I’ve recently gotten a bizarre virus problem that I need some help with.
This morning AVG snagged Sinowal.C lurking on my beautiful computer. I haven’t had a virus since Stoned and I know now where I got it (stupid, stupid!)
Anyhow, I’d been wondering why my firewall was snagging an outgoing connection to a site in Russia yesterday. I guess that was why. I don’t know if the virus actually managed to grab any sensitive information but I do know that whatever it collected never made it out of the computer because I blocked it every time the firewall notified me.
The problem is that in the course of installing and updating all of these rootkit detectors and whatnot, AVG now loads itself well before my firewall, with the result being (what looks to me like) several seconds of unprotected network connection just after boot. Since this is when the goodies get out, I’d like to prevent this from happening.
Is there a way to make Windows XP delay the establishment of a network connection for a predetermined time, or maybe have an event trigger it (like my firewall showing up in the system tray?)
Thanks! If you don’t hear back from me, it means some Russian has changed my password.
LM