WWTBAM Bored

One of my sons' computers has contracted the Vondu virus, a fairly nasty one that produces a lot of pop-up ads and is very difficult to get rid of. I've done some online searching and it doesn't seem that there is any really good way of doing away with the virus short of reformatting the hard drive, which my son is loath to do because he's not sure he has the restore disks.

earendel wrote:One of my sons' computers has contracted the Vondu virus, a fairly nasty one that produces a lot of pop-up ads and is very difficult to get rid of. I've done some online searching and it doesn't seem that there is any really good way of doing away with the virus short of reformatting the hard drive, which my son is loath to do because he's not sure he has the restore disks.

You mean the Vundo trojan? Looks like Symantec has a removal tool for this one.

http://www.symantec.com/security_respon ... 99&tabid=3

Or, alternately, a rather involved set of manual removal instructions.

It is funny to me that you would ask for computer help.

It is even funnier to me that I would click on the thread to see if I could help!

Get a black one - my black one is way better than the white one I had before.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

earendel wrote:One of my sons' computers has contracted the Vondu virus, a fairly nasty one that produces a lot of pop-up ads and is very difficult to get rid of. I've done some online searching and it doesn't seem that there is any really good way of doing away with the virus short of reformatting the hard drive, which my son is loath to do because he's not sure he has the restore disks.

You mean the Vundo trojan? Looks like Symantec has a removal tool for this one.

http://www.symantec.com/security_respon ... 99&tabid=3

Or, alternately, a rather involved set of manual removal instructions.

My son said that he had tried the Symantec tool but it hadn't been successful. I don't know whether he'd be up to the task of following the detailed manual instructions.

peacock2121 wrote:It is funny to me that you would ask for computer help.

A man's gotta know his limitations.

Seriously, this is a nasty virus - I don't have problems like this because I keep my anti-virus software up to date and don't go to the types of sites that my son does.

peacock2121 wrote:It is even funnier to me that I would click on the thread to see if I could help!

You never know...

peacock2121 wrote:Get a black one - my black one is way better than the white one I had before.

His current computer is a black one (Dell Dimension 4550).

sorry, then, I have no ideas.

earendel wrote: My son said that he had tried the Symantec tool but it hadn't been successful. I don't know whether he'd be up to the task of following the detailed manual instructions.

Does he live close enough for dear old dad to help? Sounds like he needs another lecture about "safe computing" at the very least!

Sorry, I never even heard of this one before, so that's all the help I can offer.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

earendel wrote: My son said that he had tried the Symantec tool but it hadn't been successful. I don't know whether he'd be up to the task of following the detailed manual instructions.

Does he live close enough for dear old dad to help? Sounds like he needs another lecture about "safe computing" at the very least!

Sorry, I never even heard of this one before, so that's all the help I can offer.

Yes, he does live close - it's the son who works at the same office as elwing. And the lecture actually needs to go to his younger brother, with whom he's sharing an apartment and is most likely the culprit responsible.

Just tell them to quit going to porn sites.....

ulysses5019 wrote:Just tell them to quit going to porn sites.....

Alas, I fear you are not wrong about this, judging from what the one son says about the other one. But he - the younger son (and his wife) also visit other sites, any one of which could be the source of the infection.

You never know...

peacock2121 wrote:
Get a black one - my black one is way better than the white one I had before.


His current computer is a black one (Dell Dimension 4550

).


Well, maybe it's just the switching - tell him to get a white one, instead.

t.

You can try this. I personally have not had to use it so let me know if it works.

http://antispywarebot.com/glossary_deta ... ?ID=133453

or this

http://www.adwarealert.com/glossary_det ... ?ID=133399

Call Dell for a set of recovery CDs and reformat the drive. It is the only way to be sure you got rid of spyware.

goongas wrote:Call Dell for a set of recovery CDs and reformat the drive. It is the only way to be sure you got rid of spyware.

Not necessarily, goongas. I had it hit one of my systems and used a combination of Ad-Aware, Spy Sweeper and Hi-Jack This and managed to eradicate it all. Of course, if you don't have the time or experience to mess with The Registry and such your solution may work best.

goongas wrote:Call Dell for a set of recovery CDs and reformat the drive. It is the only way to be sure you got rid of spyware.

Heck no! I certainly hope you don't give that advice to people you like!