American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Friends . . . .

Ye will have noticed that there has probably been a while since Ye have received a Turn from Me. [?]

I have been hit by a Virus ( which attempts to download ITBar Tools - a Browser Hijacker and email contacts Thief). I have been battling with it for approx. 10 days now and clear it from my HD (or so I think!!!![}:)] ) and the Fecker re-appears, each time I restart my HD! [B)]

Leaving the PC on doesn't work either - the Virus somehow regenerates and the cycle starts again. [xx(]

As a result, I get temporary I-Net access and then invariably . . . the Durned Thang starts doing weird Crap all over again. Because I haven't tracked down the Root of where this Bugger lives . . . I am minimising the number of mails I will send out . . . (I read on one of the help sites I managed to get access to, that this particular Virus is EVIL - it can surrepticiously insert itself into .zip files and spreads via innocent mail between Friends and colleagues. [:(!]

Obviously I don't want to become a source of Plague within the Club so I won't send out Turns until I'm sure that I have it beaten! [;)]

I'm close, but will wait for 24-36 hours clear PC ops, before I attempt to send out a .zip to anyone I owe a Turn to. Who's volunteering to be 1st? [:o)]

Be very careful - EVERYONE!!! - regarding this Bug! It operates as explained above . . . but, Ye can also git it from opening a page on dubious sites !!?!!? I don't know where I caught it . . . but it somehow slipped thru' Spybot, MS anti-Spyware, Spyware Doctor and Norton's. That said . . . . I turned off the first 3 to attempt a reactivation of my Norton's - which won't allow my Broadband and e-mail prog to work properly . . . and I think that at some stage during that evening, I <i>may </i> have been without <b>any </b>protection for a short period of time. All it takes really . . . a few minutes and poof! Yer in the Doo Doo! Doh! [:I]

I'll update Ye when I think it's safe for Me to come out and play again!!! As I said . . I nearly have it beaten . . . . but don't expect a Turn until Sunday or Monday . . . . even if I manage to clear it soon . . . I'll hang back to make sure.

Apologies for the inordinate delay Chaps. I think I'll sign up for a course on "Navigating thru' the Innards of Computerdom for the Complete PC Moron" !! [:D]

Pat.

Patrick G.M.Carroll,
Brigadier General.
Carroll's Corps,(II)
"Spartan Southrons"
Army of Georgia.
C.S.A.Cabinet Secretary

" When My Country takes it's rightful place, amongst the Nations of the World, then and only then, let My Epitaph be written. "

Pat,
Sorry to hear that and good luck with slaying it. Do you have the name of the virus? It might be useful to know something about it just in case it does escape into the club community.

[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/acw/acw.htm"]General Antony Barlow[/url]
[url="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.r.barlow/aoc/XXAoC.htm"]Army of the Cumberland[/url]

Patrick,
I hesitate to recommend software to people because none is perfect and it depends upon circumstances. I run Norton Anti-Virus and Spy Sweeper for my spyware/adware protection. I highly recommend the latter. I have given up on the "freeware" for anti-spyware. It simply does not detect the more sophisticated varieties. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
From what you have described, if your virus definitions file is current, it sounds as though you have a spyware problem. It has made registry changes which explains why it is re-introduced every time you start the system. It is not a virus and Norton will not detect and quarantine. If you are running a Symantec anti-spyware package, then contact the company concerning the problem.
Good luck on ridding your machine of its malady.



BG Robert Frost
Army of Cumberland

Pat,

You won't get away from finishing your game with me this easily!

Seriously, Spysweeper is a good program. I've used it previously and it does good job. I recently had to go thru both my daughter's computer, which she'd brought home from university, and my son's computer, at home and who should have known better, in order to clean up various pieces of spyware. It seems to get everywhere.

If you're not comfortable working on the registry yourself (very few people are) then a commercial program of this genre is now needed. If you try to clean it yourself you risk having to reinstall Windows if you damage the registry.

Good luck and best wishes,



Chuck Berdanier
Col, 2/1/IX, AoO
National Light Infantry