In the last 2 days my laptop had contracted a "Generic" TROJAN virus

 

after 2 days of various system restores and deletions of the "infected files" the virus has effectively and totally deleted every single file in my personal folders. So that's all my documents, photos, movies, music, downloads etc etc etc and not to mention the hours of wasted time :sad: :sad:

 

I have no idea where the virus came from, i dont download dodgie software and i dont visit "iffy" sites. It may have come in on an email or in the background of some site, OR it may have been sitting dorment until i did something to trigger it off. Thankfully i happened to do a full backed up of all my files on an external hard disk only 4 days ago :yes:

 

So just a reminder to you all to....

 

BACKUP YOUR FILES

 

These viruses are a real headache and you will lose all your precious files without a backup.

 

SOOOOO......

 

BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP AND DO IT TONIGHT!!!

 

 

 

 

Some info on Trojan horse viruses

 

A Trojan Horse Virus is a common yet difficult to remove computer threat. This is a type of virus that attempts to make the user think that it is a beneficial application.

 

A Trojan Horse virus works by hiding within a set of seemingly useful software programs. Once executed or installed in the system, this type of virus will start infecting other files in the computer.

 

A Trojan Horse Virus is also usually capable of stealing important information from the user's computer. It will then send this information to Internet servers designated by the developer of the virus. The developer will then be able to gain a level of control over the computer through this Trojan virus. While these things take place, the user will notice that the infected computer has become very slow or unexpected windows pop up without any activity from the user. Later on, this will result to a computer crash.

 

A Trojan Horse virus can spread in a number of ways. The most common means of infection is through email attachments. The developer of the virus usually uses various spamming techniques in order to distribute the virus to unsuspecting users.

 

These emails contain attachments. Once the user opens the attachment, the Trojan Horse Virus immediately infects the system and performs the tasks mentioned above.

 

Another method used by malware developers to spread their Trojan Horse viruses is via chat software such as Yahoo Messenger and Skype. Another method used by this virus in order to infect other machines is through sending copies of itself to the people in the address book of a user whose computer has already been infected by the virus.

 

The best way to prevent a Trojan Horse Virus from entering and infecting your computer is to never open email attachments or files that have been sent by unknown senders. However, not all files we can receive are guaranteed to be virus-free. With this, a good way of protecting your PC against malicious programs such as this harmful application is to install and update an antivirus program.

Edited January 8, 200916 yr by **Liv**

I would say... use Linux... but when your other half uses Windows and gets a virus, your just as stuck.

I would say... use Linux... but when your other half uses Windows and gets a virus, your just as stuck.

 

oh be quiet you!!!

Bugga!! What antivirus software are you running and was it up to date?

Edited January 8, 200916 yr by Hills

Bugga!! What antivirus software are you running and was it up to date?

 

Trend Micro Internet security (business version) and it was up to date - it updates a number of times during the day as the new updates become available - it didn't catch the virus until it had already taken hold and couldn't clean it

I had a Trojan Saturday night and it took nearly 24hours to remove it.

I went here: http://www.cnet.com after I identified the Trojan and it actually found 2 other dormant Trojans when I did a full scan.

My Trend Micro didn't pick any of them up!

I just use norton... I've gotta say I was pretty reluctant to go with them because I've only heard bad reports, but since I used them I haven't had a problem...

I use avg free edition and I've never had a virus.

I just use norton... I've gotta say I was pretty reluctant to go with them because I've only heard bad reports, but since I used them I haven't had a problem...

 

Ditto, I've got Norton Corporate Edition through work and so far it has quarantined about 12 viruses without any issues - TOUCH WOOD!!

Edited January 8, 200916 yr by Hills

Yep. I use Norton too. So far I haven't had any problems (touch wood).

Norton slowed down my computer so badly... it has never been better since I purged it of all Norton. But my dad has sworn by it for nearly 20 years now so I suppose it's at least been good for him.

 

I use AVG too and haven't had a problem, but I'm still really wary and paranoid-- maybe the only reason it doesn't pick up much is because it's missing them??

My Trend Micro certainly missed the Trojans!

It was only after doing a full scan via cnet that it actually found 3! I knew about the one because it had control of my taskbar and kept flashing up "do a scan" pop up every 2 minutes and driving me around the twist.