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February 2005
Posts: 1132
Location: Parrish, FL | Anyone recommend a trusted freeware application to kill this motha?
Thanks,
Brad |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | hi brad,
i've used AVG Free from Grisoft.com for years. it easily handles trojans like downloader BCF. it is listed on their site as a recognized and fixable trojan. just keep the updates flowing...
you can download avg free here |
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February 2005
Posts: 1132
Location: Parrish, FL | I'm back, and rid of the virus.
I had just re-formated the hard drive and was completing the installs of other applications I use when this beasty showed up. I played around 'til 2 am trying to kill it but gave up. I was running Norton 360 and it wouldn't detect it. My chat session with Norton resulted in an offer to take care of it for $99. Too bad their software didn't do it's job in the first place and prevent it.
Anyway, I ended up doing another full re-format and install.
Everything is beautiful (for the time being). Machine is running MUCH smoother now.
Blues |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | Blues, you have an average of about a 4-minute window ( no kidding! ) to get your operating system installed, updated, and protected unless it's behind a firewall or otherwise protected from the Internet. Sounds like something may have snuck in before you were finished with your install.
Quoting from the referenced article: While the survival time measured varies quite a bit across methods used, pretty much all agree that placing an unpatched Windows computer directly onto the Internet in the hope that it downloads the patches faster than it gets exploited are odds that you wouldn't bet on in Vegas. Using a NAT router and a correctly configured personal firewall is the way to go - both these measures help a lot to improve the odds in favor or your PC. |
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February 2008
Posts: 747
| Using AVG and Crap Cleaner for a few years now - so far so good. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I highly recommend F-secure products. I've been using them since the days of DOS. They DO NOT OEM TO ANYONE, so in the scheme of things, they are not a target of malware like Norton and McAfee. If Virus software was music software, then Norton and Macafee are the "consumer grade" products, while F-Secure is the professional product, but at the same price.
www.datafellows.com
Having been in the computer industry for nearly 30 years, and hate paying for software as much as the next guy... with virus protection and malware, you get what you pay for. Free software protection is worth every penny.
DVD nailed it too... I actually did the experiment. I put a new computer on the net, exposed on the outside of my router and monitored it with some snifer I had. I did this just before I moved, so it was April of 2006. It only took about 6 minutes before it was being pinged from a source in China, then Pakistan. |
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Posts: 5575
Location: big island | in my experience thus far, avg free has outperformed any antiviral/anti-spyware product i have ever purchased or received oem. ymmv, of course. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I have to agree that AVG is probably one of the best of the free ones. It too probably has its success from not being an OEM product (that I know of).
I also stand corrected as F-Prot is apparently still around. http://www.f-prot.com/ I need to do some research, because I seem to recall their used to be a relation between F-Prot and F-Secure.. In any case, I'm sure F-Prot is still a great product, but I've been using F-Secure for about 5 years now so I can only really speak to that. |
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Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | You guys have adapted to living in the dark ages. Get a Mac.
John <>{ |
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May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | I admit I have turned in to a Mac lover. I know you were joking John, but honestly to tell someone who's PC if infected to "buy a Mac" really doesn't help them feel better. Believe me, I've been there. But of course I do agree with you.
Ironically, I'm in the lounge at Newark airport right now reading MacWorld magazine and it has a section on security and viruses. I (sort of) quote "It it not true that Mac's are imprevious to virus attacks. There have been two reported incidents. In 2005 a worm virus infected a small number of systems and in 2007 a similar infection was found local to a limited group of users. Both were destroyed and no other incidents of virus attacks have been reported."
So next time someone tells you to "Buy a Mac", you can throw out THAT little factoid and put them back in there place.
Dave |
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February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | I remember the agony and frustration of this discussion. I'm one of 4 pastors at our church and several years ago we were supplied with laptops...Macs. I'm still using the same one I got then. I have never once had to reboot, never had it "grind along" to get to the info I wanted, never had to ask anyone to help my out of a jam.
I don't mean to rub anyone's nose in it; it's just that I discovered this Mac thing really is the answer.
John <>{ |
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December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Lets set something straight. MAC's are not even remotely "impervious" to virus's. They just aren't a target because their aren't enough of them out there. They are an insignificant market share in the scheme of things. It's pretty much the same for Linux, although a lot more servers, routers and firewalls are Linux, so that audience is still a target.
From a recent tech article...
"Identity theft can happen to anyone nowadays. It has always been important to safeguard information such as your social security number and disposing of documents containing your bank account and credit card account information has always been critical, but the most important thing for most people has been the necessity to safeguard their computers. With so many viruses, spyware and malware programs running around on the Web, most computer users have had to hump through hoops to ensure their security – except for Mac users that is.
Unfortunately, Mac users are new and unsuspecting target of identity theft criminals. With the introduction of fashionable computers that come in a dazzling array of colors, the number of Mac users in the marketplace has increased substantially and because Macs have generally been safe, they don’t protect their computers as well as Microsoft users have. This means more and more people are opening themselves up to the threats caused by viruses and other malicious software.
Another reason Mac fans are no longer exempt from the security they used to enjoy is because they can now use Microsoft Windows on their computers. Using Microsoft Windows enables identity thieves to more easily navigate Mac computers. There are certain security breeches that can occur with use of Microsoft Windows on a Mac computer and Mac users aren’t used to having to deal with this threat."
Enjoy your quiet existance while you can MAC lovers... the end is near.
Bottom line, practice safe computer. |
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December 2003
Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | Sorry, I didn't mean to instigate another one of those "us vs. them" debates -- I tried to keep my comments neutral.
Regardless of what OS you run, you should be running behind a firewall of some kind. And regardless of what OS you run, you should be keeping up on all of the updates from your vendor. And turn off any service/functionality that you don't use. As far as I know, all of the common consumer-oriented operating systems that are out there right now have remotely exploitable vulnerabilities when freshly installed.
This is particularly important with laptops where you can't necessarily trust other networks (wi-fi, etc.) that you may attach to. It's easy to lull yourself into a false sense of security behind your firewall at home, but it's the Wild West when you start hopping on hotel/coffee-shop wifi. :) |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | yeah, my computer's gotten "pinged" too. I installed the free software from road runner, CA, which got rid of it, and after a while the "pinging" stopped. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | My daughter's computer is registering an error message today and it's pissing me off. I've gotta call a repair guy to come out..... |
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Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | Not me. |
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Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | Miles is quite correct. Bad guys don't target viruses to Macs becasue it's just too small of a target. The last virus, ABEL-A in 2007 infected a grand total of 49 Macs. Current marketshare is 8.5%. A "security expert" quoted in the article I read estimated that 15% is the about the magic number. So STOP buying Macs, please.
But we are confusing two things, viruses and indentity security. Again Miles is quite correct any computer connected to the internet is fair game for prying eyes, it makes no differene what the name on the box says. Thre are various firewall and security protections for each operating system. USE THEM. Don't wait until you're infected. Fact, the largest group of people by percentage to quit smoking are those who have lung cancer.
Dave |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | . . . and those who've stopped drinking- are already drunk . . .
(btw, Mac OSX has built-in Firewall... just turn it on.) |
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OT: Downloader BCF Virus help needed
