Results 1 to 14 of 14

Thread: What is the worst PC infection you've seen ....

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    AU
    Posts
    173
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post
    • ANZAC_ELITE's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Foxconn Black Ops
      • CPU:
      • E8600 @ 4.25GHz
      • Memory:
      • 4GB Kingston HyperX PC3 13000 @1600MHz
      • Storage:
      • WD 320 + 500 SATA II
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Asus 9800GTX
      • PSU:
      • Antec TruePower Trio 650W
      • Case:
      • Thermaltake Sonata
      • Operating System:
      • Vista x64 SP1 / Win7 x64 RC
      • Monitor(s):
      • BenQ 21.5" LCD
      • Internet:
      • 1500/256

    What is the worst PC infection you've seen ....

    I received a call from a pc illiterate friend last night. They have recently got on the net, their pc was running very poorly and he asked me to have a look. It's an old box, so old specs are immaterial, running 98se, so I went to look.

    Results were: 95 Trojans, 2 viruses and 487 spyware.

    It's wonder the poor thing was running at all. Got that out and going back to defrag etc and general clean up tonight.


    He now has AV (AVG 7) and spyware detection (Spybot S&D and Adaware SE)

    Also Trendmicro Housecall and Panda online scan are in the favourites folder.

  2. #2
    I'm just looking Tifosi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    127.0.0.1
    Posts
    843
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    5 times in 4 posts
    • Tifosi's system
      • Motherboard:
      • DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR
      • CPU:
      • AMD64 Venice 3200 s939
      • Memory:
      • 2x 1GB DDR400 Corsair XMS
      • Storage:
      • OCZ Vertex 2.5" 64GB SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Geforce G210T / Geforce 7800GT
      • PSU:
      • ?
      • Case:
      • Lian Li PC-V1110
      • Operating System:
      • Ubuntu 12.04
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2405FPW
      • Internet:
      • VM
    I think the worst infection I have seen is Windows 95... it's just dire.

    On a more serious note I've been on systems that crtl+alt+del don't work and I can't even access Task Manager... total re installs!

  3. #3
    Senior Member joshwa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Sheffield, UK
    Posts
    4,842
    Thanks
    123
    Thanked
    67 times in 62 posts
    • joshwa's system
      • Motherboard:
      • PC Chips M577 AT/ATX
      • CPU:
      • AMD K6-2 500Mhz
      • Memory:
      • 128mb PC100 SDRAM
      • Storage:
      • 8GB Fujitsu
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 AGP (16mb)
      • PSU:
      • ATX 500watt
      • Case:
      • Midi Tower AT
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 98 SE
      • Monitor(s):
      • 22" TFT Widescreen
    a friend of mine found about 4000 viruses! (+ loads of spyware/adware) They didn't have any anti-virus software installed.

  4. #4
    Senior Trouble Maker muddyfox470's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    moving to Suffolk
    Posts
    3,103
    Thanks
    104
    Thanked
    46 times in 39 posts
    • muddyfox470's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Abit I-N73HD
      • CPU:
      • E4500
      • Memory:
      • 4Gb PC6400 Corsair ?
      • Storage:
      • 2 x Seagate 7200.12 500Gb and 1 x Hitachi 7k1000.b 750gb
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Powercolor 4850
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX520W
      • Case:
      • Silverstone SG-01e
      • Monitor(s):
      • Fujitsu D22W-1
      • Internet:
      • BT Home
    but its the easy way to convert the people with the 'it won't happen to me syndrome'

    you learn the hard way!
    Mac fancier > white macbook base spec .................. CS: muddyfirebang

  5. #5
    Flak Monkey! Dorza's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    UK - South Wales
    Posts
    1,762
    Thanks
    34
    Thanked
    17 times in 15 posts
    • Dorza's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5B Deluxe - WiFi
      • CPU:
      • Q6600 @ 3.06Ghz
      • Memory:
      • 2GB Crucial
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Samsung SpinPoint
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Geforce 9600GT
      • PSU:
      • Cosair HX520W
      • Case:
      • LianLi something something or other
      • Monitor(s):
      • Eizo FlexScan S1910 (1280*1024)
      • Internet:
      • 2mb Virgin (when they want to give me that: else 1mb)
    My sisters laptop. Almost had a heat attack when i nicked it off her for 10 mins. Jam packed full of spyware and god knows how many trojans. So bad i couldnt even run the anti spyware programs. No wonder says its slow and bloated. It will have to be formatted, nothing can be done with it.

    Next to this it has to be my mates computers. Most of them dont even have firewalls.

  6. #6
    www.5lab.co.uk
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    6,406
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    i dont have a firewall, or any antivirus, and i never have. simply sitting behind a router and applying some commen sence (which is, indeed, something that novices seem incapable of) is all i need.. never had a virus in me life
    hughlunnon@yahoo.com | I have sigs turned off..

  7. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Cumbria/Preston Uni
    Posts
    81
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by 5lab
    never had a virus in me life

    Youve tempted fate now lol

  8. #8
    Senior Member ajbrun's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    York, England
    Posts
    4,840
    Thanks
    4
    Thanked
    25 times in 13 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by 5lab
    i dont have a firewall, or any antivirus, and i never have. simply sitting behind a router and applying some commen sence (which is, indeed, something that novices seem incapable of) is all i need.. never had a virus in me life
    How do you know that you've never had a virus before if you don't have an anti virus?

