A recurring Trojan is annoying me...

A recurring message from Microsoft Security Essentials keeps telling me it found the following: TrojanWin32/Sisron and TrojanDownloader:Win32/bo...

I have cleaned it off several times but it keeps popping up and now I seem unable to update the ME. Could someone tell me what the deuce is going on?

You probably didn't clean it off so much as stop an instance of it running.

Did you turn the internet off, reboot to Safe Mode, and then do your system-wide virus scan, after which you disinfected or deleted all indicated files?  (Rebooting to Safe Mode offers some guarantee of starting the computer withOUT also starting the virus, meaning it can't, or has less chance to, subvert the anti-virus efforts.)



That "TrojanDownloader:Win32/bo...", what's the "bo"?  Is it supposed to be BHO?  Browser Helper Object?  One possible Research&Destroy tool in that case would be Hijack This.  Use with caution.

I didn't do any of those things because...well...I have a Granpa Simpson approach to computers...meaning when they act up, I should at them, threaten them with water and turn them off expecting them to be well-behaved after some time off and reflection to consider what they did wrong.

I am now downloading AVG which, if I have understood it correctly, is better than the MSE.

MSE is supposed to be pretty good.  It's probably not the flavour of anti-virus software that makes the difference here.  

How to start your computer in Safe Mode.

Ah, but what has me worried is not only this trojan thing but also the fact that my MSE is unable to update. I have tried several times today and it says internet connectivity is bad, which is nonsense and leaves me to suspect that some virus is blocking it, which might also be why AVG could not install, even after I uninstalled MSE.

So...

MSe is uninstalled.  AVG won't install.


Eric, it may be you are your own trojan.



If the virus is blocking the install, it may still be that Safe Mode is the answer.  Reboot to Safe Mode and attempt to install AVG from there.

No, no, I re-installed MSE after AVG failed. I can install the program but cannot update it.

Eric, it may be you are your own trojan.

Heh heh heh...Give ETR a piece if literature from the 1600's and he can read, process, analyze and lecture about it in minutes. Try to teach him a new trick on the computer and well, we find out he's mortal just like the rest of us!

Ok, still being hounded by cyber nasties. Now, my poor computer routinely shuts off and presents me with a blue screen informing me that it is shutting down to avoid damage, tells me to uninstall all new hardware/software, stop BIO memory caching or shadowing (what is that???) and then writes stop: 0X000000D1, 0XAC4D49D3, 0X00000002, 0X00000001,0X83A331DA.... What is this...I should have listened to my brother...never ever ever download anything...ever....

When I first started to use the University supplied computer in my apartment (after my laptop died....) it had a lot of viruses on it and would not allow me to link to many of the sites that would have allowed me to easily fix it - I even had a Norton subscription that would have allowed me to download the software but it blocked access to the site. In the end as a last resort (that I didn't think was going to work) I actually downloaded the Norton antivirus software from one of the torrent websites and through it managed to fix the problem. That was 12 months ago now but It is worth a try.

Yes, but therein lies the rub...I tried installing AVG and that failed, I try to update the parameters of Microsoft Security Essentials and that fails and now my Internet Explorer is acting up...leading me to think that whatever is in my computer is designed to block any attempts to get software that might remove it.

That is the problem that I had. What I am saying is that for me I did manage to torrent download the Norton software and it did fix the problem when everything else I tried to do at the time was blocked, including some of what you have mentioned. At the time I was both suprised and relieved when it worked.

I see...ok, well, then I will take this sound advice and apply it practically Hope it works, my poor laptop is not a happy machine...