Computer help needed!!

[Cupid]

Yikes! Not again! At work last week, I had a computer virus which I thought was fixed by our tech, but now I see it's back. I have two web browsers at work, only one seems to be affected. I use the regular Internet Explorer (which has again a "redirect" type virus) and Google Chrome, which doesn't have any problems (yet that I can see). Any idea how I can rid of this on my own? Should I just use the Google Chrome browser and leave the IE alone?

[dbny]

It's possible that you've been re-infected, which would happen if you got the infection from a web site and you went there again. I would stick with Chrome, and call tech support.

[Cupid]

I think I'll just use the Google Chrome. My office is fuming mad at its employees for coming down with so many computer viruses lately. I even offered to pay for the repair the last time and they said no.

I'm not that computer savvy, but is there any danger in me just using the Chrome and not touching the IE browser for anything? I just deleted it off my computer to recycle and emptied that. The Chrome is sufficient enough for me, and I'd just rather not bring this up at work again since it hasn't even been a week. The tech guy last summer said to only use the Chrome since it was less likely to be infected like the regular one.

[Simone411]

Were you using IE8? Last week there were security updates that took care of a couple of security issues. Three days before that, IE8 was closing on me and sending error reports to Microsoft.

I contacted a tech friend that suggested for me to reset IE8. I had to select tools, internet options and then selected the advanced tab to the far right. I then clicked on the reset button which resets the settings back to the default condition (no add ons, etc.) I was then able to use IE8 again.

I ran two different scans with Microsoft Security Essentials and MalwareBites before I contacted my tech friend. No spyware was detected by either program. My tech friend told me to run a free online scan with SuperAntispyware. It detected 31 different viruses (spyware cookies) and removed them. The SuperAntispyware detected the viruses whereas MalwareBites and MSE didn't.

My tech friend's a pretty smart guy. MalwareBites and MSE are supposed to be two of the best antivirus programs around and he had suggested using them awhile back. He said that spyware had to be part of the reason IE8 kept closing. That's when he gave me the link to SuperAntiSpyware. I haven't had the problem of IE8 closing anymore since I ran the scan. I thought this might help with your problem of IE8 redirecting. And the best part is that it's free and didn't cost me anything.

http://www.superantispyware.com/onlinescan.html

[professordeb]

Yep, I use SuperAntispyware and Malware bytes and more often than not stay pretty clean. I also have AVG but sometimes it gives me a false positive so when it complains, I usually run the the other two. I usually start with SA and whatever it doesn't clean, Mal usually finds - at least in my case.

[Aceon6]

Yep, I use SuperAntispyware and Malware bytes and more often than not stay pretty clean. I also have AVG but sometimes it gives me a false positive so when it complains, I usually run the the other two. I usually start with SA and whatever it doesn't clean, Mal usually finds - at least in my case.

This ^

Also, it's really important to surf safely at work. I keep my browsing to major sites only (plus FSU of course), and NEVER click on links that redirect to other sites. Remember, one bad click and you can disable your entire office.

[Cupid]

Thanks Simone411 and professordeb. I ran the superantispyware and it found over 150 objects and I removed them; hopefully, one was the redirect thing I came down with. Although I thought I removed the IE Google, it's still there. For now, I'm only going to continue using Google Chrome since that seems fine.

[Anita18]

Yeah I've basically stopped using IE, and not because I'm almost finished with my transition to a Mac. If it's not Firefox, then it's Chrome or Safari.

[Prancer]

I think I'll just use the Google Chrome. My office is fuming mad at its employees for coming down with so many computer viruses lately. I even offered to pay for the repair the last time and they said no.

Ehm, is there a reason you are not all on user accounts? You can't download anything with a user account, so people often don't want them and prefer to have administrator accounts. However, even if all of you occasionally need to do a download and so need administrator accounts to authorize the downloads, you should use user accounts all the time when you are on the internet. You can't download anything by accident that way, which greatly reduces the number of viruses you can get. If something tries to install itself on your computer, a window will pop up requiring the administrator to authorize the download. Then you'll know. IME, as soon as that window pops up, my security software snags the virus.

If none of that makes sense, ask the tech to explain and suggest that everyone in the office adopt a user account for internet surfing.

[NancyNC]

This ^

Also, it's really important to surf safely at work. I keep my browsing to major sites only (plus FSU of course)

Are you implying that FSU is not a major site?!?

[Aceon6]

Are you implying that FSU is not a major site?!?

Well, it's major for me.

What I was trying to say is that some sites are more open to malware than others. The major sites pre-screen their ad servers to prevent malware. I've noticed that many entertainment blogs trigger warnings, leading me to suspect that their ad servers are not being screened. Basically, if a site owner doesn't appear to be supported by a full time IT department, I avoid that site at work.