Infected by a virus
By rsa101
@rsa101 (37933)
Philippines
January 24, 2009 2:32am CST
My wife was complaining that her internet access had been intermittent for quite sometime. I had a free AV in my PC so I never suspected that I would be infected by one. I did not believe my wife's complaint because i was able to browse normally when I am using but my wife doesn't. Untill one time she complained nonstop that I thought my DSL modem was the one that is causing the problem. I waited for the technician to replace my modem bu then when they checked it it was working okay and there was no problem what they detected is that I could not use any of my browsers and the access to my cable modem was blocked for unknown reasons.
What they suggested instead was to replace my OS with a new one to be sure that the virus was completely eliminated and truly it was true after formatting and reinstalling my OS everything went back to normal. Internet was back and running normally again. I am just upset that I have to reinstall everything driver to everything I need to install again because of these. Good thing I have all my software and I could restore my computer back to normal again.
I guess that is life sometimes it does come and we'll be nedding it to reformat to be sure it is clean again.
1 person likes this
12 responses
@Rexdoron (345)
• Malaysia
24 Jan 09
Hello there rsa101. How are you?
Thank God you found your way out. The light had made your knowledge broaden and your life a bit better.
Like you, I have been using Comodo Internet Security free (that has firewall and AV) for about 2 months. Before I used AVG free but it didn't work well and I changed to Avira free and it did the same thing. My laptop was infected by the same virus twice since I bought it last August. But after the second formatting I done on my laptop, I moved on with CIS and Avast alongside Comodo BOClean, Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware and Super Anti Spyware, So far, CIS remains the top contributor for my laptop security.
I hope you will be fine with Comodo products as well as your life.
Have a great life.
Have a great life.2 people like this
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
25 Jan 09
Thanks for your sharing. I just have finished installing everything I need to install I guess the post in here are making me aware more of the things I have to do to avoid this incidence from coming. But I guess it cannot really be prevented there will come a day that I have to reformat and reinstall but hopefully I am more armed with the things I need to do.
@Rexdoron (345)
• Malaysia
25 Jan 09
That's good for you. I also being more mature in keeping my laptop secure, sort of speak.
I'm not hoping for reinstalling of my laptop and that's make me more aware on my laptop security. I hope you will not have to reformat your computer again - at least for few months.
Have a great life.
Have a great life.1 person likes this
@paoxav (1382)
• Philippines
25 Jan 09
Don't rely in Free Anti-Virus softwares coz their engines are not updated or will not be updated after the trial period is over. Try to purchase a license one. It will for surely guard your computer from harms in the internet. It's not yet that safe still, but atleast, it's preventive and safer than those no AV at all or free AV..
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
25 Jan 09
I have both free Avast and Comodo Firewall. In Avast case it automatically updates itself everytime I connect to the net. I guess it just that the virus that got in was not included in the database of my AV checker. With the performance of Avast although it is free they have been able to successfully blocked many viruses already.
@Autumnrose2008 (1478)
• United States
25 Jan 09
I have found that some times the best thing is to reinstall your OS. I will also do not use free AV as they are not current and up to date. I would reccomend paying for that service as it will save you so much in the long run. Good luck and happy my lotting.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
29 Jan 09
That is what I exactly done in my case I reinstalled the whole OS back and is doing fine already. As for the free AVs I have no problem with that I have been a long time user of it and they have detected many attempts already and they have successfully prevented many viruses already. It is just there are really times that there are new viruses that do slip through the system unnoticed. I think that is what happened to me. I have a licensed AV at worked and sometimes a virus can slipped through our network too. So I guess they are just the same.
@eichs1 (1934)
• Philippines
25 Jan 09
You know what, I am using my old CPU now because of this problem. My internet provider service man told me that there's no problem with my connection after checking things today. He told me that virus can slow down connection so I need to reformat my PC. I have to bring my more reliable CPU to the shop so I used my older one. And true enough, my internet connection is just fine.
