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Croxden

Croxden

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Jan 26, 2013
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North Staffs
Some kind sole has encrypted all my files so I can't read any. It's the Cryptowall 3.0 and it seems little can be done to resolve the problem other than paying them the ransom money.
That's the sort of thing I don't do. Despite all the protection I use, including having a crypto preventer software on board. They have modified their virus to get around it but there is an updated version of the preventer so if anyone thinks they are safe make sure all your stuff is up to date.

Fear not of catching anything from me, I am using my iPad. Now I am thinking of changing over to the Mac system and hang the expense.

I have many back-ups and since I changed the old spinner to a SSD drive I can swop them over again, reformat the SSD & get the back-ups and them migrate the lot over then swop them back again.

I'm at an age where I don't like having to such things but you do have to get up early if you want to have a chance of putting one over.

And they want Bitcoin, stuff that.
 
flecc

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,157
30,573
My sympathies. Make sure you have removed the Cryptowall 3.0 virus in reformatting the SSD before reloading your files. There's advice on this link if you need to do that, scroll down for the gen.
.
 
RobF

RobF

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Sep 22, 2012
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Macs do appear to suffer a lot less from this sort of thing.

My MacBook Pro is getting on for five years old and has never given me any bother.

I don't use a lot of programmes, but still much prefer Mac over Windows, even for simple surfing and a few emails.

The price premium has narrowed a bit.

A Mac is around £900, but a comparable Windows laptop would be £600 - £700, although you can, of course, get much cheaper.
 
Wicky

Wicky

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Feb 12, 2014
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Colchester, Essex
www.jhepburn.co.uk
Ouch! I've been using macs for over 15 years (though have a PC for gaming and testing websites) and do a bit of support for clients with Macs. Highly recommend Macs esp with the world of nasties that afflict mainly PC users, though Macs can be effected by some that seek installation by fooling the owner via dodgy toolbars / fake apps etc.

I get my refurbished macs from a local company www.scrumpymacs.co.uk / http://create.pro as I use a mac pro tower systems. Another way to get a bargain is looking on the UK Apple Store for refurbished Macs with full warranty > http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
You don't have to spend money on a Mac. Ubuntu Linux is free and very easy to use, just like Windows. You don't have to be a geek to use Linux now like you did years ago. Linux has an app store sort of thing, where you can get every software you need for no cost. Everything is free. They have drivers for just about everything too. You can also run it from a pen drive or CD to try it out.

They also have some very nice studio stuff if you're into that sort of thing.
 
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Geebee

Geebee

Esteemed Pedelecer
Mar 26, 2010
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Australia
If you use windows again, chrome allows the use of "scriptblock" which will stop drive by infection, although most ransome ware comes from clicking on something that was in an email or on a dodgy site.

Having said that up until a couple of days ago I only used Avast! and adblock and have had no issues with virus, malware etc. in many years of extremely heavy web usage.
I installed Scriptblock in response to Avast! warning of intercepting a couple of .png malware drive by attempts.

Linux would be my choice if I was to change from Windows, safer than IOS and cheaper.
I download a few ISO's every year to keep an eye on it's progress and it is definately improving every year.
 
T

trex

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2011
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I doubt that IOS or Android or Linux is any more immune to this kind of attacks than Windows. You need to set up a backup server with previous versions that reads your computer while your computer cannot access the files on the backup without logging onto the backup server first.
 
J

JamesW

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 17, 2014
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I have to have Windows due to the requirement to be compatible with both the office at work for me and my wife. A colleague however recommended something different last time we rebuilt the PC:
1) partition the HDD,
2) make it Dual boot.
3) Install windows on 1 partition for work related stuff if required.
4) install Linux on the other partition.
5) do ALL internet activity from the Linux partition to minimise virus risks.

Never quite got round to steps 4 & 5, but should be looking at it soon if I get time. We seem to get most viruses when my wife does online shopping at Tesco for some reason!
 
awol

awol

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 4, 2013
1,216
374
+1 with d8veh on ubuntu linux.
I'm sure a mate once got a similar problem and the files weren't actually encrypted, they just blocked access to them somehow to make you think they were. Have you tried booting into safe mode, or put the hard disc into another computer as a secondary to access the files?
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
JamesW said:
I have to have Windows due to the requirement to be compatible with both the office at work for me and my wife. A colleague however recommended something different last time we rebuilt the PC:
1) partition the HDD,
2) make it Dual boot.
3) Install windows on 1 partition for work related stuff if required.
4) install Linux on the other partition.
5) do ALL internet activity from the Linux partition to minimise virus risks.

