Virus ?.....

[Javiz 104]

Hi,

 

A rather disturbing event happend when i opend my internet browser (IE8) today. I'm running W7/64 and use Norton 360PE virusscanner and firewall for years, very happy with it, never any virus problems so far ( knock on wood)

 

Maybe until now... Really not sure what happend but it did look very much like a virus to me.

 

All of a sudden I could not open IE8 anymore. Each time i clicked the IE icon the start page would be displayed for a split second and then a Norton Warning message would pop up saying that 'xxxxx.tmp' was blocked to be displayed because it was harmfull.... This would happen each time i clicked the IE icon with 'xxxx.tmp' change into another number.

 

The path of these things showed as C:\user\myname\AppData\Local\Temp. I could see these files pop up in there each time i clicked the IE icon.

 

Restarting my system didn't work, still only these Norton warning messages popped up, one after the other. No more internet.....

 

I could only think of System Recovery and that's what i did. All's well again as you can see...

 

But does anyone have a clue of what may have happend here ? Anyone familiar with this particular phenomenon ? Could it have been a Norton brain farth or could it really have been a virus that slipped thru the Norton firewall ??...... I have never had this happen before.....

 

Any hints/tips highly appreciated !

 

Cheers,

Jan

[GB014934 5]

It could be that there is a rogue file in the temporary area or it could also be that Norton is giving a false reading.

An alternative to a system recovery may be just to simply delete the temporary files. There is a free program called CCLEANER (Crap Cleaner) which can assist but if you have no working browser then you cannot download it. I don't use Norton 360 but doesn't it have a cleaning option ?

 

An alternative is

• Bring up the RUN prompt from the Start menu - I always have this available - you may have to enable it.
  
• type %TMP% and hit enter - this will list all the files and folders in the temporary area
  
• do a CTRL a to select all files
  
• hit the DEL key
  
• if you get a prompt about being unable to delete a particular file or folder then select the SKIP ALL option.
  
• try your browser again.
  

 

If this does not cure the problem and you wish to restore the deleted files then they can be retored from the Recycle Bin

 

If you suspect that you really have a virus then you should really run a boot time scan. I use the Kapersky Rescue disk. This is free and all you need is to download the files from their site and then write a CD or USB stick. Next boot the machine from the CD (or stick) and after the program starts make it do an update to get the latest virus signatures before running a scan on your machine. I appreciate that without a browser you may not be able to download the files but once you get a working browser it may be worth getting the files for the future. There are other programs which do the same thing as Kapersky but I personally have never used them.

[Rocky_53 1,566]

If you suspect a virus problem I would first do a manual update of your AV program and immeidately perform a full scan in safe mode, then reboot and perfrom a second full scan in safe mode. Also, I suggest you download the free program Malwarebytes and run that, also in safe mode. BTW I think I'm right in saying that it's not unusual for Norton to show false negatives (or is it false positives?)

[Javiz 104]

Thanks for your replies,gents ! B)

 

Yes, i have CCleaner as well as Reg.Mechanic. I also had Norton perform a full scan. It found 80 'safety risks' which were all dealt with,no problem. Still these warning messages kept on going... No internet for me anymore... ( the one good thing that i get out of these, luckily, very occasional events is that it makes me aware again of how extremely important the internet has become to me, not to say how much addicted i have become to it ( remains to be seen if that's a good thing or not... ))

 

And yes, first thing i tried was to delete all these *.tmp files but to no avail because ' they are in use by a program' ... The problem of course was that each time i tried to run IE another one of these tmp files was added to the temp folder whereupon Norton closed IE immidiately... (atleast that's what i think happend... )

 

And indeed it's true that Norton can show a false negative, f.i. i cannot buy anything from Flight1 without temporarely shut down the firewall, it sees the wrapper system as a threat..

 

Just to be sure I have downloaded and installed Firefox so i can atleast ask for help or download stuff should this happen again. I have done a full system scan while in Windows ( took about one and a half hour, found about 1.6 million files... no wonder something's bound to go wrong once in a while... i actually keep on being amazed about how well everything runs... ), i will run another one in safe mode.

 

Thanks much again for your suggestions,guys, highly appreciated !

 

Cheers,

Jan

[Jude Bradley 659]

I've never had problems with security essentials.

Norton is a resource hog.

When your subscription runs out, try MSE instead.

