A software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer.
163
votes
15answers
48k views
How do I get rid of malicious spyware, malware, viruses or rootkits from my PC?
What should I do if my Windows computer seems to be infected with a virus or malware?
What are the symptoms of an infection?
What should I do after noticing an infection?
What can I do to get rid of ...
94
votes
25answers
8k views
How can I make a Windows PC bullet-proof for home users? [closed]
I realize that virus-proof on a Windows PC is far fetched, but in the interest of keeping time spent as the "family-tech-support" to a minimum, I am looking for ideas to lock a computer down to the ...
87
votes
5answers
2k views
Why the heck does NTFS allow this?
You can hide any file inside of another file just by typing:
type sol.exe > container.txt:sol.exe
and to run the file hidden file just use:
start c:\hide\container.txt:sol.exe
But the crazy ...
69
votes
15answers
16k views
Can AVI files contain a virus?
I'm downloading an AVI file via a torrent, but my anti-virus detects something. Is it possible that the AVI file contains a virus?
It is quite weird since the torrent has many positive reviews.
50
votes
7answers
5k views
My webcam just came on “out of the blue”
I have a Microsoft LifeCam HD sitting atop my monitor. Today, completely out of the blue, its light came on -- I was simply browsing the web (in Chrome) when it happened. After about 5 minutes the ...
23
votes
12answers
2k views
How can I explain what a computer virus is to people who are not familiar with computers and programming?
I have to teach a group of non-CS students what computer viruses are. The course material contains only definitions and some details about what those viruses do. But those things are known to everyone ...
21
votes
5answers
16k views
Can a virus from a virtualbox vm affect the host computer?
Can a virus from a VirtualBox VM affect the host computer?
18
votes
4answers
796 views
What are ways to prevent files with the Right-to-Left Override Unicode character in their name (a malware spoofing method) from being written or read?
What are ways to avoid or prevent files with the RLO (Right-to-Left Override) Unicode character in their name (a malware method to spoof filenames) from being written or read in a Windows PC?
More ...
16
votes
8answers
7k views
Virtual Machine and Virus
I have a requirement for which I have to get online without protection (firewall, anti-virus). At the same time, I don't want to risk getting infected with viruses.
If I install a virtual machine ...
14
votes
5answers
7k views
Is my host machine completely isolated from a virus-infected virtual machine?
If I am running a Windows 7 virtual machine on a Windows 7 host using
VMWare or VirtualBox (or anything else) and the virtual machine is completelly
overloaded with viruses and another malicious code, ...
14
votes
6answers
3k views
How can visiting a webpage infect your computer?
My mother's computer recently became infected with some sort of rootkit. It began when she received an email from a close friend asking her to check out some sort of webpage. I never saw it, but my ...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
How to know if your computer is hit by a dnschanger virus?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is on the final stage of its Operation Ghost Click, which strikes against the menace of the
DNSChanger virus and trojan. Infected PCs running the ...
12
votes
8answers
3k views
Can a virus melt the CPU?
I was just wondering if a virus could melt a CPU by altering te voltage in the bios. :)
(and no, I'm not planning on making that kind of a virus...)
12
votes
1answer
514 views
Why shouldn't we open an image in an email?
Most email clients do not display an image by default in the content of an email.
But I don't understand this yet. How can displaying image job attack the computer?
12
votes
6answers
7k views
Why can I get a virus or trojan from visiting a website?
I have seen these a lot lately. You click the link, and instant trojan. No need to download or anything.
How is this possible? Is there a way I can scan the links before visiting to make sure I ...
11
votes
5answers
11k views
Can system restore remove virus from the computer?
Can a system restore to a past time remove the virus from the computer?
11
votes
2answers
937 views
How to be certain you don't have a virus when anti-virus scanners find nothing malicious? (Windows 7)
I recently spent many hours troubleshooting a laptop that could not connect to the internet. The laptop exhibited no other unnatural behavior, and so my first thoughts were to try connecting to other ...
8
votes
17answers
338 views
How do I help somebody that asks me how to fix a PC with a virus?
As a developer, I'm always asked this by friends, family, family members of friends, friends of family members, friends who are in families of friends, and enemies. Because you know, I'm the guy that ...
8
votes
5answers
489 views
Jump drive with a virus
If I have a flash drive that I think may have a virus on it, but also has some important tax stuff on it, is there a way I can get at the files without endangering my computer?
8
votes
7answers
5k views
Can a virus infect an ISO file?
I feel that it's going to be very difficult for a virus to infect an ISO file. What's your experience? Have you seen it happening ever? Is it not nearly unlikely?
I ask because I've just found that ...
8
votes
4answers
310 views
Detecting damage done by virus
This morning after I went to college, a virus infected my PC without any user interaction at my end. When I came home my computer was completely frozen and infected with lots of trojans. I have not ...
8
votes
1answer
334 views
Ever heard of a Windows service called 'darkness'?
Is it a malware? The computer has been diagnosed with some viruses.
I've tried looking here but haven't found any information about it yet.
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Security threat caused by Dropbox?
Recently I received a security threat alert triggered by Dropbox, as seen in the screenshot below:
What happened here? Or this is a false alert from Microsoft Security Essentials?
7
votes
2answers
775 views
How do I browse a hard drive that has viruses?
I'm going to be connecting a notebook SATA drive to my computer via USB. This drive may be faulty so it may not work at all, however before it went supposedly "bad" it had a virus on it.
My computer ...
7
votes
5answers
211 views
What is the difference between a Virus and Spyware?
Is the distinction largely semantic? (I.e., Spyware collects information and incidentally slow your computer down, Viruses are designed to malicious?
7
votes
4answers
315 views
How can I be in danger from viruses and malware?
I have been reading here (in superuser) some questions about the necessity of antivirus software in Windows and some doubts arise.
As far as i know (and imagine) virus software can only be harmful if ...
7
votes
2answers
236 views
What happens if you install an antivirus program with another already installed? [duplicate]
Antivirus software always warns that any other antivirus currently installed should be uninstalled to avoid serious problems. From what I understand, one program may see another AV as a potential ...
7
votes
2answers
387 views
Why do scan results of hacked/hacker applications always indicate infection? [closed]
Whenever I scan a patch, keygen or a hacked application (using an online scanner service which scans with 20+ different antivirus software) the results always say that the file is infected. Do hackers ...
7
votes
6answers
2k views
Download Virus/Malware Purposefully
Where can I download a virus, work, trojan, etc. for analysis? Yes, I'm actually hunting for malware, rather than keeping it at bay and hiding behind antivirus software and firewalls. I plan to ...
7
votes
2answers
88 views
Malicious Software
I had a program created for me recently and didn't really think about it being executable posing a threat since I pretty much trust the source but not completely. I then thought about the fact that a ...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
Clean up infected computer from viruses [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What to do if my computer is infected by a virus or a malware?
I have a computer which had AVG Free installed from day one.
After several months of operation, it starts ...
6
votes
4answers
6k views
Can a virus corrupt a hard disk?
Shorter version:
Hard disk corrupt, vendor claims warranty does not apply since it was "due to a virus" and "problems due to software are not covered under the warranty".
Longer version: My Dell ...
6
votes
3answers
608 views
How do I tell if there are unwanted remote guests on my computer? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What to do if my computer is infected by a virus or a malware?
Why do I always find the strangest programs and the strangest text files all the time? All kinds of weird ...
6
votes
3answers
3k views
Windows 7 virus removed shortcuts and folder permisions
A friend's machine has become infected with a virus which seems to have messed up his Windows 7 set up quite a bit. This computer only has one user. When he logs in all desktop icons are gone and all ...
6
votes
2answers
81 views
What can I do about a virus that's affecting my relatives even though they're in different places?
