I posted the info below in the thread labeled “Thanks JenM”.
In that thread there was a link to a website about teaching kids to ride a bike. I downloaded and executed the file and ended up with a couple of viruses. Seems the likely place they came from, but of course I can’t be sure. Just wanted to warn anyone who might have visited that thread, and hasn’t gone back.
If anyone has any better computer knowledge than I do (most people) that could shed some light on this, I’d be happy to hear it. Especially if I’m wrong. I know I’m vulnerable to viruses to begin with because I have a cable connection, and I can’t seem to get anyone in my house used to turning off the computer when they are done.
And if anyone knows what this spybot worm does I’d love to understand it better. I’m all paranoid it has credit card information or my online banking password.
Hayley
Quote from “Thanks JenM”:
“Hi Folks,
I just wanted to let you all know that I downloaded that bike riding file and executed it and ended up with a Trojan Horse and the SpyBot worm. I don’t know if they came from the file or not, but I spoke with a computer techie who is a client of my husband and I asked him how I could have acquired the viruses. He asked if I had opened any attachments in email (nope) or clicked on any links in email (nope) or launched any executable files. BINGO!
Like I said, I don’t know if that’s where the viruses came from, and if they did whether they are intentionally there, but beware if you download and launch those files. I’m going to make a separate post about this.
Hayley”
Re: OT, but PLEASE READ!!!!
I’m the one who posted the link. When I bought the product, it came in the form of a videotape rather than a download. If folks are interested, they might check their local libraries to see if a copy could be borrowed. As far as cable connections and viruses, everyone should be running firewall software and antivirus software that is regularly updated. Zone Alarm offers a free version of its firewall that works well for us. You can also purchase fiirewall software from major antivirus manufacturers like Norton and McAffee.
You can go to Download.com and get free trial versions of antivirus and antispyware programs (You need at least one of each).
These free trial versions work for anywhere from a week to a month, so you can get rid of urgent problems and test out the program to see if you want to keep it, then pay for a year.
Spycatcher is really good but takes more space than I have available. Another program that starts with Bit - something or other - also looks promising. I have been using Spyware Doctor which is OK, and I tried Spy Sweeper and think it’s better.
I am trying a new antivirus, Kaspersky, that takes a long time to scan but seems really thorough. The classic antivirus is Norton; it works but it slowed my programs down and messed them up and I finally had to reload all of Windows tonight, so I’d suggest trying the newer ones.
Do get rid of those pesky things right away. They are worse than mice in the house, they breed.
Good luck.