vPyro Forums: Circulating Virus-How To Resolve - vPyro Forums

Hey there vPyro, just wanted to warn everyone about a virus that is circulating. If you use AIM please pay attention. If recently you have recieved a message saying, "I made this picture for you" DO NOT CLICK THE LINK. The Link can even come from one of your buddies. If within the last 24 hours you have clicked the link your computer may be at risk. First I suggest if you have been on AIM recently run a scan using McAfee or other security products. If an item is quarantinned immediatly delete it. I am working on finding more solutions to this issue, but for now I highly suggest running a scan just so that you can be on the safe side especially as a virus can crash you computer. If there are any questions feel free to PM me or add a reply to this post.

This post has been edited by Brad: 26 April 2009 - 03:33 PM
Reason for edit:: Spelling

Another new variant of the picture virus again - keep your virus definitions updated, and auto update active

Pete

Thanks for the warning how did you find out about this??

JohnH1993, on Apr 23 2009, 01:13 PM, said:

A couple of my friends aquired the virus. This virus spreads by it hacks into your AIM and sends through IM. If you recieve the virus please immediatly go to AIM and change you password, this will help prevent the spread of this virus. Also everyone it is sent through your buddies, but it is not sent by your buddy, so please do not blame your friends. This virus shows up saying that your friend has made a picture of you using MySpace. It is a virus that can crash your computer.

When and if you click on the link that is being sent to you it will come up and show that you can either run or save. By clicking on the link you may not aquire the virus, but by clicking run or save you may and most likely will have the virus. To check if you do have the virus run a scan using McAfee and if you do have the virus it will show a, 'quarantined item'. Immediatly delete the item. After the item has been deleted I suggest running a second scan. I will continue to give updates as I learn more on this new virus.

I will stay on most of the day today, if you have questions on this virus please PM me or reply to this post and I will get back as soon as possible!

This post has been edited by greetea230: 23 April 2009 - 01:41 PM

UPDATE:

If you have recieved the virus as I have said change your AIM password at www.aim.com. After you have changed your password uninstall AIM from your computer then reinstall using the latest update at www.aim.com. Also once you have done a scan make sure that you are using a full system scan. Again if any files were found quarantined delete all the infected files. This should take care of the virus. Again I should be on most of the day, if you have any questions please add them as a reply to this post or send me a PM.

Thanks once again for this head's up. I really get annoyed by people that make viruses i just dont see the point but its just another scam so they can make money of people by hacking people's pc's so they can see what card or bank details you have on your pc.

JohnH1993, on Apr 23 2009, 02:56 PM, said:

Happy that I could help, this virus will most likely become global eventually. Let me explain how this virus started.

One person made the virus and loaded onto his or her AIM. They then sent the virus to someone else. Once the virus was in to computer it hacked into their AIM getting their password, logging onto their account sending it to all the buddies on the buddy list. Then the cycle continues thus creating enormous amount of people affected, as enormous amounts of people use the AIM program. Again I will be on all day and if you have any questions please feel free to PM me or reply to this topic. Also John this is just an AIM virus that right now only appears to crash the computer but it could have the potential to get into bank details and such so just be cautious.

*hugs his Mac*

UPDATE:
As a saftey precaution I suggest going through your buddy list asking your buddies if that have recieved the Myspace Picture Cube Message from you.

greetea230, on Apr 23 2009, 04:10 PM, said:

Yeh i was just saying some viruses are aimed for bank details and things but no virus is nice but thats why we have protection e.g Bullgaurd, Norton, so on but not all the time these stop them . You would of thought that these big companys would beat a computer geek sat at home sending viruses out but not the case sometimes.

This post has been edited by JohnH1993: 23 April 2009 - 03:41 PM

Brad, on Apr 23 2009, 11:20 PM, said:

Lucky you. You don't have to put up with viruses. >.> I envy you!

Do macs not get viruses or something?

MadPyroMan, on Apr 24 2009, 12:39 AM, said:

Windows users outnumber mac users several times over, compatibility being one of the main things (games/programs etc). As such the hacking community on the whole ignores MAC operating systems, as they are a minority - they are not immune however.
Windows also has a number of security vulnerabilities (particularly Internet Explorer), and thus the hackers take advantage of these vulnerabilities to gain access to personal computers, and as Windows is usually the most commonest operating system around, it can effect a wider population.

I advise anyone running windows software to keep automatic updates on, use Firefox or another web browser (I am trying apples Safari as a beta), and have a good firewall/antivirus that updates regularly (I use Comodo internet security as its free (my favorite price ) and also its the best for 64bit windows).
For those with 32bit windows, Zonealarm and AVG are among the usual free ones for that

Pete

Wodger, on Apr 24 2009, 09:27 AM, said:

I am also thinking of trying Safari as an internet browser. What would the differenc be other than that it is not Internet Explorer?

I use safari to, i used it since my IE loads slow sites...

Ive tried safari and firefox but internet explorer in my opinion is great.

Pfft. Opera for the win!

Google Chrome is my preferred choice. It completely blew Internet Explorer out of the water.
Faster loading times, awesome user interface, and easily accessible features.

Theres a debate about "what is the best internet browser" going on at another forum I belong to. We have tried a number of different browsers and at the moment the latest Safari is taking our interest. The only problem is that when you hold the mouse over the link, on Firefox and IE it will display the actual website address the link is going to take you to. With Safari it does not - and it could cause a problem for instance:

http://www.Amazon.com

The link above says that its a link to amazon.com - if you click it - you won't go to Amazon.com, you will end up at Vimeo.com.

With Firefox/IE you hold the mouse over the link and it will tell you where the link is going to take you in the bottom left hand corner.
Thats the only downside at the moment with Safari - hopefully they will change it in the proper release.

I haven't personally used Google Chrome, but many people have said that its quite an interesting browser - takes a while to get used to but very nice.

Internet Explorer - I would recommend to change browsers - despite what Microsoft says, I picked up a worm that attacked my hotmail account last month (I only used internet explorer to access my email from messenger - clicking on the message button). I had some stupid message about a new Chinese website for electronics sent to all of my contacts, and then quite happily deleted my contacts. This is still going on - Microsoft receives about 100 complaints a day about this worm - and nothing has been done about it.

Firefox - I have used this for about 6 years without any real problems, page loadings are faster with firefox compared to IE, and it has some nice features - unfortunately, the hackers are catching on, and now firefox is also at risk from the virus comedians. I still use it on a daily basis.
(It used to be about once every 3 months a new update/version came out for Firefox - now its practically every couple of weeks).

Safari - Just getting the hang of this one, and apart from the links problem (which hopefully will be rectified), it is a great browser - it loads pages about twice as fast as firefox, and has a nice 3d looking favorites page that you can set to appear when you start (it screenshots the webpage and pastes it like a picture on a pinboard) - anyone want screenshots I can post them.

So, if your using IE as your usual internet browser - bin it - get something else. Also make sure you have a good firewall.

Greets

Pete

Thanks for the heads up, and telling us how to resolve