# VIRUS IN MY PUTER

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 16, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677 "2000-05-16T17:41:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![djf750](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@djf750](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djf750)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677/1 "2000-05-16T17:41:04Z")

</div>

i ran my anti virus program yesterday and it said i have ptsnoop.exe in there-apparantly it is some AOL password stealing program  
has anyone else had this? i think i quarantined it and i changed passwords-what else should i do?  
the program couldn’t delete it

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![saeren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@saeren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saeren)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677/2 "2000-05-16T17:48:05Z")

</div>

Easy solution. Remove AOL. You’ll thank me later.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigJoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@BigJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigJoe)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677/3 "2000-05-16T17:55:28Z")

</div>

saeren: LMAO!

More seriously. This thing probably tagged itself a hidden or system file (maybe both). If you set Windows Explorer to show all files, you maybe able to delete it manually or at least change the attributes so that your AV package can delete. Just a WAG, but worth a shot.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [May 16, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677/4 "2000-05-16T18:19:47Z")

</div>

And get some Anti-virus software. One option is InnoculateIT at [http://antivirus.cai.com](http://antivirus.cai.com) – it’s free.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2000, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677/5 "2000-05-16T23:13:17Z")

</div>

Put ‘ptsnoop.exe’ in your browser search box, presto! You know what the world thinks of it & what to do 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/virus-in-my-puter/19677/6 "2000-05-17T01:48:27Z")

</div>

I saw ptsnoop.exe in my task list a couple of months ago and did some research. I found that it is harmless despite its ominous sounding name. It’s a driver for HSP modems. HSP modems use software drivers in place of an internal chip to reduce manufacturing costs.

I removed the file with Startup Cop since I use a cable modem, but it is necessary if you use your analog modem to connect to the Internet.