  9. #9
    Senior Member Kezzer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    4,863
    Thanks
    12
    Thanked
    5 times in 5 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by 5lab
    i dont have a firewall, or any antivirus, and i never have. simply sitting behind a router and applying some commen sence (which is, indeed, something that novices seem incapable of) is all i need.. never had a virus in me life
    I'm glad someone else sees the light! At uni i have to have a software firewall installed but i don't use any AV software. Firefox + Thunderbird + common sense = no viruses, no spyware, no adaware etc.

    I really do wonder how people manage to get it sometimes. At home my routing system is my firewall so i have no firewall or AV software installed in any of the clients and still no viruses etc.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Kezzer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    4,863
    Thanks
    12
    Thanked
    5 times in 5 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by ajbrun
    How do you know that you've never had a virus before if you don't have an anti virus?
    You'd know, most people do I've had one virus in my time and i don't use AV software. I got MSBlast.exe which was an obvious one and easy to get unfortunately

  11. #11
    Chaos Monkey Apex's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Huddersfield
    Posts
    4,528
    Thanks
    957
    Thanked
    233 times in 163 posts
    • Apex's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Z87M-PLUS
      • CPU:
      • Intel i5-4670K
      • Memory:
      • 32 GiB
      • Storage:
      • 14 TiB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • R9 480X 8Gib
      • PSU:
      • 750
      • Case:
      • Core View 21
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGFA
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb nTL Cable
    I have only just put sygate and avg7 back on after 7 months of not having any on.



  12. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    W Yorkshire
    Posts
    5,691
    Thanks
    85
    Thanked
    15 times in 13 posts
    • XA04's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI X570-A Pro
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 5 3600
      • Memory:
      • Corsair 2x 8gb DDR 4 3200
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Serpent M.2 SSD & 4TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Palit RTX 2060
      • PSU:
      • Antec Truepower 650W
      • Case:
      • Fractcal Meshify C
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • iiyama 34" Curved UWQHD
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 100mb Fibre
    about 2 years ago i cleared a friends computer of viruses and trojans, about 2000 were found, funny thing is, he thought he was safe because he was running norton antivirus, 1) it was a very old version, 2) it wasnt even updated, at all. not to mention the viruses obviously corrupted it.

    one more thing, norton is complete ****e, end of.

  13. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    238
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked
    4 times in 4 posts
    • Boogle's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Rampage Formula
      • CPU:
      • Intel Q9450
      • Memory:
      • 4GB PC-8500 G.Skill
      • Storage:
      • Samsung F1 1TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • XFX Radeon 5870
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX620
      • Case:
      • Coolermaster ACTS840
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 2707WFP + 2x Dell 2708WFP
      • Internet:
      • 4Mbit ADSL Aquiss
    I had a firewall (hardware AND software) and AVG and still got a virus. It came from a friend's MSN transfer. I scanned it with AVG (fully updated), didn't detect anything, but I knew something was wrong when programs stopped loading up...

    A security friend directed me to the Norton AV online scan where it picked up the virus, a paticularly nasty one that likes to delete system files, and so forth. I manually removed it and restored the lost files in system recovery console.

    Just because you don't think you have a virus doesn't mean you don't have one. Its very short-sighted to say being sensible and having 'common' (spelt wrong more than once above) sense will stop all viruses. The worst viruses will never let you know you have a virus, since they collect information and let remote users control/use your computer at will.

    Either way, I still have my firewalls, but I use AVK Extendia Pro as my scanner since it has a detection rate higher than all other scanners in most tests (Kaspersky is usually in the same position, which isn't surprising since they share the same engine).

    To the people with no scanners: How do you KNOW you don't have a virus if you don't have a scanner? No symptoms? That could be indicitive of a much worse virus...

    To the people with AVG/Norton/McAffee: You feel secure in the knowledge that you have a 'popular' scanner. These 3 vary wildly in tests, getting from 50% - 80% detection rates. Compare this to AVK/Kaspersky that always get over 90%...

    To me: Just cause I have a nice scanner doesn't mean I don't have a virus. Always have to be cautious, and always have a software firewall. While software firewalls aren't the most effective, they do usually notify you of programs accessing the network when they shouldn't be. I've caught a trojan through that method on my sister's PC.

  14. #14
    Gordy Gordy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Bristol
    Posts
    3,805
    Thanks
    63
    Thanked
    72 times in 50 posts
    Highest I've ever seen was 2000 viruses on a single machine. It was a blooming nightmare

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Ross searches for 'worst film ever'
    By ReDOcToBeR in forum Consumer Electronics
    Replies: 70
    Last Post: 27-11-2003, 12:15 PM
  2. The WORST seat you have ever sat in
    By Zak33 in forum Automotive
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 10-11-2003, 02:04 PM
  3. novaboy on britains worst driver
    By 5lab in forum Automotive
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 04-10-2003, 07:53 AM
  4. the 12 worst kung fu dvd of all time 8.99
    By prehensile in forum Retail Therapy and Bargains
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 25-08-2003, 09:45 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •