What is malware? I had no antivirus program on my computer and suddenly

[applegrove]

microsoft security notified me that I had a growing number of "malware" on my computer. I quickly shut down everything I was doing and bought a program on line that got rid of 90 bad files presto. Some of it was adware I am sure. But what could malware do to my computer and my families computer?

[Kali]

1. start here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=242&topic_id=1314&mesg_id=32540

then ask away http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=242

[applegrove]

2. Thanks.

[pokerfan]

3. potentially, all kinds of nasty stuff

Recording and reporting back your Internet habits, logging and reporting back everything that is typed on the keyboard. Some of your cpu cycles could even be hijacked as part of a botnet for zombie purposes, where your machine is actually used to spread spam and viruses to others.

[applegrove]

4. That last thing, passing on the viruses to my friends and family, was what I was

most concerned with. Thankfully I don't think my email was open when the malware attack happened.

[MattSh]

5. And also...

your computer can be recruited to participate in denial of service attacks, like the one that happened to Wikilieaks a few days ago...

[Lasher]

6. That sounds like malware, pretending to be microsoft security

One particularly nasty infection will do that, then try to get you to pay for security software. You don't need to pay for any antivirus, et. al, software. There's plenty of free stuff that works fine, some of it better than others that cost money.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials (free, of course) as my antivirus software. The rest of my protection comes with windows.

In addition, I keep several programs to run occasionally, or when I suspect an intrusion attempt: Spybot Search & Destroy, Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, and Ccleaner. You can find free downloads with a google search on each. Why do I keep these different programs? Because there are times when one will defeat an infection, while the others will not.

[Phentex]

7. That's what I think happened...

it's all too common to get scared into thinking you got a virus but it'll all go away if you just pay for this handy little program.

[SCantiGOP]

9. It is

I had the same thing. Our IT company said they were hoping I would put in my credit card to pay the $9.99 fee. It kept telling me there was an active attack and my passwords and files were being scanned.

[Quantess]

8. Think Point?

Watch out for Think Point. It's bad news. I picked that up from watching a video clip somewhere. It hijacks your computer and insists that you have viruses, and that you should give ThinkPoint money to remove those viruses. Rest assured, Think Point is the only virus you've got. Clicking on it only makes it harder to get rid of.

[suninvited]

12. when I got thinkpoint it really gave me no option of anything

but clicking on it. It closed my browser windows, refused to close out by clicking on the x in the corner and basically shut me down from doing anything else but clicking on it, even after I tried doing nothing but restarting.

Luckily my daughter had her ipod and I could search and find out how to get rid of the thing before too much damage was done.

ThinkPoint is really nasty!!

[Quantess]

13. I did not click on it, but I still had trouble getting rid of it.

I restarted the computer, switched users, and used firefox browser to look up how to get rid of anoying ThinkPoint. I thought I had successfully gotten rid of it, but weeks lare, I happened to click on a lightbulb icon on the start page, and that triggered the whole ThinkPoint invasion all over again.

I think it's completely gone, now. I'm hoping.

[raccoon]

10. Malware is doubleplusungood. nt

[Swede]

11. CCleaner is a must. Komodo is a free firewall. Avast is a free antivirus.

Download them (or something similar). Run them a couple of times to be sure you are clean.