Strange Trojan Incident

[Bob]

My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
on the one she wanted (medical web site).
A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from her
computer.
I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it must
be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to catch it?
I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's. All
software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.

[Gaz]

"Bob" <roburt@grande.net> wrote in message
news:13rudt8dgnv3b11@corp.supernews.com...
> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
> on the one she wanted (medical web site).
> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from
> her computer.
> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it
> must be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to
> catch it? I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's.
> All software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.

AVG anti virus is *not* spyware/malware remover, it might pick up a bit here
and there, but you need to asap run an anti spyware product such as avg anti
spyware or superantispyware.

Gaz

[Bob]

After I deleted it out of the AVG vault, I ran SB S&D, and SUPERAntiSpyware.
Both came up as clean, no problems. I know AVG is not a spyware/malware
program, but I wondered how, and why it caught it. My only reasoning was
that it was a sales gimmick of some sort to sell software..........just
never had this happen before.



"Gaz" <gazter@msn.com> wrote in message
news:628s45F222t2rU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Bob" <roburt@grande.net> wrote in message
> news:13rudt8dgnv3b11@corp.supernews.com...
>> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and
>> clicked on the one she wanted (medical web site).
>> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
>> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from
>> her computer.
>> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
>> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
>> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
>> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it
>> must be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to
>> catch it? I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor
>> virus's. All software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a
>> description of it.
>
> AVG anti virus is *not* spyware/malware remover, it might pick up a bit
> here and there, but you need to asap run an anti spyware product such as
> avg anti spyware or superantispyware.
>
> Gaz
>

[Gabriele Neukam]

On this special day, Bob wrote:

> My only reasoning was that it was a sales gimmick of some sort to sell
> software..........just never had this happen before.

Google for smitfraud und FakeAlert, I bet it was one of those two.


Gabriele Neukam

Gabriele.Spamfighter.Neukam@t-online.de

--
If everybody started to do what they think should be done for the
common
good, democracy would not exist anymore.
-
Guillermito in alt.comp.virus

[use_a_hammer@yahoo.com]

On Feb 22, 3:59 pm, "Bob" <rob...@grande.net> wrote:
> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
> on the one she wanted (medical web site).
> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from her
> computer.
> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it must
> be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to catch it?
> I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's. All
> software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.

I would recommend installing McAfee Site Advisor to help keep you away
from bad sites.

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Gabriele Neukam" <Gabriele.Spamfighter.Neukam@t-online.de>

| On this special day, Bob wrote:
|
>> My only reasoning was that it was a sales gimmick of some sort to sell
>> software..........just never had this happen before.
|
| Google for smitfraud und FakeAlert, I bet it was one of those two.
|
| Gabriele Neukam
|
| Gabriele.Spamfighter.Neukam@t-online.de
|

The WinFixer group also use a similar technique.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

[comajorr]

use_a_hammer@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Feb 22, 3:59 pm, "Bob" <rob...@grande.net> wrote:
>> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
>> on the one she wanted (medical web site).
>> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
>> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from her
>> computer.
>> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
>> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
>> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
>> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it must
>> be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to catch it?
>> I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's. All
>> software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.
>
> I would recommend installing McAfee Site Advisor to help keep you away
> from bad sites.
>
> http://www.siteadvisor.com/
Go to Google Pack and download and run the free version of "spyware
doctor". I'd say it's the best program I've run to catch and clean
trojans [and other assorted malware].

[use_a_hammer@yahoo.com]

On Feb 24, 2:08 am, comajorr <comaj...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> use_a_ham...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > On Feb 22, 3:59 pm, "Bob" <rob...@grande.net> wrote:
> >> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
> >> on the one she wanted (medical web site).
> >> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
> >> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from her
> >> computer.
> >> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
> >> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
> >> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
> >> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it must
> >> be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to catch it?
> >> I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's. All
> >> software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.
>
> > I would recommend installing McAfee Site Advisor to help keep you away
> > from bad sites.
>
> >http://www.siteadvisor.com/
>
> Go to Google Pack and download and run the free version of "spyware
> doctor". I'd say it's the best program I've run to catch and clean
> trojans [and other assorted malware].

The biggest memory hog on earth! And this is coming from someone that
has 2GB's of memory.

And it only works with XP and Vista.

IMO, the "best" payware anti-spyware program is Spy Sweeper. It also
uses a lot of memory, but NOTHING like SWD.

IMO, Spyware Terminator is still the best free program out there.

