Holy Smokes, what is going on?!

[MartinJK]

Hello Tech Friends.
Things are really going out of control.
I just re-formatted my computer because over the course of several months it accumulated some spyware and such.
I did a clean format, and boom, it happened. Even before I got to set anything up I get alerted that I already caught a virus.
This is 2 minutes after clean format and first windows session since formatting, the viruses squized though somehow before I even had the chance to install a firewall (which is the first thing I do after formatting).
This is not the first time it happened. Things are going out of contol.

 

[Nodsu]

Where did you get the alert from? Did you actually manage to install an antivirus program in 2 minutes?

 

[IronDuke]

Before going on the Net.
Install anti virus, if possible get the latest virus definitions bfore you format & install.
Install and configure firewall.

Now is the time to log on for any more updates you require.

Boots

 

[Vigilante]

Stay offline!

The only virus I know that can hit you that fast is Blaster or Sasser which came around a year ago. A good firewall should stop those. Then you can go online.
If you can, load windows from a SP2 disk. Assuming you're on XP of course.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

This is not the first time it happened.

So, you haven't learned to unplug the network when installing an OS? Plug it in after you have installed a firewall and disabled at least Messenger and Server services.

 

[Samstoned]

even after a format the virus may still be lurking on the hard drive
you will need to do a low level zero 's wipe of disc ,this will take awhile
on large HDD's example 80 gig about 1hr and a half depends on speed of system and drive.
some virus's write protect to clusters of drive making them look like bad area's
thus the 0 wipe can download free floppy size files
do search for zapit
I have an account with mcafee to download all my firewall and virus software
as soon as I get the machine up thats the first place I go,my clients love it.

 

[MartinJK]

Where did you get the alert from? Did you actually manage to install an antivirus program in 2 minutes?

Yup, this PC downstairs comes preloaded with Norton AV.
Some of the viruses caught within minutes were Trojans and WHClock.exe along with some others I cant recall right now.
Where do they come from, and how do they manage to get onto my HD before I even have time to scratch my head.
:slurp:

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Would you by any chance have a 'less than legal' copy of Windows, that has infections on the CD?

 

[Nodsu]

If you have several PCs in your house then it might just be that one of those is infected and kindly passes on the infection to any computer plugged in to your network.

 

[coastymad]

If you have got a network and one of the computers has got a virus I would recommend running a wirus check on all of them. At my school (yes I am still a student) they got a virus and it infected about 20 computers out of 300.

 

[MartinJK]

Would you by any chance have a 'less than legal' copy of Windows, that has infections on the CD?

This computer downstairs is a eMachine, so the cd`s provided are restore cd`s rather than Windows cd`s.
And by the way, I would never use pirated software of any kind. EVER.

 

[StormBringer]

Not often you see a boot sector virus anymore but it sounds like this might be what you have, if that is the case, you'll need to do a low level format or a debug(basically the same thing) which will completely wipe all formatting and partitioning from the drive. You'll need to fdisk then format before you can use the drive again after a low level format.
Most HDD manufacturers have disk check utilities available that include a low level format utility. You can also get commercial software that will do this.

It isn't very likely that you have a boot sector virus though, last time I saw one on a machine was several years ago.

It is very possible you could have gotten it over the network from your other system, or from the Internet just after install. This is why it is important to always unplug your network cable until you have configured at least minimal protection on the machine.

 

[coastymad]

This computer downstairs is a eMachine, so the cd`s provided are restore cd`s rather than Windows cd`s.
And by the way, I would never use pirated software of any kind. EVER.

Neither do I (quickly hide the blank cd's, copies of windows etc).

 

[Vigilante]

Ya, I paid full price for Dreamweaver MX, Photoshop CS and Nero 6 Ultra and Power DVD ...
ehem