Win a copy of ESET Smart Security

ET3D · Oct 16, 2009, 03:59 PM

Note: This competition is run by me, ET, and not by Driver Heaven. I have a copy I can give and figured I'd do it here at DH. Why? Because DH is the best place for competitions, and because DH has given me several bits of stuff in these competitions so I figure it's a good place to give back. And because I like you people.

The NOD32 antivirus is well known for being efficient and effective. ESET Smart Security adds a firewall and antispam. You can learn about it here: Firewall, Antivirus, Antispam: ESET Smart Security Has It All

To enter, all you need to do is post in this thread a virus (or other malware) incident that happened to you or to someone you know.

The competition will close on November 11, 2009. I will pick one winner shortly thereafter, who'll get a license key and download instructions by e-mail. The competition is open worldwide, including to DH staff.

***Zardon*** · Oct 17, 2009, 05:10 AM

Just sticking this so people in the off topic will ses it better

CoolZone · Oct 18, 2009, 05:25 AM

I will describe the incident I had with a virus and I think a malware at the same time.

The first time when it started to manifest itself, when I was trying to get into Windows Internet Explorer, in Windows Xp, the home page stopped to show up and the program was refreshing itself continuously. I have ran multiple instances of Spybot Search and Destroy and nothing was found. I have installed NOD32 evaluation I had at that time and I wanted to install Kaspersky Antivirus. After the installation begun, at the program executable, the installation stopped, saying that it cannot write to the disk. The same thing happened with Avira, a newer version of NOD32 and Avast. The malware/virus was continuously stopping me to install an antivirus to cure the computer.

After the second run of Spybot Search and Destroy, the Internet Explorer application did not refresh continuously any more, but was showing me a different home page than the one I have set and it was a fake page, with a fake antivirus that was trying itself to download into my computer.

I have even tried to run an antivirus, but a little outdated, from a bootable CD.

The only thing that made it work again was the complete format of the boot partition and reinstallation of Windows XP.

MitchRapp · Oct 19, 2009, 11:15 AM

this was years ago... I downloaded a zip file containing an application that was supposed to cleanup startup files
I scanned it and it came up clean (that was with an old old Kaspersky way back... like I said, YEARS ago)

I run the app and my screen goes black. Then a skull shows up and it says "NOW FORMATTING DRIVE - YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR DATA"

then a few awkward screens later (mostly static, like gibberish) another screen comes up

"IF THIS HAD BEEN A REAL VIRUS - YOU WOULD HAVE LOST EVERYTHING BY NOW.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A REAL ANTIVIRUS"

annnnnd that led to an antivirus webpage which I forget... but basically I updated my kaspersky version that day (60$) and when I re-scanned the file it found the virus in it.

interesting experience ... but hey I was much much younger (14?) at the time

dodobv · Oct 19, 2009, 11:31 AM

Hi. Here`s what happened to a friend of mine last month.

He came to me with the computer because after loading windows (xp) it runs for 2-3 minutes...and it gets blocked. Everything, start button, mouse, even with ctrl+alt+del i couldn`t do anything. I loaded again, and after trying to have a normal startup- i disabled some of the cr@p that used to load with windows. It was full of malware from startup. It had a old version of a free A/V. I managed to uninstall that think and after downloading a trial, i first ran NOD 32 v4. I tried to hit scan, but...it gets blocked.
Again restart, and directly went for update trial version and scan. After reaching 2% it hit me: 256 files infected, at almost 100% 1156 file infected, even pictures with .jpg.exe.
I thought about format and reinstal.
I finished scan, restart and then i installed spybot search and destroy- only a few entries infected that i`ve deleted them.
I checked with A/V again, this time with BitDefender online scan...and...surprize...nothing. I had to check with NOD again. It found only 1 file infected and i cleaned it. Nothing in windows.
After a full chkdsk, immunize from spybot, and a full scan from NOD, that computer is still running without a problem. Wonder how so many files got infected with that free solution. And what blocked everything. I guess it was that malware that started with windows. Used Ccleaner to remove invalid entries, temporary files, and startup items.
After that...it runs like a charm...

isaak · Oct 20, 2009, 07:56 AM

My old computer (now used by my sister), after a scan with malwarebytes, had i believe over 2000 errors. I am now currently in search of an anti virus system because of unforeseen computer problems...am trying out kaspersky, but a free legal copy of ESET would be nice of course

***Zardon*** · Oct 22, 2009, 03:38 AM

Ah come on guys, just a few entries? its free!

niceguyrichy · Oct 22, 2009, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zardon

Ah come on guys, just a few entries? its free!

ok

a couple months back the kids' grandma's comp crapped out.
i bought a new hdd, did a nice shiny clean install of windows, set up all security etc..
unfortunately, firewalls and realtime antivirus don't count for shit when the kids disable them and click 'OK' to every goddamn pop-up and program install request they encounter while messing around online

was in the other day, and noticed it seemed to be running really slow.
sitting at idle , it was using almost a gig of pagefile, and 98% cpu ...

so gonna be another afternoon wiping hdd and setting it all up again.
until next time of course.

kids. dontcha just love em..

