Trojans and other nasty buggers

[design-is]

Hi all.

I have managed, somehow, to get a load of nasty critters on my windows partition. I go to install a seemingly harmless software demo, and bam.

Why I'm posting is I want to know is my Mac half of my drive safe?

I use windows XP Home edition, SP2. I use it under bootcamp & through VMware Fusion.

Is any of my Mac data in danger? Is it safe to poke around on the windows side of things to try and fix it without jeopardising my work stuff of OSX?

Thanks for any help / advice

/Doug

[bartzilla]

Hi all.

I have managed, somehow, to get a load of nasty critters on my windows partition. I go to install a seemingly harmless software demo, and bam.

Why I'm posting is I want to know is my Mac half of my drive safe?

I use windows XP Home edition, SP2. I use it under bootcamp & through VMware Fusion.

Is any of my Mac data in danger? Is it safe to poke around on the windows side of things to try and fix it without jeopardising my work stuff of OSX?

Thanks for any help / advice

/Doug

Yes, that'll happen, No, Yes.

[marbles]

Yes, that'll happen, No, Yes.

Hehe made me laugh, thanks. Quality response

[Stridder44]

Hi all.

I have managed, somehow, to get a load of nasty critters on my windows partition. I go to install a seemingly harmless software demo, and bam.

Why I'm posting is I want to know is my Mac half of my drive safe?

I use windows XP Home edition, SP2. I use it under bootcamp & through VMware Fusion.

Is any of my Mac data in danger? Is it safe to poke around on the windows side of things to try and fix it without jeopardising my work stuff of OSX?

Thanks for any help / advice

/Doug

All jokes aside, yes you're fine. Windows viruses are just that, Windows viruses. Your best bet is to get all the data you want to save (if any) off of the Windows partition and then delete the Boot Camp partition altogether. Then start over from scratch (remake a new Boot Camp partition, reinstall Windows, etc.).


Look into getting Avira Antivirus. It's free, works fantastic, is made by Germans, and very low impact (meaning it won't bring your system performance down at all).

[design-is]

lol, cheers guys :)

Will see if I can cure before I kill and start again.

[kiwi-in-uk]

Don't know whether you have spare disk capacity ... I take an image backup of my Windows VMs before I download demo-ware. When I've finished I delete the corrupted VM and restore the clean image.

[design-is]

Not enough to spare at the moment unfortunately. I plan on getting a Drobo at some point when my budget allows for backup and whatnot.

[marbles]

Not enough to spare at the moment unfortunately. I plan on getting a Drobo at some point when my budget allows for backup and whatnot.
buy anything...any back up is better than no back up, get USB drive off ebay for 20quid?, anything ....

[design-is]

I have a time capsule for my mac backup. I'm keeping that separate as it has a lot of business stuff on. I'm going to get a drobo for windows backup and general file storage. I've been careful to not put anything 'important' on the windows side of things.

[om3ga785]

All jokes aside, yes you're fine. Windows viruses are just that, Windows viruses. Your best bet is to get all the data you want to save (if any) off of the Windows partition and then delete the Boot Camp partition altogether. Then start over from scratch (remake a new Boot Camp partition, reinstall Windows, etc.).


Look into getting Avira Antivirus. It's free, works fantastic, is made by Germans, and very low impact (meaning it won't bring your system performance down at all).

See, and this is the reason why Windows gets such a bad rap. If you like having to reload all your applications and software on windows every time you get malware or viruses, then props for you.

.....I on the other hand actually go about and remove the bastard rogue ware software and malware infections. there is no need to consistanly go the route of reloading your v/m from scratch. (unless you really need to)

If rogueware, malware, spyware, ad-aware, junkware, waste ware, crapware, etc seem to be plaguing your windows v/m....there are a few recommended cleanup tools that you can use to clean off the o/s and rid yourself of these lovely annoying bugs that always hit windows users thanks to there consistent flaws in security and protection.....:sigh:

anyway, try looking up these apps (windows based) and using them when you notice programs like Antivirus 360 or XPantivirus2009 programs that are bogging you to buy there fake software and cause havoc on your identity.

Malwarebytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware - http://www.superantispyware.com/
HijackThis - http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html (very advanced app, use at your own risk)
ComboFix - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix (Also very advanced but strong in killing the nasty ones)

And as far as antivirus protection software...

Even though it's $40 /year, it's pure clean solid no b/s protection, and it doesn't bog down system resources and has an EXTREMELY small footprint on top of having a proactive system scanner running at all times.

ESET NOD32 A/V Software - http://www.eset.com


....and that concludes my lesson on how to not be afraid to run Windows OS :D

[Stridder44]

See, and this is the reason why Windows gets such a bad rap. If you like having to reload all your applications and software on windows every time you get malware or viruses, then props for you.

.....I on the other hand actually go about and remove the bastard rogue ware software and malware infections. there is no need to consistanly go the route of reloading your v/m from scratch. (unless you really need to)

If rogueware, malware, spyware, ad-aware, junkware, waste ware, crapware, etc seem to be plaguing your windows v/m....there are a few recommended cleanup tools that you can use to clean off the o/s and rid yourself of these lovely annoying bugs that always hit windows users thanks to there consistent flaws in security and protection.....:sigh:

anyway, try looking up these apps (windows based) and using them when you notice programs like Antivirus 360 or XPantivirus2009 programs that are bogging you to buy there fake software and cause havoc on your identity.

Malwarebytes - http://www.malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware - http://www.superantispyware.com/
HijackThis - http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html (very advanced app, use at your own risk)
ComboFix - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix (Also very advanced but strong in killing the nasty ones)

And as far as antivirus protection software...

Even though it's $40 /year, it's pure clean solid no b/s protection, and it doesn't bog down system resources and has an EXTREMELY small footprint on top of having a proactive system scanner running at all times.

ESET NOD32 A/V Software - http://www.eset.com


....and that concludes my lesson on how to not be afraid to run Windows OS :D

Well you don't have to by any means, I mean he could easily install Avira, run it, and clear out the viruses.

[design-is]

Cheers for the advice guys :)

I have a solid weekend to waste sorting this stuff out I think.

Windows has an issue of failing to access certain parts of memory or something when I boot it up. Lots of OK's and Cancel's to click before I get to log in. Fun fun.

I've run AVG, but it doesn't seem to of done the trick.

Wish me luck :rolleyes:

[steveza]

Could be a good idea to apply Service Pack 3 (if you haven't already) as it updates most of Windows OS files. Might be a quick-ish fix for the error messages.

[KevinN206]

See, and this is the reason why Windows gets such a bad rap. If you like having to reload all your applications and software on windows every time you get malware or viruses, then props for you.
I agree. You don't have to reinstall, but then again I sleep better knowing that it is *absolutely* gone. This is especially true for trojans, viruses, and rootkits. Once you got hit with these three nasties, can you ever be sure, even if all the cleaning says "clean"? But when you're dealing with your personal documents, bank accounts, and such, then "maybe" is not good enough.

[tkermit]

Look into getting Avira Antivirus. It's free, works fantastic, is made by Germans, and very low impact (meaning it won't bring your system performance down at all).

Haha - I thought that was a sign of quality in the realm of cars only.