System Tools virus: Poll

Mum_of_Boys

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Really?

So something pops up on a website claiming the victims PC is infected and they willingly download some unknown piece of software to fix it?

Yes - I think that's how I allowed it happen.

Sitting here Sat night, glass of wine in hand, pop up appeared telling me a virus had been found, clicked ok to scan.

kwikbreaks

From the poll it seems you were far from alone.

RussJK

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Given the prevalence of routers these days that must be just about everybody.

You'd be surprised. I'd never seen a single USB adsl modem in Australia, but I see them frequently in the UK.

Sublime_2

custardy wrote: »

should probably have added those using a hardware firewall though

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Given the prevalence of routers these days that must be just about everybody.

Yeah, got one of those too. No viruses/malware here. :cool:

free4440273

Sublime wrote: »

Yeah, got one of those too. No viruses/malware here. :cool:

same here sub !:beer:

closed

A more appropriate poll would be which antivirus detected and protected me from infection, I suspect the answer would be close to none. If you don't hit the infection, you aren't going to get infected, it doesn't mean your AV solution is better.

Avast blocked me from going to a website that I suspect hosted it or some variant.

Ad blocking would have probably helped defend against this particular attack

Sublime_2

closed wrote: »

Avast blocked me from going to a website that I suspect hosted it or some variant.

Ad blocking would have probably helped defend against this particular attack

Avast has stopped me on the few rare occasions that I went somewhere I wasn't 100 % sure about, (today funnily enough), so have every confidence with that av. I also have spywareblaster installed which although old, is still useful, plus uses next to no resources.

fiddiwebb

Well Avira found and stopped Java/Rast.A warning whilst viewing images on ebay on Saturday night.

birkee

I'm usually lumbered with sorting out family and friends problems.
Next door neighbour got infected with something I identified, so Idecided to read up on it first. Googled the name, and came up with a link on "how to get rid of the ********", clicked on the link to have a read, and my Kasperski Internet Security immediately popped up with a warning, that the site was infected with the said infection, and disallowed access.

So....the caution is, if you research a particular virus / Trojan / Malware via Google, make damn sure your research computer is well protected, otherwise someone elses problem will lead you straight into picking up the same problem on your own PC.
Had Kasperski a number of years now, and it's never let me down. Ended up uninstalling all the other stuff, Malwarebytes, Spybot etc etc, because they never found anything. Can't say I have the courage to depend of free AV software, but I've no reason to suspect they're no good.

OnAndUp

birkee wrote: »

I Can't say I have the courage to depend of free AV software, but I've no reason to suspect they're no good.

I wouldn't say it's a matter of courage just because you pay for it it's not necessarily better. From my limited knowledge a lot of the free AV software is as effective as paid for and often recommended by experts including several on this forum.