Phew! Almost a disaster

[busyglen]

I have been waiting and keeping my fingers crossed that I would not fall foul of a computer virus. I have all the necessary protection in place, and on the whole try to help myself by never downloading anything that is suspect. In fact, apart from various files transmitted to me by family, which are scanned anyway, I rarely do much downloading.

I get the occasional pop-up from Symantec warning me of an attempt, which is handy, as I know it is doing it's job.....however, this morning I had the fright of my life!

When I first logged on, I went to read my emails, and one was from a niece who had sent a belated e-card. I hadn't at this time opened it, but I had a message pop up with `Virus Alert' `High Risk' `Unable to Repair' with Virus name of `Downloader'. Oh ....! The system seemed to go slow, and I lost my internet connection, and really started to panic....so as soon as I was able I started a complete virus scan. I left the programme running and came back some time later when it had finished.......I opened the screen, and hey! All files scanned and nothing found. When I re-logged in again, everything has been running perfectly normally, so I think...as per usual with me...I panicked unnecessarily. Thinking about it, it was probably the usual warning of an attempt, and I read it as an actual threat.

Do you think that this is all it was? Everything seems ok now, and the pc is not running slow.

Glenys

[Browneyes]

Hi Glenys,

If you have an anti-virus like Symantic (Norton?) on your PC it means you have something checking your emails for you to make sure they don't contain a virus. You know that its working as you had the alert pop up. At that point the anti-virus has grabbed any naughty viruses round the neck before its put a foot in the door and if it has managed to get through the door the anti-virus drags it screaming and yelling into quarantine. There the anti-virus locks the door and guards it, arms folded and ready to batter the living daylights out of it if it moves.

What you can do every so often is set up a full system scan. You'll need to open the Norton program (probably bottom right of your screen....near the clock.... that you can double left click on that and make the program appear on your screen then click 'home'. Click on anti virus on the left and you'll see 'scans'. On the list is 'run full system scan' click on it and just follow the instructions.

Full system scans take a while and you need to leave the PC running. You could leave it to run overnight and then just close it in the morning when its finished but you need to leave your computer on.

Norton asks you regularly if you "would like to update now" on a little pop up screen. Just click yes if it does. That will ensure that your anti-virus is up to date and will be able to recognise any new viruses.

Hope that helps and sorry if you know all this already.

Browneyes.

PS I forgot....there are some things that pop up sometimes that suggest you have a virus and then suggest you click on them to solve it. They can be scary if you havent seen them before. You will recognise your own anti virus. sorry got carried away with typing there ....

[Mike_E]

Hi,

my latest version of Sophos, is reporting lots of things that are OK. I guess they are just being extra careful with the new version.

I've uploaded about 6 samples to them, and they always come back negative. The + side, is they get a sample files which is then added to the DB of "OK" files, and next time the scan runs it's all OK.

P.S., I run another PC with a different scanner on it, and scan this PC once in a while. I'm now running 3 Anti-Mal ware programs, and a registry cleaner.

[Browneyes]

I dont know much about Sophos except they say it's better than McFee and Norton. (shrugs shoulders) sorry.

[busyglen]

Thanks Browneyes/Mike

This happened a few weeks ago, and I thought there had been other replies, but perhaps I'm mistaken....?? Getting old I guess!

As usual I panicked!! By the time I had run the all system scan, and nothing found, I concluded that it was just the usual notification and I'd read it incorrectly.

I do keep everything up to date, and Norton regularly updates my system, which I have on automatic, so that I don't have to remember to update the files myself. I do get the warning attempts from time to time, which I am quite glad to see, as it let's me know that Norton is doing it's job!!

Thanks for your input, I appreciate your comments and help. I've always used Norton and haven't had any problems with them......having made the obvious mistake of saying this out loud...it will probably be all down hill now! :(

Glenys