Never quite got round to steps 4 & 5, but should be looking at it soon if I get time. We seem to get most viruses when my wife does online shopping at Tesco for some reason!
Click to expand...
You can get Open Office for Linux. It can open and save files in MS Office format. What else do you need to share?

Linux has utilities that can sort out most problems with hard discs. If the virus is using Windows routines to hide the files, Linux won't be bothered by that. It's worth putting Ubuntu on a pen drive. It can see and access your hard disk from there. If it can see your files, it should be easy to sort out. You can even remove viruses, etc using the pen drive. I've repaired a couple of computers like that when the viruses were stopping the ant-virus software from working.
 
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Cyclezee

Guest
I would be the first to admit Macs are expensive, but a few years back I took the plunge bought an iMac then a second and one don't regret it.

You can still run Windows, Ubuntu etc., but Apple's OSX is my favourite operating system.

Years ago a good friend and I got into building PCs as a hobby, constantly taking the lid off to tinker and upgrade components, but now I really don't care what goes on inside a computer, I just want it work without any fuss.

I am however not totally hooked on everything Apple, my smartphone is Samsung, I just don't get all the fuss about the iPhone and although I bought my wife an iPad a couple of years ago, it never really gets used much.
She now has a Chromebook which for the money is a brilliant bit of kit and does everything that she wants.
 
awol

awol

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 4, 2013
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Cyclezee said:
Years ago a good friend and I got into building PCs as a hobby, constantly taking the lid off to tinker and upgrade components, but now I really don't care what goes on inside a computer, I just want it work without any fuss.
Click to expand...
That's describing me too.
 
T

trex

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2011
7,703
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Cryptowall can attack both Windows and Mac OS. It relies on you mistakingly run the app under your login. Anything you have access to can be locked away. Cryptowall leaves all OS files untouched, until it completely encrypted all your documents. You can open Cryptowall infected email attachment (usually a .zip file containing a PDF) with whichever operating system or office software you like, the consequence is still the same. The only solution is to have backup that you do not have one step access to yourself, so the virus can't have access to your backup. If you know how to set up File History on your Windows then Windows will do the backup for you but you would need to have a second hard drive on your PC. Cryptowall 3.0 is even nastier than Cryptowall 2.0.

http://it.okstate.edu/advisories/cryptowall.php
 
flecc

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,157
30,573
trex said:
The only solution is to have backup that you do not have one step access to yourself, so the virus can't have access to your backup. If you know how to set up File History on your Windows then Windows will do the backup for you but you would need to have a second hard drive on your PC.
Click to expand...
Seconded and I've always had two internal drives on my computers, plus an independent backup hard drive, a USB 3 one currently, that's only ever plugged in when in use to update the backup or recover something.

I also always have a drive image of the OS both on the second internal drive and the offboard drive, either of which can be restored from within Windows or immediately following the BIOS.
.
 
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Wicky

Wicky

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Feb 12, 2014
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Colchester, Essex
www.jhepburn.co.uk
How can it? All that follows is just a generic how to back up your computer with Time Machine.

Edit - The only reference I can find that it might target Macs is that it pretends to encypyt files and posts hoax pop ups which can be disabled by simply resetting the browser:

"CryptoWall Decrypter scam on Mac OS is often based on Javascript and CSS, so you can simply get rid of the virus by resetting your infected browsers."

http://computervirusremovaltips.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/how-to-remove-cryptowall-decrypter.html
 
T

trex

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2011
7,703
2,671
one gaping security hole is the Java runtime plugin for web browsers. Many victims of this type of attacks did nothing more than playing a traditional card game like bridge or backgammon on a dodgy website. The game asks you to activate Java - who would refuse? Java is on at least 5 billions devices we've been told. The virus uses Java to encrypt your files. Flash player does the same jobs for the criminals.
 
T

trex

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2011
7,703
2,671
who are you to say do not trust google top search results?
and why should I trust soft2secure.com? soft2secure.com has 143 pages in google index while symantec.com has 1,4 millions.
When it comes to computer security I would not download anything from a site unless the website has at least 1,000,000 google search results.
 
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