I just spent about two hours cleaning a Smithfraud c generic Trojan Horse from

[1monster]

my computer. DAMN! I HATE those damned viruses. It totally fooled my Iolo Shield and Iolo System Mechanic (which have always given me good service in the past) and managed to temporarily disable my Spybot.

Thank God for Google. It led me to Malware bytes which recommended a program called TDSSKiller, which, after reconfiguring and running three times in safe mode, finally cleaned the freakin bug from my system.

Now, I'm doing the Snoopy Happy Dance!

[Hotler]

1. Thank you for sharing and glad you got your machine fixed. n/t

[1monster]

2. So am I! This has been a bad couple of months with hugh payments due on various

insurances. I've been wondering how to keep my cats and dogs fed until next payday (not to mention my kid) and could not afford to the $125 it would have costs to take it to the computer fix-it guys.

[yourout]

3. Combofix is my best antivirus tool for really dug in malware.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

No frills.....just kills.....malware.

[1monster]

6. Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Rain Mcloud]

4. Congrats,SmithFraude is pernicious.

Have You tried Linux lately?
Kubuntu fits all my basic computing needs(AAA games coming soon via Steam)and it is free.
It supports Firefox and open Office,some really nice free apps and some clinkers too,best of all no Trojans,Worms,or Bedbugs and is secure from hacks.
I do keep high end computers for games and when i build newer ones they are reformatted with the latest version of kubuntu.
For more info go over here:[link:http://www.kubuntu.org/|

[1monster]

8. For business reasons, I need the Windows programs. This is the first Trojan I've had in

over three years. The last one was downloaded by someone who was not supposed to be on my computer...

[virgogal]

5. Good for you. I always have to spend money to get things like this cleaned out.

[1monster]

7. Here's the url that led me to the virus killer...

http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=107126

Once I downloaded the TDSSkiller and ran it ("run as administrator" in safemode) and the virus was still there, I clicked on "change parameters" and checked all options. Then I deleted EVERYTHING it found suspicious, which, happily, fixed the problem.

[Honeycombe8]

9. I've been lucky with Avast AV free version. Before that, had McAfee. Before that, Norton.

I think I had a virus once, many years ago....I got a notice of it, anyway, from my AV, and it cleaned it up right away. I didn't even know it.

Recently, I got a loud beep warning and voice notice when I accessed a very normal business site, that it contained a virus, and Avast blocked the site. So I didn't get the virus.

Do you use an AV program?

[1monster]

11. I've used Avast in the past and liked it, but that was the antivirus I was using the last time

I got a virus...

[Honeycombe8]

13. Wow. Why do you get so many viruses, I wonder? Do you open spam email, maybe?

I've had a pc since 1995. I've never had a virus affect anything. I think I had one that one time, but it was cleaned out before I knew it...if I had it, or maybe it was a notice that it was trying to download. Not sure.

One thing I do is I don't open e-mails if I am not sure I know the sender. Sometimes I think I know the sender, even if it's a business, and sometimes it looks familiar, or it's similar to a business name but not quite...but I don't open them. I click on them to be added to my "spam" list. Maybe that has protected my system?

I don't download music. I've heard viruses seem to haunt those sites.

As for other sites, I've read that it's normal business sites that have viruses, so although I usu. don't access offbeat sites, that doesn't seem like that would protect me much.

Although I've had several AV programs over the years, I have spent about half of those years w/o an AV program at all. Personally, I think it's the e-mail thing. When I look at my e-mails, the first thing I do is hit delete, delete, delete...and delete everything from a source that is not well known to me. Maybe I'm just lucky. I've never had the flu, either.

[1monster]

14. I've had a computer since about the same time and have had three viruses in that

time. Is that a lot?

Two were probably downloaded by a family member who wasn't very computer savvy. I think this third one slipped by on Internet Explorer which we were using to view YouTube when AOL was not letting us view full screen. (I use AOL because it has excellent protection against spyware and adware.)

[Egnever]

10. Be sure to un a full scan with malwarebytes after.

Malwarebytes is well worth the $39 for the full version IMHO, I am the computer fix it guy you take it to to fix it by the way. although I go to my customers and only charge $80 for virus removal.

Combofix as someone mentioned is also very good at geting these things out. But TDSS killer is designed specifically for root kits and does a great job.

Really though a good antivurus suite is well worth the money. I always recommend Kaspersky or ESET. I rarely see people again for infections if they have either of those.

[1monster]

12. Kaspersky was on the TDSSkiller I downloaded...

I'll check them out. Thank you.

[PowerToThePeople]

15. I feel for you.

I don't miss dealing with those one bit.

You could too.
http://distrowatch.com/



(I did see your post on needing MS only software for work. I do keep an xp install in VM. I have a clean backup if it ever gets infected to do a quick delete/replace/continue.)