Recent Malware Problems Have Kept Me From Posting
September 2nd 2009 19:23
Haven't Forgotten You!
Just wanted to let my readers know that I haven't forgotten my blog--or you! Lately, I've been kept quite busy battling a wicked PC Antispyware 2010 infection, contracted on August 8th; and though I managed to rid myself of the active infection about a week later, many problems lingered, including an inaccessible Windows Security Center (a problem I finally managed to correct just the other day, to my immense relief).
As you can imagine, I've spent a huge amount of time simply researching this malware online to learn all I can about its characteristics and how to correct the multitude of problems it creates on a PC--not to mention experimenting with and implementing various fixes--and it's been a fascinating, albeit often-frustrating education!
What Is PC Antispyware 2010?
PC Antispyware 2010 is a rogue antispyware program that causes alarming pop-ups to appear on your desktop (and even in front of web pages you visit) warning you of threats it has supposedly found on your PC and urging you to visit its website and register its "antispyware program," which you of course must pay for. The program claims to be scanning your computer, and to "prove" it, displays a status bar which shows the progress of the so-called scan. It's quite an alarming occurrence to see these windows continually popping up when you least expect them.
Characteristics of This Malware
PC Antispyware 2010 infiltrates so many different parts of your PC that it's extremely difficult to remove fully. It disables your antivirus and antispyware programs so they can't detect and remove it (or partly disables them so they appear to be doing something when in fact they are ineffective at removing the main infection). It can also prevent other anti-malware programs from being downloaded and/or run or disable access to their help files, which makes it difficult to replace your non-functioning programs to fight the malware infection.
It continually regenerates itself when you delete its files and places its main program into your PC's Startup menu so that every time you boot up, the malicious program reloads. PC Antispyware 2010 is caused by the Braviax virus (also called cru629) and is downloaded via several Trojans/Trojan downloaders. It also places rootkits (collections of hidden files that enable the program to do its dirty deeds) in various places on your PC, making it difficult to track down and fully remove this cyber menace.
Tips for Avoiding the Infection
This program is so persistent and so insidious that, once contracted, you have a real fight on your hands. So, please make every effort to avoid it! Be very careful what you download from the Internet, being sure it's from a trusted source. And never allow a Java (or other) program update to proceed when the update window suddenly pops up while you're surfing the Internet! (I've read that this is the way--or perhaps one way--PC Antispyware 2010 is downloaded, and I can easily believe this because I allowed a Java update while online at about the same time I contracted the infection.)
Be sure your Windows Firewall is turned on and your antivirus and antispyware programs are up-to-date--and use them to do periodic full scans of your PC fairly regularly, as well as regular quick scans--and be sure to run boot-time scans periodically as well, because PC Antispyware 2010 regenerates itself during bootup, and, of course, scans performed after bootup are ineffective at removing it from your boot menu.
More Info About PC Antispyware 2010 from K and Me at ShanKrila
For further information about PC Antispyware 2010, its symptoms, tips for its removal, and information specific to my experiences with it, visit my blogging buddy K-IntheHouse's post at ShanKrila, How to Remove PC AntiSpyware 2010? In this post, K--whose tagline for ShanKrila is "a blog where technology meets daily life"--answers my question about how to remove the malware, providing links to many helpful tools and resources.
I've also provided a great deal of information about my own experiences with the infection, as well as my discoveries, techniques, and triumphs in removing it, which you'll find in the Comments section of K's post. If you have contracted this infection, you may find some of this information helpful in resolving the multitude of issues you'll face in fully eradicating it. It's an ongoing process, and each time I discover something new about the malware or overcome another issue related to it, I update the info in a new comment at ShanKrila, with the object of helping others who may be struggling with this devious program (or who may simply want to learn more about it).
So, check out K's post and my associated comments, and arm yourself against PC Antispyware 2010!
To your PC's health!
Jeanne
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Comment by Karen Swim
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
This is one of those things you think will never happen to you--and then it does! I never realized just how prevalent malware infections are until I began researching the topic to find answers to my own problem. Perhaps there were more than usual in August, but there does seem to be a steady stream of them the rest of the time as well.
