Possible virus

“I just got a variance of the MyPhoto virus, this is the 4th I've gotten in two days....The only reason I mention it is that it came with an attachment from trailtalk....those of you that have my e-mail address should run your antivirus to see if you have it. It doesn’t seem to be a nasty type, it goes into your address book and mass emails to everyone in your book.”

“W32.Myparty virus description

W32.Myparty@mm is a mass-mailing email worm. It has the following characteristics:

Subject: new photos from my party!
Message:
Hello!

My party... It was absolutely amazing!
I have attached my web page with new photos!
If you can please make color prints of my photos. Thanks!

Attachment: www.myparty.yahoo.com

The worm sends email to all contacts in your Windows address book, and to email addresses that it finds in the Outlook Express Inboxes and folders.”

“OH CRAP!!
I have a file that trys to run that I haven't seen before.

msstask.exe

Is that the virus you think? I scanned it with Norton but no viruses were detected.”

“I've gotten it eight times in the past two days. Norton picked it up each time and I just deleted the entire mailing. Adventurist, have you run a norton Virus Definitions Update recently? If not, do so asap.”

“Bad news adventurist! MSSTASK.EXE is a BackDoor trojan.”

“Don't know about msstask.exe....I searched for it on my computer and don't seem to have it.....sure sounds like a Microsoft executable huh..... I was lucky and never got infected with the virus, I noticed that as soon as I clicked on the e-mail (not even opening any attachments) the download screen would come up and got suspicious, especially since 2 of them had a picture attachment, the last two had attachments from peoples word files, or html attachments (the TT one)

This thing appears to have morphed, I never got anything that said "my photos/my party".. It also seems to be getting through Hot Mail and McAfee.

Norton seems to catch it though, although you gotta update the thing almost every day it seems.”

“That msstask.exe is sneaky, sure sounds like something that would open your task bar or something like that......



Sounds like ya gotta use protection if you don't want to get a Trojan.....



I gather that many antivirus programs don't protect against trojans, especially older versions.”

“So it is safe to just delete it?”

“I'm assuming you are running Windows NT or you wouldn't have gotten the Msstask.exe. Here are the removal instructions from the link skiracer posted:


Removal instructions:


1. Run LiveUpdate to make sure that you have the most recent virus definitions.
2. Do one of the following, depending on your operating system:

Windows 95/98/Me. Restart the computer in Safe mode. For instructions on how to do this, read the document How to restart

Windows 9x or Windows Me in Safe Mode.
Windows NT/2000/XP. End task in the Msstask.exe process. To do this:
1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete one time.
2. Click Task Manager.
3. Click the Processes tab.
4. Click the "Image Name" column header two times to sort the processes alphabetically.
5. Scroll through the list and look for the following process:

Msstask.exe

CAUTION: This is not the same as Mstask.exe--note the single "s". Mstask.exe is a legitimate Microsoft process. Do not end task on it.

6. If you find the file--you will only find it if the process is currently running--click it and then click End Process.
7. Close the Task Manager.
3. Start Norton AntiVirus (NAV), and make sure that NAV is configured to scan all files. For instructions on how to do this, read the document How to configure Norton AntiVirus to scan all files.
4. Run a full system scan.
5. Delete all files that are detected as W32.Myparty@mm or Backdoor.Myparty.”

“File can't be deleted or accessed!”

“Which operating system are you using, adventurist? You may have to change ownership or rights on the file or folder to allow deletion.”

“Windows XP Home Edition”

“Nevermind, I got it.

I had to skip the quarantine option first then delete.”

“I had to do crap like this with a different w32 virus. Pain in the ass! I run Windows ME and I had to go in and shut down the ME "system restore" function and then go back in and set it up to run again. Pain in the ass. BUT BETTER THAN A VIRUS!”

“Stupid viruses. I've had 2 virus attempts to my email in the last hour. Looks like one of those days.”

“I'm up to 3, now. Thank goodies for Norton.”

“I'm protected now, but when I installed my new computerator at home I didn't realize the anti-virus and firewalls were not installed. So now I have some repairs to make. Ouch!”

“People who make computer viruses are the lowest life form on this planet.”

“Purveyors of spyware may be even lower. Hard to say.”

“Maybe the two should be lumped together.”

“All this crap, What's the point? Where did the love go?”

“The love virus is so last year.”

“shoot, you want me to go and check mine?? Okay, here we go:

yesterday: 25 viruses, one hack atempt via deepThroat trojan. (sounds like a flippn porn movie)

today alone I have 22 netsky viruses and one beagle virus. The day isn't over yet.

AND I already told you all about my spam problem, almost 1400 on monday!”

“Gemini, do you have a spyware killer on your computer? Spyware may be the heart of your spam problem.”

“Sounds like Gemini has a filter that filters out valid stuff and accepts only spyware and viruses.”

“sounds like it huh? I do have a spyware killer installed. can't find anything right now.

The problem is probably that I do have 4 or 5 domain names. Not sure...”

“Try installing a second spyware filter. I just put an additional one on mine (can't remember the name off hand); it found and removed at least 10 spyware programs off my computer after Spybot said it was clean.”

“hmm, do it right now.”

“ohh..thanks :)”

“oh man, I forgot, I switched computers last week. did install the spyware but didn't run it yet. I am running it just now and yes, it does find a bunch of crap. hmm, so I delete all this stuff, but my spam problem wont' go again, yes? It just won't increase?”

“That sounds about right Gem. I installed one called zerospyware. It cost about $30 and downloaded easily. I still have some problems to resolve.”

“With the onset of so many virus's all at once, I am wondering if this may not be probing by people who want to do some real harm.

Who konows how much stuff is getting through that allows others to control computers remotely and are currently just sitting there, benign, waiting for orders!

Would be one hell of a way for terrorists to make a point and do serious damage in an election year.”

“redhawk, I did have that exact same thought before, but pushed it back in my head. Lets just not think that far yet. :(

anyway, whatever happend to this new spam law? How came they still are allowed to send spam? Can we now click the "remove from list" button? or should we still not do so because it just gets un on another list.

what I am trying to say dangid is, this darn spam law must be good for something.”

“Most spam comes from off shore so the law doesn't apply.”

“The spam law is good for nothing but empty campaign promises, talking points and photo ops.”

“The only bright side is that it sets a legal precedent and can be used to prosecute the more stupid onshore spammers.”

“maybe, but shouldn't then be the companies be helt responsible that do advertise? most of them are US companies. at least in my spam box.

oh well... I guess it's just something I have to get used to. it's not that big of a deal anymore since I have symantec spamware, but I still hate looking through thousands of spam mails after I didnt' check my mail for a weekend.”

“People sending viruses are careful to make sure that it will not appear as spam.

As far as the law goes, it's mostly unenforceable, designed mostly to make it appear that your elected officials ware actually doing something!”

“Norton works great on my computer.”