My laptop's infected! x (

Jrd89 · **on:** November 04, 2012, 12:10:44 AM

Oh no! Guys I need help, because my computer's been infected by something.. my sister thinks it's something in my C-drive.. my computer's been playing weird music.. totally at random.. and sounds from about 5 or 6 different internet ads have been overlapping each other.. playing totally at random, even with no browser window open occassionally.

And I wanted to know.. (nothing personal.. just for safety) has anyone here been getting any viruses from visiting the Gang of five or Deviantart? Because those 2 sites are ones I visit daily.

< : ( If not, then my computer got infected from some other site that I visited that was dangerous, and a virus got into my laptop that my McAfee anti-virus is unable to clean out.

This has happened before on my mom's desktop computer about 2 years ago, and again on her laptop last year (and she was furious with me) she said "It's you. Because before you started getting on it.. it had NO problems when just your sister and I were using it."

Therefore, it's came from a site (or sites) that i've visited. I hope I haven't been getting this "bot", malware, trojan, or virus, from the gang of five or deviantart.

What i'm saying is.. have your computers ever acted strangely after visiting the gof and deviantart regularly?

Because if they are, then it may have came from a different site or chat room I may have visited in the past.

I got this laptop last January, and immediately.. it was gof, youtube, and deviantart every day.. going all smooth...

And my trouble didn't start until mid-late March when my computer had these 2 updates that needed to get installed (upon shutdown.) but then after that.. it ALLLWAYS had 2 updates to install.. on EVERY shutdown.

The last time my laptop DIDN'T have any updates to install on shutdown, was in Mid march.. after that, it was ALWAYS the same 2, :blink: and it was unable to install them from that point on..

So it's came from a bad site I visited that caused it (that I may have first visited in March.)

I don't think personally, that the malware/viruses came from the gang of five.

I don't want to be known as "Jared the computer breaker". <_< Have you guys had ANY computer problems after visiting the gang of five and deviantart? Are both of those sites safe? :unsure:

It can't be the GOF. I LOVE this place.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #1 on:** November 04, 2012, 12:44:05 AM

Both Gang Of Five and Deviantart are safe sites. However, just because you were the last one on does not mean you are the cause. Not all viruses are noticeable right away. Or rather malware since virus is just one type of malware.

There are drive-by downloads that can temporarily infect even safe sites (I think through ads). These download themselves without prompt and without the user even knowing they were downloaded.

I highly recommend Malwarebytes and Superantispyware, both freeware and great malware detectors. Download them and make sure both have their definitions upgraded to the latest version. Disconnect the internet to prevent the malware from trying to communicate across the internet (this disconnection makes it weaker). Then run the scans. If scans in normal mode do not work, try rebooting and go into safe mode.

To keep your laptop safe in the future, one program may be able to help you (so long as you have 32-bit) and that's Geswall. I've used Geswall in the past and it does a good job at protecting the computer. It's not an antivirus; it's a protective layer that prevents unwanted changes.

If Geswall is too different for you, then another recommendation is Threatfire. It works alongside antivirus and can detect stuff the antivirus misses. I've had good luck with it as well.

Jrd89 · **Reply #2 on:** November 04, 2012, 01:01:06 AM

Good. So we can rule out The Gang Of Five and Deviantart, and that it DID come from a different site.

Sorry to say that I am no computer geek (and on an earlier thread i titled "I feel so outdated".., said how pathetic I am when it comes to computer stuff, and there are so many things i don't know how to do on a computer that you guys know how to do very easily.) My parents are not real computer geeks, sadly. Especially my dad. He's terrible. And I thought I was bad.

Mom and I were talking about taking my laptop to the local Office Max (where I got this laptop from, brand new back in January) and have them clean out all deadly malware, bots, trojans, and viruses. None of my family members are real computer geeks. I'm going to see what they can do at Office Max at the computer check-up/repair center there.

(You may ask yourself.. how terrible is my dad with computers? H has trouble reading the titles on browser windows, always fussing, grumping, and complaining. "Jared. what the heck does this say? I can't even read this stuff!" and my dad can hardly copy and paste, and says he doesn't trust the internet..)

My mom knows a TON more than dad with computers. She's no expert, but she's pretty good and knows how to do plenty of stuff that I don't know how to do on the computer. My sister's pretty smart and is the best in our family with computer knowledge.

I'm going to see what they can do at Office Max, there was another computer repair guy who has a shop about 2 miles from my house, but mom and I will try Office Max first.

Mumbling · **Reply #3 on:** November 04, 2012, 03:32:08 AM

Don't worry, the gof is not and will most likely never be infected with any kind of virus. Simply don't click tempting ads and don't download suspicious content, no matter what site you're on. They might always release something you don't want as soon as you open them.

