Posts: 5928
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 19, 2010 12:02 PM            

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beware! an aggressive virus which masquerades as virus protection! and calls itself XP INTERNET SECURITY ... it looks very official and mimics MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS in appearance.

i am currently in the process of removing this little bugger from my computer. fortunately something about it rang alarm bells and i didn't actually go into my computer or respond to it but it will shut down your existing protection and is VERY hard to remove.

just wanted to let you all know in case it comes knocking at your door

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Posts: 1951
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 19, 2010 03:54 PM            

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kat,
Same thing happened to me, only I have Vista so the thing was disguised as "Windows Vista Security" and looked really official.
I only got it after I installed Microsoft Security Essentials. Makes me wonder if MSE has some hole or vulnerability that hackers are now freely exploiting. I loaded Avast!, AVG and Malwarebytes to get rid of it.

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posted April 19, 2010 03:59 PM              

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they keep getting smarter. some super smart kid paid big bucks BY mircosoft to create viruses they then can sell software to get rid of, what a racket. it sounds similar to the 2010 professional virus thing i had, that disabled my avg, malwarebytes and spybot... only microsoft security essentials got rid of it. hope you get it worked out soon kat, it is so frustrating.

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Posts: 5928
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 20, 2010 02:41 PM            

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well microsoft security essentials worked on what my daughter's machine contracted, but malwarebytes along with some agressive action on the part of my tech friend; avast! reinstallation ( it was shut down by the intruder) seem to have worked. we will see...

the interesting thing about this one was that IT saved me more trouble (identity theft etc) by blocking me from accessing my machine at all!! so it got no access to any of my private info, though i never use the laptop for sensitive stuff anyway because i don't have a secure connection yet. so i think it's all taken care of now.

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posted April 20, 2010 04:22 PM              

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.. Web hit by hi-tech crime wave ..
~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/technology/8630160.stm ~

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Posts: 529
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 20, 2010 07:52 PM            

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Friends of mine reported the same...

they passed this link to me... perhaps it might help???
http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor-antivirus/?ref=google_trojans&gclid=CO6d6tKdk6ECFSI55QodmxEG5Q

Link for Virus … computer…

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Posts: 5928
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 20, 2010 08:49 PM            

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yes apparently this one is all the rage right now! seems to be sent packing...

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Posts: 2761
From: Ohio
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 24, 2010 07:21 AM            

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I think this just downloaded itself to my computer. I turned the whole thing off, when I realized I couldn't stop it from doing its things (some sort of official-looking scan), but it tried to warn me out of opening Firefox.

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Posts: 2761
From: Ohio
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 24, 2010 07:24 AM            

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oops.

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Posts: 2761
From: Ohio
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 24, 2010 07:28 AM            

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I've gone into the Windows Task manager, and clicked "end process" on something called mrl.exe, that has been a part of my computer for only eighteen minutes.

*edit. and it showed up again, as ave.exe. I deleted my antivirus, just after my birthday, to see it the update was giving my computer problems, and have had trouble re-installing it since then... damn it. I'm trying to install Avira, and this pops up.

I hope this is working - it allowed me to open up the program and start a scan: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-antivirus-vista-2010

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Posts: 5928
From:
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 24, 2010 09:38 AM            

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teasel my mate had to put us in safe mode. malwarebytes worked well for my virus, plus a bunch of other stuff i really don't know what he did, but he had to put it in safe mode first because the virus, just kept intruding when we tried to do ANYthing on the computer...if you know someone who does a LOT of comp tech work or is a tech, probably best to get some help... tho maybe you're better at this stuff than i....

any way mine is doing well now..

malwarebytes.org is the address for the cure i think!

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Posts: 2761
From: Ohio
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 24, 2010 09:56 AM            

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Thank you!

I have it running, but I may have shot myself in the foot, thinking I was being clever and shutting down its 'permissions' from part of the computer (before I found this page). it's supposed to be running whilst these programs run. Installing FixReg (from an external device) allowed me to open up MalwareBytes and Spybot. They haven't found anything so far, despite this mrm.exe running somewhere on here.

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Posts: 2761
From: Ohio
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 26, 2010 07:52 PM            

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Bumping, because this put my computer out of commission again earlier. I disconnected my wireless, so that it couldn't get it all downloaded, but it got enough installed on there. I'm glad the links were here to go back to, and hope the same fixes still work.

I was on Myspace at the time, and I think I was there when it happened in April.

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Posts: 3720
From: Columbus, GA USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted December 27, 2010 06:20 PM            

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It hides from the Spybot/AdAware type programs. It's a clever little bug.

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"The stars which shone over Babylon and the stable in Bethlehem still shine as brightly over the Empire State Building and your front yard today. They perform their cycles with the same mathematical precision, and they will continue to affect each thing on earth, including man, as long as the earth exists." Linda Goodman

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