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FBI ALERT SCAM - Malware or Virus ?
crabby3:
I guess malware is a virus or a virus is malware? :tellme:
I was recently attacked by this *FBI thing* and, after jumping through all of the hoops for 5 days, was able to get rid of it; or most of it. (I think)
Avast didn't block it and couldn't find it. However... Malwarebytes Anti-Malware's Chameleon 'killed the process' and I haven't found any traces left behind. I've had the free version of Malwarebytes for a while but desided to up-grade to PRO to use the Real-Time-Protection feature. 8) The Automatic Priority Up-Dates and Scheduled Scanning is pretty good too. (Pro Version as well)
My computer is still a little slow but at least I have Internet Access again and can search for a free PC tune-up. :)
Anyone have any freebies ? Not just the scan... the whole thing ? :tellme:
tomos:
search for a free PC tune-up
-crabby3 (January 20, 2013, 09:58 AM)
--- End quote ---
dont! (seriously, most of those are scams too...).
Although, I guess that's what CCleaner does - clear out a lot of stuff which might speed things up a bit.
I have just finished (with a lot of help) cleaning a pc of a trojan that sounds like it could be something similar (was it demanding money?). Note that CCleaner (which was part of the cleanup process) broke the browser install (Opera). Worth it, will probably be ok if I uninstall & reinstall, but point being that cleaning can be a little risky too :-)
Did you get help removing the virus?
There's forums out there that concentrate on helping clear that kind of thing (the only one I know though is in German http://www.trojaner-board.de).
Re speeding up your pc, there's a few things you could do -
check the programmes that start with windows is a big one (but can require a bit of research).
Defragment maybe.
Which OS are you running? Changing to classic theme can help a lot.
Other's more expert than I will hopefully make more concrete recommendations :)
crabby3:
My computer is still a little slow but at least I have Internet Access again and can search for a free PC tune-up. :)
Anyone have any freebies ? Not just the scan... the whole thing ? :tellme:
-crabby3 (January 20, 2013, 09:58 AM)
--- End quote ---
I emphasize FREE because sometimes the paid-for versions don't always help or may screw things up more. Like this one from Windows Help & Support.
It scanned, found, and *fixed* a lot of errors/problems/issues but after it was through I was missing things that shouldn't have been *fixed* (deleted). Like all of the pre-installed Vista games and also my version of Paint Shop Pro 9... just to name two. Fortunately I was able to use System Restore and get both back in the same usable condition before this 'BEST' (POS) scan.
I know you can't believe everything you see or read on the web ... but I thought Windows Help & Support could be trusted. :( Not so! >:(
crabby3:
search for a free PC tune-up
-crabby3 (January 20, 2013, 09:58 AM)
--- End quote ---
dont! (seriously, most of those are scams too...).
Although, I guess that's what CCleaner does - clear out a lot of stuff which might speed things up a bit.
I have just finished (with a lot of help) cleaning a pc of a trojan that sounds like it could be something similar (was it demanding money?). Note that CCleaner (which was part of the cleanup process) broke the browser install (Opera). Worth it, will probably be ok if I uninstall & reinstall, but point being that cleaning can be a little risky too :-)
Did you get help removing the virus?
There's forums out there that concentrate on helping clear that kind of thing (the only one I know though is in German http://www.trojaner-board.de).
Re speeding up your pc, there's a few things you could do -
check the programmes that start with windows is a big one (but can require a bit of research).
Defragment maybe.
Which OS are you running? Changing to classic theme can help a lot.
Other's more expert than I will hopefully make more concrete recommendations :)
-tomos (January 20, 2013, 11:44 AM)
--- End quote ---
Was it demanding money? Yes. My version of this scam wanted $350 USD. ;D
Did I get help removing the virus? If you mean tech-support... no. I'm a computer novice, at-best, but was able to access a friends computer (novice also) and print 22 pages listing several ways to fix this issue. My best solution or fix was on page 21... in the feedback section... from a great person named tom. :Thmbsup:
As far as speeding up my PC... I'll check to see what starts with Windows. This may be the answer.
And... my machine is set to auto de-frag weekly.
And... my OS is my current DC signature... you know... Windows Vista blah, blah, blah... listed under all of my posts. :)
tomos:
Did I get help removing the virus? If you mean tech-support... no. I'm a computer novice, at-best, but was able to access a friends computer (novice also) and print 22 pages listing several ways to fix this issue.
-crabby3 (January 20, 2013, 12:48 PM)
--- End quote ---
mine required about 15 different steps using 7 different apps - we didnt find anything more after step #8 or so, and most of the steps at the end were precautions to help avoid recurrence (e.g. disabling java).
Changing to Classic theme will speed Vista up - you can make the classic theme look a lot better than it's default if you make the grey background very light and mess around with titlebar colours.
RE checking what starts with windows, there's a few apps out there that show you what does:
Autoruns (free)
WinPatrol (the Plus version will give you info about apps - I'm not sure about the free version)
Codestuff Starter (free)
I hate doing that on laptops cause they always have so much 'stuff' starting up and you've got to look up a lot of them to see if they're important (be careful here too! I mean dont just stop everything or your pc might not work any more...). Maybe it's just as bad on PC's with pre-installed OS, I dont know any more (thankfully).
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