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jttheclockman

jttheclockman

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In computer talk,what is a Trojan Horse and what does itdo??? My virus protection just picked up 2 Trojan Horses on some program or some site I visited or some ad, not sure how you even get these??? Why do people do these things??? Thanks
 
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Trojans....

As in Greek mythology, a Trojan Horse carries viruses, keyloggers, and other malware. It is referred to a trojan horse because it is usually embedded into another type of software that you want to download. I.E. keygens, cracks, etc.

There are a number of websites that are setup to feed you a trojan as you load the page. A good virus scanner does exactly what yours did, find the trojan, virus, or spyware and let you know so you can fix it.

Unless you recognize the software as something you installed and <WANT> let your VS software cleanse those items.

Also, you must be aware that free scanners are not updated as often as paid scanners, so, if you are using a free VS software, you should consider a paid subscription to one of the higher end scanners.

Be careful, and you'll be safe!

CdirtO
 
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jttheclockman said:
In computer talk,what is a Trojan Horse and what does itdo??? My virus protection just picked up 2 Trojan Horses on some program or some site I visited or some ad, not sure how you even get these??? Why do people do these things??? Thanks
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John; A trojan horse is just like the famous trojan horse used at Troy. It says "Download this fantastic software to print your own money!". But like the original it contains software that can record every keystroke you do on the computer and every web site you visit. It can do literally anything..... Visit your anti-virus software company and search for the name that it provided. Check out the removal instructions carefully.

If you do any on-line banking or Paypal, make sure you kill this before you visit your bank again. You may want to call the bank and have them change your on-line password. Go to another computer and change your passwords on any finance related web sites. Make sure that computer isn't virus infected.

Hope this helps....
 
John,
As Randy has warned you, be extremely careful with anything you do with your computer until you know this is competely resolved.
Different malware (generic name for viruses, trojans, worms, et al) do different things. They all intend to steal.
See this post; it's timely:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=64132

As to why: identity-theft is a billion dollar industry.
That's the short answer; I won't go into the long answer here.
 
Gary; If you want some fascination reading on computer security, read "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll. It is rather old, but still interesting reading.

It details how he tracked down a computer hacker.
 
Well I have AVG and it says that the trojan horse has been corrected. Now if I go to delete this from the AVG file will this get rid of it entirely???? How else do I know it is gone??? Thanks for the replys.
 
You can trust AVG. Sophos is another excellent one, as are Kaspersky and Avast!. Drive by trojans are tough to defend against. You go to a contaminated website, and BOOM! You have a trojan!

Norton, Symantec and McAfee are all crap. Oh, they'll catch the stuff, but they'll bring your computer to its knees while they're doing it. DO NOT EVER DOWNLOAD AN ANTIVIRUS BASED ON A WINDOW POPUP! Only get one you know is good/valid or you have gotten good advice on.

I'm the security admin (among other things) at work. We've found Sophos to be the best (they don't have a retail version, sorry).
 
jttheclockman said:
Well I have AVG and it says that the trojan horse has been corrected. Now if I go to delete this from the AVG file will this get rid of it entirely???? How else do I know it is gone??? Thanks for the replys.
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Yes; Delete it from the AVG. Make sure it isn't in the Recycle bin. If AVG deletes it they should do a complete erase.
Do a complete scan of your computer. It will take time measured in hours to complete. If it detects anything fix the problem and run it from the start again until you get a clean scan.

Funny story; Mcafee supplies a "fake" virus that will trigger their software. It is used to verify that notifications, quarantine procedures, etc. are working properly. One of the network admins (me) where I worked had it saved on his local machine. He got a new machine and as a matter of course, copied all his local files up to the network. It took only a minute or two to determine where the alarm had come from, but it was a good test of our procedures.
 
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