How Safe is your Computer!
The other day I received the dreaded message on my computer screen, “A Virus Was Found!” It was not a simple virus, but a Trojan Virus/Worm. I did a complete virus scan of my computer and it immediately found the problem file, and sent it to the virus vault. After all, the message said, “There is no reason to worry, though. . . .” That was easy or so I thought.
Then another message appeared and another one and another one and another one, etc. . . . I immediately ran another scan on my computer. The virus had proliferated itself and infected just about everyone of my execute files on my computer including all of my Windows files. It also imbedded several hundred (not exaggerating) other Trojan viruses on my computer.
What to do! I rebooted my computer in “Safe Mode” and did another complete scan. My virus program found every one of the viruses and deleted them all. Wow, mission accomplished! When I rebooted my computer again, Windows came up but all of my desktop icons were missing. One of the viruses had corrupted my “Explorer.exe” file. Easy fix, I’ll just copy the file from my lap top. I copied the file from my lap top onto a memory stick and downloaded it onto my computer. Windows came up and everything looked good. A couple of minutes later another message came up that another Windows file was corrupted. Easy fix, it worked once so I went to my lap top and copied the other file.
The file I initially copied from my lap top got infected when I downloaded it onto my computer. When I went back to my lap top to download the second file – you guessed it; my lap top now had the Trojan virus. Although my virus program had deleted all of the viruses when I rebooted my computer, they all came back. Now both my main computer and my lap top were infected.
What do I do now! I tried a “System Restore”, but the virus had deleted all of the restore points. I had one saving grace on my main computer. I always back up my computer on a separate hard drive and my last update was three days prior to receiving the virus. I did a complete system restore from my back up program. My system came up with no problems. I ran a virus scan and there were no viruses to be found. I did lose everything I had done during the last three days, but it was better than losing everything.
I wasn’t so lucky with my lap top. I also back up my lap top with an external hard drive, but the last back up file also contained the virus. I had to do a system recovery from the recovery disks that came with my computer. It meant reinstalling Windows and all of my programs over again from scratch. Lucky for me I don’t keep vital files, photos, etc. on my lap top.
After trying to resolve this issue for three days, today both of my computers are virus free and working properly again. I still don’t know how I got the virus on my main computer to start with.
Lessons learned:
- Keep your virus software up to date and scan your system daily.
- Run a malware software program at least once a week for Trojans and Spyware programs.
- Don’t copy files from one computer to another when you have a virus. Duh! Warning, do not do this!
- Always back up your system with an external hard drive or an online service.
I just wish people who develop virus programs would channel their software writing abilities into writing good software programs. I think we would probably have some really good programs out there.
I was really lucky, this time!
Michael Setunsky is the Broker and owner of Michael's Commercial LLC serving the Northern Virginia commercial real estate market. His more than 23 years of experience as a commercial real estate and business broker has earned him the distinction for being one of the top commercial real estate producers in the Mid-Atlantic Region. He also serves on the Mid Atlantic Real Estate Marketing Association's (MAREMA) Board of Directors, and is a Commonwealth of Virginia licensed Instructor. He teaches Pre-licensing, Post Licensing Education, Broker's and Continuing Education courses. Visit his company web site at http://michaelscommercial.com/.
©2009 Michael’s Commercial LLC, All Rights Reserved – How Safe is your Computer! – February 22, 2009
