# Help! I've been hijacked! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461 "2008-08-01T04:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/21 "2008-08-01T20:15:39Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Well you would first back up everything like Word documents, e-mail, photos, and music files. Your computer may have come with a restore CD that will restore everything back to the way it came from the factory. But of course be sure you have everything backed up first. Let me go back and ask a basic question; have you tried rebooting? šŸ˜ƒ [/QUOTE] Oh, yeah. This sucker has been rebooted to within an inch of its life. Iā€™ve run Spybot, AVG, a[sup]2[/sup], and the toolbar still says ā€œVIRUS ALERT!ā€ and I still get random new windows opening in my browser, even with Firefox (which is what Iā€™m using now.) I ran all the anti stuff in Safe Mode, then rebooted. The computer is a Dell, so I have all the discs that came with it. Time to start burning some more back-up disks, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/22 "2008-08-01T20:26:04Z")
If you donā€™t mind spending $80 or so, a USB hard drive is a lot easier to back up to than a bunch of CDs/DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/23 "2008-08-01T20:31:22Z")
Thatā€™s going to be the plan. The basic docs and such are already backed up. I just need to back up one hellacious amount of music. I just wish I could retrieve my desktop and such. Drag and drop is so much easier than the alternatives. I canā€™t even get the My Computer icon anymore. Oh, well. I didnā€™t plan on eating this month anyway. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/24 "2008-08-01T20:45:58Z")
If you have the one that says VIRUS ALERT! down by the clock, I guarantee MalWareBytes will remove it. Download it on another computer to a flash drive, and install it from there. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/25 "2008-08-01T20:53:06Z")
[QUOTE=Lazlo] Coincidentally, Iā€™m doing my annual ā€œnuke the entire site from orbitā€ on my PCā€¦ [/QUOTE] Mustā€¦resistā€¦shillingā€¦forā€¦Steven Jobsā€¦ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/26 "2008-08-01T20:53:57Z")
How much music do you need to back up? Get a 300-gig external drive for about $200 and a $29.95 USB adaptor/power supply kit so you can just plug the bare drive straight into your computer. I did this to back up all my stuff from my old PC, and then later when I got the Mac, I was able to copy it all back in again! Much less annoying than burning DVDs or re-ripping CDs. The type of adaptor depends on the type of connector on the hard drive. Newer drives use SATA; older drives use ATA/IDE connectors. Many adaptor kits come with both. My old drive was IDE, so I also had to fiddle with the Master/Slave/Cable Select jumper on the drive (documentation on the adaptor said nothing about this). But when I got it working, it just showed up as a connected USB drive on the desktop. Connect the adaptor cable to the drive, connect the power supply cable to power it up, then plug the USB into the computer, in that order. USB requires that the connecting device be powered on so that it can be recognised. Edit: USB 2.0 is a LOT faster than USB 1.x for copying data, too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/27 "2008-08-01T22:38:30Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] If you have the one that says VIRUS ALERT! down by the clock, I guarantee MalWareBytes will remove it. Download it on another computer to a flash drive, and install it from there. [/QUOTE] That finally did it, I think. Firefox handled the download smoothly, and MalWareBytes found 29 things to destroy. The reboot cleared the ā€œVIRUS ALERT!ā€ from my toolbar, and I have my clock back. My Start Menu is back to normal as well. Thanks, **FI**. Thanks to everybody else, too. From now on itā€™s Firefox. I have to use a PC to be compatible with school, **Stranger**. But thanks for the kind thoughts. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/28 "2008-08-01T23:22:47Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] That finally did it, I think. [/QUOTE] I would recommend running SuperAntiSpyware as well, just to be sure you got everything. If that comes up clean, you are good to go. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/29 "2008-08-01T23:52:55Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] I have to use a PC to be compatible with school, **Stranger**. But thanks for the kind thoughts. šŸ˜ƒ [/QUOTE] Yeah, I have to use a Windows machine for desktop stuff at work, too. And everytime we have a major infection things grind to a halt until i.t. ā€œpushesā€ a half-dozen updates across the global network. Then they follow that up telling us how great Windows is, and try to quash every attempt to use Linux-based servers for webservers, run-boxes, computing clusters, et cetera, even when it costs more and does less. Talk about pulling the temple down on our heads. Iā€™m just glad to be in a closed off little group that has limited contact with the rest of the world. Siberia ainā€™t so bad as long as you bring a case of your own Ukrainian spiced horilka with you. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/30 "2008-08-02T00:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] I would recommend running SuperAntiSpyware as well, just to be sure you got everything. If that comes up clean, you are good to go. [/QUOTE] Clean as a whistle. The only thing it found were a few of my wifeā€™s cookies. Thanks again to everyone. Iā€™m seriously thinking of installing the program we use at school, called DeepFreeze. Nothing gets by that sucker! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/31 "2008-08-02T13:47:16Z")
Good move switching to Firefox. If you donā€™t download and install stuff like mouse cursors and toolbars, you should have no further malware problems. I donā€™t even run anti-virus, just a firewall. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/32 "2008-08-04T22:44:47Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Mustā€¦resistā€¦shillingā€¦forā€¦Steven Jobsā€¦ Stranger [/QUOTE] Shill all you want. I own a Macbook pro as well. šŸ˜‰ Unfortunately, I still need the PC for muh games. ETA: I highly recommend the Firefox addon called NoScript. The initial configuration may be a pain, but youā€™ll be safe from keyloggers and other malware. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/33 "2008-08-05T07:21:27Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Mustā€¦resistā€¦shillingā€¦forā€¦Steven Jobsā€¦ Stranger [/QUOTE] No, please do. Because if Macs were to be more popular than Winboxes, then the fuckers writing virus, malware ASF would switch their efforts to destroying Macboxes and I wouldnā€™t have to spend as much money protecting my machine. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461/34 "2008-08-05T14:11:54Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] No, please do. Because if Macs were to be more popular than Winboxes, then the fuckers writing virus, malware ASF would switch their efforts to destroying Macboxes and I wouldnā€™t have to spend as much money protecting my machine. [/QUOTE] Heh. I have my gripes about Apple and Jobs, too, and I think OS X/Darwin is inherently more secure than Windows OSs with the possible caveat of the hyperrestrictive but obnoxious Vista (although I think OS X still needs a more secure default configuration), but the hardware is generally much better integrated and OS and utitlity features are implemented in a more consistent manner. If someone would make a modern version of the BeBox with a true next generation operating system that worked, I would certainly consider itā€¦even if it were made by Microsoft. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-ive-been-hijacked/458461.md?page=1)