This is a real mother of a virus and my friend has managed to get it on his netbook (running XP SP3) at least twice. It disables his Avast AV, task manager, and basically results in me running a system restore. Now, I go to my share of questionable sites as well, but I'm wondering if this is something he is getting from frostwire or through internet explorer (maybe running XP makes him more susceptible)?
Would having him use a non-IE browser (like Firefox or Chrome) help to prevent any future infections?
@bwmcmaste: Having him not on Windows XP, period, would be the best solution. If he is using an old version of Internet Explorer, then he would be best to be using either Firefox or Chrome. Even Opera would be 10x better than an old IE browser. Old versions of IE are considered horrible when talking about malware infection and also, as a lot of techies have written before, Windows XP is considered very old now and somewhat vulnerable all-around.
Doesn't really matter where he got it really, whether from weak, poorly-guarded peer-to-peer clients or from an old application, he needs to step up his program updates and also get some basic knowledge on where to go and where not to go on the internet. And tell him to stop using shady torrent sites too. If you are gonna torrent at least go with reputable torrent sites like Demonoid and TPB.
If he has money to spend, tell him to simply upgrade and buy something new. If he is a computer geek, then get into Linux (but I doubt he is because such problems would not arise)
1. Stop using avast. It is terrible. Use a paid alternative or Windows Security Essentials. Supplement with Malwarebytes. 2. Switch to anything besides I.E. 3. Try to convince him to move on from XP.
I just ran Malwarebytes and discovered that the source of the infection was likely from Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, he's kind of stuck with his OS and AV (being as Avast is the best of the free AV out there), but I figure this could at least help to mitigate the issue.
Microsoft Security Essentials is considered very good from general reviews I see. It's free, small in resource size, run by MS, and updates regulaly.
When I used to do Windows OS full time use, I used Spybot's Search And Destroy and Malwarebytes as decent free malware scanners from time to time. Avast went down the shitter a while back and does not have a good rep anymore.
@bwmcmaste: Lol Avast has high on demand detection rates however its proactive scanning is ranked quite low compared to microsoft security essentials. This is argueably the most important feature of an AV. Also avast has a shitty gui and alerts.
Also head over to Secunia and run the OSI scanner to see where all of his security holes are.
Would having him use a non-IE browser (like Firefox or Chrome) help to prevent any future infections?
Doesn't really matter where he got it really, whether from weak, poorly-guarded peer-to-peer clients or from an old application, he needs to step up his program updates and also get some basic knowledge on where to go and where not to go on the internet. And tell him to stop using shady torrent sites too. If you are gonna torrent at least go with reputable torrent sites like Demonoid and TPB.
If he has money to spend, tell him to simply upgrade and buy something new. If he is a computer geek, then get into Linux (but I doubt he is because such problems would not arise)
1. Stop using avast. It is terrible. Use a paid alternative or Windows Security Essentials. Supplement with Malwarebytes.
2. Switch to anything besides I.E.
3. Try to convince him to move on from XP.
I just ran Malwarebytes and discovered that the source of the infection was likely from Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, he's kind of stuck with his OS and AV (being as Avast is the best of the free AV out there), but I figure this could at least help to mitigate the issue.
Not by a long shot. Try Microsoft Security Essentials.
Microsoft Security Essentials is considered very good from general reviews I see. It's free, small in resource size, run by MS, and updates regulaly.
When I used to do Windows OS full time use, I used Spybot's Search And Destroy and Malwarebytes as decent free malware scanners from time to time. Avast went down the shitter a while back and does not have a good rep anymore.
I can't believe that I - a self-professed computer nerd - was completely unaware of this.
Thanks!
Lol Avast has high on demand detection rates however its proactive scanning is ranked quite low compared to microsoft security essentials. This is argueably the most important feature of an AV. Also avast has a shitty gui and alerts.
Also head over to Secunia and run the OSI scanner to see where all of his security holes are.
BREEEEP BREEEEP BREEEEP WARNING VIRUS DETECTED
lol I know WHY DOES IT TALK!?! seriously first time i tried it and that happened i almost shit my pants.
I was dead asleep. My scan was set to run at 3AM. I nearly smashed the machine.