Visiting the malware forums is particularly enlightening, as you read all the stories of people's malware woes and the devastation these malicious programs have caused. It's really unbelievable that some people actually enjoy dreaming up such methods for causing problems for others! It's so true that we are the ones who have to be vigilant if we are to avoid the traps these PC saboteurs set for us!
Thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts!
Jeanne
Comment by Lillie Ammann
I'm so sorry to hear about this terrible situation! Some people just take delight in causing problems for other people.
I've had a screen pop up a couple of times on Web sites I've visited that says it's scanning my computer. I got out of those sites in a hurry, fearing some kind of malware attack. It's really devious for a supposed malware prevention program to be malware itself.
Good luck in getting through all this, Jeanne. Hope to see you and your PC back to normal soon.
Comment by Janet Collins
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The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
The trouble is that whenever you seem to update, everything else gets thrown out. This happened a week before I was to go away so all my time was spent rectifying it.
Hope you get it sorted out soon and look forward to catching up on your posts.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Glad to hear you've managed to get away before downloading any malicious programs! Good move to "head for the hills" whenever you notice any sort of unauthorized/unusual scanning activity!
I agree with you about the deviousness of using a so-called anti-malware program as the very malware the computer user needs to be wary of! If scam artists can't arouse our sympathy, the next best thing is to play on our fears--which is precisely what these scheming malware developers attempt to do.
Thanks for your encouragement and good wishes for getting these problems cleared up!
Jeanne
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Sorry to hear about the trouble you had with your hard drive update. PC problems can be quite time-consuming--not to mention frustrating--can't they? Correcting such issues can be so work-intensive--and even more so because they often require so much research and analysis along with all the hands-on work.
Thanks for your kind thoughts and encouragement! It always helps to know that someone else can relate to your problem!
Jeanne
Comment by dcr
Comment by dcr
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
It's so frustrating to lose a comment, isn't it? That's why I always copy comments of any length to my clipboard. That way, I can easily reproduce them if something goes wrong and I should lose them. If I still can't get them posted and I think they're really significant, I'll sometimes even save them in MS-Word and try again later.
Thanks for stopping back to try again! (Wish you could remember your other comment! But, I guess that's the way it goes! At least you were able to post!)
Jeanne
P.S. Sent Orble a link to your post, in the hope that it might help precipitate a CAPTCHA upgrade!
Comment by dcr
Comment by dcr
Comment by dcr
Comment by dcr
Comment by dcr
Comment by dcr
So, it's not always Java you have to worry about but JavaScr1pt too. Even PDFs.
Oh, I then I mentioned I popped in to say that I hadn't forgotten about you only to discover you hadn't posted since probably the last time I visited.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Have 46 desktop items myself (which I consider a lot), up quite a few from before I contracted the PC Antispyware 2010 infection. Now my desktop arsenal includes a whole slew of antivirus, antispyware, diagnostic, and corrective tools and programs--along with a link to my recently located Windows Security Center (which the malware had disabled access to).
I really think 138 items is a real improvement over 200, though! Good job cutting down your desktop clutter that much! That's a significant difference!
About your first attempt to leave a comment here: Apparently, the Orble software totally malfunctioned after you entered the CAPTCHA info, since it definitely shouldn't have taken you to the Orble home page. That's an entirely separate problem from the unreadable CAPTCHA info. Glad it's working properly now!
Thanks for stopping back!
Jeanne
P.S. Posted this comment while you were apparently posting several others. (So great to see you posting so many comments now, when you couldn't post any at all earlier! Yay! Keep 'em comin'!)
Will reply to your other comments in a separate reply, since I need to go back and check to remember what they say.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Interesting info about the other ways of downloading malware. I did allow a Java update, though, while online, around the same time I contracted this infection; so this may very well be the way I got it. It's always good to be cautious about everything, though, when you're on the Internet, because you never really know what vehicle these sneaky hackers might use to get their devious programs onto your PC.
Glad to hear you didn't miss much here while working on your e-book! (See that, somehow I must have known that I needed to give you a break so you wouldn't have too much reading to do when you came back! I knew there was a reason I didn't post all that time!)
Jeanne