Question

Virus Total protection.

Asked by: chaddews

I have a virus on my computer at home called Total protection.  From what I hear it is a nasty virus.  My McAfee was not up to date. Our fault.  I have since then updated to the new version but it is not recognizing the virus.  I tried to remove the program but it won't.  I have a friend who teaches a computer class at the high school who has offered to take the computer and try to remove it.  He would use it as a learning tool for a few of his tech students at the high school.  I can do that but would rather not just because I do all my banking on our computer.
I trust him but their are still students who would be working on the computer.  The programs do have passwords.

My biggest concern is weather or not the virus has our personal information.  My friend said to stay off the internet until the virus is removed.

Microsoft office website gave a few scans that we could try.  Do you suggest that do that.  Someone else suggested restoring the computer back about 5 days prior to the virus.  The only thing is I would loose the McAfee because I downloaded that on the day of the virus.

Can I say I hate computers when they are not working correctly.  Can you tell me if our personal information is jeopardized?

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Asked On
2009-09-25 at 07:38:38ID24761839
Topic

Microsoft Applications

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: jaynirPosted on 2009-09-25 at 07:43:02ID: 25423477

There are plenty of free scanners that can get rid of malware spyware and viruses.

Try spybot from  http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

Malwarebytes from http://www.malwarebytes.org/

combofix from http://www.combofix.org/

Yes. Some spywares steal information from the PC.

 

by: BasheerptPosted on 2009-09-25 at 07:57:05ID: 25423642

Without proper security solution you should not use your PC for critical usage like financial transactions. If it was my PC, I would never handover my PC to other person who use it as a 'table top deadbody', for teaching purpose! There is a chance your data would be stolen or viewed. You may try the following:
- Make sure you have latest backup of your data.
- If you are not familiar to scan the for viruses, ask the help from most trusted guy. Your friend can help you but dont giveout the pc for practicing while your data is still there.
- For a better result, Format the PC (formatting will erase all data!), install Operating system loaded with latest patches and Antivirus updates, Swith on the firewall.
- Restore your Data from the cleaned source.

Good luck.

 

by: notacomputergeekPosted on 2009-09-25 at 09:59:35ID: 25424824

Uninstall instructions:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic204936.html

Avoid giving the computer to someone for training purposes.
Do not get on the internet until it is removed and you have up to date A-V and spyware protection.

 

by: photodrPosted on 2009-09-27 at 15:02:50ID: 25435693

The very first thing you should do is get this PC off the internet.
Then if you have access to an uninfected PC you can download some tools to clean up and protect the computer.
If you do not have access to a second PC you should have an expert come on-site or take your PC to a local private shop that will have the ability to back up ALL your data if needed and cleanup or redo your system.
If you feel your system may have been compromised then you should get on a clean computer and take this as an opportunity to change all your logins with your banking and other sites just to be safe.
The sites to get tools to clean up your computer are as follows;
ComboFix from http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix  use this link and read how to use it properly.  Do not get it from any other source so you are sure you are gettting the real thing.
Malwarebytes from http://www.malwarebytes.org/  and when it takes you to the download site be careful you do not click on a banner for a different product.  After installing the software scan and cleanup the computer and then use;
Spybot Search and Destroy from http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html and follow the directions to install, update, immunize and clean!  If you do all these the Spybot program works best.
SuperAntiSpyware from http://www.superantispyware.com/ is another great one to run as part of the whole cleanup cocktail.  Follow the installation instructions and do a full scan and remove the items it detects.
Since each product detects and cleans slightly differently the use of all of them is what usually gets the bad guys out!
You will need to put your computer back online after a few scans to update these products and rescan to be sure you have gotten everything.
When you are done and feel you have cleaned up pretty well I recommend ccleaner from http://www.ccleaner.com/  you can use it to clean up the system and make your system run better.
Of course as soon as the clean up is finished you need to get one good antivirus product on your system.  It all depends on your environment and whether your computer is part of a business network or just one of your personal computers but there are a lot of legitimate products you can use.
I personally do not use suites loaded with too many products that take over my system.
I like to use a product that has antivirus, firewall and spyware/malware protection.
I have used AVG (free and paid)
McAfee total protection for business
Symantec Endpoint
Microsoft One Care
Microsoft Security Essentials (still in beta)
and others.
If you search on google for a product you will get lots of hits that will lead you to fake antivirus products which is what brought you here in the first place so be careful and again if you do not feel comfortable doing this yourself you can always find a competent professional (not your neighbors kid) to help you.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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