Friday, December 6, 2013

Malware . . . AGAIN


I have two computers.  I have a Mac which I bought last year after my PC got infected. Now I am able to surf online worry free with it. I just love that.

Cowabunga fixed my PC which I kept because all of my photography software is on it. I try to use it mainly just to edit my photos, but I still need to go online with it to transfer the photos to Flickr.  I don't really know what I did, but now I got malware/adware on the PC again. 

I've been spending the last few days trying to rid my PC of these bad words: White Smoke, Scorpian Saver, Adpeak. I haven't been able to uninstall Scorpian Saver.  Something about HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE32\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser\HelperObjects.  I did find the file in Regedit (scary) and deleted everything that was in the file (more scary), but it still didn't work. I found ScorpianSaver.exe, and I deleted that, but don't know if that's good enough. From what I've read it'll still reappear after a day.  I really haven't had the heart/stomach to go check again yet. I sweat buckets when I'm doing stuff like this.

I'm all nervous now about providing links for you guys.  Can your computer get infected just by clicking on a link?

I dread the day that the bad guys find it worthwhile to infect Macs or what about smart phones?  Would they do that?

7 comments:

Erick said...

try and run a full system virus scan, it should identify and remove most viruses. there are some good free ones, almost as good as the fee based ones. i run the one from avgsoft, works well. try google free antivirus software. never surf unprotected.

Leslie's pics said...

!!!! YIKES !!!!

jalna said...

Thanks Erick! Cowabunga installed some antivirus stuff on my computer last year. I used one and it did identify some bad stuff and removed them. I thought I was protected, but I guess I have some window that's allowing the bad stuff through. I still haven't gone back on to that computer to check how it's doing.

Yah, Les.

M. Borden said...

Hi. I'm one of the website admins for Kaimuki High School. If you want, we can add a photo album to your archived reunion info.
Kaimuki High School Reunion Archives
If you're interested having us post your pictures, use the Contact Us feature on the website.
As far as removing the viruses, there are a lot of recent posts (search and download from your Mac) on how you can use tools (some by Microsoft) to remove those specific ones for good. Once your system is clear, disconnect from the internet on your PC to ensure that nothing else comes through, edit your photos, save them to a USB device, and then upload them from your Mac.
Good luck.

jalna said...

Thanks for the advice, M. I'll look at the KHS website.

Unknown said...

Have you tried Malwarebytes? Generally my AVG internet security is enough but every once in a while I need deeper cleaning and Malwarebytes is really good for getting rid of the tough stuff. I use the free version.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Winnie


jalna said...

Thanks Winnie! I came across that name in this recent bout, and since you're recommending it I will definitely look into it. I decided that I will try really hard not to go on the internet with my PC anymore since I suck at keeping it safe. It's just so much easier transferring photos to Flickr directly.