Can't get rid of a couple stubborn viruses.

[1st love ron]

I have CA for anti-virus program running on my Compaq with XP as the OS. It has been a reliable anti-virus program, but for some reason it didn't quarantine two viruses. There dose not seem to be any operational issues, but I hate having these rouge viruses doing whatever they are doing. I can't manually delete or quarantine them, and in the past the anti-virus has caught and quarantined everything. They are Java/ByteVeryify!exploit in the C:\Documents and Settings.
How do I get rid of them?

 

[mike_n_herrin]

i googled that name and a couple sites say it's not actually a virus, but more malware i guess. one says they used Ad-aware to get rid of it.

you can get ad-aware here:http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-20...045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

and here are instructions on how to use it: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial48.html

now having said that, according to the web forum for my antivirus software (the free AVG), it says here (http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/read.php?4,10178,27669):


"If you have the virus called Java/ByteVerify, your AVG Anti-Virus cannot get rid of this alone so if you are having troubles finding a way to get rid of it, here is a step by step guide for removal.

-Go to your control panel
-(if in windows XP change over to the classic mode by clicking the link on the left just under your toolbars)
-Open Java Plug-in
-Click on the Cache tab
-Click clear

-To stop this from happening again uncheck the enable cache-ing

This should clear all of these viruses right off of your computer and stop this from happening again."

and then says this in the next post down:

"If you don't have the Java-Plugin installed...

Simply delete the files found by AVG manually, if they are embedded in an archive file, follow the directions for finding and deleting these in the Tip area of this post HOW TO CLEAN AN INFECTED COMPUTER.

This is really not a virus, it is an Exploit. Microsoft had issued a security fix for this long ago, if you find that you have this exploit, then you need to go to [www.windowsupdate.com] and fully update your computer. These updates are for the Windows OS and aren't just for Internet Explorer, always select all updates even if you don't believe they apply to you."

 

[mike_n_herrin]

/\ mac's can get a virus. but the thing is that most viruses are written specifically for windows (presumably because most people us windows). the number of viruses out there that could infect a mac and cause problems is a far far far smaller number than what is out there for window's machines.

and i believe...macs can spread windows viruses. i mean if say a word file has a virus and someone on mac emails it to a bunch of people (and presume those people have windows machine's) those people could get infected, while the mac machine doesn't because it's not windows. but the file would still have the virus on the mac machine, it just wouldn't cause any harm.

i think that is it in a nut shell. some of the more tech savy folks here will probably be able to give a more complete answer.

 

[1st love ron]

i

"If you have the virus called Java/ByteVerify, your AVG Anti-Virus cannot get rid of this alone so if you are having troubles finding a way to get rid of it, here is a step by step guide for removal.

-Go to your control panel
-(if in windows XP change over to the classic mode by clicking the link on the left just under your toolbars)
-Open Java Plug-in
-Click on the Cache tab
-Click clear

."

OK, that did it, thanks! However, it said (in the dialog box) that only "advanced" users should clear the cache (files), LOL.

 

[mike_n_herrin]

let us know if it worked.

have no idea why clearing the java cache would require being an "advanced user." that just seems odd.

 

[1st love ron]

let us know if it worked.

.

It did. I ran a full scanto make sure and all is clear.

 

[mega]

I wish I'd read this an hour ago... I just ran a recovery to get rid of exploit.

 

[Jannus]

Just out of curiosity - I convinced one of my friends to buy a MacBook (I have a new MacBook Pro) and he asked me why Mac's didn't get viruses. I couldn't answer him. So - how to I explain that to him?

Mac's OS X operating system is a version of BSD, a port of Unix to the PC by the computer science people at UC Berkeley. Steve Jobs bought the rights to BSD from UC Berkeley when he was developing his "Next" computer (during his hiatus from Apple). Apple grafted their own desktop interface onto BSD, and this is what we now know as "OS X"

The intrinsic design of Unix makes it nearly impossible to infect it with viruses. Unix was originally designed in the 1960s for mainframe computers which did time-sharing of services to many different clients. The mainframe at the University of Detroit, for example, rented time out to General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Can you imagaine how desperately the computer scientists at each of those companies would have liked to get their hands on each other's data and programs?! Unix needed to wall off accounts from each other and from access to the core of the operating system itself with a robustness that was not just excellent, but perfect. Even one successful breach in 100 billion attempts would have been unacceptable, as that would have made the whole concept of paying for an expensive mainframe by time-sharing it to lots of different clients unworkable.

