-commercial only -- have to buy >=3 licenses. The AV-only product is about $45/seat for 1 year, $136/seat for 5 years. The AV+firewall is $59/$177 respectively.

I've not had any experience with MSE or NOD, but haven't heard anything negative about either.

I also echo the "only run one antivirus at a time" advice. At best, one may false-trigger the other and at worst they can Blue Screen.

Lastly, I came across http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407 years ago. True, it is a guide for cleaning a 'dirty' box, but it points to a lot of useful info and tools that can be just as effective on a (supposedly) clean one as well. The writing is a little convoluted, and the interface for finding other stuff on their site is clunky, but I've always had good results following their lead.

Happy hunting, and congrats on being rich!!