Did I have a virus?

For the longest time I've been struggling to see words that have been highlighted in blue in all the threads. Also, the search function here wouldn't work for me. For the last couple of days my internet explorer has been acting up, so I did some digging and found that I had downloaded what was called Codec-c, which is a BHOclass.dll. Seeing as it was the last thing I've downloaded I checked it out and discovered it was malware. It wouldn't let me disable it in add-ons, so I deleted it in the registry.

Now there are no highlighted words, and the search function works.

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up on this in case it happens to anyone else.

Funny how my Norton wouldn't pick up on it.

reply to post by jiggerj


Norton doesn't pick up anything anymore. It's the most common Anti Virus, so people build virus' to circumvent their protection.

If you are running a windows machine, I highly suggest Windows Essentials with Windows Defender. I'd normally never suggest Microsoft products for anti virus, but it's really actually quite a great program.

Doesn't annoy you either and it updates itself with your Windows Update whenever they are available.

Also browser extensions can often be a means to circumvent anti spyware and malware.

~Tenth

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Yeah, I thought it was funny when I ran a registry cleaner that picked up on 900 deletable items right after I ran norton registry cleaner. Thanks for the tip!

Originally posted by jiggerj
For the longest time I've been struggling to see words that have been highlighted in blue in all the threads. Also, the search function here wouldn't work for me. For the last couple of days my internet explorer has been acting up, so I did some digging and found that I had downloaded what was called Codec-c, which is a BHOclass.dll. Seeing as it was the last thing I've downloaded I checked it out and discovered it was malware. It wouldn't let me disable it in add-ons, so I deleted it in the registry.

Now there are no highlighted words, and the search function works.

Just thought I'd give everyone a heads up on this in case it happens to anyone else.

Funny how my Norton wouldn't pick up on it.

Do your self a big big favour and uninstall Norton...

A host of free alternatives are so much better..

Avira is a great choice and free.

Eset Nod32 is the best paid for choice in my op.

But what ever you decide ditch Symantec it is soooo wrong.

The Codec-C you speak of was probably installed as part of a movie you have tried to watch. Usually I see these installed when a user tries to watch a movie format that Windows does not understand. Mostly, codecs are necessary however some unscrupulous types have found this to be a nice way to infect your system.

Norton is ok. Don't panic! There isn't a single antivirus program in the world that finds every single piece of malware out there. Some are better than others but overall - I'm finding the 2012 Security Suite to be quite ok, personally. I've thrown some tests at it (purposefully opening infected files etc), and it's pretty active on most nasties out there.

Remember though - there is no antivirus better than common sense! If something is "free" on the internet, chances are there's a bundled surprise waiting for you. This isn't always of course but some people don't host websites and provide "free" content out of the goodness of their hearts. They are getting something out of it. Whether that be a fake type antivirus that demands your credit card to "activate" or keyloggers that record everything you type on your keyboard, through to movie formats that ask you to install "codecs". There's something in it for them.

Free adult sites are usually where I find infections coming from. It's hilarious to hear some business employee who is infected up the wazoo with porny popups deny they have ever been to any untoward websites!

I would strongly suggest running Malwarebytes. Download the free version from the link below & install. Ensure it is up to date by going to the update tab and performing a definition update. I usually do this twice as sometimes you will find there will be more than one come through.

www.malwarebytes.org...

Re-boot your PC. Preferably in SAFE mode. To enter SAFE mode keep tapping the F8 key from the moment you restart your PC. A menu should come up with this option.

Once Windows has booted (SAFE mode will load windows in a "basic" form minus many features and, most importantly - start-up items), you can run a FULL system scan with Malwarebytes. Clean whatever it finds then restart your PC normally.

Malwarebytes free version won't provide real-time protection - it can only be used as a scanner so you can safely leave it on your PC if you like. It won't conflict with Norton.

If you get stuck feel free to ask for any help. I have worked in malware removal / protection for an IT company for about 8 years

Originally posted by jiggerj
...my internet explorer...

Theres your problem right there...

Get RID of that good-for-nothing M$ browser...

Originally posted by jiggerj
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

Yeah, I thought it was funny when I ran a registry cleaner that picked up on 900 deletable items right after I ran norton registry cleaner. Thanks for the tip!

