OT: Swen Virus

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Alan - 24 Oct 2003 07:40 GMT

I have an elderly friend who opened the attachment. Now, her computer
connects through her ISP as soon as she switches it on, and starts
sending constant virus messages. We realised it when daemon started
returning all the ones with bad or rejected addresses.

We disconnected her phone jack, so at least that stopped one problem.

Any advice on how to remove it from her system and sanitising her
computer would be appreciated. Also, how to disable the auto-connect.
I have installed mailwasher (too late of course). If downloads are
needed I can do that here, burn a ROM and install to her if necessary.

TIA

Cheers Alan, T2, Oz
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

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Clark Simmons - 24 Oct 2003 10:49 GMT

One suggestion would be to go to"
http://grisoft.com , download AVG and burn it on a CD-ROM. You should be able
to install from the CD-ROM. Once installed, you can do a scan.

I was using McAfee until a virus clobbered it about a year or so ago. It
wouldn't work, couldn't reinstall nor deinstall. Norton wouldn't install
because McAfee was still installed. Finally found AVG and it installed.
Scanned and found 817 infected files and cleaned them all. I did run it several
times before they all got cleaned. Had to delete registry entries for McAfee
manuslly.

AVG is free for home users and is easy to use. Keep it updated. I know it runs
automatically with OE as a client program. Don't know about other mail
programs.

Good luck.

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Regards, Clark in Round Rock Texas USA

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> I have an elderly friend who opened the attachment. Now, her computer
> connects through her ISP as soon as she switches it on, and starts
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> --
> Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

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Alan - 24 Oct 2003 12:37 GMT

>One suggestion would be to go to"
> http://grisoft.com , download AVG and burn it on a CD-ROM. You should be able
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
>Good luck.

Thx- I have AVG, I'll check rheir page.

Cheers Alan, T2, Oz
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

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Harold Groot - 24 Oct 2003 12:03 GMT

>I have an elderly friend who opened the attachment. Now, her computer
>connects through her ISP as soon as she switches it on, and starts
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>I have installed mailwasher (too late of course). If downloads are
>needed I can do that here, burn a ROM and install to her if necessary.

I use Trendmicro's PC-Cillan. The homepage is
http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm
and there are two things there that can help you. They have a free
Housecall service where they can scan for a virus on a computer over
the internet connection. There is also a set of links to detailed
information on viruses - I think SWEN.A is currently #2. If you can't
use her computer to reach the Housecall because of the virus, the
information you find there should help you.

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Alan - 24 Oct 2003 12:36 GMT

>I use Trendmicro's PC-Cillan. The homepage is
>http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>use her computer to reach the Housecall because of the virus, the
>information you find there should help you.

Thx - will check it out.

Cheers Alan, T2, Oz
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

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Ken Bessler - 24 Oct 2003 13:28 GMT

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.swen.a@mm.html#remov
alinstructions

NEVER open an attachment, regardless who it comes from, unless you were
expecting the attachment. This even applies to people you know - they may be
infected and unknowingly sending you a virus.

Ken

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Alan - 24 Oct 2003 14:28 GMT

>NEVER open an attachment, regardless who it comes from, unless you were
>expecting the attachment. This even applies to people you know - they may be
>infected and unknowingly sending you a virus.
>
>Ken

I know, she didn't know. Now she does.
Thx for the link.
Cheers Alan, T2, Oz
--
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.

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Philip Smith - 24 Oct 2003 17:53 GMT

Stinger from Dr Solomon's - www.nai.com/stinger/ - will fit on a floppy
disk, and will clean about 30 common viruses. You may need to boot to
safe mode (press F8 at start),or disable system restore.
Information - http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100662.htm
They also have a fixswen.inf which restores the registry settings.
Safe computing!
Philip

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