Mr Wonk · **Reply #4 on:** November 04, 2012, 10:40:19 AM

It sounds like you have a Virus and Adware but no bots. Do what DarkHououmon said and you should be fine.

Know I hate using McAfee anti-virus. It kept being turn off somehow leaving me open to attacks so when I got my new laptop I chosen Norton Internet Security to protect me. And so far I have had no problems with it.

FreckledOne · **Reply #5 on:** November 04, 2012, 01:32:48 PM

I actually don't visit Deviantart anymore because I kept getting malware from the ads. I didn't even click on them, I was just viewing the art pages.

Everybody else has said this, but Malwarebytes is what the tech guys I've been to recommend.
Pretty sure it is not the GOF that's infected, so you shouldn't worry about that.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #6 on:** November 04, 2012, 01:50:15 PM

Then you were getting drive-by downloads. Those are annoying. Try getting Adblock Plus (if you use Firefox, I think Opera has it too) and see if that helps block the annoying, malware-infested ads.

I visit DA constantly, all the time, and I never got infected. A couple times, yes I was redirected to a rogue antivirus site, but it doesn't surprise me. Occasionally, safe sites can get temporarily infected, usually by an ad or something. But as long as you close the browser if it's a rogue antivirus, and as long as you have some good antivirus and antimalware programs, you shouldn't have too much trouble.

FreckledOne · **Reply #7 on:** November 04, 2012, 02:13:57 PM

I actually still use *coughcoughInternetExplorercough* but I will look into Adblock Plus, thanks!

The only way I can view Deviantart now is if I use my mom's ipad she got for school. It turned out that most of the artists I followed didn't even update much since I was last able to get on DA. Oh well.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #8 on:** November 04, 2012, 02:39:36 PM

http://simple-adblock.com/downloadpage/ Here's a link that may be helpful for you.

Jrd89 · **Reply #9 on:** November 04, 2012, 09:23:10 PM

Well,

thanks for the advice, but no, i'm still gonna take it to Officemax. DarkHououmon, i'll keep the message in my inbox for reference anyways.

(With my dad BLASTING great-grandpa's old 1940's AM radio with some tampa bay bucanneers football game, and him and I getting into a furious fight hauling a computer desk, he said "God DAMN it JARED, WILL YOU LISTEN!!, you're making us look like a bunch of HILLBILLYS with your cussing, grunting and shouting out here!'

that dumb 54 year old fart is so out of touch, can't see 3 feet in front of him without his contact and says to me and my sister "you need to get up off your lazy a** off the computer and do something" and he hates it that we're not buying american cars, (Ford, GM..) and that we young people are not buying Cadillacs and Lincolns like he and his gen did in the 70's.

Cadillacs are for OLD GRANDPA'S and so are LINCOLN'S you old fart! > : ( And he grumbles about them not bringing back the Eldorado, the Fleetwood, and Coupe Deville, and the Lincoln Town car and Mark series.. SORRY DAD, YOUR 18 FEET LONG, (he had a black 21 foot long 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine for a 1976-77 senior year high school car.)

.. HOOD ORNAMENTS, opera windows, lincoln port-hole windows, opera lights, and fender-skirts AREN'T coming back! shut up you rotten old-timer! > 8 O < X ( "GEESH!!"

(DAD! THE MUSTANG AND CAMARO ARE IN THEIR 60's retro styles! WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT!??)

Anyways, to mom, she knows computers a little more, and my sister says that it is a virus. I'll have a computer technician at Office Max look at the problem and clean out that virus that my McAfee anti-virus program missed.

(See why I come and live off of my computer so much, guys? You guys are fun. I may be behind in the "digital" music and still play cd's.. and love drawing/trad. animation over CGI computer animation.. but I love it here and on Deviantart, and you guys can handle your tempers better than my dad. (I do not want to describe how hard i was panicking/sweating and shaking when I admitted last year, my pteranodon head drawings.. but he did accept it. (I thought he was going to say "You're doing little kiddy/baby stuff, and you need to grow up."

He took it well, but I still hide with the bedroom door closed always, when i'm on my laptop, because I do not want to get caught by mom or dad, watching lbt clips/drawings/pictures...and other various pteranodon cartoons/pictures, such as Terrible Dactyl from "Dinosaucers".. mom has no problem with it.. she does sometimes wish I would create my own character and not try to draw/copy someone else's character.

