What anti-virus do you use?

[waddler8 10]

I tried uninstalling Adobe Reader 8 and a smart restore box popped up and said 'There was an error uninstalling 'Adobe Reader 8' from your computer. Error:20.' I tried this several times with the same message coming up

 

Have you uninstalled Adobe Reader 8.1.2 & did it go through the uninstallation process?

 

Chances are that Adobe Reader 8 is an orphaned uninstall entry.

[waddler8 10]

Should run PDF readers in sandbox where possible.

 

Introduced in Adobe Reader X http://blogs.adobe.com/asset/2010/10/inside-adobe-reader-protected-mode-part-1-design.html

 

http://blogs.adobe.com/asset/2010/10/inside-adobe-reader-protected-mode-%E2%80%93-part-2-%E2%80%93-the-sandbox-process.html

 

Whichever is used it's important it's kept updated to mitigate any security issues.

[scott94 10]

i think like you mentioned its an orphaned copy, one which was already on my pc when i bought it! so when i uninstalled another version of adobe, then tried to uninstall Adob reader 8, im guessing it wouldnt allow me as some components werent their to physically remove. I dont know if that makes sense or not!

[waddler8 10]

im guessing it wouldnt allow me as some components werent their to physically remove.

Quite possible. The Secunia OSI scan I linked to in post #106 will tell you if there are any vulnerable files leftover.

[taffernic 10]

I use AVG Free combined with Zone Alarm firewall, Spywareguard, Spywareblaster and MPVS Hosts file. I occasionally get tracking cookies but nothing else for the last 6 or 7 years.

 

I keep track of what's going on with HijackThis.

 

I use Ad-Aware, SpyBot S&D, Malwarebytes, for scanning. CleanUp and/or Wise Disc Cleaner for cleaning and I use Auslogics for defrag.

[scott94 10]

This is what it says about the secunia results: Detection Statistics:

9 Applications Detected in Total

3 Insecure Versions Detected

6 Patched Versions Detected

 

Running For:

2 Minutes, 1 Second

 

Errors with the scan:

0 Errors Detected, scan result should be correct

 

Scan Options:

 

Enable thorough system inspection

Display only insecure programs

Status / Currently Processing:

Detection completed successfully

 

Apple iTunes 10.x Apple iTunes 10.x 10.0.1.22 Apple iTunes 10.x

 

This installation of Apple iTunes 10.x is insecure and potentially exposes your system to security threats!

 

The detected version installed on your system is 10.0.1.22, however, the latest patched version released by the vendor, fixing one or more vulnerabilities, is 10.2.

 

Update Instructions:

Download

 

 

Installed on Your System in:

C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe

Adobe Flash Player 10.x Adobe Flash Player 10.x 10.1.82.76 (NPAPI) Adobe Flash Player 10.x

 

This installation of Adobe Flash Player 10.x is insecure and potentially exposes your system to security threats!

 

The detected version installed on your system is 10.1.82.76 (NPAPI), however, the latest patched version released by the vendor, fixing one or more vulnerabilities, is 10.2.153.1 (NPAPI).

 

Update Instructions:

Download

 

 

Installed on Your System in:

C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll

Adobe Flash Player 9.x Adobe Flash Player 9.x 9.0.115.0 (ActiveX) Adobe Flash Player 9.x

 

This installation of Adobe Flash Player 9.x is insecure and potentially exposes your system to security threats!

 

The detected version installed on your system is 9.0.115.0 (ActiveX), however, the latest patched version released by the vendor, fixing one or more vulnerabilities, is 9

[rb8888 10]

Avira for my desktop and AVG for my laptop.

[waddler8 10]

Sorry Scott, I nearly forgot about this.

 

 

This is what it says about the secunia results:

 

This installation of Apple iTunes 10.x is insecure and potentially exposes your system to security threats!

 

The detected version installed on your system is 10.0.1.22, however, the latest patched version released by the vendor, fixing one or more vulnerabilities, is 10.2.

 

Latest iTunes: 10.2.1 http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

 

 

This installation of Adobe Flash Player 10.x is insecure and potentially exposes your system to security threats!

 

The detected version installed on your system is 10.1.82.76 (NPAPI), however, the latest patched version released by the vendor, fixing one or more vulnerabilities, is 10.2.153.1 (NPAPI).

 

Download and run the uninstaller of old versions of Adobe Flash Player: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/141/tn_14157.html

 

Then get Adobe Flash Player 10.2.153.1 From here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

(uncheck the box for the Google toolbar if you don't want it)

 

 

Installed on Your System in:

C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll

 

This installation of Adobe Flash Player 9.x is insecure and potentially exposes your system to security threats!

 

The detected version installed on your system is 9.0.115.0 (ActiveX), however, the latest patched version released by the vendor, fixing one or more vulnerabilities, is 9

That should be uninstalled by the Adobe uninstaller listed above. If it isn't, delete the file NPSWF32.dll manually.

 

Go to the folder C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\Macromed\Flash and delete the file NPSWF32.dll

[scott94 10]

Thanks waddler ive managed to update them all, and uninstall the old Adobe.

Ive just done an AVG scan today and it came up with two things:

"Object name";"C:\Users\scott\Desktop\AVSVideoConverter.exe:\{app}\WMFDist.exe"

"Detection name";"The file is signed with a broken digital signature, issued by: Microsoft Corporation."

"Object type";"file"

"SDK Type";"Core"

 

Is this anything to worry about?

[waddler8 10]

Is this anything to worry about?

Not really.

 

It means AVS Video Converter is distibuted with an unsigned copy of the Microsoft file WMFDist.exe (Digital Signatures)

 

From AVG:

 

http://free.avg.com/ww-en/faq.num-2677#num-2677

 

AVG scan is able to detect files which may not be infected, but are suspicious. These files are reported either as Warning (described in FAQ 1327), or as Information. The severity Information can be reported for one of the following reasons....

 

....The file is signed with a broken digital signature

 

The reported file was signed with a digital certificate ensuring its integrity. However due to changes to it, the certificate no longer corresponds with the content. This might happen when file is infected but also when it was incorrectly updated, broken due to some error or when the digital signature expired.

 

This gives the md5 of the file:

 

http://www.checkfilename.com/view-details/AVS-Video-Converter/

File : WMFDist.exe

Path : %programfiles%\avs4you\avsvideoconverter

MD5 : bdcee5e7dbd9e8bb3f8dbc3b45a6036f - (4057600 Bytes) Version ( 6.0.2600.0 )

 

...and the file uploaded to VirusTotal (click Show all @ Additional information):

 

http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/report.html?id=9f27c7b0d1290b288c4da86ffa38cc72f1d505d97bb9ae20bf140304fd1c9192-1284489490

[scott94 10]

aah cool thats not bad then. I'll keep it on the pc if its not harmful! Looks as though all my pc problems are sorted (touches wood) so thanks to all those that have helped, special thanks to Waddler. I really appreciated all your help.

 

Kind regards

 

Scott

[RedThirteen 10]

I haven't used anything on iMac G5 since I bought it new, no need really since nearly all viruses are programmed for Windows and get stumped when they see a Mac.

 

On my laptop (Vista) I use AVG, although it was supplied with Norton 360 which I very quickly uninstalled cos IMO it's rubbish