In the last week, I have had two family members contact me about possible viruses on their machines. The cases involve different machines in different geographic locations. The only similarities are ...
6
votes
1answer
121 views
Fairly new drive has high usage but slow speed. Whole system running hot
I originally suspected malware, because my pointer skips and my system gets slower and slower by day. I recently had a reg entry get messed up for no reason. But after talking with some people in chat ...
5
votes
12answers
3k views
Lightweight virus scan for win XP [closed]
I have an older machine (athlon 1500+, 1.5Gb RAM) running XP on which I not currently running an on access virus scanner. I do scheduled scans with clamwin and malware bytes. I would like to find a ...
5
votes
4answers
3k views
A virusproof (ransomware…) strategy for backup on a NAS?
I bought a NAS to share files and as backup solution.
Recently a netbook got infected by a ransomware. All files on the netbook and most of the file on the NAS were destroyed (the virus shuffles the ...
5
votes
3answers
4k views
Can a Virus Enter via Ubuntu and affect Windows in dual boot?
I have a Windows XP Pro dual booting with Ubuntu Jaunty Jackelope on a single hard drive.
On Windows XP I have a Eset NOD 32 while on Ubuntu I have no antivirus installed.
While working on the ...
5
votes
1answer
5k views
Is It Possible to Spread Virus Through Online Embedded Video?
I am curious about whether it's possible to embed virus in online video ( in the swf and/or flash format)?
Or is it possible to put a virus inside the html5 <video/> tag?
5
votes
2answers
250 views
How can I make totally sure that I don't have a keylogger/trojan/something uploading my personal files to the web?
I got this Antivirus Soft installed. It was awfully annoying and my antiviruses (yes, I have more than one) just didn't do anything. So, now I am afraid they might be compromised or something. I am ...
5
votes
4answers
9k views
SvcHost is taking 100% of CPU. It appears to be either DcomLaunch or TermService - virus?
So my SvcHost is all of a sudden taking 100% of my CPU, and I'd like to figure out which service is responsible for this. Is there any way to differentiate the load being generated by the multiple ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
can a virus execute by itself?
is there any type of viruses can execute by itself after download then on the HDD without clicking on it??
if there is ..... can you refer me to any sites about them?
5
votes
2answers
2k views
How can I recursively clear the “Hidden” file flag on Windows Vista?
A friend's computer was recently infected with a virus.
I hope the virus has been removed successfully. But, it appears that the virus set the "Hidden" flag on most directories and files on the ...
5
votes
4answers
1k views
How do “Powerusers” manually find and remove malware from Windows [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What to do if my computer is infected by a virus or a malware?
I'd like to know what tools and methods are used by the pros to remove malware in Windows. Is HijackThis ...
5
votes
7answers
3k views
UAC being turned off once a day on Windows 7
I have strange problem on my HP laptop. This began to happen recently. Whenever I start my machine, Windows 7 Action Center displays the following warning:
You need to restart your computer for
...
5
votes
2answers
140 views
Almost all of my programs arn't recognized anymore
I had a virus on my computer and was able to remove it, however, now almost all of my programs won't work. Even trying to open freecell pulls up the "select a software to run this in" window. I can't ...
5
votes
2answers
5k views
How to scan and remove MBR viruses?
Once I read that the Windows 7 installation disc could clean an infected MBR. I also found an article that suggested one tool to scan the MBR for viruses. And I also read that one MBR virus could ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
PageRage found mysteriously on my system [closed]
It has been ages since the last time I got a virus, maybe 10 years. I'm a sensitive user and I know what a "double click" actually means.
Some minutes ago I've seen my Google searches, on both Chrome ...
5
votes
2answers
655 views
All folders in all drives are set to read only on Windows XP and can't be changed
I am using windows XP and all of my folders on all drives are now read only. When I remove the read only check, it gets set back to read only. Why?
I cannot write any file from my flex application. ...
