All about viruses

[Neha]

Hi!
Am starting a thread on viruses, the most common thing that effect our PCs/laptops almost daily.

Lets discuss some common viruses and how to tackle them where our antivirus fails.

[ash]

Good idea, Neha.

One of the best ways to protect yourself from viruses is from proactive defense. Among college students, virus propagation is greatest through USB flash drives. When they plug them back into their own computer or laptop, the virus goes straight into action.

To stop that, use programs such as TweakUI to disable the autorun function. Next, always scan the drive before opening it. However, sometimes scanning isn't always practical because your USB may contain a gigabyte or more of data. What you can do is right-click and click on "Explore" instead of "Open". Then, make sure "Show Hidden Files" option is selected. Viri and their autorun files usually reside at the "root" of the USB, so you can immediately spot them and delete them.

There are some instances that the "Explore" function is hijacked by the autorun file as well as the "Open" function. You'll know this if it is bold in text. In that case, access the drive through a file exploring program.

What I can suggest is that you put all your files in a folder (or a few folders) in the USB. That way, you can easily see any program that installs itself on the root of the USB drive. Also, even if you cannot stop virus files installing themselves on the USB, you can stop their "autorun" files being placed as well. You can create "fake" autorun files that cannot be over written by virus ones A program that can do that is this (Flash Disinfector « eXPeri3nc3’s Corner). That program can also fix some errors caused by virus.

Thats it for now!

[Neha]

Thanks Ash!

Its good to start with USBs as they are the common but risky mode of transferring data these days.

First of all, cancel the autoplay option(appears when you plug in your USB) asking you to "open folders to view files", "take no action" etc. This decreases the chances of virus spreading.

Now, some of the common viruses that are spreading through USBs:

• Ravmon.exe
• New Folder.exe
• Orkut is banned

Removing Virus

The following steps may help you remove some of common viruses:

1. Open the command prompt.
Start>Run>cmd

2. In the command prompt, type the drive letter(eg. G: ) and press enter. This will display a list of the files in the pen drive. Check whether the following files are there or not

• Autorun.inf
• Ravmon.exe
• New Folder.exe
• svchost.exe
• Heap41a
• or any other exe file which may be suspicious.

If any of the above files are there, then probably the USB drive is infected.

3. In command prompt type attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and press enter. This will remove the Read Only, Archive, System and hidden file attribute from all the files. Now just delete the files using the command del filename. example del Ravmon.exe. Delete all the files that are suspicious.

[sauravgoswami]

well i m encountering a trojan which opens new folder by the name of the folder i have just accessed,treid antivirus,but got temporary relief

[Neha]

Does the new folder opened have the same contents as your folder??

Would it be right to say that when you open the folder, its opened in a new window and not the same one?

[KSHIRABDHI]

hi everybody
i am new here in CE
plez tell me something abt trojan

[yudi]

--kshirabdhi
about trojans
Trojan horse (computing) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

for other information about virus please check the link below....

Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery




>>

[esakiraja]

how does the virus affect the zero sector of the hard disk..??? Is there any way to recover to data from the hard disk even after the zero sector is destroyed???

[sauravgoswami]

well,its opens nothing i mean it remains as it is,id clicked many times then either it opens new window or hangs the comp

Originally Posted by Neha

Does the new folder opened have the same contents as your folder??

Would it be right to say that when you open the folder, its opened in a new window and not the same one?

[gohm]

You can also install and run programs like hijackthis! which will not in itself remove the offense but will create a log that will identify the offending item if you are IT savvy or there are many forums you can post your log on for help. I myself like my anti-virus program along with spybot s&d for removal/protection. The best way to avoid viruses... washing your hands frequently... ha!