180 Viruses!

Published on September 25, 2006 By Dr Guy In Personal Computing

That is no typo! 180 viruses! I am working on my cousin's daughter's computer and that is how many she had! It is by far and away the record for me. I have never had anyone even begin to approach that number of viruses on a single computer! And it is still not right!

In addition, it had over 1200 items of spy/ad Ware on it (I have heard worst stories on that as I am on a Resnet list). And why am I working on it? She complained she was getting "out of memory errors". No duh! I am surprised it even booted (barely. It took about 45 minutes to see the desktop, and longer to get into any application).

I am in the process of finishing the installation, but I am going to call my cousin and ask for the restore CD. I will recover files they have, but I would not feel right giving this back to him as Windows is severly cripled.

180 viruses! Amazing!

Comments (Page 4)

PurrBall

on Oct 01, 2006

I've been running without any for six years. PC still works like new. (I take very good care of it to make sure Windows runs in top condition.)

Elemental_X2

on Oct 01, 2006

180 Viruses Dang!
It is amazig it did boot up.
I keep all my virus/firewall/spyware programs up-to-date so im protected

Dr Guy

on Oct 02, 2006

*scoff* to all. Beat 2148. It was on my Uncle's PC, they had it for about 3 years with no virus prtection. It did take about 2 days to clear everything off. And it took about 30 minutes to boot, but its running now.

You win! I am not going to compete in a contest like that one!

Threi

on Oct 03, 2006

i think #45 beat him...but a fair margin too

Dr Guy

on Oct 03, 2006

i think #45 beat him...but a fair margin too

Missed that one! Youch!

SirSmiley

on Oct 03, 2006

After 7days, 7nights, 14 pots of coffee dealing with my first malware problem...Thanks for the story. I feel much better now!

scorpNZ

on Oct 07, 2006

Me thinks guiness book of records for the most viruses on a comp anyone game to beat #45

Dr Guy

on Oct 08, 2006

After 7days, 7nights, 14 pots of coffee dealing with my first malware problem...Thanks for the story. I feel much better now!

You are most welcome! Them spies are a real b-word!

Dr Guy

on Oct 08, 2006

Me thinks guiness book of records for the most viruses on a comp anyone game to beat #45

I dont know if they have a category for it, but they should add one and that would be the first entry.

LeafsFan2005NC

on Oct 22, 2006

#45 still beats us all, but I remember trying to fix a friends computer that was taking ages to even begin to boot. Viruses abounded (over 1000, I think), but it was the spyware that was the worst. I think it hit about 3000+ before I realized that his vent fan was shot and had basically overheated the system to near death. Whether it was the viruses or spyware that lead to that shall remain unknown.

Another friend's computer turned up very nasty spyware and ran to over 2000 pieces, many of which couldn't be fixed and I think he eventually trashed his computer as well.

Still another friend had over 4000 pieces of spyware on his computer. The results just kept tallying on his computer and I looked at him and said "In a minute the program is just going to throw up its hands and say 'I give up!'". His was fixable, though.

But yeah, many people, they get their tech savvy friends to clean their computers and then within a week they're crippled again. I clean my sister's computer on a regular basis and everytime I look at her and say "Don't download stuff from sites that advertise everything as free." and she says okay, but then realizes I deleted her Comet Cursors and goes right back online and re-downloads them. At least my mom learned, though, after I had to reformat her computer after my sister downloaded something and killed it.

Dr Guy

on Oct 22, 2006

#55 by Citizen LeafsFan2005NC
Sun, October 22, 2006 00:11 AM

I have heard stories of spyware like that from a resnet list I belong to. But I have not seen the 4k-5k stuff on friends and family. And in that I am not complaining!

Threi

on Oct 22, 2006

spyware and viruses are very different things...i usually see about 50 times as much spyware as viruses on average...

Dr Guy

on Oct 22, 2006

spyware and viruses are very different things...i usually see about 50 times as much spyware as viruses on average...

As do I. The latest AV products dont differentiate unless you look in the details.

Bandit4edu

on Oct 26, 2006

refer friends and family to continuing education courses at the local community college (mines called a Virus/Spyware workshop) and only meets for two class periods. Two three hour sessions is plenty to scare the bejeebers out of 'em. Remember friends...support the community college system and instructors will be able to eat in the future!

Mexican Person

on Dec 22, 2006

Heres a tip dont ****** download on websites that say everything is 100% free. Thats a clue that should consider. Also download on trusted websites not some random one u find on google or found.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!