[mtluvsChrome]

One of the things I look forward to most about owning a Chromebook is the fact that I won't have to obsess on trying to keep viruses off and away from my computer! That will be such a huge relief. After what happened to me below, I am sooooo pro active in anything and everything antivirus! I run update checks on my daughter's computer probably 5-10 times a day (even though it's set up to be automatic). I run a FULL virus scan once daily and a Quick scan at least 2-3 times a day....see....obsessive So I have a question for all you techies out there that I hope you can answer for me but I need to give just a little background info first (sorry)....

So I am fairly new at using the Internet and when I first started using it (in 2009) a girl friend told me I could "hook-up" to someone else's network legally and access their internet conncection. I didn't have my own IP provider for reasons I won't state here so I went a head and connected to the internet via some "forigen" network conncection, while not knowing about such things as Network Locations, ie., Home Network, Work Network, and Public Network locations. Nor did I know about such things as Firewall settings and how those settings are different for each type of network location. I was smart enough however to download a free antivirus protection plan from McAfee.

Anyway, long story short, after blindly messing around with the firewall settings and setting my computer up for a Home network then deciding it should actually be a public network (cuz I was using someone else's network connection after all) and so on....my computer crashed and crashed hard (or so it seemed to me). As I was sitting there surfing the web, all of a sudden I got an alert from McaFee (can't remember what is said), but right in front of my eyes, I began watching all of my registry keys (which I didn't and still don't know what they are) slip right through McaFee.....whatever the heck that meant. How I remember it is like this....Through an open door in Mcafee, one by one all the registry keys belonging to my computer slipped on through that open door and my computer crashed.

This is when I decideded to start trying to train myself in such technical stuff. I was able to get my computer up and running again but it was like it had a mind of its own. It would turn on and off by itself (unless I unplugged the A/C power and used only battery power), it would schedule tasks that I sure the heck didn't schedule....I didn't even know their was a task scheduler. I learned about remote connections and would disable it, then it would come back on. I would go into the task manager and disable processess and services that had anything to do with network connections....I never wanted to hook up to another network again, and the minute I plugged my computer in to an A/C adapter, the network access would start back up again. Anyway, I could go on and on and on. I swear it was like my computer was possessed or at least taken over by something or someone other than myself.

So here is my question(s).........when all registry keys slip through an antivirus program and are lost and gone forever, what kind of a virus is that? Does what I just described above sound like some kind of registry key virus? Was it a hacker? Is there even a name for what happened? I would APPRECIATE any thoughts or input or information you may have in this matter. If for nothing else, but to put my own mind at ease.....it was all very creepy to tell the truth. So thank you in advance for your input!

 

[BWR]

Mindy,

It is impossible to tell exactly what happened from your description. There are a couple million identified pieces of malware. You probably opened your firewall up to allow outside access to your computer and probably did not keep Windows and all of your applications patched. Cleaning up an infected computer can sometimes be a real daunting task giving professionals a difficult time. Once you get a clean computer, the trick is to keep malware from getting in, not trying to find them several times a day after they are already in. Nothing is perfect, but if you:

1. Keep all of your software patched as soon as the patches are available. Wherever you can, set up the software to automatically update from the vendor. Secunia Personal Software Inspector will help you identify software that is vulnerable.

2. Install a good anti-virus product. Microsoft's Security Essentials is pretty good and is free (not all free anti-viirus software are acceptable). I use that on some computers and my favorite is Eset's Nod32, but it is fairly expensive and only slightly better. Set it to update automatically a few times a day.

3. If you are surfing and see a pop-up indicating you are infected with a whole bunch of bad stuff and are prompted to "Click here" to be disinfected stop immediately. Do not click...and if you happen to do it before thinking, do NOT enter a credit card number. Just close the browser and move on. It is a popular ruse called rogue AV. It will infect your computer (and people pay for the privilege).

4. Be very careful where you surf, there are hundreds of thousands of infected web sites waiting for you to visit. If you've done all the above, you are fairly safe, but nothing is 100%.

5. Don't open e-mails, particularly ones with attachments, that you aren't positive of the source and know that the source wasn't faked (a little hard to determine sometimes).

Oh, and I take it so much for granted, I forgot:

6. If you have a hardware firewall, set it to do Network Address Translation (NAT). This will keep most drive-by hackers out. And, use a software firewall, as well. Microsoft's built-in firewall is adequate and stays out of sight in the background. So many of the others continually ask you whether you want some obscure module to access the internet, or not. Only really good software professionals have any idea, so people get in the habit of always responding OK, which makes those types of firewalls useless and a pain.

Good luck.

 

[pelloski]

I understand your plight. I had my first PC crash completely and from that time on, it was never the same. Soon after, I purchased a laptop but it also got lost under unclear circumstances.

I got another PC and decided I was going to 'own and protect it' but when I tried installing Microsoft Essentials, I noticed it could be running on a pirated OS.

 

[russcasey]

BWR has a lot of good advice there.

The only thing I'd add is that the most reliable way to clean an infected computer is the "nuke from orbit" approach. Format the disk and reinstall windows clean. It will take several hours or so to get the machine back how you wanted, but a bug hunt could take longer still, could cause more damage, and you will never be certain you got everything anyway. The reinstall method also gives you acne opportunity to not install all the stuff you had installed but don't use.

 

[modder]

BWR has a lot of good advice there.

The only thing I'd add is that the most reliable way to clean an infected computer is the "nuke from orbit" approach. Format the disk and reinstall windows clean. It will take several hours or so to get the machine back how you wanted, but a bug hunt could take longer still, could cause more damage, and you will never be certain you got everything anyway. The reinstall method also gives you acne opportunity to not install all the stuff you had installed but don't use.

Co-signed