Has anyone had an encounter with the FBI virus after downloading the 777? It seems to be embedded in my FSX files. I thought I had eradicated it but when I opened FSX the virus reappeared. The last thing I did before the virus appeared was to download 777 and follow some of the recommendations in the introduction manual.

I really doubt that this is the source of the infection.

I hadn't heard of this virus until now.

Possibly you can try a system restore to yesterday to see if this clears it? 

I am sorry now in retrospect I downloaded to updates for other FSX products and it could be one of them, so again my apologies.

This virus is my first and it is quite something. I used a secondary support company to help get rid of of it and have spent hours doing so, only to have it appear as soon as I reopened FSX. So the virus is hidden somewhere in the FSX complex and I fear the only solution may be to completely uninstall FSX and start anew.

That is not how viruses work. Uninstalling a program will not clean a virus that might be infiltrated across many system folders. Just use an updated free antivirus such as AVG or Avast. I've never had a virus in my life, and haven't even needed to do virus cleanups ever but I have ocasionally used AVG for cleaning up unwanted cookies and harmless malware and it's good.

If you run an AV program, do so in safe mode. I'd also run Malwarebytes...

Could be a false positive... Viruses in commercial product is not unheard of, but it's stll rare... Plus, if you had it with an update for a FSX add-on, everyone downloading the update would have it too, it probably would be talked about à lot don't you think ?

If the FBI virus is kind of a police virus I used to remove recently, it is way too hard to remove. I reinstalled the system. It went about installing itself into explorer.exe and other executables, and was virtually impossible to remove.

If this FBI virus asks for you to pay an amount of money to unlock your computer, then yeah, that's the one.

I believe that if you go to a website called "bleeping computers".  They have steps on how to remove these things

Just reformat and do a clean install ^_^ . It should take about a day or 2 depending on the number of addons you have

If this FBI virus asks for you to pay an amount of money to unlock your computer, then yeah, that's the one.

 

Yup, I had this virus only a few months ago, unsure it was called FBI virus though. It completely and utterly buggered up my computer (not my FSX machine  thank goodness) it demanded $100 to 'fix' it. Needless to say I didn't pay and of course if I had, it would of course not have done so. It cost me a full reinistall and a lot of lost material and data. Most of my files were backed up, but not all.

Re-install the OS. Anything could be lurking. AV programs aren't worth the hard disk space they occupy.

 

Best regards,

Robin.

If you look carefully at the pictures in the consolidated screenshots thread you'll also detect the NSA backdoor - it's somewhere between the aft cargo door and the refuelling panel ...   :ph34r:

Yup, I had this virus only a few months ago, unsure it was called FBI virus though. It completely and utterly buggered up my computer (not my FSX machine  thank goodness) it demanded $100 to 'fix' it. Needless to say I didn't pay and of course if I had, it would of course not have done so. It cost me a full reinistall and a lot of lost material and data. Most of my files were backed up, but not all.

 

 

If the FBI virus is kind of a police virus I used to remove recently, it is way too hard to remove. I reinstalled the system. It went about installing itself into explorer.exe and other executables, and was virtually impossible to remove.

If this FBI virus asks for you to pay an amount of money to unlock your computer, then yeah, that's the one.

 

 

 

This is an international virus, that we have in Finland also. It "locks" your computer due to "abuse" and demands you to pay certain amount of money directly to the police in order to get your  computer working again.

 

Next time when you get a virus, search for the virus from Google first as now you have both done a frustrating reinstall of the system without the need for it,

 

This virus is extremely easy to remove. The best way to remove it, is to install the Malwarebytes Malware removal software from USB stick and run the program in safe mode. This will remove the virus. Or even faster way is to boot your computer into safe mode, and remove the virus physically from the hard drive. It creates one single file inside your C:\Users\username\Appdata\Local\Temp folder and is easy to find there. Removal of this exe file removes the virus.

 

I'm telling this as a friendly advice. Always look for your virus from google first, if you don't know how to delete it. You can reinstall your computer again or you can remove one file and have the computer cleaned. :lol:

 

It doesn't go into explorer or other executables. It only is an executable which prevents any other exe-file being run.

 

Oh yea, why doesn't the virus work in Windows safe mode? It can't run automatically in safe mode as any other exe file  :lol:

It may sound horrendous, but a friend of mine who is a veteran, prominent PC guru since the 90's once told me he has a regimen of completely wiping his install (down to reformatting the drive, sometimes replacing it!) and starting fresh every three months.

 

It's not as bad as it looks if you plan it. And it can solve a host of issues. You just have to be very cognizant of your proprietary data, config choices, etc.

 

The magic of a real pen and notebook can prove remarkably effective.

 

OTOH I'm at the opposite extreme: I kept my last PC install up and running for seven years, with no reformat/reinstall needed (thank you, Symantec). Required periodic trips to hell which got easier as Google got deeper, but proved possible.

 

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

I haven't even reinstalled FSX a single time yet ... and it still runs fine for me.