This is the purpose for which Unix was designed, from day one. The fundamental architecture of the entire OS from the ground up was structured to allow the execution of multiple programs simultaneously by multiple users on a single computer in a way that contolled the behavior of programs so rigidly that they could not possibly interfere with core operating system functions (which were, of course, simultaneously in use by many other programs and users). Unix also needed to lock out individual users from accessing data on the system to which they did not have permission. This lock out needed to be perfect. Even a computer scientist who had, say, helped design Unix and whom Ford had hired to break into GM's data on the University of Detroit's mainframe needed to be locked out of access to restricted areas of the system as effectively as any student. Not even a vast and fundamental knowledge of the computer's OS could enable someone to break in. Not ever. Not under any circumstances. This was the goal of the software engineers at Bell Labs when they designed Unix. This is the reason for the hierarchical permissions structure of *nix operating systems.

Forty years of experience with Unix have proven the success of its design. Not only have its security features never been outdone, but its restriction of programs from access to core OS functions has made its stability legendary. It is difficult to bring down a *nix computer. There are known to be *nix servers in daily use at large companies which have not been rebooted in more than five years!

It does not matter how popular the Mac becomes. The fundamental design of its Unix architecture insures that there will never be more than a tiny handful of viruses which may infect it.

 

[Jannus]

^The first known computer virus was discovered on the campus of Texas A&M in 1981 and infected the Apple II OS through pirated games being passed around campus. So far as is known, that virus never escaped the campus.

The first virus to become widely known "in the wild" was the LeHigh viruse in 1987, which infected command.com files.

The first report of a virus infecting a Unix system was made in a 1989 paper by Tom Duff and M. Douglas McIlroy of Bell Labs. They published code found in a Unix system which reproduced itself. That's all the code did, actually, was reproduce itself under certain conditions. It did not affect the operation of the system in which it was found in any way. It is actually fairly easy to get code in a Unix system to copy itself in this way. Getting viral code to run as executable is very difficult to do in Unix. It has probably been done by someone, somewhere, at some time, but I'm not aware of any examples.

There are also Unix-like systems out there which will certainly become infected, because some of the natural defenses of Unix have been defeated by the distributors. Freespire/Linspire and Puppy Linux, for example, defeat the hierarchical permissions of Unix by granting superuser privileges to the standard user, much as Windows does. These systems are rather insecure and will certainly be attacked if they become popular.

 

[_AJ_]

^The first known computer virus was discovered on the campus of Texas A&M in 1981 and infected the Apple II OS through pirated games being passed around campus. So far as is known, that virus never escaped the campus.

The first virus to become widely known "in the wild" was the LeHigh viruse in 1987, which infected command.com files.

The first report of a virus infecting a Unix system was made in a 1989 paper by Tom Duff and M. Douglas McIlroy of Bell Labs. They published code found in a Unix system which reproduced itself. That's all the code did, actually, was reproduce itself under certain conditions. It did not affect the operation of the system in which it was found in any way. It is actually fairly easy to get code in a Unix system to copy itself in this way. Getting viral code to run as executable is very difficult to do in Unix. It has probably been done by someone, somewhere, at some time, but I'm not aware of any examples.

There are also Unix-like systems out there which will certainly become infected, because some of the natural defenses of Unix have been defeated by the distributors. Freespire/Linspire and Puppy Linux, for example, defeat the hierarchical permissions of Unix by granting superuser privileges to the standard user, much as Windows does. These systems are rather insecure and will certainly be attacked if they become popular.

^ em...while you're giving us the history lesson (which is appreciated) you might like to do some more research because the first ever viruses were on Unix. Some of the most serious exploits in an OS were Unix ones.

Viruses on Unix systems

the first virus was born in the very beginning of 1970s or even in the end of 1960s

The first viruses found in the wild were Apple II viruses

World's first OS X virus hits Apple

Elk Cloner: The program with a personality

It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it's Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify ram too
Send in the Cloner!

