Not sure which topic this best belongs in, so thought I'd start here.

Has anyone had experience with virus attacks and cleaning, and their impact on 3D software applications?  I've recently had an attack by a back door trojan, zonebac.gen!B - I'm in the process of getting it scrubbed, but am wondering if there's a risk if I copy any of the files from that computer to a new one.

Anyone have thoughts?

(by the way, I was running Norton, which didn't catch it.  Near as I can figure, I got the virus from a freebie download - just wish I knew which one)

Thanks for any thoughts.

If you find out which one it was and it was from here please let one of us on staff know so we can deal with it...

I would get a specific Trojan Scrubber of some variety and scrub clean any file before I  transferred it to a clean computer myself...or even possibly deciede I don't really need to risk it and delete them or leave them where they are if you still use them on that box...just my 2 cents Can. on that.. ...

Attached Link: eset: nod32

I was running Norton, which didn't catch it

That is why I use nod32 from eset.com ... hint, hint ...

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Martin

I've had some experience with trojans.  My nephew is an online gamer and totally dumb when it comes to accepting things from gaming sites that he should not accept. :D 
We have  cleaned his computer of everything from trojans to key loggers.

After you get it cleaned..go to an online site like McAffey or Grissoft and run a virus check on your computer from there...just in case the trojan disabled any part of your security on your home machine.
The only program files I've had infected would be java files and you can purge your java cache from your machine. But before you transfer files..i would definately go online and do a virus check..AND remember to keep your antivirus turned on when you do go online. :D   If you need to turn it  off the antivirus website will walk you thru it.

Good luck

Quote -
(by the way, I was running Norton, which didn't catch it.....

theres your first problem. Norton. it's junk. get a better AV link Avast!, AVG etc and trash norton.

Ditto on the Norton being junk..it lets all kinds of things thru...blech..I use AVG and have no problems at all {knock on wood}

Me too   :)

I use AVG Free and I've never had any problems...and they don't pester you all the time to upgrade to the pay version either.
I also run Defender Pro Firewall and it does an excellent job of keeping out unwanted spy stuff.

I think, to be as safe as you can, no matter what you use, everyone should get into the habit of manually checking everything they download.
I keep a folder on my pc just to download things into..things I've paid for and freebies too.  Nothing leaves that folder until I have gone in and selected everything in it and told my avg to scan it for viruses.  Once I know its ok I can install and then either delete or move it somewhere else.  It isn't hard to get into the habit of doing that.

Norton and Windows have never played well together. I use Zonealarm Pro. Both virus and spyware scans and daily updates.

Yep. Norton and McCaffey are terrible.  I was warned off of them when I got my first computer 7 years ago.

I use "CA Antivirus" which was originally known as "Innoculate-T" in the Beta stage and then renamed "E-Trust Antivirus". It's the first and only antivirus software that I have used. There was a few week period earlier this year when my antivirus software expired and I couldn't renew it at the time so I  reinstalled the free "AVG" one that had come with my new computer. I didn't like it at all. I had so many problems with it and tried to get help from them on their forums and because it was a free version their help was slow to come and pretty useless.

I'm using the full AVG suite with Vista Ultimate x/64, and it seems to work really well.
Norton is sexually attracted to farm animals. McAfee has no 64 bit support, and probably is dating Norton.

Hey Mike - Don't knock farm animals......

Thanks all for the comments.  Actually I loaded and ran Kaspersky and that's what finally caught it.  I've taken it in and am having it scrubbed.  Hopefully that will do it.

Appreciate the comments from all.  If I find out where I picked the f******r up I'll let you know.

In the meantime, play safe!!!!

BTW, I recently purchased Zbrush and downloaded some free tutorials that run on Veogh.  I think, though can't be sure, that's where I got it.  Still working on that.

Quote - BTW, I recently purchased Zbrush and downloaded some free tutorials that run on Veogh.  I think, though can't be sure, that's where I got it.  Still working on that.

What's Veogh? Where did you get the tutorials?
I've been using ZBrush 3.1 for a couple months now, and have downloaded several tutorials, both video and pdf, but haven't had any virus warnings. I was using McAfee when I downloaded them, on my older 32 bit machine, though.

I know this is OT now, but if you're getting into ZBrush, Digital Tutors has some excellent video tutorials for Zbrush 3 and for 3.1. Not free, but well worth it. I bought three of them and haven't regretted it for a second. I think they have some free samples at their site as well.

Be careful. I was running Norton Antivirus 2007 - but it had a routine that was 'leaking memory' (I only know this as my hard drive was constantly rattling & when I looked at processes running, there was a routine using nearly all my memory. Googled the name of the routine & found out it was a known bug).

Anyway scrapped Norton & got a free anti virus/spyware prog. I have all my downloaded content from Renderosity & Daz on a second external hard drive. The second hard drive was switched on & when I run the spyware program it saw all my Daz files (which are .exe files) as threats and now they are unusable. Luckily I have everything backed up on CD. Partly my own fault probably as I was busy at the time & probably OKed before looking properly.

