| Author |
Message |
    
magmasystems
Citizen
Username: Magmasystems
Post Number: 33
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 8:31 am: |     |
Hi all,
Since starting my new computer business last month, I have been to a number of houses in Millburn and Maplewood where the computers have been infected with all kinds of viruses and spyware. I was at a home last night where a middle school girl's computer was infected with both the LoveBug and the Klez viruses. All of her JPGs and Microsoft Word Docs were infected, and she was sending the viruses out to all of her friends when she shared her homework documents.
Just want to remind everyone here to continue to do virus checks on your systems, especially if you have a school-age kid. And be careful before opening up any attachments, even if they are from people that you know.
Marc Adler
All Things Computered
Computer Troubleshooting, Home Networks, etc
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ml1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 630
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:28 am: | |
my PC was infected with klez last year and I had to reformat the hard drive, and reinstall all the software. My virus detection software was out of date. Two bits of advice -- the obvious is to make sure your antivirus is up to date. The other is to never use the preview pane option in Outlook. Even with updated antivirus, you may get an infection from a virus that opens itself in a preview pane. |
magmasystems
Citizen
Username: Magmasystems
Post Number: 34
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 12:22 pm: | |
You are absolutely correct in your warning about using preview mode in Outlook.
Too bad that you had to reformat your drive. You may have gotten away with running one of the UnKlez'ing scripts out there.
Some viruses can be taken care of by a combination of modifying your Window registry and deleting the infected files. I have had to modify people's registries some some of these (warning - if you do not know how to modify a registry, then get a computer professional to do it.) Always backup your registry before modifying it.
I have found that enabling the "Show extensions of all file types" option in Windows helps. This way, you can see if any of your JPG or MP3 files have turned into VBS files.
Marc Adler
All Things Computered
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lseltzer
Citizen
Username: Lseltzer
Post Number: 1337
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 4:12 pm: | |
As long as you keep up to date with patches and virus definitions you have basically nothing to fear and you can use the preview in Outlook. One point though, nobody should be running Office 97 or earlier, they basically cannot be made secure and Microsoft doesn't support them anymore.
Whenever there's a major outbreak that you hear about it always has to do with a vulnerability that had been patched months before. At least this is the case since Melissa, which must be 4 years ago now.
To keep Windows up to date go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ (Internet Explorer required).
To update Microsoft Office go to http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates/. You will need your original Office CD (Internet Explorer required).
Incidentally, don't be afraid of JPG files, they aren't programs and can't be infected in any way. |
magmasystems
Citizen
Username: Magmasystems
Post Number: 35
Registered: 1-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 4:20 pm: | |
> Incidentally, don't be afraid of JPG files, they aren't programs and can't be infected in any way
True, Larry. This is the case for normal JPG files.
However, some of these viruses first infect the JPG files (by writing an executable binary or script into the file) and then adds the .VBS extension to the file name. If the user has the option of 'Hide file extensions for known file types' checked (this can be found in the Windows Explorer options), then all the user might see is a file named 'Larry.jpg' rather than 'Larry.jpg.vbs'. When the user double clicks on the JPG file, hoping to launch an app like PhotoShop, it will really execute the VB script that is contained within that program.
Hope I have clarified my comments.
-marc
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lseltzer
Citizen
Username: Lseltzer
Post Number: 1338
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 8:15 pm: | |
The JPGs aren't infected, it's just a virus renamed with a .jpg in the middle (ren virus.exe virus.jpg.exe). No antivirus program has been fooled by this in a long time and Outlook/Outlook Express have blocked such attachments for about 3 years.
The important thing is for everyone to update your systems on a reasonably regular basis and run antivirus software. |
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