MitchRapp · Oct 22, 2009, 05:23 PM

hey I got plenty of horror stories from work (like today, user calls me to say "I got a lot of popups to call u guys" and I asked "since when" and she said "oh about a year"

I get in her computer and Symantec has 3500 files in quarantine
SICK.

caqde · Oct 22, 2009, 10:46 PM

heh why not I use it all the time, and I need a renewal soon anyways, not to mention my parents could use it anyways.

When I was in high school (1998-2002) I went over to a friends house to work on their computer, I ended up downloading an antivirus program and started scanning the computer. (virus's on it were annoying, not intrusive thankfully) Anyways while it was scanning I was watching the virus count and saw it going up and up and up, by the end of the scan the program found 2000+ infected files. I asked them who used the computer, the answer was everyone (friends, neighbors, them). I told them to have their neighbors and friends use the computer while logged into a limited account that I set up for them (don't know if they listened).

Currently I use a Nod32 Rescuedisk for cases like that, simple quick and keeps the virus's from defending themselves.

SeraphicSorcerer · Oct 23, 2009, 12:00 AM

This one time at band camp....

hehe...

That's very generous of you Et3d, I wish the people who need it the best, I have am AV.. So I want someone without it to win, and good luck.

isaak · Oct 26, 2009, 05:08 AM

I have never had many problems with viruses, only a few large deposits on old computers that hadn't been checked for a while.

All I can say is I would genuinely appreciate this

JaccoW · Oct 27, 2009, 01:32 PM

The worst I have had is "spysheriff".
It was a so called anti-spyware program that somehow installed itsself.

It would change my internet starting page, and would try to let me pay for 'removal' of the infected files. I kept removing it, but it would be back at startup.
In the end I managed to disable it, secure my personal files, and just formatted the drive. (I am still glad I use a seperate disk for my personal files)

But that was a waste of time. I think I got it from a well known tech site (not DH), and have rarely visited that site since then.

I have been running Nod32 for 3 years and my subscriptions ended recently. My mobo died and I am waiting for the replacement to arrive, so I can install Win 7 and make a fresh start.

ET3D · Nov 3, 2009, 03:51 AM

Anyone else wants it? About a week left until I choose the winner.

Robert McClelland · Nov 4, 2009, 12:31 AM

I never get a virus in my life time. Because I'm carefull, but I'm also broke

. Plus I been using anitvirus free ones for years lol. Well not true I used Norton 360 that was peace of crap. I had Mcafee suite also that one sucked.

Optix · Nov 8, 2009, 08:02 PM

Back around the time I started getting into computers my girlfriend who is now my wife (W00T!) received an IM via Messenger from an out of town friend of ours who we had not talked to in quite a while. It said something along the lines of "Hey, check this out!" and provided a link.

Since we knew they were dealing with some personal issues at the time my wife decided to see what this was about and bam! We ended up getting tagged with a virus that would then send out the same message to all of our online contacts on Messenger. If one of them clicked on the link they would be infected and all of their online contacts would get the message and so on and so on.

It redirected any browser traffic to a bogus anti-virus website and was a pain to remove because at this time I wasn't fully up to snuff on any "l33t hax". To be honest I don't even think I was using the term l33t as a joke because I was so new to all of it. Anyway, it rendered my McAfee useless so a friend of mine who makes Bill Gates look like a jock stopped by and ran a removal tool from his flash drive.

Let's just say that it has been 4 years since and neither of us have picked up a virus on either computer.

The best defense is knowledge. The second best defense is a good anti-virus program. Hehehe.

Thanks for the freebie. This could come in mighty handy when my Kaspersky Internet Security license expires at the end of the month.

ET3D · Nov 12, 2009, 02:35 PM

And the winner is... Optix. Congratulations, man.

Robert McClelland · Nov 12, 2009, 02:38 PM

congrads I was so close lol.

Tyrsonswood · Nov 12, 2009, 05:47 PM

Cool Man! Enjoy....

Optix · Nov 12, 2009, 07:38 PM

*does a little dance*

Thank you!

***EDIT: So as an added bonus Smart Security reduced the time when my desktop appears to the time it is usable by half compared to Kaspersky Internet Security. W00T!

Oct 16, 2009, 03:59 PM	#1
ET3D Hopeless Dreamer Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dreamland, near the pool of infinite graphics cards Posts: 2,524 Rep Power: 59 System Specs	Win a copy of ESET Smart Security Note: This competition is run by me, ET, and not by Driver Heaven. I have a copy I can give and figured I'd do it here at DH. Why? Because DH is the best place for competitions, and because DH has given me several bits of stuff in these competitions so I figure it's a good place to give back. And because I like you people. The NOD32 antivirus is well known for being efficient and effective. ESET Smart Security adds a firewall and antispam. You can learn about it here: Firewall, Antivirus, Antispam: ESET Smart Security Has It All To enter, all you need to do is post in this thread a virus (or other malware) incident that happened to you or to someone you know. The competition will close on November 11, 2009. I will pick one winner shortly thereafter, who'll get a license key and download instructions by e-mail. The competition is open worldwide, including to DH staff. Last edited by ET3D; Oct 17, 2009 at 01:47 PM.

