PDA

View Full Version : Virus Alert? Caution


DelawareDave
11-03-2006, 04:48 AM
Last nite, 11-2, I visited Dragboats.com, and was hit with a virus, a trojan downloader, on their homepage. My AV software caught it right away, and it seems to be gone, but it has created some issues. My email no longer works, and I am unable to access Live Update for Norton AV, or their security center. I will figure this out, but anyone who is associated with the website, should investigate if their site has been compromised. I didn't get the virus/trojan when I went to a link (in the spam section here) to look at some boat for sale pics, but when I went directly to the main page.
Edit: MS Antispyware also caught it.
DSW
11-03-2006, 05:50 AM
First I'd ditch Norton's as they kinda suck now. Also make sure you aren't using Windows Defender, which i recently found out is a virus! I use avast! which works great and catches everything. Plus it's free.
DelawareDave
11-03-2006, 06:59 AM
The Norton did catch it, and I am running Windows Defender, and it also caught it. I was just surprised to get hit at that web site, and suggest the admin's for the site check their site. Windows Def is and can be a royal PIA, but it does work.
robk
11-03-2006, 01:12 PM
If LiveUpdate doesn't work any longer, it's probably because the virus made modifications to your hosts file ("c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" for 2k/XP pro or "c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" for XP home). Look for any references to symantec/nortons site in there and remove them.
It's been a long time since I've done any Windows support but I remember viruses used this method frequently to block updates from AV vendors.
Unless you've added any ad-blocking software that's modified the file, usually the only entry should be "127.0.0.1 localhost".
Rob
SmokinLowriderSS
11-03-2006, 01:28 PM
Windows Defender is NOT a virus.
It IS a pop-up window blocker, and an acceptable one as far as we are concerned here, something IE has needed for years, and something that I always enjoyed about Opera browser.
I have 2 PC's running it. They have been running it for nearly a year now, and are having no annoying difficulties with it. Yes, the notifications can be annoying from time to time.
My machine is running an anti-popup program I already owned (Popup Stopper), but Defender is proving out just fineon the "guinea pigs".