can anyone share there last windows virus experience?

steviebuk

Mid 90s.


Form Virus



From college as they got infected. I managed to get a copy and took it home to play. Ended up infected my own PCs boot sector



Fix - Never did, just booted off floppy until I eventually wiped the machine months later.


AV - None.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_(computer_virus)

forgotmyname

1996, Windows 95. Unknown.. Changed notepad for some dodgy version that popped up a message.

Took a while to track down to notepad being the cause.

that

Stoke wrote: »

2008
XP
Conficker Worm
Norton
Work computer. Windows updates hard disabled by administrators, we were unable to enable them. Conficker worked by exploiting unpatched systems and rapidly spread through the network. Only outside contractor machines and patched up servers weren't affected.
McAfee Stinger
Not much. It was a worm doing exactly what it was designed to do.... infect systems which the user had been lazy when it comes to updates. The fact it continues to be a problem (Conficker I mean) shows that 10 years on, people are just as lazy about updates as they were back then and I suspect there are still dumb IT blokes who think it's clever to disable Windows Updates.

Wake up, this isn't Linux.

Yup, we have had the same as Stoke and a few varients too. We use Trend a/v. Came in via a pdf.

DFS allowed us to restore via volume shadow copy to the servers, and stopped the infection spreading and also hid the servers themselves. We have mail filtering and computer gpo policies which disallow applications from executing like pdf .doc cmd bat etc. users also cant save to the c:

dipsomaniac

agrinnall wrote: »

Why do you want to know?

just curious. i have never really had a problem with viruses yet you see threads appear on a regular basis from people paying for av and worried when their current deal comes to an end.

i did get infected with the chromium virus/malware in 2015 ish (win7) when i stupidly clicked on a link on mse to download some recommended software. i just did a factory reset to sort. think i was running ms security essentials at the time.

that

in industry, people often just sit there like mindless drones and click everything.

At home you will be suspicious of strange emails. If your bank emails a link you probably wont open it and Ms av is fairly good too. Couple this with an add and script blocker and all is usually good

For virus creators there has never been much reward for creating them, until ransomware came out. Now it is a game of whack-a-mole.

We feel at work ransomware will be the new standard, and if it gets onto the backup servers and you have online backups or virtual tapes, it may decimate your backup, plus with the amount of data being backed up a/v is often not installed on backup servers at it often forms a severe bottle neck.

Most home users can often get away with full uptodate backup

forgotmyname

Not had many calls about infected computers for a very long time.

Limewire appeared to be the worst culprit, there was something else they all had in common but forgot what that was.

One in particular had purchased McAfee and kept infecting it (with something as well as McAfee)

I cleaned it all and installed a different AV and firewall and they would remove that and reinstall McAfee and then call me to say its infected again.

AndyPix

I think what we can take from this is that only basic AV is needed as nobody really writes viruses these days - as they make no money for the creator .


So whilst it is technically possible , no body has the motivation to write a virus that will get past the likes of defender..


Its all about adware/scareware/ransomware these days and any AV is useless against those.


They are usually scripts, discuised as PDF files attached to an email.
The reciever will double click the "pdf" and be presented with a box asking if they want to run this application !
Now most people will be expecting a box, and will click yes without thinking - and BAM ransomware.


You dont need an all singing and dancing AV program, that does everything from managing your recycle bin (!) to making you egg on toast in the morning.



That will just slow down your computer and make you feel uneasy, as it pops up all sorts of unnecessary garbage all the time simply to justify its own existance - and make you feel like you need to spend $$ on the latest version.


You just need a solution to protect you from the basics, so you are not low hanging fruit - and some common sense.


If you are click happy - then couple that with malwarebytes and adw cleaner to keep you free of those annoying pups - and you will be fine

Stoke

To be fair, I use Linux exclusively these days. The idea of getting a virus is foreign to me

dogmaryxx

Its all about adware/scareware/ransomware these days and any AV is useless against those.

Malwarebytes for Windows Premium is the answer.and a lifetime licence can be had for approx. £7.

DoaM

I'm still using MBAM Corporate, which I got via a thread here at MSE quite some time ago. It includes active protection ... if I'm watching some streamed content and there's anything malicious about the site (or scripted links within it) then MBAM blocks it for me.