It may be gone, G&P, or it could be lurking.


When I had it, it seemed to have gone, at one stage, but then started up again.


I'm useless at these things, so I'm not much use at advice, but I hope it has gone!

Ahhh.. that makes sense Blizz

I thought it was too good to be true. I will proceed with caution.

Do either of you know how you got the virus in the first place? Knowing might keep some of us safe, or is it one of those that doesn't depend on you clicking on something or opening an email?

This is what I've just posted elsewhere :

Then there are the fake pop-up windows which claim that there is a virus on your pc. I get the from time to time and I know that they are fake as:
a) I have reliable anti-virus s/w and firewall protection which I keep up to date
and b) when I do get a genuine warning the message will say that it has detected a virus attack and has stopped it, and it will have the anti-virus providers' logo on it (that's my s/w, may be different for other s/w).

If you get one of these fake pop-up windows either click on the red cross at the top right corner of the message, and if that doesn't work - switch the computer off rather than closing down, wait a minute, then switch back on.

Hi Jenny...This is how it started for me.  I was doing a Google image search. When I clicked on an image, a FireFox alert came up saying that I needed to update. What was unusual was that there was also an alert on the same page to say that I needed to update FlashPlayer too.
I was trigger happy and clicked on it to continue and the prob started.

So beware of fake prompts to update firefox is what I would warn.

As El Loro says, that was followed buy a barrage of pop-ups.

Just as a precaution I would download malwarebytes if you do not have it already Jenny. There is a link on the other thread.

I think the difference between genuine Firefox updates and these scam ones is that the genuine ones will download automatically (provided you have the automatic option turned on), but the scam ones tell you that you need to download the update (which is the scam s/w).

Don't forget with Firefox that under the Help menu is the Check for Updates option, and that should be the safe way of checking if your automatic option is not turned on.

Current version should be 3.6.12 - the scam one reported earlier this year was for 3.5, but the crooks may have changed that since.

I had the System Security virus (actually its not a virus.. its Malware) last year.   Apparently all you need to do to get it is to go to a web page...  no clicking on email attachments or pop ups or stuff.

Cos it was Malware it got past AVG...  and was a total bugger to get rid of (cos it disables any program you try to open..  AVG, browsers, internet connection, exe files of removal tools etc)

In the end I found a tip online (from a different computer)...   it told me which folder the malware program was hiding in (& it was hiding)...  and replicating from.    I renamed this folder (so it could no longer find itself to replicate)... & was then able to run CCleaner... and the removal tool I had downloaded.

I now have Malwarebytes & Spybot as well as AVG on my pooter.



I have also upgraded my AVG from the free version to the premium one (only cost £20)...   and it has popped up a couple of times now when I have clicked on search results from Google images telling me the link was unsafe... and it was not going there!  (I nearly kissed the AVG icon for that)

Also...  I got the initial System Security virus when using Explorer...  and when researching it found that firefox & I.E. were both vunerable to it.   Now I use Chrome.

Has anyone got the links to the malware and spybot . I don't want to google them incase i pick the wrong one or the one which gives you the virus.

Ooh, that rings a bell with me!

This is the malwarebytes link which was posted.

And I think this is the Spybot link

.

Oh cheers for that,  El Loro 

How wonderfully clever Ditty . How do you know where to look/what its called?

I got lucky!   two full days & evenings ...   googling on my son's lappy...   finding a "solution"...  and trying to run CCleaner, or the tool on my laptop... only for the virus to start shutting down even more programs (Even Task Manager !!!)

I remember lying in bed that night...  thinking the only way was gonna be to totally reformat the hard drive... and lose everything on my lappy... photos, music the lot... & being sooo gutted.

Not wanting to do that ...  I went on another google offensive (on son's laptop)...  I found some sites where the techs were advising deleting lines out of the registry...   about 200 lines of script... (when lappy was in safe mode)...  

then another advise site said delete loads of scary stuff  e.g. link to scary advice..   

I didn't do any of these...   cos though I am up for it when it comes to playing in the bowels of my pooter...  there is a real risk of totally screwing the whole thing up!


Then I found a bit of a gem of advice from someone on a forum...    change the folder name.  In the case of SystemSecurity malware..   it was  

c:/documents and settings/all users/application data/10176254  

So I just renamed the folder called 10176254 to 'diebitch' (I was filled with virus hate ) and that stopped it replicating itself... allowing me to run removal tools in safe mode etc.

OH.... other big bit of advice... turn off system restore... or it will just have backed itself up.


I will go and see if I can find any useful advice on the Google Redirect virus G&P...

I will be back

I'd give this one a go G&P... 

Follow the steps listed here ---> How to remove

you are then set to use one of the toolkits available....  from what I am reading malwarebytes works for some people... but not all.

It seems like the only really effective one is combofix.    Here's a link to page where someone is talking someone through using combofix to get rid of it... (the second post by the bloke called jabuck seemed quite good) 


Actually the forum it was posted on looks worth a shot too...    if you post your problem one of the nice tech peeps might talk you through it!    nice tech peeps

I bow down in admiration ............all of that went right over my head. I honestly and truly wouldn't have the first inkling where to begin. I turn on and hope for the best ...............I try hard not to click on anything dodgy but .................what's dodgy these days.

Why do people put these viruses out in the first place? I really don't get it TBH.

this is the problem Sooz...   once upon a time if you had antivirus software running & didn't click on  pop ups, download dodgy software or open suspiscious email attachments you were ok.... 

not that simple anymore!

  this seems to be changing too.... once upon a time it was the "kudos" of having something you wrote spreading all over the place ...  but its all about scamming cash out of you now... or getting hold of your account details... banking details etc etc.   

I assume the google redirect one must be getting some sort of payoff from the dodgy sites it redirects people to.

Thanks for that G & P. It's quite scary. Hope I don't get caught out.