Virus + XP = A Big Pile of BS!

[nujinini]

Hello,

Yes, a virus attack on my XP partition left me with a Broken System! A big pile of a useless machine. 27 viruses all in all!

I will have to make a fresh reinstall of everything. XP plus 5 distros. Darn! Lost all my 7 months worth of data in the Storage Bin. Can't wait to get my hands on a new machine, in a few months or so. I am resolved to make it an all Linux environment. I have to maintain this hybrid I am using now since my family also uses it once in a while.

And yes, I will have to save a little for one of those external HDs to back-up all my work. Indeed, experience they say is the best teacher. Ouch!

Will be tinkering on my machine in the next few days to restore it back to its old glory. I say, something good can still come out of this, I think?

Cheers!

[reed9]

You shouldn't have to reinstall all the distros. Just reinstall windows on its partition. You'll have to fix the grub bootloader afterwards, because windows will overwrite the MBR, but that's easier than reinstalling all that.

[arinlares]

Twenty seven viruses?! In my ten years using computers, I haven't seen a computer taken over like that unless large amounts of porn were involved. I once tried to pirate a program, and ruined a computer with six viruses. Best of luck, but as reed9 said, you don't need to reinstall everything, just Windows.

So, was it porn, software piracy, or music downloads?

[nujinini]

Twenty seven viruses?! In my ten years using computers, I haven't seen a computer taken over like that unless large amounts of porn were involved. I once tried to pirate a program, and ruined a computer with six viruses. Best of luck, but as reed9 said, you don't need to reinstall everything, just Windows.

So, was it porn, software piracy, or music downloads?

Hahaha! I can assure you that it was not Porn

But anyway, a friend told me it can be a BIOS virus... Any idea?

[Drunk_Mexican]

Twenty seven viruses?! In my ten years using computers, I haven't seen a computer taken over like that unless large amounts of porn were involved. I once tried to pirate a program, and ruined a computer with six viruses. Best of luck, but as reed9 said, you don't need to reinstall everything, just Windows.

So, was it porn, software piracy, or music downloads?

I have to say I'm always stunned when I hear people say this. I'm not calling you a liar so don't get me wrong, it's just when I used windows viruses were a common problem for me, in fact I ran windows with more viruses then the OP before I finally got fed up. Viruses is why I first started to experiment with linux and now I only use linux.

[reed9]

Hahaha! I can assure you that it was not Porn

But anyway, a friend told me it can be a BIOS virus... Any idea?

It is possible to install a rootkit into the BIOS, yes. Whether you've been infected with such a thing...well, to my knowledge this has so far been a proof-of-concept thing, and there haven't been any documented cases in the wild.

Here's some more info on why it's hard to do.
BIOS-level rootkit attack scary, but hard to pull off - Ars Technica

[nujinini]

Hi Guys!

Just arrived from the shop and I had to leave my machine for a day or two.

Spent the whole afternoon there. The technicians made a fresh reinstall of XP. Everytime we install the drivers, it would screw up the desktop after we install the graphics video. 4 bit refusing to adjust to 32 bit. When we uninstall the driver, it would revert to its normal looks (32 bit). All drivers are ok except for the graphics.

After we did it twice, and made deductive analysis,(and after consulting the technicians at the neighboring shops,) they concluded that it was the motherboard. They have my baby left for a day or two for some final checks and if it is indeed the board, they are replacing me with a brand new board since it is still under the ONE year warranty (7month old baby). For a moment they thought all the distros I had placed affected the XP.

But anyway, I don't know for sure if its a virus. A friend mentioned the possibility, Another one said that maybe the motherboard really got screwed because it is very sensitive to temperature and could have melted a small connection or something.

Whatever it is, I am just happy that the shop is going to replace it with a new one,for free.

By the way....the 27 viruses I think came from the USB I brought to get drivers got from a shop nearby. Looked like one of those shops down the corner. Trojans etc...

By the way, my laptop only acts up in the XP. All my Linux partitions are performing mighty well. I am now seriously thinking on going Linux all the way when my baby comes home from the shop with a new motherboard. If anybody wants to borrow it, then use Linux! Maybe weaning time for me is done.

Cheers!

[Rubberman]

Well, there are some of us who are of the opinion that WIndows itself is a virus. It (Windows) installs unwanted software on your system, sucks up all its (your computer's) resources, degrades its performance, infects your other devices, spies on you, and then reports back to an unknown/unknowable entity. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, then it may not be Daffy to say it's a duck!

[arinlares]

I have to say I'm always stunned when I hear people say this. I'm not calling you a liar so don't get me wrong, it's just when I used windows viruses were a common problem for me, in fact I ran windows with more viruses then the OP before I finally got fed up. Viruses is why I first started to experiment with linux and now I only use linux.

In my experience, the only way I've seen a computer infested with viruses like that is if it was used for porn, software piracy, or music piracy. I asked half-jokingly, and hopefully what can be taken as non-judgmentally. I have yet to see a computer in my control bring up more than eight or ten viruses on a single scan, scanning every one to four months. I'm still trying to find out what I'm doing right. Maybe it's the fact that I only go on well-known sites (flash games, java games, Google, Wikipedia, etc), and have Avast! Home Edition monitoring every network connection, and Windows Firewall activated, set on the strongest setting (Oddly enough, so-called "techies" I've met who bash Windows Firewall have had computers ruined, too). Honestly, I can't be sure.

[Daniel_B]

I've fixed a lot of computers in my time, an I mean a lot. The only ones that have that many do illegal pirating of software/music and porn (notice the word and instead of or). Porno is usually the main cause. You're a linux user, just do it on your Linux box and live without the virtual**** 5000 software.