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        New Message Board Archives >> 2003 Posts >> Help...computer problems
        
(Message started by: nancyc on Apr 16^th, 2003, 11:11pm)

Title: Help...computer problems
Post by nancyc on Apr 16^th, 2003, 11:11pm

my account from AOL was blocked tonite..said unsolicited mail had been sent by my email address...i was shocked...sent to over 1000 people...AOL said someone had my password or a virus had attached to my puter...i checked my virus scan, norton, and there is no virus..what do i do now? i cant believe this is happening....i do know my puter has been running really strange lately...any help would be appreciated...smiles,nancyc

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Opus on Apr 16^th, 2003, 11:43pm

Nancyc,
Down load these two freeware programs and run the updates then run the programs one at a time with all other programs off. It sounds like you have a bot that is using your computer as spam or giving out you passwords to spammers. Change your password after running these. Hope this helps.
Opus :P

http://spybot.eon.net.au/index.php?lang=en&page=download

http://www.lsfileserv.com/support/download/

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Mark C on Apr 17^th, 2003, 2:03am

I have a real good Trojan Remover on my computer at home. I will send it to you first thing in the morning when I get home. Easy to use and works great. Untill then run Trend Micro's scan here. (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp) As soon as we get your computer clean AOL will reactivate your account. Its possible your address has been spoofed (http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/spoofing/) or you may have a Trojan on your computer. Either way we can fix it so don't worry. I will send you th Trojan Remover in the AM when I get home, OK?

Relax, its just a stupid machine! ;D
Mark

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by nancyc on Apr 17^th, 2003, 2:55am

thanks so much...why is my norton not picking up any viruses? AOL has reinstated me but told me to run virus checks as they think a virus is sending out this stuff...i do appreciate all you can do to help me...smiles,nancyc

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Mark C on Apr 17^th, 2003, 3:06am

Some Trojans do not get picked up as a virus which is why I run a seperate program to dectect just Trojans. I will recommend a firewall also in my mail in the morning. This will alert you to attempted internet connections in as well as out. We can fix it, no problem. In the morning I will fix you up a care package and send it to you. Run that Trend Micro and see if they find anything. Their scan is updated daily so it is one of the most current. It will even clean most problems. Best of all, this stuff is FREE!

See ya in the AM JAM!
Mark

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by suzy617 on Apr 17^th, 2003, 4:03am

Nancy, that happened to me once with one of my other screen names. I believe it was a hacker that got my password. Alot of people were emailing me and messaging me yelling at me for sending out porn stuff so I deleted that name and changed my password for all the names and have not had a problem since.

suzy

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by catlind on Apr 17^th, 2003, 7:48am

Nancy, norton seems to be lacking these days. I even sent them the infected files and they told me that norton finds them, and of course it didn't. I've switched to kaspersky...it's expensive, but very effective. Mcafee on this machine til the 90 days runs out. I hope you get it sorted out soon, I was wondering where you went to :)

Cat

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by nancyc on Apr 17^th, 2003, 11:25am

Hey, cat, i am around..not as often though..got Tristan this weekend and working while his mom visits Stephen in Kentucky...dont know if they are gonna ship them out or not..keep praying...mark and everyone thanks so much for the help...so norton is no good? should i delete it and buy something else...if so, what and how expensive is it? Mark, will run those programs tomorrow while i am off and be in touch...God bless you all, nancyc

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Opus on Apr 17^th, 2003, 4:25pm

It's not that Norton isn't good a detecting viruses, it isn't good at always stopping the virus before the trojan is released. Usually after you find a virus you will need to down load the repair tool that will fix the damage and remove the trojan. Adware and spyware can be downloaded to your computer with or without you knowledge and release there own trojans or bots that send information of what you do or view on your computer to a receiving server. Even Print shop does this and you have to pay them for their product. Some free programs like Hot bar seem good but they slowly fill your computer with junk and direct Pop up ads at you that correspond with what they think you would want to see. The cyber world is full of more and more crafty ways to find out what you do on and off the web. Most of these programs are unstable which leads to a lot of problems.

Opus :P

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Mark C on Apr 17^th, 2003, 8:07pm

I will have to stand up for Norton (http://securityresponse.symantec.com/) on this one. I have had it for a couple of years at home and we have it on 6000 pc's on our global network at work. I have yet to have a virus not be dectected and quarntined. Nimda got a PC at work a couple of years ago but we had Mcafee at the time. I update my Norton virus definations at least twice a week and do a full system scan at least once a week.

