AVG and virus/worms

corsair · 10-29-2006, 01:25 AM

Hello everyone:)
This is a query concerning a mail I got.Well,to begin at the beginning, I am using AVG free edition on my puter.(It takes a lot of time-more'n an hour-to test my entire puter although I have seen Norton doing the test in about 10-15 mins.)Anyway,when I do a complete check,AVG shows me a virus and a trojan both of which it cannot heal.And today,while checking my mail i came across a mail from "secur@elamex.com"(wonder who that is?) saying I have a worm on my puter which is sending infected mails to people.And it has an attachment called "update KB7237_x86.exe".Should I try running that exe?Or should I change my antivirus program?Somebody please do help,I dont want to end up having people get infected through my mails.Haaaaaaaaalp!

**devil lady** · 10-29-2006, 01:58 AM

What ever you do I wouldn't open or run that exe until you are given the all clear.
Go to the HJT forum here http://www.techsupportforum.com/security-center/virus-trojan-spyware-help/
Read the guide first http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=15968
Then post a log in the forum so someone can check it for you.

~~Girderman~~ · 10-30-2006, 08:44 PM

Sometimes AVG cannot "heal" a file because it is compressed into a zip or rar file, and sometimes the file is locked.

In those cases, I always manually delete the file no matter how difficult, in order to avoid situations as you descrive.

You can try for a manual delete in Safe Mode, or if that fails I use a program called "unlocker", which will mark the file for deletion at next re-boot. Other people use "killbox" which also works.

However, I have found some files/folders that can only be deleted by booting from a (DOS) floppy and doing it in (real) DOS. But an infected file should never be ignored.

Incoming mail from an unknown source may be infected, but is not necessarily a sign of YOUR OWN infection. More than likely someone else's computer is part of a 'bot net and is sending you mail as a result. There's not much you can do about that. However, you do want to make sure that you are not part of a 'bot net, and distributing spam and infected mail to everyone in your address book.

AVG is much fast than Symantec. There are selectable settings in both programs for what does & does not get scanned. My guess is that your AVG scans are taking a long time because your's is set to scan "ALL" files instead of "infectable" files.

If scan time is a big issue, Ewido is also a very good program and you can set it to scan memory, registry, system, all and/or within compressed files, depending on what you want and how much time you have.

Or, you can (like I do) leave the computer to run 24/7 and schedule AVG to scan at 3:00 am. I run all my "maintenance" at night. AVG & Ewido, plus Diskeeper.

corsair · 11-05-2006, 01:10 AM

Hello:)
Ma'am, I'll go over and post my HJT in the forum as you have directed.
Sir,yes, I am scanning "all" files.Thought that was the best option but um you dont think that's really necessary?And about the spam,I actually dont have an address book activated.Maybe the worm can scan for addresses of senders in mail in my inbox?(I frankly, dont know)

10-29-2006, 01:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
corsair Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 458 OS: windows XP home edition	AVG and virus/worms Hello everyone:) This is a query concerning a mail I got.Well,to begin at the beginning, I am using AVG free edition on my puter.(It takes a lot of time-more'n an hour-to test my entire puter although I have seen Norton doing the test in about 10-15 mins.)Anyway,when I do a complete check,AVG shows me a virus and a trojan both of which it cannot heal.And today,while checking my mail i came across a mail from "secur@elamex.com"(wonder who that is?) saying I have a worm on my puter which is sending infected mails to people.And it has an attachment called "update KB7237_x86.exe".Should I try running that exe?Or should I change my antivirus program?Somebody please do help,I dont want to end up having people get infected through my mails.Haaaaaaaaalp!

10-29-2006, 01:58 AM	#2 (permalink)
devil lady Tech, Design Team Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Tasmania, Australia Posts: 962 OS: XP SP2 My System	What ever you do I wouldn't open or run that exe until you are given the all clear. Go to the HJT forum here http://www.techsupportforum.com/security-center/virus-trojan-spyware-help/ Read the guide first http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=15968 Then post a log in the forum so someone can check it for you. __________________ . HiJackThis Everest Home Edition Ad Aware Spybot S & D Ewido online scan Spyware Blaster

10-30-2006, 08:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
~~Girderman~~ Troubled Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,096 OS: XP Pro	AVG & Healing... Sometimes AVG cannot "heal" a file because it is compressed into a zip or rar file, and sometimes the file is locked. In those cases, I always manually delete the file no matter how difficult, in order to avoid situations as you descrive. You can try for a manual delete in Safe Mode, or if that fails I use a program called "unlocker", which will mark the file for deletion at next re-boot. Other people use "killbox" which also works. However, I have found some files/folders that can only be deleted by booting from a (DOS) floppy and doing it in (real) DOS. But an infected file should never be ignored. Incoming mail from an unknown source may be infected, but is not necessarily a sign of YOUR OWN infection. More than likely someone else's computer is part of a 'bot net and is sending you mail as a result. There's not much you can do about that. However, you do want to make sure that you are not part of a 'bot net, and distributing spam and infected mail to everyone in your address book. AVG is much fast than Symantec. There are selectable settings in both programs for what does & does not get scanned. My guess is that your AVG scans are taking a long time because your's is set to scan "ALL" files instead of "infectable" files. If scan time is a big issue, Ewido is also a very good program and you can set it to scan memory, registry, system, all and/or within compressed files, depending on what you want and how much time you have. Or, you can (like I do) leave the computer to run 24/7 and schedule AVG to scan at 3:00 am. I run all my "maintenance" at night. AVG & Ewido, plus Diskeeper.

11-05-2006, 01:10 AM	#4 (permalink)
corsair Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 458 OS: windows XP home edition	Hello:) Ma'am, I'll go over and post my HJT in the forum as you have directed. Sir,yes, I am scanning "all" files.Thought that was the best option but um you dont think that's really necessary?And about the spam,I actually dont have an address book activated.Maybe the worm can scan for addresses of senders in mail in my inbox?(I frankly, dont know)