virus scan help

Posted on

Member Since: Jan 18, 2003

when i boot my computer a login field for coloradosheep.org comes up, asking for a password. anyone know what this this? hard to find answers online.

i am going to scan the computer with my no-longer updating version of mcafee, see what it finds. but since this virus software is kind of expired, in its way, it won't have the latest definitions, etc, and besides this could be malware or something. so what would you guys recommend in terms of free security software for me to run today? i know there's been much talk on this type of stuff on the board here, but here's what i want to say about that:

AVG once gave me major problems and destroyed my computer (i had to reinstall windows) so i'm wary of AVG now.

hijackthis is too complicated and involves posting computer info which i dont understand to the internet message boards, an idea i'm not in love with.

what else ya got? and has anyone ever heard of the coloradosheep thing?

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Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Feb 05, 2007 05:51 pm

hmmm well I stand by AVG but if it gave you serious problems then I won't reccomend it... However, avast! is very good. I've never heard of coloradosheep but it does sound like some sort of virus.

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Feb 05, 2007 05:51 pm

google resulted in this...

Welcome to the home page of the Colorado Sheep and Wool Industry!

This website serves both the Colorado Wool Growers Association and the Colorado Sheep & wool Authority.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Feb 05, 2007 05:55 pm

only mention ive seen online has been that it might be malware. i hope its not a virus.

AVG gave me troubles. i set it to quarantine a bunch of things it had found once. i was dumb, though: many of those infected programs were .exe files, and many were OS-critical ones. so as soon as i did this, the computer certainly couldn;t be shut down and restarted, i realized. however, the quarantined files were ultimately unrecoverable, because the size of the quarantine folder seems to have been limited. when i checked what was in it, so that i could restore those files once i realized my mistake, the folder contained very little. it was as if AVG kept dumping .exe files into the quarantine folder, and as if they were then just forgotten about as the folder filled past capacity. overwritten, etc.

i dont understand what happened, but my mistake coupled with AVG's folder problem forced a reinstall of windows.

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 05, 2007 06:03 pm

I have found Avast to be a pig, personally, it always got in the way of actual work I was doing decided to update itself while I am in the middle of something...silly crap like that. I hated Avast for that reason. AVG never has given me any problems personally...but nothing works for everyone.

Well, except HRC :-)

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Feb 05, 2007 06:04 pm

Go to trendmicro and run there housecall. It is just an online based virus scan, full version with the latest updates. It is free and will do the job nicely. Of course it does not do active scanning as there is no local installation (minus some java files) but is nice if you don't have Virus software or are not up to date.

Honestly, sounds more like spy/ad/malware. Windows defender does fine against this type of thing, is free and does indeed do active scanning.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Feb 05, 2007 06:56 pm

thanks tripps. windows defender shall be checked into. now, about trendmicro, how safe is it to open your computer up to such a thing? what does it look at? i always worry about opening whole drive to the net!

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Feb 05, 2007 07:04 pm

last time i went to trendmicro for their house call it tried to install age of empires... it was bizaar.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Feb 05, 2007 07:06 pm

that does not sound good.

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Feb 05, 2007 07:27 pm

yeah that was with my old pc though. Freaked me the hell out. "Why is a virus scan trying to install age of empires on my computer???" It really made no sense at all.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Feb 06, 2007 03:11 pm

Hmmm, that is an odd one Loki, I would assume that something was going on before the house call on that one :) Hahahaha, I'm guessing that EXE might have been corrupt. I had a virus wipe out every .exe on my PC once :( Everything I had ever downloaded was toast, even the 500+ MB game patches and stuff. Had to re-download everything :(

I've used House Call for a couple years now on people's comps I fix that have no protection. It actually does not pull all the info over the net from your PC (too big), it basically downloads and installs a mini-scanning software and the dat files using either java or asp and then scans them locally. I understand being leary, but I trust TM well enough and will just say my results have always been good.

But as the guys were talking about hogs, TM's virus suite (pc-cillan) is very robust and is also very resource friendly as far as Virus softare goes. I run it in active scan mode even while playing games. I would turn off for recording but that's only a right click away.

No I don't work for TM :)

Ne'er ate 'er
Member
Since: Apr 05, 2006


Feb 06, 2007 04:01 pm

AdAware SE may help. It found two worms on my machine that AVG missed.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Feb 06, 2007 05:19 pm

tripps, yeah i just didnt phrase that right. i just dont like the idea of exposing my computer to processes that actually peruse it and which are not on my computer itself. it's an unreasonable fear i know. i guess i didnt know it installed the stuff it needs though. i thought something at the website briefly scanned each file somehow without moving it. i guess that's almost the same thing though. anyway, i bought a new version of mcafee. total protection, up to date, woot. it immediately found a back door trojan. i think that might have been the thing i've noticed for just these two days here. no way to check what it was, though, as a scan didn't find it. it was auto-removed. no idea what a trojan can really do, either.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Feb 06, 2007 06:39 pm

trojan is straight up evil. Those are the ones that grant people back door access to your PC for key-logging and other mischief of the worst kind.