Mac's OS X operating system is a version of BSD, a port of Unix to the PC by the computer science people at UC Berkeley. Steve Jobs bought the rights to BSD from UC Berkeley when he was developing his "Next" computer (during his hiatus from Apple). Apple grafted their own desktop interface onto BSD, and this is what we now know as "OS X"

The intrinsic design of Unix makes it nearly impossible to infect it with viruses. Unix was originally designed in the 1960s for mainframe computers which did time-sharing of services to many different clients. The mainframe at the University of Detroit, for example, rented time out to General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Can you imagaine how desperately the computer scientists at each of those companies would have liked to get their hands on each other's data and programs?! Unix needed to wall off accounts from each other and from access to the core of the operating system itself with a robustness that was not just excellent, but perfect. Even one successful breach in 100 billion attempts would have been unacceptable, as that would have made the whole concept of paying for an expensive mainframe by time-sharing it to lots of different clients unworkable.

This is the purpose for which Unix was designed, from day one. The fundamental architecture of the entire OS from the ground up was structured to allow the execution of multiple programs simultaneously by multiple users on a single computer in a way that contolled the behavior of programs so rigidly that they could not possibly interfere with core operating system functions (which were, of course, simultaneously in use by many other programs and users). Unix also needed to lock out individual users from accessing data on the system to which they did not have permission. This lock out needed to be perfect. Even a computer scientist who had, say, helped design Unix and whom Ford had hired to break into GM's data on the University of Detroit's mainframe needed to be locked out of access to restricted areas of the system as effectively as any student. Not even a vast and fundamental knowledge of the computer's OS could enable someone to break in. Not ever. Not under any circumstances. This was the goal of the software engineers at Bell Labs when they designed Unix. This is the reason for the hierarchical permissions structure of *nix operating systems.

Forty years of experience with Unix have proven the success of its design. Not only have its security features never been outdone, but its restriction of programs from access to core OS functions has made its stability legendary. It is difficult to bring down a *nix computer. There are known to be *nix servers in daily use at large companies which have not been rebooted in more than five years!

It does not matter how popular the Mac becomes. The fundamental design of its Unix architecture insures that there will never be more than a tiny handful of viruses which may infect it.

And This Is Helping How??????????


This Is OFF Topic !!!!!!!!!!

Want to discuss it do it some where ELSE

This is the shit I am talking about!!

Take it somewhere else or i will shove your iPod up your iAss

And noelie They are not even worth the effort

 

[trawler69]

Could we avoid flaming this thread. It is in fact quite interesting to some. It is also on topic which is about viruses. The OP has solved his problem already so it is hardly a hijack. It is widely accepted that the Unix based systems are less prone to attack, NOT IMMUNE! It is interesting to find out why that is and some of the history behind it.

Please allow us to make up our own minds based on the "evidence" presented. If it is not presented or checkable it will be treated with suspicion. Perhaps we should follow Noelies example and post the links to our quotes.

I am aware that I have stated "widely accepted" without posting a link. In this case I would hope I don't need to.

 

[_AJ_]

Could we avoid flaming this thread. It is in fact quite interesting to some. It is also on topic which is about viruses. The OP has solved his problem already so it is hardly a hijack. It is widely accepted that the Unix based systems are less prone to attack, NOT IMMUNE! It is interesting to find out why that is and some of the history behind it.

Please allow us to make up our own minds based on the "evidence" presented. If it is not presented or checkable it will be treated with suspicion. Perhaps we should follow Noelies example and post the links to our quotes.

I am aware that I have stated "widely accepted" without posting a link. In this case I would hope I don't need to.

It is interesting but it would make a good thread now wouldn't it rather than hidden in some loosely related topic its like putting videos in a picture file because there both media but makes it difficult to find and not everyone would know where it is

 

[trawler69]

^ Indeed it would make a good thread as would so many spin offs in so many threads all over the forums but it started in response to a brief 2 line inquiry prompted by this thread so here we are now. I'm sure if someone cares enough they will start a fresh thread.

 

[Jannus]

My apologies for trying to answer a question. I am kind of a history buff. I did not appreciate that history might be so controversial or offensive to some.

 

[_AJ_]

My apologies for trying to answer a question. I am kind of a history buff. I did not appreciate that history might be so controversial or offensive to some.

just saying it should have its own thread and not tacked on to some loosely based topic for a tech forum people here don't seem to keep things tidy

if its a different topic make a new thread for it!! it is not hard and it has the advantage of people being able to find out what they want by searching the topics instead of constant answers buried in other topics

 

[trawler69]

If a supplementary question is asked in a thread it is quite normal to respond to it in that thread. We all do it. I appreciate the history lesson and the other answers it provoked.