However, there are several more layers of protection I would suggest for safer surfing. A good firewall is important. A program designed to find Trojans in addition to a good AV program. SpyBot is one of the best programs I have ever seen, and it's free! A good link on overall internet security can be found here. (http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/main-nf.htm)

There is much more on this subject.
Good Luck,
Mark

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by catlind on Apr 17^th, 2003, 8:16pm

Mark I'm not trying to promote mcafee. I've got it cause it's free for 90 days LOL. Norton dropped the ball big time as far as I'm concerned. Not only did it not find the trojan on my system, but when I finally found it myself and submitted the files, they said they were safe against it. I updated daily and scanned daily. Kaspersky is a very thorough program. It hasn't missed anything yet (that I can tell). Norton has missed things on me 3 times now.

Cat

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Mark C on Apr 17^th, 2003, 8:58pm

It seems like I remember you getting eat up by a virus here a short while back. I hate it when that happens, it sucks. Because of the way some AV programs work false positives and negatives are possible. I have had Norton scan clean and then Trend micro scan dirty. When I tried to remove the virus found by Trend no sign of it could be found. :-/. Anyway Kaspersky (http://www.kaspersky.com/) is a fine product and if you are happy please go for it.

Safe Surfing,
Mark

http://www.dewa.com/animated/new/1scan-~1.gif

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by andy on Apr 17^th, 2003, 9:15pm

Mark C, i have to disagree with you on norton. I have norton systemworks pro installed on my pc and for the first year it was great but my subscription expired in dec 2002. And now im not able to download the virus definitions or use Live Update. And they want me to buy the new version. I paid $90 for it and i think that it is a scam!! I had Mcaffee before that and was able to update my virus definitions continually for as long as it was installed on my pc (2 years) I have been scanning with Trend Micro PC-cillin free scan ever since Norton dropped the ball!! nancyc, hope everything works out for you, thats my 2 cents.............Andy http://www.trendmicro.com/en/products/desktop/housecall/

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Opus on Apr 17^th, 2003, 10:11pm

Hey Andy and other norton owners,
This link will get you a free update to most of the norton products. All you have to do is download and run the exe file. Every week the file gets bigger but it's free, It works with my 2002 and it worked with my 97. just make sure you get the right file.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/download/pages/US-N95.html

Opus :P

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by andy on Apr 17^th, 2003, 10:38pm

Opus, I downloaded the file and it still tells me that my virus protection cannot be updated. Your subscription has expired. You must renew your subscription to continue using intelligent updater. Run Liveupdate from norton antivirus to renew your subscription and then run intelligent updater again. I have tried this in the past with the same result. Whats the trick? Thanks, andy

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Frank on Apr 17^th, 2003, 11:04pm

nancyc,

I think I have mentioned this before... your problem is AOL. ;D

Frank

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by andy on Apr 17^th, 2003, 11:11pm

Opus, thanks for the info. I finally got the right file.20030417-005-x86.exe. My virus definitions are up to date. thanks again. .........andy

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by catlind on Apr 19^th, 2003, 7:52am

Kaspersky is a good product, but it's an expensive product as far as A/V software goes. For me, I had a nightmare time with people hacking my system and dropping trojans, so that's why I bit the bullet and paid for kaspersky. I've had no problems since.

Mark you're 100% right about a firewall though, you have to have one these days, especially if you are on any sort of cable or ADSL connection.

Cat

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Kenzie60 on Apr 19^th, 2003, 11:55am

It has happened to me twice in the past 3 weeks. The first one was from an email that said I was sent an "Instakiss". I am not sure what the second one was from. The second one from yesterday sent out over 1000 emails in my name.

Roseanne

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by jonny on Apr 19^th, 2003, 12:00pm

on 04/19/03 at 07:52:00, catlind wrote:

dropping trojans

Ewwwwww....whos picking them up?

LOL ;D

........................jonny :D

Title: Re: Help...computer problems
Post by Kirk on Apr 19^th, 2003, 3:01pm

Is there any chance that you can change to a local ISP? The ones here seem to have better filters on their email servers. The tech support for problems like this, is on the whole much better than AOL's.
To lower the chance of this in the future, you might want to just ditch Microsoft. This might not be practical for you.
If there is a Linux users group in your area, I would suggest contacting them. After all it's free.
Hang in thre we're pulling for you.

Kirk