Late last week, I was working on the computer and then paused to read an email which at the time I thought was safe. I then get a message from the virus scanning program that indicated a potentially unauthorized change to the registry was detected and I was presented with a prompt asking whether or not I wished to allow or block the change. I indicated that I wanted to block the change and right away I got the same message. Again I indicated no and again I received the same message asking me whether to allow or block the change.
At that point I must have inadvertently pressed "yes" and then that is when everything in my computer's world started going downhill. Messages start popping up saying that the computer was infected and that I needed to run virus scan. The results from both the scan and windows defender indicated everything was fine but still I new something was wrong. I then find out that the root of my problem was a worm named "netsky." Research obtained from the Internet listed both manual and automatic options for the removal of the virus. By this point I was receiving prompts saying that the task manager, registry editor and command prompts were all infected and I could not use them. I tried booting the computer on safe mode and running an edit on the registry but still only limited success. One of my main concerns at the time was seeing information that this virus has an SMTP protocol and I was concerned about the compromise of sensitive and personal information. I turned off the computer and decided to take a break and reevaluate my efforts.
The next day I thought I had the problem solved when a friend told me about a program that would remove the pesky virus. Once I downloaded the program and tried to run it, up pops a message saying that it is infected as well! Also, things got to the point with the computer that once I tried to log on in all modes, I would be promptly logged off! Access was not available to any programs! I decided to take the machine to a local computer store where they said I would have to wait a week. Another available resource said I could take it to her house where she would look at it but no time was available for repair.
Being the person that I am and not being able to just sit and wait, I continued to pursue a solution. I eventually resigned myself to thinking that I would not be able to recover any information outside of what was already on the flash drive and decided to reinstall the operating system (Windows XP). During prior reinstallations of the operating system I had actual recovery disks but with my current machine there were none provided. I noticed when I was rebooting that there was a "recovery" option listed so I pressed the F11 key and was given two options. The first was described as a complete recovery but all data and files would be erased. The second was described as a recovery which included a backup of files. Never having seen that before, I chose the recovery with backup option. At first the program seemed to work fine and then it seemed to hang up midway into the procedure. I repeated the backup and the same thing happened. It was clear to me at that point that everything was essentially gone so I decided to restart the computer. After making a few updates and adjustments, the computer was up and running again but basically looked naked with only a few icons on the desktop.
My main concerns were getting a virus scan reinstalled and restoring my email access. Also, I changed passwords on some of my financial accounts and a check of the balances showed no suspicious activity. This virus I had fought off was the nastiest thing I had ever seen! At first I thought it was a bogus infestation that would prompt me to by some spyware program. It turned out to be quite the malicious creature that seemed to feed on executable files. A day after restoring the computer, for some reason I thought about checking the C drive to see if any folders existed that were listed as backup folders. I found some and sure enough it had all my previous files!!! The backup worked! I was so relieved. What a learning experience that was courtesy of the school of hard knocks.
Since then I have placed more files on my flash drive (as well as scanning just about everything!) but I am also considering getting an external hard drive as an additional backup device. Seems like it is time for me to learn more about backups and restorations. Fortunately for me the recovery with backup feature for Windows XP (SP3) worked as needed. One suspicion in the back of my mind had me wondering if I had the updates for virus scan turned off. I am not sure but I will make sure they remain in effect with this new system load. Update! Update! Update! If you are a Windows XP user, I recommend reading up on the system recovery with backup option. Some of the programs I had to reinstall are requiring the reentering of passwords and access keys but for the most part everything is back to normal. This will make starting the new work week a whole lot easier!
Another side event in my life that occurred during this whole episode was that I started examining the need for simplifying my life in general. I almost get a rush whenever I decide to leave the cel phone at home or decide to cook something in the oven instead of the microwave!
My efforts to keep things in perspective and just have faith that this would all work out gave me a sense of relief and joy. No need to get flustered, things will work out fine I told myself. I even offered a prayer of thanks to God for fixing my machine and this was before it was fixed!
Let's hear it for Good Vibrations!
May your journey through cyberspace always be smooth and filled with PEACE!!
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