Also, Ad-Aware is very nice indeed, but you must purchase it to use the active scanning mode. It is very efficient when you do actually run it, but active scanning is the way to go. Can't beat defender for $free.99

Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Feb 06, 2007 06:42 pm

trojans can go from being playful little things that hide your curser or flip your screen around, to more dangerous things like keystroke loggers that can obtain credit card info, and can even be used to blow up your hard drive in extreme cases.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Feb 06, 2007 06:47 pm

I had one I sent to a friends PC. I could view his screen, open his cd-rom, listen to his audio (bandwidth permitting), record keystrokes or take control and type swear words while he was writing e-mail. We fixed it after 15 minutes of laughs, but I was amazed how powerfull it was.

Ne'er ate 'er
Member
Since: Apr 05, 2006


Feb 06, 2007 06:57 pm

Some people send keyloggers in emails to spy on their cheating lovers and such, unaware that it's a serious felony violation of federal wiretapping laws.

A virus blow up a hard drive? Hmmm...viruses can't affect hardware, unless you may have an explosive device rigged up to be triggered by software.. :-/

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Feb 06, 2007 10:38 pm

Yep, all machines in my house save for the main studio PC run as follows. Sygate personal firewall, AVG free, Ad-aware 6.0, CWS Shredder, HijackThis and Spybot - Search and Destroy. I will admit using things like Ad-aware, HijackThis and Spybot need you to understand exactly what those files are. But once you do learn it is great for pointing to a file that can't be healed or removed by the virus software or the like. And they also can point out if it is something really nasty. I do run Windows Defender at work and it is OK, but can't do what the combined forces of the stuff I run will. And besides, I got teenage kids downloading god knows what. So I use that stuff all the time. I use the Spybot Resident shield and it keeps most crap like browser hijackers and the like from happening.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Feb 06, 2007 11:23 pm

i think this trojan was here for just two days. i THINK. obviously it sucks, not knowing. but there is no way to know. no record of the removal was produced. the symptom that tipped me off was a login field upon bootup. so the thing was advertising itself. i am hoping that means that it wasn't very evil.

i wouldnt have got it through email, either. no idea where i got it.

i am unsure what, if anything, to add to my new mcafee security suite. half the products out there i do not understand very well.

Idiot Kid
Member
Since: Sep 27, 2006


Feb 07, 2007 09:30 am

Try buying NOD32. Simple, to the point, and EXTREMELY effective.

I personally use NOD32, windows firewall, windows defender/spybot search&destroy, and HijackThis! Works well, but I still format my computer every 2 months just to keep everything running squeeky clean ;)


Heres a rule of thumb for security: if you don't use it, turn it off. Old software, gone. Unused services, disabled. Unused ports, closed.

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 07, 2007 09:37 am

Quote:
Works well, but I still format my computer every 2 months just to keep everything running squeeky clean


Oh jeezuz...to me, that isn't the raving good testimonial for that platform...I'll be damned if I will every do that, I did back when I was new to PC's and it was "fun" to do all that crap...

I run AVG and Windows Firewall behind my dLink router/firewall and I have been infected maybe twice in 10 years...

Idiot Kid
Member
Since: Sep 27, 2006


Feb 07, 2007 09:44 am

Lol. Im a neat freak, all my important files are stored on my linux computer anyways. Never had to format that beast :P

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Feb 07, 2007 02:58 pm

A combination of software is definitely most effective. Spybot and Adaware work well together.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Feb 07, 2007 10:50 pm

I love to see what goes on out there, and at times I have to admit it comes at a risk. That is why for me the excess software works. I scan everything even if I know it is from a reliable source. I don't run anything except windows firewall on the studio PC and it never goes to the web except for a few sites such as Native Instruments, Line 6 and the like that need to have the software phone home for updates and such. Otherwise everything downloaded comes through the surf box first, is scanned then released to the Main studio PC. Never had any problems at all on the main box.

Now my kids on the other hand seem to get into almost every kind of malware there is out there. But using the software stated above kills and or fixes every little piece of junk they get injected with.

But I'm with dB. I've never had to go to the extreme of re-formating every two months or even two years.

Member
Since: Jan 18, 2003


Feb 07, 2007 11:05 pm

Windows Nt Logon Application
User Init Logon Application

both of these are somehow enabled and have full access to the internet according to my security. hackerwatch.org reports 'significant incidents' with both of them.

one of them just suddenly appeared a few months ago when i was setting up a website. it created a new 'guest user' at bootup, and i can't get rid of it (so now i have to log in to XP every morning). i scanned some things online about this auto-account setup, but certain people (i think even some of you) mentioned that this is part of the operating system. it still bothers me, though. because i didn't do anything to cause this to happen. i have no idea what is happening, and that sucks. anyone hear anything recently about these things?

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