XP Antivirus 2008
Until recently I had never heard of this virus nor it’s effects, but as I arrived at one of my clients he asked me to look at his computer.
Initially I thought I was looking at a typical windows interface but soon realised their was major problems, it took me some 30 minutes to access his e-mail as there was a constant pop up warning of a virus.
Now the latest version of Norton was running; he had installed it some two weeks earlier, it had detected a problem but actually stopped working when asked to remove the virus, cleverly blocked by the XP Antivirus 2008.
Some research showed a lot of talk about it, including on windows own one care sight (no comment or reply was made). But that the usual uninstall did not work. In fact most people reported that they became infected as they were fooled into believing that was a windows virus warning, the logo itself looks very similar.
Yes I had tried to uninstall it myself this is the logical step but it made matters worse, I told my client I could not fix it and would do some research at home.
I wondered if any of the news agencies had reported it only one had www.news.com.au/ but surprisingly none of the other news agencies including Reuters and the BBC had no articles on the matter.
My research however shows it was first reported in November 2007 so is not a new virus and shows how easy it is to fool well-established antivirus software like Norton.
Two sights give a comprehensive detail on what to look for and how best to remove the virus:
www.lancelhoff.com/2008/02/22/how-to-remove-xp-antivirus-protection/
www.xp-antivirus-removal.com.removal-instructions.com/removeXPAntivirus.html
It also gives a list of files to remove manually, and although most individuals infected noted that they could not find the files mentioned I found that they were there and that a normal windows search does not find them so a much slower manual search is needed.
All information suggests the use of SpyHunter XP antivirus scanner but it will cost you some 35euros (£27) to register and use the removal software, it does work but leaves some files still on the computer but these can now be found using a normal windows search and then deleted.
However I personally feel a little sceptical about it all and a part of me wonders if some of these viruses are put out by the internet security firms themselves. After all we see that at the moment apple computers are not directly targeted the big firms say there is not a call or money to be made, as there is not so many users and not much call for specialist antivirus software.
But I wonder as I smugly write my blog on my trusted MacBook how soon this will change as the use of Apple computers grow?
But my biggest question is this, having solved the problems of the virus how come I can’t upload pictures onto my blog without asking for help.
One of life’s strange mysteries.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:47 am
i never really liked MS windows–who does?–but have been using it for almost two decades, since the various linux distributions i’d tried wouldn’t install properly, usually not supporting one or the other piece of hardware i was using.
last month, though, this changed. after my XP installation suffered another crash i tried out the latest (stable) suse linux distro, and, lo and behold, i managed to get all the different pieces in my (assembled) PC to work flawlessly without too much effort.
since then i’m happily rid of any MS products on my machine. the only application i’m missing is photoshop, since the GIMP, in my opinon, isn’t (yet) as good as PS–but i’m learning to make do with what the GIMP offers. and, of course, the folio doesn’t run on linux yet, but there’s the online version at http://vedabase.net.
apart from easier interaction with our web server, and the joy of not using MS, i find that it’s much easier to figure out how things work, and if they don’t, get them to do what i want. linux does not try to hide it’s internal workings from the user, as MS does. and while the graphic user interface becomes increasingly more windows-like and also does a lot of “thinking” for the user, it’s easy to avoid that by using the command line interface, or switching off features one doesn’t want.
and as far as viruses and worms go: for the time being you can just forget about them. just run a firewall (comes with every distro), and make sure you’re not logged in as root when browsing the web. especially since XP, the only windows version that makes any sense at all, is going to be scrapped sooner or later, i think linux will soon be the only option.
ys phani.
April 20th, 2008 at 2:55 am
oh, i fogot: as far as mac (apple) computers are concerned, for me here in india at least, that isn’t an option, since they cost a lot more than PCs. apart from that i don’t like the apple company’s treatment of their users any better than what MS does. it’s an extremely closed system, and apple seems as eager as MS to tell their users and customers what to do and what not.
for me, opensource is the answer to all these meglomaniacs.
ys phani.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I, of course, use a Mac and like it a lot. Fast, easy to use, elegant and virus-free.
There are no real viruses for the Mac at the moment. However, there are a few websites that try and trick you into installing something onto your system, just like this Windows Trojan (as these programs are known). So, even the almighty Macintosh (or even Linux) is not invulnerable. A gullible human user can always be fooled into installing something that will take over their system. The problem is people don’t really understand how their computers work.
And how could they? I’ve been studying computer science for the last 10 years and still am occasionally stumped.
… oh, and I’ve fixed the image upload problem for you
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am
David,
I agreed with you that the Trojans were allowed in the internet may be because of the removal software want to create a business, just like a human being, if you are not sick, you will not go to see the doctor, so he has to make you sick for him to make money. But they have a little mercy for a lower income people, they have the instruction how to remove it free in the internet.
Anyway, I believe that if the government wants to catch it and close the operation out, they can do easily. As I watch the news, those brilliant crooks have such a ability to do those things, they got caught and went to jail, later they ended up working with the governent and spied on ……. (I hope only the bad people), I meant they have become an employee for the governent themselves.