Rustock.gen! C Thread and Problem

[strobelfamily]

I have not contacted kaspersky.

I basically gave up late last night when I got a phone call from a friend that his wife had a heart attack yesterday.

I spent the entire night on the phone with him and Symantec called me this moring (I've only had about 2 hours of sleep) about the Norton and they are currently working with me to try to fix the problem with their software.

I own both Norton and Kaspersky now so I'll be happier with one of them instead of nothing.

I'll be in touch,
Laura

[strobelfamily]

I now have working version of Norton AV 2007. It took their tech support guy over 2 hours of working on the machine this morning to get it to load. He blamed it on everything from the Ad A-Ware to SpyWare Doctor to HijackThis. I know he's not entirely right but I gave them access to the machine remotely because frankly I was tired of messing with it. I think it might have been NAV 2004's fault for maybe letting a virus thru in the first place.

Right now I know I am missing software because their tech support guy deleted alot of things. What I guess I need now is to know the best way to optomise or to prevent this from ever happening again. Do I need to post a question in a different forum or do you have suggestions?

Thanks,
Laura

[sUBs]

He blamed it on everything from the Ad A-Ware to SpyWare Doctor to HijackThis.

I wouldn't pay much heed to his words. I have seen multiple machines with Norton, Ad-aware & Spyware Doctor onboard; all of them are running trouble free.

It's good to hear that you finally have a working antivirus program onboard. Perhaps you should ask Kaspersky if they would allow you to return the product.


Kindly follow these simple steps in order to keep your computer clean and secure:

1. CLEAR & RESET SYSTEM RESTORE'S CACHE - (System Volume Information folder)
   Go to Start → Run → type control sysdm.cpl,,4 & press Enter
   • Tick on the checkbox - Turn off System Restore on all drives
   • Click Apply
   Turn it back 'On' by unticking the same checkbox & click OK
   
   
   
2. DISABLE THE VIEWING OF SYSTEM FILES
   From Windows Explorer, go to Tools>Folder Options> View tab.
   • Untick - Show hidden files and folder
   • Tick - Hide file extensions for known types
   • Tick - Hide protected operating system files
   Click Yes to confirm & then click OK
   
   
   
3. SECURING INTERNET EXPLORER
   From within Internet Explorer click on the Tools menu and then click on Internet Options.
   • Select the Security tab
     • Click once on the Internet icon so it becomes highlighted.
     • Select Custom Level .
       • Change 'Download signed ActiveX controls' to Prompt
       • Change 'Download unsigned ActiveX controls' to Disable
       • Change 'Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe' to Disable
       • Change 'Installation of desktop items' to Prompt
       • Change 'Launching programs and files in an IFRAME' to Prompt
       • Change 'Navigate sub-frames across different domains' to Prompt
       • When all these changes have been made, click on the OK button.
     • If it prompts you as to whether or not you want to save the settings, press the Yes button.
   • Select OK to exit the Internet Properties page.
   
   
   
4. FIREWALL
   Without a firewall your computer is succeptible to being hacked and taken over. Simply using a Firewall in its default configuration can lower your risk greatly. A tutorial on Firewalls and a listing of some available ones can be found here → http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial60.html
   
   
   
5. Microsoft Windows Update → http://www.windowsupdate.com
   Visit regularly. This will ensure your computer always has the latest security updates. If there are new updates to install, install them immediately, reboot your computer, and revisit the site until there are no more critical updates.
   
   
   
6. SPYBOT - SEARCH & DESTROY
   Download and install Spybot - Search & Destroy with its TeaTimer option. This will provide realtime spyware & hijacker protection on your computer alongside your virus protection. You should also scan your computer with the program on a regular basis just as you would an antivirus software. A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here → http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial43.html
   
   
   
7. SPYWAREBLASTER
   SpywareBlaster prevents the installation of malicious ActiveX, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software. Blocks spyware/tracking cookies & restricts the actions of potentially unwanted sites.
   
   Unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background. A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here → http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial49.html
   
   
   
8. IE-SPYAD
   IE/Spyad places more than 4000 dubious websites and domains in the IE Restricted list. This severely impair attempts to infect your system. It basically prevents any downloads (Cookies etc) from the sites listed, although you will still be able to connect to the sites. A tutorial on installing this product can be found here http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm

Update all these programs regularly. Make sure you update all the programs I have listed regularly. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new malicious programs are released.

Follow this list and your potential for being infected again will reduce dramatically. Here are some additional utilities that will further enhance your safety.

• http://www.trillian.cc → Trillian or http://www.miranda-im.com → Miranda-IM - These are Malware free Instant Messenger programs which allow you to connect to multiple IM services in one program! (AOL, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, MSN)
  
  
• http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ - Firefox - Use this alternate browser. Whilst Internet Explorer is not a bad browser, almost every exploit crafted is targeted to take advantage of an IE weakness.
  
  
• http://java.com/en/index.jsp - Sun's Java - It's much more secure than Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine.
  
  
• http://toolbar.google.com/ - Google Toolbar - Get the free google toolbar to help stop pop up windows.
  
  
• http://cleanup.stevengould.org/ - CleanUP! - Cleans temporary files from IE and Windows, empties the recycle bin and more. Great tool to help speed up your computer and knock out those nasties that like to reside in the temp folders.
  
  
• http://www.aumha.org/downloads/erunt-setup.exe - ERUNT - A useful freeware utility for users of Windows 2000/XP. It's made up of two parts - ERUNT & NTREGOPT.
  
  ERUNT will create daily complete backups of your computer's Registry. Whilst System Restore does the same thing, a corrupt registry file may prevent Windows from booting & this effectively renders disables System Restore. With ERUNT, you're able to restore the damaged Registry.
  
  NTREGOPT works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch", thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously modified or deleted keys. In other words, it compacts the Registry to a small size which allows Windows to load & perform faster.
  
  
• http://www.winpatrol.com/ -Winpatrol - Download and install the free version of Winpatrol.
  A tutorial for this product is located here: http://www.winpatrol.com/features.html

To find out more information about how you got infected in the first place and some great guidelines to follow to prevent future infections you can read this article by Tony Klein - http://computercops.biz/postlite7736-.html

After doing all these, your system will be optimised against future threats.

It's okay to delete the Hijack This folder in a couple weeks if everything is working okay.
Have a safe & happy computing day.

Please respond to this thread one more time so we can mark this thread as resolved.

[strobelfamily]

I've got the instructions printed off and I'll work on it this evening after everyone is in bed.

THANK YOU 1,000,000,000 times,
Laura