So, I was uploading pictures to Photobucket this evening, and I got slapped with a virus. It's called Win32/Cryptor, and it's nasty. When I log on to my desktop PC with my account, the computer locks up and I can't do anything. Luckily, I have a second account on the machine that I am able to use. I'm in the process of cleaning this bugger up. This is so not how I was planning to spend my evening. My hubby is working late, so I was looking forward to a night of Simming and blogging. GRRRRR!! On the bright side, my data appears to be safe, so that's good news for the Megahood.
I just want to put out a warning to other blog authors to be careful when using Photobucket (or really any website with third-party ads). One inadvertent click can bring your PC much pain. BTW, I'm writing this from my netbook which will no longer be used to edit photos on Photobucket!
Oh, I think that was the same virus I had when I first got my new PC! It's a nasty one, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteHope you can get your PC all cleaned up!
Thanks for the warning. I'm thinking I should pick up adblocker and noscript for Firefox. There's been a lot of this going around it seems.
ReplyDeleteGrrr, I hate virues. Try this as well: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
ReplyDeleteI use this all the time along with my anti virus scanner. Hope you're able to get everything cleaned up.
Sullivan, Lunar, and Riverdale, thank you all so much for your support! I ended up having to reinstall the OS. It took me all day, but in a way I'm glad because I got rid of a lot of programs I wasn't using anymore. I was able to save all my data, so my Simmies are safe. I haven't re-installed Sims 2 yet. All those expansion packs and stuff packs. Yikes! But I will get to it.
ReplyDeleteLunar, thanks for the tip about FF and Adblocker and noscript. I have already installed FF and Adblocker. I'll install noscript tomorrow. I did see some rumblings in the comments for Adblocker that it is not as effective with FF 3.5 as it was with 3.0. Hopefully, the author will update Adblocker soon.
ReplyDeleteRiverdale,
ReplyDeleteI did use Malwarebytes in my cleaning process. That virus was sneaky and tried to block me from running it. I had to rename MB's exe to get around it. I found some great tips for cleaning up the PC at http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407. I highly recommend this process if you are unfortunate to fall victim. This process did clean up my PC, but I was feeling paranoid and chose to do the OS reinstall anyway.
DD picked up something nasty from Skype last year, so I had to re-format her hard drive. I think doing that is easier than messing around trying to clean up. Also, I usually know just enough to be dangerous. Or I do something & can't remember how I did it.
ReplyDelete