[Guest firehawk44]

rather disturbing event happend when i opend my internet browser (IE8) today. I'm running W7/64

 

Don't understand why you are still running IE8 with Windows 7. IE9 came with Windows 7. I would install IE9 again. Just go to Control Panel, Click on Programs, then click on Turn Windows Features on or off. Make sure there is a checkmark next to IE9. Close and IE9 will be installed and updated. If Microsoft is telling you you can't delete a file in the App/Local/Temp folder as it's still being used, restart Windows 7 or simply log off and then log on again. Go to the Temp folder and delete everything. It's a shame an anti-virus program takes over your computer and makes it difficult for you to do whatever you want to do. Show them who's boss of your system. The liklihood of a virus on your system is remote.

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Kaly 22]

Norton is a resource hog

 

WAS a resource hog.

It is one of the lightest AV solutions on the market today.

[Javiz 104]

Don't understand why you are still running IE8 with Windows 7. IE9 came with Windows 7. I would install IE9 again. Just go to Control Panel, Click on Programs, then click on Turn Windows Features on or off. Make sure there is a checkmark next to IE9. Close and IE9 will be installed and updated.

 

Well, not with *my* Windows 7, Jim.... I run a dutch version of W7, you see. If i check CP\Progams\Turn Windows Feat On/OF all i see is IE8, no IE9.... No clue why but i think it might have to do with this European 'Economic Competition Rules' .

 

I have no problems with IE8 whatsoever and i always follow the ' if it ain't broke don't fix it' rule. :smile2:

 

But thanks for the tip anyway, Jim. After system restore i have no problem with this Norton warning message anymore.

 

cheers,

jan

[ZachLW 37]

WAS a resource hog.

It is one of the lightest AV solutions on the market today.

 

What it is not, is a good AV program. Mainly because of it's intrusive nature and -wouldn't ya' know- it's a pain to even uninstall. Norton truly has some of the worst software available, and that is common knowledge. Not so much for missing things, but rather for so many false positives and irritating messages.

 

There's really no reason to purchase AV programs these days thanks to MSE, but if you feel compelled to pay for an AV program ( :rolleyes: ), pay for ESET NOD.

[Guest firehawk44]

Well, not with *my* Windows 7, Jim.... I run a dutch version of W7, you see. If i check CP\Progams\Turn Windows Feat On/OF all i see is IE8, no IE9

 

You can download it from the Microsoft website and install it if you want according to this link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer. It might work better with Windows 7. Didn't see that you got your problem fixed so this is why I commented. Glad to see you got it repaired. I periodically go into the C:\user\myname\AppData\Local\Temp and clean it up by deleting everything. For some reason, Windows 7 doesn't automatically remove these temporary files.

 

Best regards,

Jim

[vgbaron 3,486]

What it is not, is a good AV program. Mainly because of it's intrusive nature and -wouldn't ya' know- it's a pain to even uninstall. Norton truly has some of the worst software available, and that is common knowledge. Not so much for missing things, but rather for so many false positives and irritating messages.

 

There's really no reason to purchase AV programs these days thanks to MSE, but if you feel compelled to pay for an AV program ( :rolleyes: ), pay for ESET NOD.

 

You beat me too it! Norton AV is the biggest POS foisted off on the computer community. The first thing do on ANY system install is remove it. I have made a pile of $$ by correcting problems caused by Norton. Sad too because, back i the DOS days, Norton Utilities were the must have program in the consultant's toolkit.

 

Firmly second ESET NOD - especially for FSX systems - least intrusive background process.

 

Vic

[Kaly 22]

You beat me too it! Norton AV is the biggest POS foisted off on the computer community

 

I never said it was good or bad!

I merely stated that it is light, with regards to system resources.

[ZachLW 37]

I never said it was good or bad!

I merely stated that it is light, with regards to system resources.

 

I just felt the need to elaborate, is all. Thanks Demitri!

[Kaly 22]

I just felt the need to elaborate, is all. Thanks Demitri!

 

Cheers!

[Rocky_53 1,566]

You beat me too it! Norton AV is the biggest POS foisted off on the computer community. The first thing do on ANY system install is remove it. I have made a pile of $$ by correcting problems caused by Norton. Sad too because, back i the DOS days, Norton Utilities were the must have program in the consultant's toolkit.

 

Firmly second ESET NOD - especially for FSX systems - least intrusive background process.

 

Vic

 

I agree Vic. A couple of years ago it played complete havoc with my OS and when I came to uninstall it, it simply left a load of code in the registry and buggered up a whole lot of stuff. in the end my PC had to be taken away and it was 48 hours later when I had it returned! My PC guru had hell of a time trying to get things back to normal... but apart from that, it's a great!!!! :angry: