Virus Alert

[rocklobster]

No, i'm not referring to the song by Weird AL. A couple weeks ago, my computer got infected with a new malware that masquerades as a security program called XP 10. It's an upgrade of an older virus (Antispyware 2009) and does the same thing. It's an ad that looks just like a security program, be careful what you click on.

[CrimsonRyu17]

I've heard of this one going around. I'd also like to warn people of one called Antivirus Soft. It somehow managed to get into my computer and randomly popped up out of nowhere. I blocks everything (Even CTRL + ALT + DELETE) except the page to its site for you to buy the supposed "program." It's pretty nasty.

If you have an XP and get hit by it, the best thing to do is restart your comp and upon loading, CTRL + ALT + DELETE before it loads and stop an .exe that looks like xceed.exe or something of the likes. It looks pretty suspicious either way.

Then watch and do this.

[Mithrandir]

I recommend everyone check out this post:
http://www.krebsonsecurity.com/2010/03/removing-viruses-from-a-pc-that-wont-boot/

Krebs is a legit security guy. Using one of the boot images he talks about there will allow you to boot the machine from a CD and scan for viruses without running anything from the HD. This is the only way to ensure (more or less) that you aren't loading a root kit that will mask itself.