QOTD: Has a Virus Ever Infected Your PC?

[anamaniac]

I don't use anti-virus software anymore. Takes too much CPU for my taste.
I've been fine for a while now.

However when I was running XP about a year ago I was forced to re-partition my HDD. The cause was likely adult-explicit content...

 

[rodney_ws]

Late 90s. Wiped HD clean.

 

[ravewulf]

Only once. It was quite a few years ago too, back in 2004 I think (I was 14 and inexperienced). I was downloading a video and it wanted a certain codec to play it. So I got the codec, the video played, and then I got all sorts of virus alerts from a fake anitvirus program that installed with the (also fake) codec. As it had only just happened, I got luck and got rid of it by using the System Restore feature. I set it back a few days and I was fine. Now I test out suspicious files in virtual machines first.

I currently have, and have had since long before the incident, a hardware firewall and McAffee VirusScan Enterprise (my dad gets free perpetual licenses from where he works).

 

[sailfish]

Windows Vista, no AVG installed, UAC disabled, Windows Firewall disabled and never had a virus.

Windows XP before then, No virus evah!

2 things, though. I don't download/invoke software from non-known sites AND I never allow others to use my system.

 

[doomsdaydave11]

nope. I don't torrent much porn...

 

[seatrotter]

Virus?
Not in a very long time, active or inactive.

Malware (virus, trojan, worm, etc.)?
On my PC, only inactive ones (as far as I can tell :S). Active ones? Not in a very long time.

 

[bin1127]

i think the picture suggests the human papilloma virus. no, i don't do that with my computer.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

I haven't had a virus on my own pc since nimda, but I'm exposed to virus very often. Right now some of our servers are busy with conficker (being handled although f-secure doesn't really want to), and two weeks ago I managed to take down a collegues computer by visiting astalavista.box.sk and expecting etrust to actually work. It merely told me (5 minutes later) that it now is infected. Going to start that system from scratch tomorrow. Can't remove it.
Also the antivirus2009 spyware thing seems very popular in my social circle. Everybody seems to think they need it.
Virus is inevitable. It might not hit your own computer, but it will definetly hit the one nextdoor, or his family.
And it'll stay. Some people just don't care about it, and will just ignore virusses until they can't use the computer anymore. I've got a guy on my msn that has had a virus for like 4 months - and is still spamming me with messages - or was that is. Now he's blocked.

 

[FlayerSlayer]

The only virus I ever got was Malware Protector 2008, complete with disabled tabs in the Display Settings so I couldn't turn off the 1-minute-delay screensaver of bugs crawling over my screen (no joke). I was able to kill it with AVG free antivirus when Trend Micro, Symmantec, Sophos, and Spybot could not touch it.

 

[MU_Engineer]

Nope. I have been running Linux for the past >5 years. Linux viruses are very uncommon- the main threat is somebody cracking into your machine via SSH and putting in a rootkit. I am careful with my SSH options and access restrictions and my firewall setup, I have never been rooted.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

[citation][nom]FlayerSlayer[/nom]The only virus I ever got was Malware Protector 2008, complete with disabled tabs in the Display Settings so I couldn't turn off the 1-minute-delay screensaver of bugs crawling over my screen (no joke). I was able to kill it with AVG free antivirus when Trend Micro, Symmantec, Sophos, and Spybot could not touch it.[/citation]
smitfraudfix and some manual work with regedit could've gotten rid of that too. But I suppose using a free antivirus software is easier. I'm not sure avg'd have been my first choice though.

 

[jwl3]

Yes and my antivirus programs are utterly worthless in stopping them. They're also utterly worthless in removing them completely. I end up having to format my HD and reinstalling everything. Which takes a solid 8 hours of work to get back to where I was.

Virus and trojan creators should be shot on sight. They cause so much misery among both the experts and the noobs. I'm pretty proficient at computers, having used them for 15+ years. Even with hijack this, registry editing, process explorer, autoruns, 10 different spyware and antivirus programs, I cannot restore my system back to original form without formatting. It usually takes the form of browser hijacking.

 

[Guest]

Not since Win98 days,I have used Linux since then. Now, my kids boxes, well, thats a different story.
Jack

 

[geckoar]

I have never had a virus and I also put chain emails into the trash. I have used Windows live onecare for the past 2 years and It has worked great and no problems.

 

[vir_cotto]

Had one from a shady keygen :\, I re installed windows after that, I always do about every 6 months. I rarely look for such things anymore.

 

[Guest]

Yes a virus infected my pc before. My virus came along bundled with a bunch of trojans and malware, good thing I have an image backup of my C partition saved onto dvd. I wish avast started up faster then that would be my first choice but I now use avira free. I also use spybot without that teatimer that wont let your computer function normally. I also built myself a pfsense router/ firewall box that seems to help allot.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

I wonder how long it'd take to restore an image of my system drive from dvd ? Roughly 200 dvd's would be needed 🙁 Might be better to just install a good antivirus and not use dc and astalavista too much.

 

[tacobravo]

Got a virus not too long ago that said something called worms.win32.netsky infected my computer but to find out it was another virus that was trying to get me to buy some antivirus software that was clearly fake. It disabled my task manager, account control, admin privileges and such. I had to reinstall Vista and now I can't use internet explorer or firefox but can get updates to my computer. Man people don't have a life.