Who's the better parent for me? Obviously mom, because she's still in touch, and she too is sick with dad's constant grumping and is ALWAYS glad when he FINALLY leaves at night for his 8 (sometimes 12) hour night shifts 6 nights a week (his 1 night off is thursday night)

So mom's ok with computers, she agrees about taking it to Office Max (I am not brainy enough to fix/install these programs on my own) mom doesn't like it when I "do stuff to my computer that I shouldn't" and "going to sites that I shouldn't really be going to that look unsafe"

(I hope to be a more nicer/successful person than my rotten, short-tempered, old dad, fussing at us "I WORK 53 HOURS A WEEK while you're sitting on your butts not getting anything done here at home!" well EXCUUUSE me, DAD! > : (

(If I get a job that earns me over $115,000 per year at one point in my life, I WILL have a job better than dad that earns more money than his (a radiation protector at a hot 110-120 degree working environment on some nights at the nuclear power plant)

I appreciate your help offer, Dark Hououmon. I resort to you guys to make my free time much happier and fun/enjoyable.

and Pterano (Cal), me, and bushwacked (Luke) are practically 2 pteranodons and a rhamphorhynchus who love skype talks and gof messages. It helps me when all i normally do is go to a 1 floor mall, a book store, stuff a burger/soda in my mouth on my days off, and work at a groc. store bagging/bringing in carts/and sometimes cleaning (ugh) bathrooms and dusting the floors.

I'll take my laptop into Office Max and get those viruses cleaned out. I officially call the gof a "SAFE" site. ^_^ and.. from DarkHououmon's info, I think deviantart is safe. I need to stay off sites that look dangerous/harmful to the laptop.

You guys are more fun and helpful than my grumpy, fussing, complaining, butt-cramp migraine of a dad, and my chore-giving "do this/remember to do that" mom. Lol.

I'll continue to search for new Pterano/Rinkus/LBT and Terrible Dactyl/Dinosaucers pictures on deviantart, as well as videos on youtube, as I have always done each night regularly. A Petrie/Pterano/Rinkus/Flyer/ Terrible Dactyl videos/pictures always make me feel calmed, comfortable and happy each night on my laptop in my room. It make me forget about mom and dad, <_< and give me a calmed, positive, happy feeling.

The GOF, youtube, wikipedia, and deviantart, are practically my computer LIFE right now. ^_^ and those are all my regular, usual stops every time i'm on the 'net. And Cal, me, and Luke are our own flyer trio on the GOF and Skype, as I said earlier.

The GOF has helped me socially, on my internet life. As long as I have my computer, I have you guys to talk to. and life is NOT so lonely. I have people in my age group that are on my side, there to talk to, and help me when I need it. as well as socializing and entertaining.. LOL!

I'll get those rotten viruses cleaned out somehow. <_< Don't worry.

Kor · **Reply #10 on:** November 04, 2012, 11:12:01 PM

Sounds like a bad problem. I hope it gets fixed quickly, good luck. I use a free version of Comodo, not sure how good it is. Though there are likely many anti virus and malware programs that exist.

Jrd89 · **Reply #11 on:** November 14, 2012, 04:08:38 PM

*I'm writing this post off of my sister's laptop, just for an update*

Last Friday (the 9th) I took my laptop to a computer repair shop, and they're working on a complete malware/virus cleanup of mine. Mom got angry with me this morning after they called and said..

"They said your computer was SO INFECTED with malware that it WASN'T EVEN SHUTTING DOWN properly!" and that it'll cost me about $140-$150 when they've finished the clean-up, and also they'll fix the "fluttering" noise that my internal fan was making inside my laptop for the first 10 minutes after I turned it on.. before it went away.

STAND by guys.. my laptop is in the repair shop. i'm ok. Just gotta wait.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #12 on:** November 14, 2012, 05:39:50 PM

It was that badly infected? That sucks. Sorry to hear that.

Kor · **Reply #13 on:** November 14, 2012, 06:10:06 PM

Sorry to hear that your laptop is so infected & it'll cost that much to fix it. I do hope it gets fully fixed quickly. Good luck on it all going very smoothly.

Jrd89 · **Reply #14 on:** November 14, 2012, 06:57:47 PM

: ( Yes, between $120-$150. It was not shutting down the last day I had it, it cut to the blue screen of death on shutdown, and the only way to turn it off was to HOLD the power button down until it shut off.

That's about the price I expected though.

IT MUST have been from inappropriate sites. The deadly Bots/malware/Trojans/viruses.. whatever was eating/slowing/hurting my laptop COULDN'T have been from too many youtube videos, or deviantart, or Wikipedia. It had to have been from inappropriate sites. I'LL STAY OFF of those. because I NEED MY COMPUTER to practically.. SOCIALLY survive.

