Can viruses spread through each others pc?

[ToxiicHydra]

Hello all, this might be a dumb questions but my parents and our household is very strict when it comes to downloading programs, safety for my parents business, well I had my cousin come over and he said his PC is kinda slow and I looked at his disk usage it was 100% idle, I was like this is weird no program is using this much must be malware (i'm plugged into the Ethernet and he hooked his PC up to the Ethernet, because we wanted to play online together) after scanning his pc twice he had a total of almost 2500 viruses mostly PUP's. Again this was all happening when we both are plugged into the router and online. I am wondering if those viruses are on our network and could be in our systems. Thanks for your time and all help is appreciated.

 

[thor220]

It's easily possible for viruses to spread through a home network and you should have avoided using the ethernet. Computers connected through ethernet can access not only other computers on the network but also the router and modem. Given the amount of viruses he had, it's possible that something got on your network and even your modem / router. You need to monitor the computers on the network for the next two weeks and make sure they aren't doing anything strange. Modern viruses are able to add Modems and routers to a botnet and this is hard to detect.

 

[USAFRet]

I am wondering if those viruses are on our network and could be in our systems.

That is what is known as a 'worm'.

Yes, it can propagate through a network.

 

[ToxiicHydra]

It's easily possible for viruses to spread through a home network and you should have avoided using the ethernet. Computers connected through ethernet can access not only other computers on the network but also the router and modem. Given the amount of viruses he had, it's possible that something got on your network and even your modem / router. You need to monitor the computers on the network for the next two weeks and make sure they aren't doing anything strange. Modern viruses are able to add Modems and routers to a botnet and this is hard to detect.

Now if I do what can I do, anyway I can clean my router or something? I just installed Avast and I scanned the network it says Congratulations your home network is secure with a green check, does that mean i'm okay or what.

 

[USAFRet]

It's easily possible for viruses to spread through a home network and you should have avoided using the ethernet. Computers connected through ethernet can access not only other computers on the network but also the router and modem. Given the amount of viruses he had, it's possible that something got on your network and even your modem / router. You need to monitor the computers on the network for the next two weeks and make sure they aren't doing anything strange. Modern viruses are able to add Modems and routers to a botnet and this is hard to detect.

Now if I do what can I do, anyway I can clean my router or something? I just installed Avast and i'm doing a network scan so far so good about 2 mins into it.

Your router is almost certainly OK.
Other PC's that were connected need close monitoring.
His PC needs a full wipe and reinstall.

 

[ToxiicHydra]

It's easily possible for viruses to spread through a home network and you should have avoided using the ethernet. Computers connected through ethernet can access not only other computers on the network but also the router and modem. Given the amount of viruses he had, it's possible that something got on your network and even your modem / router. You need to monitor the computers on the network for the next two weeks and make sure they aren't doing anything strange. Modern viruses are able to add Modems and routers to a botnet and this is hard to detect.

Now if I do what can I do, anyway I can clean my router or something? I just installed Avast and i'm doing a network scan so far so good about 2 mins into it.

Thanks you so much, new to networking but starting a 4 year class next week on networking and coding, thanks though.

Your router is almost certainly OK.
Other PC's that were connected need close monitoring.
His PC needs a full wipe and reinstall.

 

[thor220]

It's easily possible for viruses to spread through a home network and you should have avoided using the ethernet. Computers connected through ethernet can access not only other computers on the network but also the router and modem. Given the amount of viruses he had, it's possible that something got on your network and even your modem / router. You need to monitor the computers on the network for the next two weeks and make sure they aren't doing anything strange. Modern viruses are able to add Modems and routers to a botnet and this is hard to detect.

Now if I do what can I do, anyway I can clean my router or something? I just installed Avast and I scanned the network it says Congratulations your home network is secure with a green check, does that mean i'm okay or what.

You can check your router just in case

http://www.howtogeek.com/227384/how-to-check-your-router-for-malware/

 

[thor220]

It's easily possible for viruses to spread through a home network and you should have avoided using the ethernet. Computers connected through ethernet can access not only other computers on the network but also the router and modem. Given the amount of viruses he had, it's possible that something got on your network and even your modem / router. You need to monitor the computers on the network for the next two weeks and make sure they aren't doing anything strange. Modern viruses are able to add Modems and routers to a botnet and this is hard to detect.

Now if I do what can I do, anyway I can clean my router or something? I just installed Avast and i'm doing a network scan so far so good about 2 mins into it.

Your router is almost certainly OK.
Other PC's that were connected need close monitoring.
His PC needs a full wipe and reinstall.

Is there a specific reason you recommend a full wipe? For me, most viruses are either cleaned up by anti-virus or they are embedded in the MBR or BIOS and are much harder to deal with. Just looking to get the best picture of what's possible.

 

[USAFRet]

Is there a specific reason you recommend a full wipe? For me, most viruses are either cleaned up by anti-virus or they are embedded in the MBR or BIOS and are much harder to deal with. Just looking to get the best picture of what's possible.

If, as the OP mentioned, there were "almost 2500 viruses mostly PUP's"...if a family member came to me with a PC like that....wipe and reinstall. No contest.

Yes, that "2500" number almost certainly contains a lot of junk numbers. But how long do you want to spend 'fixing', vs how long to spend on a simple wipe and reinstall?
"Oh, sorry...all your torrented games and applications are gone. Well, gee...that's how your system got screwed up in the first place."

It's not only the actual potential viruses, but the applications and thought processes that caused them to be there.

 

[thor220]

Is there a specific reason you recommend a full wipe? For me, most viruses are either cleaned up by anti-virus or they are embedded in the MBR or BIOS and are much harder to deal with. Just looking to get the best picture of what's possible.

If, as the OP mentioned, there were "almost 2500 viruses mostly PUP's"...if a family member came to me with a PC like that....wipe and reinstall. No contest.

Yes, that "2500" number almost certainly contains a lot of junk numbers. But how long do you want to spend 'fixing', vs how long to spend on a simple wipe and reinstall?
"Oh, sorry...all your torrented games and applications are gone. Well, gee...that's how your system got screwed up in the first place."

It's not only the actual potential viruses, but the applications and thought processes that caused them to be there.

Got it. To me it seems like a vast Majority of Viruses come from that sort of activity although there will always be the people who click on the fake download button. Pretty good reason to only have computers on the network set to discover and share only if necessary.