Broacher
10-05-2009, 05:44 PM
My home computer is shared by my family. That's four users in total. So maybe it's NOT surprising that after five years of multi-users that yes, last week that system was attacked by a very nasty rootkit infection.
This was one of those newer devils that seems to know how to shut down access to ANY anti-virus or cleanup website or detection scanners. In fact, it even convinced my main anti-virus defence, AVG, that it was up-to-date, when in fact, it was clearly NOT.
I tried scouring the web for solutions based on a few clues I was able to glean from some probes that actually worked (GMer: great and free!), but I could not get the system to allow me to run any kind of cleaners. Nor could I uninstall/reinstall my main AVG pro suite.
Desperation time, I contacted AVG and the tech walked me through about six rounds of tests, service utilities, etc. Nothing. Then he suggested that I try a new service from AVG that they were currently beta-testing that in effect, was a remote access utility that allowed the technician to take over my machine and fix it. At this point, I was millimeters away from a total reformat, mentally estimating my supply of hard whiskey, and such. It was a 'what do I have to lose' moment and so I said sure.
Two and a half hours later, my dis-infected machine was in the middle of a deep scan, with the system access problems all cleaned out and the newest AVG update in place. Two hours later, the scanning finished clean. Though, yeah, I ran a couple more sniffers to be sure. Un-believable. And (for the time being, anyhow), all for free.
I just wanted to put this out there as a company that went the extra distance for me. The techs were unfailingly patient, friendly and courteous. During the remote access, it was great to watch them fly into the system underbelly-- they also maintain a small 'chat' window so you can communicate during the process.
Thanks again AVG! For re-affirming the ideals of great customer service to build customer loyalty. You've got mine.
This was one of those newer devils that seems to know how to shut down access to ANY anti-virus or cleanup website or detection scanners. In fact, it even convinced my main anti-virus defence, AVG, that it was up-to-date, when in fact, it was clearly NOT.
I tried scouring the web for solutions based on a few clues I was able to glean from some probes that actually worked (GMer: great and free!), but I could not get the system to allow me to run any kind of cleaners. Nor could I uninstall/reinstall my main AVG pro suite.
Desperation time, I contacted AVG and the tech walked me through about six rounds of tests, service utilities, etc. Nothing. Then he suggested that I try a new service from AVG that they were currently beta-testing that in effect, was a remote access utility that allowed the technician to take over my machine and fix it. At this point, I was millimeters away from a total reformat, mentally estimating my supply of hard whiskey, and such. It was a 'what do I have to lose' moment and so I said sure.
Two and a half hours later, my dis-infected machine was in the middle of a deep scan, with the system access problems all cleaned out and the newest AVG update in place. Two hours later, the scanning finished clean. Though, yeah, I ran a couple more sniffers to be sure. Un-believable. And (for the time being, anyhow), all for free.
I just wanted to put this out there as a company that went the extra distance for me. The techs were unfailingly patient, friendly and courteous. During the remote access, it was great to watch them fly into the system underbelly-- they also maintain a small 'chat' window so you can communicate during the process.
Thanks again AVG! For re-affirming the ideals of great customer service to build customer loyalty. You've got mine.