# Okay, I seem to have a virus or malware or something **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183 "2010-07-19T01:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/1 "2010-07-19T01:49:39Z")
I was surfing when suddenly, a Sun Java popup appeared, then disappeared. Then, all my browser windows closed and the computer screen went blank. Nothing happened, so I powered down and up again. Things seemed normal, but task manager wouldn’t come up. Apparently, I did not have the authority to launch it. Then things got strange. A Google search on “no authority for task manager” showed some likely sources, but I couldn’t link through–I kept getting redirected to some search page I’ve never heard of. Manually pasting the address given in Google got me where I needed to be however, and I was able to find out how to regain control of my machine. But all was still not well. Shortly after, all my browser windows disappeared again, and a message appeared: “Your new hardware is installed; reboot to complete installation.” (Or similar.) Huh? I installed no new hardware at all. I did not reboot–who knows what might have happened. And I haven’t rebooted yet. My computer speakers are now also making occasional “click” noises, and they never did before. Something is definitely funny. I’m running Microsoft Security Essentials, and it caught a couple of trojans on the fly, and I’ve just done a Quick Scan, where it caught the Win32/Alureon.H virus. It cleaned the virus–and again, told me to reboot to complete the cleaning. My questions: – Should I reboot, as MS Security Essentials says? Or will this just install the hardware I never installed? – Would a full scan by MS Security Essentials find any other viruses? – What else can I do to take care of the problem? Win XP is my OS, by the way. I did look at the sticky thread, but I’m unsure if anything there would help. If it might, let me know. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/2 "2010-07-19T02:14:30Z")
I’d suggest you restart the computer in safe mode with networking (this means that, as the computer restarts, press the F8 key multiple times until you get a black screen with options – if you get the Windows startup screen, you’re too late – and select “safe mode with networking.”) Then go to [malwarebytes.org](http://malwarebytes.org) and download and install malwarebytes. Run a scan and see what it finds. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/3 "2010-07-19T02:49:45Z")
Hmmm… It didn’t want to let me link to Malwarebytes from Google search results–it kept redirecting me. But I could manually type the URL in the address bar and get there. I’m running a full scan of MS Security Essentials right now, and will try Malwarebytes when that’s done. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/4 "2010-07-19T04:23:23Z")
If you have trouble running the program, rename the file. And, do you have the latest Java? The old versions have a lot of bad security leaks. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/5 "2010-07-19T06:34:13Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Hmmm… It didn’t want to let me link to Malwarebytes from Google search results–it kept redirecting me. But I could manually type the URL in the address bar and get there. Yup, you’ve got malware. This is typical behaviour. Do run your malware checks in Safe Mode with Networking. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/6 "2010-07-19T11:33:19Z")
You have a problem. The Alureon malware frequently installs a rootkit that will render its spyware files invisible to any scanner running under Windows. [Removal instructions can be found here](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-tdss-tdl3-alureon-rootkit-using-tdsskiller). If they don’t work, you are going to need detailed help specific to your computer; I have found the experts at [Bleepingcomputer.com](http://Bleepingcomputer.com) to be very reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/7 "2010-07-19T13:44:01Z")
Thanks, **Fear Itself**. I’ll look into that later today, when I get home from work. Thankfully, for now, I have an older computer that will let me explore your link without being hijacked. (And that I am using to type this.) Again, thanks. I’ll let you know how things go. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/8 "2010-07-19T20:24:18Z")
Get Malwarebytes’ antimalware and install and run it. It’s free and does a pretty good job of getting rid of nastyware. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/9 "2010-07-19T21:07:24Z")
Were you using Internet Explorer? That was the first thing I stopped using when I was still on Windows as my primary OS; I switched to Firefox early on. There were a few public websites that woildn;t work with browsers other than IE, but thankfully that’s very uncommon now. _Internal_ corporate websites with their captive audiences are another thing, as we both know.) I’m assuming you keep up-to-date on Microsoft’s security patches… I’m a little out of the loop on this subject since I switched to a Mac; is Win 7 more secure these days? ---
**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:** [July 19, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/10 "2010-07-19T23:45:18Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I’m a little out of the loop on this subject since I switched to a Mac; is Win 7 more secure these days? The biggest danger recently is from old, unpatched Java and Adobe Reader programs. Both are being heavily exploited by the bad guys. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-i-seem-to-have-a-virus-or-malware-or-something/547183/11 "2010-07-22T14:11:17Z")
Update: It took a few days, owing to other obligations, before I had the time necessary to see what I could do about this; but I think I managed to get things clean. Malwarebytes and safe mode did the trick. There was some pretty nasty stuff in there, but it seemes to be gone now. Many thanks to **Fear Itself** , **Reality Chuck** , and everybody else for their suggestions. Thanks again, folks!