Help: Pinpointing the source for virus association.

[jeckgo]

I am sorry if this was mentioned before somewhere, but I first checked the search feature looking for "virus sources" in hope to find the answer to my question and didn't come across it during my normal browsing through these forums.

I'm in a panic right now; apparently my brother's laptop has been suffering under tons of viruses I wasn't aware of - now I wish to discover where the root of this problem began, and when.

I have a pretty good start - the porn. Although, the time interval from when the temporary internet file(s) were downloaded to the time unusual programs made their debut (a debut of which I wasn't notified of) is considerably large (I'd say about a month 6/9/05 -> 7/18/05).

Is it possible that this would be the root for all this havoc? These some odd [lots] of viruses that came out of nowhere (I just performed an avast! check not too long ago) just seemed so... sudden and those programs that were blocked - I had no idea that they were even there! Now I'm going nuts - I'm very paranoid about stuff I've been downloading like for example Trillian [multi-msging program] or doing stuff like watching Family Guy on winamp tv. and I begin to worry about What if... whoever now "owns" the laptop can try to gain entry into my computer under the common network. Maybe I'm being paranoid about this, irrationall paranoid - kinda like how I always made sure my zip files for counter-strike movies that I got from csmovies site and fileplanet were always scanned. It's stupid, I know, but you should see me in school and when I take tests.

Under zonealarm, I have disabled sharing on the network. Hopefully that provides some relief. Hopefully.

My hair is turning gray - I lost sleep yesterday worrying about my computer - and even worried about alone putting the installation disks so I could reformat the system... There aren't those kind of viruses that would affect the reformatting process... are there? I don't know, but I made sure I killed off whatever I could with trial anti-virus from avast! and trend micro's Housecall. Everything was deleted whether it was a system file or not - I don't care, I'm not going to bust my butt cleaning everything.

I'm a wreck, please tell me I'm just reacting irrationally to the situation. People tell me I am one in 500 who suffer the same situation, and that mine isn't particularly bad since I've got nothing to lose. It's just uncomfortable knowing that someone's been controlling my computer = my life. ;-;

I hope to be more knowledgeable about the situation. This is a rude wake up call to internet security - tomorrow I shall be purchasing the books : Network Intrusion Detection
Counter Hack Reloaded , and Malware - Fighting Malicious Code [as suggested by an antionline member actually].

Some day I'd like to return the favor for the community sooner or later if the community would help me throughout this time. Please.

[Pardon my grammar skills. I grow weary as these late-nights get ugly. ]

-Thanks

 

[ceewi1]

OK, i've read through your post a few times, and there are a couple of things that confuse me.

What if... whoever now "owns" the laptop can try to gain entry into my computer under the common network.

I take it that you mean a hacker who has installed software on your system, as you said the laptop belongs to your brother. If someone has control of the laptop, and it's connected to your PC via a network, it's possible that they can access any shared folders. You should try to prevent people taking control of the laptop in the first place!

If you've gotten rid of the viruses on your system, and it sounds like you have, you should move on to tackling spyware. Download and run Spybot Search and Destroy, and Adaware and delete everything they find. You should also install a firewall on the laptop.

At worst, virus problems can usually be fixed with a format, although there are usually easier ways! No need to worry about the situation too much. In answer to your other question, porn sites are the #1 source of viruses.

I take it you are asking how to remove all the viruses/malware from the laptop? Once you've done these steps, you're usually pretty safe. Afterwards, you can always post a Hijack This log in the security forum, and we'll see if there's anything left.

BTW, this should probably be moved to the security forum.