Quote - Not sure which topic this best belongs in, so thought I'd start here.

Has anyone had experience with virus attacks and cleaning, and their impact on 3D software applications?

At home? Not since I went Linux and Mac full-time (since 2003 or so, save for one recently-bought 2nd-hand laptop w/ XP on it, but it isn't allowed to go online). I don't use A/V at all on OSX and Linux (IMPO, it's a waste of cash for home use on those OSes). At work? Lots, with other users (I use Fedora Core 7). The intel.com domain is a pretty popular target, so we usually see active attempts on a much greater basis. In my experience, any single A/V solution isn't going to cut the mustard. This is because anti-virus is a reactive solution, and isn't able to anticipate anything until it's already attacked someone. You would be amazed at how much doesn't get caught. Your best bet nowadays is to use an A/V that's light and fast (i.e. NOT Norton), and couple it with a periodic sweep from the website http://housecall.antivirus.com (Trend Micro runs the site, and it is trusted, even among the crusty old sysadmin set :) ). Also, if you use Internet Explorer and Outlook/Outlook Express... STOP! Go get Firefox (Web) and Thunderbird (email). These two aren't all tightly integrated into Windows like the built-in MSFT-built stuff, run just as fast (faster in many cases), and are far more immune to the crap out there than the Microsoft stuff. Doing just this will eliminate 98% of the malware. Use IE only for Windows Update and the Trend Micro thingy (both of which use ActiveX controls, so they need IE to work). For Poser, you can ease the pain of having to re-install Windows after an attack by keeping a copy of your Runtime directory (the whole thing) backed-up onto an external hard drive. They're fairly cheap, and it's easy to plug it in and copy the directory onto it once every couple of weeks or so. Same with your purchases, images, and other files that you want to keep. HTH a little, /P

The only time I had a problem with a virus was when a friend sent me some stuff on CD not knowing his computer was infected. Funny thing was, some of the stuff was infected, some wasn't. These days, I scan everything.

@ Penguinisto. You nailed my Windows PC routine to the letter before I switched it to Linux. Online scans were a must. Also antispyware tools like Spybot-Search & Distroy and Ad-Aware were a must.

I don't care what a person uses as an OS or browser, etc.  If you don't develop safe habits and stop depending  on your software progs to auto check everything and  do it for you..you will have probs. sooner or later.

Get in the habit of manually scanning every file you download to your machine BEFORE you open or unzip it  or run it....and don't give a site permission to put anything on your pc unless you trust it.
Of course there are other safety habits to get into...like making sure your AV is always up to date on the virus definitions...etc.

I'm only talking about Windows environments ... I don't know anything about MAC.
It isn't a likely thing that I will switch to MAC at this point because I've spent toooo many years using Windows..  [since Windows 3 and DOS}
But the one thing I know for sure  is..YOU have to take hands on responsibility and not leave it up to a program.

It doesn't really matter what software you use..it matters what you do with it.

I agree, good safe pratices are the way to go.  

Since late last year when I got my new XP pc I have networked it to my 98SE pc and the internet comes through that one so it kinda acts as a firewall (according to my IT studies last year the best firewall is an old pc/os - not sure about that one but you wouldn't think they'd teach us that if untrue).  I use avg, ad-aware and spyware search and destroy and update files every time I go online if they are available - I never have my outlook express set to show emails and scan everything that I download and even scan all discs that come on reputable PC magazines as I had a disc try to unload a trojan when I was browsing it a couple of years ago - avg free picked it up :)

Becki :)

Ditto that..I never fail to scan anything, I don't use Outlook, and there are no programs allowed to auto update on my machine, especially windows updates.

Safe habits are a must - this I can agree with very easily. Just that I don't have to worry so much when the next bit of crap comes down the pike (for instance, did you know that PDF files are currently a malware carrier if you use a not-currently patched version of Adobe Reader to open it?) That said, all the care in the world won't save you from a hijacked website with an IFRAME embedded in it, if your A/V doesn't know about the malware yet and has a signature for it. Now if you're really paranoid, you could always do one thing... build/buy a really beefy computer, then install VMWare Server on it (it's a free download - ESX and Virtual Infrastructure are the pricey bastiches). Build a virtual machine on it and have a ready clone of it saved off somewhere. If your main VM gets bitten, you can always delete it and copy off the clone for the restore. /P

no... if your really paranoid, you encase your computer in a solid concrete block with no outside connections....

hang on

I think I know someone who did that.....

I was amused when I saw that Khai wrote,

if you're really paranoid, you ...

Actually, these steps will make you really, really safe ...

1. Shutdown Windoze

2. Turn power off

3. Disconnect the power cord from the wall

4. Disconnect the phone line from the PC (or RJ-45 cable)

5. Disconnect the monitor

6. Turn the monitor to face the wall.

... After all, you can't be too safe ...

LOL

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Martin