In addition - Don't rely / trust registry cleaners. The first question I ask people who diligently run every reg cleaner they can is "what is the registry?". Nine times out of ten, they don't know. My next question is then "why are you cleaning it?".

Some registry cleaners will act more aggressively than others. I've seen reg cleaners clean required keys resulting in a possible Operating System reload (backed up registry saved this). For the minimal benefits (and I'm yet to see a PC miraculously "fixed" and "running faster" by a reg clean), it's really not worth it. I only use them after performing a malware fix to ensure all malicious keys are removed.

In the grand scheme of things, cleaning your registry isn't really achieving much. There will always be dead keys left from uninstalled programs or old extensions. To find 900 items on a PC that hasn't been cleaned before isn't that surprising really.

All that Norton is doing is deleting keys it is SURE are fine to remove. Other cleaners may not be so careful.

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
I highly suggest Windows Essentials with Windows Defender. ~Tenth

Seems these are two different programs. Do I need both?

Originally posted by HangTheTraitors

Originally posted by jiggerj
...my internet explorer...

Theres your problem right there...

Get RID of that good-for-nothing M$ browser...

edit on 21-4-2012 by HangTheTraitors because: (no reason given)

I agree, and while your at it dich the biggest virus of all Windoze and
your virus/malware troubles are history!

I recommend the new Ubuntu 12.04, released in one weeks time, or down load and install
the beta 2 now.

If you open a terminal after Installation, (which is a walk in the park)
and type 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade' without the quotes,
then your password when prompted you will be up to date with the software.

It is such a liberating experience to be free of a world without Gates and Windows.

It's not even much of a learning curve anymore. Go for it , or forever be a slave to "The man at Redmond", and be terrorised by Malware..

Have Fun

reply to post by TRiPWiRE


There is only one decent regcleaner......regedit!

Originally posted by jiggerj

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
I highly suggest Windows Essentials with Windows Defender. ~Tenth

Seems these are two different programs. Do I need both?

No. If you are running Windows Essentials it should disable Windows Defender anyway.

Windows Essentials now does the job that the (very poor), Windows Defender was once doing. Defender used to only block the most common spyware (tracking cookies mostly). Windows Essentials is a suite that will assist in stopping spyware & viruses.

Some reading can be found here -

answers.microsoft.com...

EDIT: You should only ever run one antivirus suite at a time on your system. Some people run multiples thinking it provides better protection. That's not the case. Generally, issues with false positives from one finding quarantined items from the other, reduced system performance and definition corruption can occur if multiple real-time (running in the background to protect your system), suites are used at once.

reply to post by TRiPWiRE


Yeah I use the Windows Defender every now and then when booted in safe mode just to check things are all honkey dory and stuff.

I've found Essentials to be the most effective and most hassle free of the available free programs. It also takes next to nothing on CPU and RAM loads when running in the background.

Meanwhile Norton steals all the memory it can for constant scanning...Unless it's changed in the 10 years since I stopped using it lol

~Tenth

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
reply to post by TRiPWiRE

 

Meanwhile Norton steals all the memory it can for constant scanning...Unless it's changed in the 10 years since I stopped using it lol

~Tenth

edit on 4/21/2012 by tothetenthpower because: (no reason given)

Haha! Yeah, it used to be rotten. I am actually using it for the first time this year. I always swore I would never use that Norton rubbish after seeing it kill systems performance and indeed, kill systems themselves when it was uninstalled!

I went from Kaspersky to Bitdefender. Bitdefender was horrible. It does provide amazing protection but has so many issues and bugs with the software itself. I ended up getting a refund on it and thinking "I'll try Norton", in a moment of insanity!

The 2012 suite is running nicely for me. They seem to have resolved a lot of performance issues. Monitoring system usage when it runs a full scan shows about 2 - 4% CPU load. RAM is minimal, if any.

reply to post by TRiPWiRE


I still think it's all lies. I bet it's not Norton, it's some other program they just tacked a Norton sticker to.

Call me jaded

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
Meanwhile Norton steals all the memory it can for constant scanning...Unless it's changed in the 10 years since I stopped using it lol

~Tenth

edit on 4/21/2012 by tothetenthpower because: (no reason given)

No, my cpu keeps maxing out on norton. It's time to switch.

Mozilla Firefox + Avast Antivirus (the free version)

I hardly ever have any problems.