MY DAD is an old fussy grump grouch who practically left his brain in the 90's, and has REALLY HATED this new digital technology, my sister's a grouch "oh my GOD I can't believe you don't know HOW to do that!" in a negative tone... when I'm curious about what she's doing on her laptop and cell phone.

DAD IS A FRICKING B**CH A**hole! I mean it, he gives NOTHING! NO NEW PRODUCT, A CHANCE! > : ( Mom doesn't understand some things.. Noone's as gentle/nice as you guys.

I've been getting through the MEGA BORING laptop-less nights by drooling/falling asleep at the tv, and ehh.. reading a couple of magazines. IT IS BORING with no computer..

AND with grouch parents AND DAD IS NOW VIRTUALLY helpless with me today, and there's SO MANY things he DOESN'T "get" and has a very pessimistic view on life/things.

I miss you all, and I HOPE to have my laptop back and have FUN at night instead of bowing to their chore commands and DEALING with my dad's "grumpy/closed to anything new" kind of attitude/view of things our generation think that's neat and fun.

IT STILL sucks not having a 24/7 car. AND OH, my dad sometimes says "quit with the sissy baby s**t" when it comes with me making funny noises/stuff." he says "quit acting f**king queer" or.. "quit screaming/squealing like a girl!"

I WANT TO erase Dad out of my life, and about ready to erase mom out.. THEY are helpless, ESPECIALLY DAD!" WHAT A BUTT-PAIN!

HE CANNOT relate to us younger people and the silly stuff we do. He'd probably call you all "little kindergartners" for still loving the land before time at your age. > : (

> x (COME ON computer technicians! please FIX my laptop so I can have a little social/open/neat/fun moments back.

Dad doesn't know about all the Pterano/flyer stuff I even talk about on here.

He's STILL beating 2 rocks together and left his brain back in the early 90's before computer/internet tech came onto the scene.

I HOPE to have my new car eventually, some independence, less "parental slave/BOW AND OBEY your mother/father's orders and commands, slave boy!" (mom still calls me "her kid" : | ... and enjoy being "me". and my silly funny entertaining stuff.

And being a cartoon pterosaur lover, EVEN AT 23! there are some cartoon characters you're never too old to love.

I hope to have my "clean" laptop back, and hope that there was no major damage or lost programs in the process. I don't think there was, since I had nothing hardly stored. all I use my laptop for currently... is the internet and Skype. No documents on it at all.

Hang in there. I hope to return soon, and have my fun nights again, youtube IS MY TV

basically, and not "real" tv. which I think sucks nowadays anyway. I only watch "real" tv for news, sports, and game shows basically. I watch the GOOD stuff that I've always loved.. on youtube. ^_^

I hope to be back soon guys, I miss my laptop and GOF/Skype access 24/7.

Jrd89 · **Reply #15 on:** November 15, 2012, 05:50:57 PM

Update: Ok, I called the Computer repair shop, and my laptop is all finished, and ready to be picked up. I called them late this afternoon. I'll be busy tomorrow, but i'll see if I can pick it up on Saturday. It's a relief for me to know they were able to get it fixed.

I had no documents stored on it anyways, so nothing important's going to get lost.

I hope to be back to using my laptop on Saturday.

I'll tell you then, if they were able to CLEAN and CONQUER ALL of the malware, bots, trojans, and viruses. I KNOW it had a bot that got into it...and it had a BUNCH of malware in it, too. O_O

But, the "laptop surgery" is over, and it's ready to be picked up.

I'll let you know what the problems were... and what they did to it... once i'm back on my own laptop (Like I said.. hopefully on this Saturday.

)

Kor · **Reply #16 on:** November 15, 2012, 10:01:37 PM

Sounds like things are going well for you so far. Good luck on it continuing to go as well.

Jrd89 · **Reply #17 on:** November 17, 2012, 11:49:26 AM

Nope. the computer repair shop is closed on Saturday, so i'll have to go there on Monday morning and get it.

Kor · **Reply #18 on:** November 17, 2012, 02:07:18 PM

That is bad. But I hope everything will continue to work out for you from now on.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #19 on:** November 17, 2012, 04:00:12 PM

Have you ever considered using Linux? I'm thinking of switching to it sometime, or at least dual booting (meaning having more than one operating system on a computer). Linux has many distros (types) of operating systems you can download. It's more secure than Windows, generally faster or at least doesn't slow down as easily, and it's completely free with a large library of programs that are, with a few exceptions, free.

Malware on Linux do happen, but they are less frequent, even more infrequent than they are on Macs, and they are less likely to do serious damage to the computer.

It's up to you, but it's a thought. Linux is so varied, so you can find one that best suits your needs. The distro I'm looking to use is Linux Mint. My parents' computer has Zorin on it, which has a very Windows-like interface.