[comajorr]

use_a_hammer@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Feb 24, 2:08 am, comajorr <comaj...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> use_a_ham...@yahoo.com wrote:
>>> On Feb 22, 3:59 pm, "Bob" <rob...@grande.net> wrote:
>>>> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
>>>> on the one she wanted (medical web site).
>>>> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
>>>> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from her
>>>> computer.
>>>> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
>>>> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
>>>> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
>>>> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it must
>>>> be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to catch it?
>>>> I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's. All
>>>> software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.
>>> I would recommend installing McAfee Site Advisor to help keep you away
>>> from bad sites.
>>> http://www.siteadvisor.com/
>> Go to Google Pack and download and run the free version of "spyware
>> doctor". I'd say it's the best program I've run to catch and clean
>> trojans [and other assorted malware].
>
> The biggest memory hog on earth! And this is coming from someone that
> has 2GB's of memory.
>
> And it only works with XP and Vista.
>
> IMO, the "best" payware anti-spyware program is Spy Sweeper. It also
> uses a lot of memory, but NOTHING like SWD.
>
> IMO, Spyware Terminator is still the best free program out there.
>
>
I have to disagree...I have a paid version of Spysweeper on my system
right now and it doesn't catch and clean what spyware doctor does. I
only activate spyware doctor for the intelliscan once a day then I click
it off so it isn't memory resident. The intelliscan feature is quick and
thorough...it also scans alternate data streams.

Also the F-secure free online scanner is excellent and pc tools threat
fire is worth a look. I don't agree with you about spyware terminator it
didn't seem to find much on scans but it did make you give permissions
for many processes to run which was a pain. I'll give it another try to
see if it's improved.

Also only working with XP and Vista? They are the operating systems with
the most security problems right now.

[use_a_hammer@yahoo.com]

On Feb 25, 11:30 pm, comajorr <comaj...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> use_a_ham...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > On Feb 24, 2:08 am, comajorr <comaj...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> use_a_ham...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >>> On Feb 22, 3:59 pm, "Bob" <rob...@grande.net> wrote:
> >>>> My wife was searching for a particular subject in her browser, and clicked
> >>>> on the one she wanted (medical web site).
> >>>> A large screen flashed up indicating she had just received a virus, which
> >>>> was a Trojan, and must buy this particular program to uninstall it from her
> >>>> computer.
> >>>> I checked, and the AVG virus protection caught it. Sure enough, it was
> >>>> listed as a Trojan. I put it in the virus vault and deleted it.
> >>>> My question..........after just installing Spybot Search & Destroy, and
> >>>> Spyware Blaster, how did this get through both programs? I thought it must
> >>>> be a sales gimmick, but wouldn't it have to be a Trojan for AVG to catch it?
> >>>> I know nothing about these programs, how they work, nor virus's. All
> >>>> software was up to date. Sorry, I failed to get a description of it.
> >>> I would recommend installing McAfee Site Advisor to help keep you away
> >>> from bad sites.
> >>>http://www.siteadvisor.com/
> >> Go to Google Pack and download and run the free version of "spyware
> >> doctor". I'd say it's the best program I've run to catch and clean
> >> trojans [and other assorted malware].
>
> > The biggest memory hog on earth! And this is coming from someone that
> > has 2GB's of memory.
>
> > And it only works with XP and Vista.
>
> > IMO, the "best" payware anti-spyware program is Spy Sweeper. It also
> > uses a lot of memory, but NOTHING like SWD.
>
> > IMO, Spyware Terminator is still the best free program out there.
>
> I have to disagree...I have a paid version of Spysweeper on my system
> right now and it doesn't catch and clean what spyware doctor does. I
> only activate spyware doctor for the intelliscan once a day then I click
> it off so it isn't memory resident. The intelliscan feature is quick and
> thorough...it also scans alternate data streams.

The only thing that SWD is "catching and cleaning" is browser cookies.
Something that SS doesn't (nor do I) consider adware or spyware. Free
programs like AVG, SWT, AdAware, Spybot, etc, will "catch and clean"
those if they bother you, or you can simply clear your cookies on
occasion. If there is REAL spyware/adware on your computer SS and SWD
will find and delete it. Some of the free programs seem to have a
problem deleting REAL spy/adware. Try deleting the cookies on all of
your browsers before your next intelliscan and see what SWD finds.
Odds are, nothing.

>
> Also the F-secure free online scanner is excellent and pc tools threat
> fire is worth a look. I don't agree with you about spyware terminator it
> didn't seem to find much on scans but it did make you give permissions
> for many processes to run which was a pain. I'll give it another try to
> see if it's improved.

Well, if there's nothing to find, that's a good thing. And far as I
know SWT is the only free program that has active shielding. And if
you don't run the "HIPS" feature then you don't have to give
permission for programs to run. (at least that's my recollection)

>
> Also only working with XP and Vista? They are the operating systems with
> the most security problems right now.

Maybe I wasn't clear above. "Google Pack" which includes a free
"version" of SWD can only be downloaded if you are using XP or Vista.