Originally Posted on 10/21/05
Ok, not really but it did slow things down to a snails pace on Monday and Tuesday! I am talking about virtumonde spyware. You will know you have if every once and while while surfing a new internet explorer window opens up with an advertisement. Most often the ad is for a program called “Winfixer”. Every once and a while a gray official looking windows box will open up and warn you about problems with your registry. You try to close this box and you get a winfixer ad.
What a great scam: put a virus or spyware on a person’s computer and then have the virus pull up adds for a program to fix spyware problems for $30-40. The question is whether or not Winfixer will actually get rid of virtumonde.
Anyhow, the virus attaches itself to windows system files so you cannot easily get rid of it. Norton Internet Security doesn’t work. Norton’s anti virus doesn’t get rid of it. Microsoft’s beta Antispyware doesn’t get rid of it. Norton has specialized software to get rid of it and guess what, it doesn’t always work. At least it did not work for me. There are numerous forums providing various methods to rid yourself of this wiley and seemingly intelligent virus that can reproduce and guess what, they don’t work either.
Needless to say, I went home from work Tuesday evening very depressed: I didn’t earn anything; I didn’t get much work done; and my virus was still there: taunting me with WINFIXER!!!!! I HATE YOU VIRTUMONDE!!!!
Anyhow, it is fixed now. I found a reference to a little program called SPYSWEEPER by webroot. It took care of the nasty virus in no time with little difficulty or sweat on my part. Here is a link: www.webroot.com. And better yet, it was the free trial version that solved the problem. My partner was so grateful hew shelled out the fee to buy the program and I intend to as well. WE LOVE YOU SPYSWEEPER!!!!
OK, back to work…