Oh, I am using a bought anti-virus but it was not updated for a few months now. How I wish I have updated on time.
1 person likes this
@bookreadermom08 (5614)
• United States
25 Jan 09
I have to say I am happy with my antivirus protection right now, since it seems to be doing well for me right now, I have gotten a few alerts and it stops them before they can enter any of my programs...I have been getting a warning from one of the money sites that I tried to sign up for...now that scares me like you wouldnt believe!!
It is a very scary thought that you can accidently go into a website and next thing you know your computer is fried!! --the price to get some of these things fixed it might be cheaper to buy a new computer and in this economy we all cant just do that.
good luck in the future!!
1 person likes this
@chelroe (28)
• Philippines
25 Jan 09
Hi!
I guess this problem really inflicts damages to us from time to time. I had similar problems before and luckily I had each and every file backed-up including my soft-wares.A teacher ones told our class that if we only have a free AVG we have to reinforce it with another smaller anti-virus (in terms of size it eats up in our systems memory like SOLO). You could also deep-freeze your important files so that it won't be infected and make a partition of your drive C. Better yet the full version of AVG if you have spare bucks could detect almost anything :).
1 person likes this
@amitksing (1323)
• India
24 Jan 09
In today's era, when the cyber world is flooded with different kinds of viruses, and hundreds of new ones being added every day, one can not rely on a single anti virus. I have personally noticed that a single anti virus program does not clean all type of viruses, how ever updated it may be!
Formatting the system indeed is a ver good way of getting the system free from all resident unwanted viruses and other unwanted stuffs. Even I format my system once every quarter.
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
24 Jan 09
That is really true. Although I have one AV installed and was happy because they were able to detect and remove, but I guess one got in successfully. Now I have a new and cleaner OS I think, and installed Comodo Firewall and Avast Antivirus. i think those two would do in the meantime while I am restoring my other software. I do believe that formatting is already the best option in cleaning your system in this case.
@Lightlord (378)
• Greece
24 Jan 09
I've had many experiences dealing with malware like trojans or worms, but I can tell you that most of the popular anti-viruses can't remove any dangerous threats like rootkits or smitfraud. You can try getting help on certain websites like geekpolice.net but even than there is no 100% guarantee that you will successfully remove all the malware.
1 person likes this
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
24 Jan 09
In my case, I was not able to do it because the first thing the virus did was blcok me from internet connection. Somehow he was successful in blocking my browsers from getting into the net. So I have no real choice but the format my PC. I knw some forums that helps in restoring OS without the need of formatting but then that is if you have the patience in following them religiously.
@oyenkai (4394)
• Philippines
12 May 09
Hi rsa! :P I'm replying to a really old discussion because myLot's paging system on all your existing discussions is messed up again and I can't view them all :P I think there are only very few left of your own discussions that I have not yet participated on, I hope you get to start new ones!
Anyway, the only reason that installing a new OS will eliminate whatever virus you have on your system is because you get to delete everything :D you get to wipe off your operating system and then start with a new build that means that there is a 95% chance that you will delete the virus along with it :D
Thanks for the response on my discussion!
@subhakars (932)
• India
24 Jan 09
If the system is infected with virus, Anti virus can easily detect it and clean it if the Anti virus is getting updated on a regular basis. However, many times spyware and malware cause a lot of problems on the internet. Anti virus have nothing much to do with these spywares. They get into the system and keep running in the background and cause lot of issues. They are normal programs and does not harm the computers but still the damage they do the system is enormous. Installing a good antivirus which also has a Anti spyware is the best option.
1 person likes this
@kprofgames (3091)
• United States
24 Jan 09
I understand your frustration and agree that one spyware/anti viruse SHOULD be enough, but in all reality it is not. I run several to keep my computer in ticking order.
The free softwares are nice, but running one just isn't enough. I would also suggest you download Glary Utilities. It helps clean up your space, short cuts and little things. Kind of gives your computer an internal face lift. It's also a free software.
1 person likes this
