What's up doc

[undsputed]

    Hey, if you remember, I posted a topic about some problems I was having related to my computer (not dune).  I have since acquired Norton antivirus and identified several infected files which appear to be a trojan called JS.SEEKER and also VBS.PassOn.  All the files targeted appear to be related to the internet explorer browser.  The files could not be repaired, but the system recomended I quarintine the files, so I did.  I was hoping you could say a little something about how to remove them from the system.  This is the first time I have dealt with viruses and I will check around, such as the Norton site, but any comments are welcome (including people other than Nyar).  Thanks!

[Nyarlathotep]

I already can predict the replies to my advice ;D

Format, format and format.

Th eonly reason to get rit of the virus if you ask me, as anti virus programs can't delete or clear the files, that's the only option I would go for.

What you could do is try to delete the infected files and re-install the programs from which you deleted the files..

Remember to try and locate the source of the virus (hence why I said format)..

Good luck !

[jacobdouds]

Oorr, you could not format, and download an anti-trojan thingy. I don't know where from, but I have tons on my computer.

[undsputed]

    I followed the site's instructions which basically led me to delete the infected files (8 of them).  Format sounds like a lot of work and that I should probably know what I'm doing before screwin with it :)  The trojan apparently was designed only to disrupt the starting home page and other explorer related issues.  I was worried I deleted some important file but haven't noticed any problems as of yet.

    In the process, I learned an important lesson about system care at only a cheap price (damage wise)......guess I was lucky.  There are some viruses that I think could have been a lot harder to deal with.  Thanks for the tips guys, I appreciate it.  I am definitely going to keep on eye on upgrades and new purchases of anti-virus software.

    One last thing, however.  The virus still wouldn't explain the warnign I get when I start my computer.  The one that tells me to backup hard drive info., hard drive failure may occur.  It also includes a name....something like quantum fireball.  I run a HP Pavilion 8570C, 450mhz, 19gb hard drive with around 200MB of ram and a 32MB S3Savage4 video card.  If there are any thoughts on that or perhaps someone has seen this error before, feel free to say something.

[Nyarlathotep]

Did you have anything installed from Norton before (any older version of Norton anti virus) ?

I've seen that error message being generated by Norton programs (I believe anti virus). If I'm right, it could have several meanings and causes. I know that a few versions caused this error, due to a bug.

Other causes could be for example that Norton did notice something wrong, but couldn't act in the appropiate way (not updated) and caused a general message to warn you.

Another bug I know of, is that Norton clashed with a certain file (can't remember wich one) and caused this error you discribe.

Also if you update Norton wrongly, it will cause this message as well. Note that any of the explanation above has nothing to do with the kind of harddrive your having, it could happen on any brand of harddrive...

[undsputed]

The message began appearing a little under two months ago.  Norton has only been on my system for under a week.  The prior anti-virus was McAfee which came with the computer 3 years ago and had not been updated.  Mcafee wasn't able to detect the virus I had but Norton nailed it immediaely (2002 version).  

[Nyarlathotep]

It's not a message of McAfee, I know it from Norton.

And no wonder that McAfee didn't detect the virus, as it's program was 3 years old..

Let me know if you receive the error message again..

[undsputed]

hehe  theres the valuable lesson I learned.  I'll monitot it for a couple days....perhaps cleaning out the virus will help it go away.

[Nyarlathotep]

Alright, happy gaming ;D