Chin09.win virus.....

Be afraid....be very afraid. :scared:

I just had to do a complete reformat of one of my hard drives (thankfully all my music survived. If it hadn't I was planning on killing myself). Haven't had a virus in years, but this one got me good. And this was with AVG running, which had never failed me until today.

So today was a lot of fun, sitting in a sweltering room in high humidity trying to get the PC back up and running. I'm not exactly known for my patience, so that fact that I didn't go on a three state killing spree is impressive. :)

My advice for you all if you get this is that it's easier and more satisfying to just chuck the whole thing out the window, go to a store, and just buy a new PC.

And obviously there's one phrase I won't say. No platform is immune, even if Windows still holds the market, by a very wide margin, as to the number of viruses available for it.

AVG is shit, by the way. Trend or Kaspersky. There is no other. For the PC.

These companies have one purpose and they do it well.

Anyone who gives it away is not going to put in the same level of effort.

Assuming you weren't downloading anything illegal, and hackers are known for putting in cute bugs into illegal copies of movies, software, et al...


Oops, thanks for pointing out my typo. :blush: I fixed it...

I give it away and I put in a hell of a lot of effort... oh wait... Your talking about something else completely... nevermind.

As I have $73 for the rest of the month. :)

AVG is getting to be too bloated and not quick enough on the updates.

Avira is more lightweight and I have had good experience with it.

If your Internet connection is with a cable company, most provide a free anti-virus software suite that may well include a firewall, anti-phishing and anti-spam software.

Preparedness beforehand doesn't hurt, so I have a nice tool that can be used. A rescue CD.

Someone has already categorized the available rescue CDs that have anti-virus removal tools on them, found here:

http://www.askvg.com/download-free-bootable-rescue-cds-from-kaspersky-bitdefender-avira-f-secure-and-others/

The Bitdefender CD is good, have used it to eradicate viruses from peoples' computers. Basically the CD boots the computer into a custom Linux set up which will mount and scan any hard drives for viruses. Since it's a clean situation running on a clean operating system, the virus has no chance in interfering with the anti-virus to avoid detection and removal (as would happen with a non-clean system, the virus can disable the anti-virus from downloading, accessing the site or even installing).

Though it is not fast. But much more convenient than having to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Windows (but even then the virus removal can remove parts of Windows too... then that's a fun time finding out what's missing and providing the patches from another computer.

Mark.

I could have used that earlier. :)

Thanks for the link. I'm going to look into Avira, too. The new AVG is way slower than the previous version, so I'm open to trying other ones.

you got a place to stay

Unless you're talking about prison. :rofl:

I assume MA is a given. So {CT,VT,RI,NY,NH,ME,PA,NJ}? That's every state within 3 states of you.

Remember, a true friend helps you get rid of the evidence. I live on the banks of the fastest-current major body of fresh water on the East Coast. Anything put in the Hudson will be in NY Harbor within 30 minutes and out to sea within 2 hours. I live between the charhouse for Domino sugar and a water treatment plant. It's an embarrassment of riches of ways to dispose of anything.

It's a good thing you've got friends, Fork.

Like Mass, Nevada and Minnesota. Keep the coppers on their toes. ;)