Oct 17, 2009, 05:10 AM	#2
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,257 Rep Power: 3150	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security Just sticking this so people in the off topic will ses it better

Oct 18, 2009, 05:25 AM	#3
CoolZone DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 593 Rep Power: 41 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security I will describe the incident I had with a virus and I think a malware at the same time. The first time when it started to manifest itself, when I was trying to get into Windows Internet Explorer, in Windows Xp, the home page stopped to show up and the program was refreshing itself continuously. I have ran multiple instances of Spybot Search and Destroy and nothing was found. I have installed NOD32 evaluation I had at that time and I wanted to install Kaspersky Antivirus. After the installation begun, at the program executable, the installation stopped, saying that it cannot write to the disk. The same thing happened with Avira, a newer version of NOD32 and Avast. The malware/virus was continuously stopping me to install an antivirus to cure the computer. After the second run of Spybot Search and Destroy, the Internet Explorer application did not refresh continuously any more, but was showing me a different home page than the one I have set and it was a fake page, with a fake antivirus that was trying itself to download into my computer. I have even tried to run an antivirus, but a little outdated, from a bootable CD. The only thing that made it work again was the complete format of the boot partition and reinstallation of Windows XP.

Oct 19, 2009, 11:15 AM	#4
MitchRapp a.k.a. pepiman Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Montreal Posts: 905 Rep Power: 35 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security this was years ago... I downloaded a zip file containing an application that was supposed to cleanup startup files I scanned it and it came up clean (that was with an old old Kaspersky way back... like I said, YEARS ago) I run the app and my screen goes black. Then a skull shows up and it says "NOW FORMATTING DRIVE - YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR DATA" then a few awkward screens later (mostly static, like gibberish) another screen comes up "IF THIS HAD BEEN A REAL VIRUS - YOU WOULD HAVE LOST EVERYTHING BY NOW. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A REAL ANTIVIRUS" annnnnd that led to an antivirus webpage which I forget... but basically I updated my kaspersky version that day (60$) and when I re-scanned the file it found the virus in it. interesting experience ... but hey I was much much younger (14?) at the time

Oct 19, 2009, 11:31 AM	#5
dodobv DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2008 Location: Romania Posts: 201 Rep Power: 12	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security Hi. Here`s what happened to a friend of mine last month. He came to me with the computer because after loading windows (xp) it runs for 2-3 minutes...and it gets blocked. Everything, start button, mouse, even with ctrl+alt+del i couldn`t do anything. I loaded again, and after trying to have a normal startup- i disabled some of the cr@p that used to load with windows. It was full of malware from startup. It had a old version of a free A/V. I managed to uninstall that think and after downloading a trial, i first ran NOD 32 v4. I tried to hit scan, but...it gets blocked. Again restart, and directly went for update trial version and scan. After reaching 2% it hit me: 256 files infected, at almost 100% 1156 file infected, even pictures with .jpg.exe. I thought about format and reinstal. I finished scan, restart and then i installed spybot search and destroy- only a few entries infected that i`ve deleted them. I checked with A/V again, this time with BitDefender online scan...and...surprize...nothing. I had to check with NOD again. It found only 1 file infected and i cleaned it. Nothing in windows. After a full chkdsk, immunize from spybot, and a full scan from NOD, that computer is still running without a problem. Wonder how so many files got infected with that free solution. And what blocked everything. I guess it was that malware that started with windows. Used Ccleaner to remove invalid entries, temporary files, and startup items. After that...it runs like a charm...

Oct 20, 2009, 07:56 AM	#6
isaak DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 914 Rep Power: 23 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security My old computer (now used by my sister), after a scan with malwarebytes, had i believe over 2000 errors. I am now currently in search of an anti virus system because of unforeseen computer problems...am trying out kaspersky, but a free legal copy of ESET would be nice of course __________________

Oct 22, 2009, 03:38 AM	#7
*Zardon* enchanted Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 32,257 Rep Power: 3150	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security Ah come on guys, just a few entries? its free!

Oct 22, 2009, 05:23 PM	#9
MitchRapp a.k.a. pepiman Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Montreal Posts: 905 Rep Power: 35 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security hey I got plenty of horror stories from work (like today, user calls me to say "I got a lot of popups to call u guys" and I asked "since when" and she said "oh about a year" I get in her computer and Symantec has 3500 files in quarantine SICK.

Oct 22, 2009, 10:46 PM	#10
caqde DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 437 Rep Power: 45	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security heh why not I use it all the time, and I need a renewal soon anyways, not to mention my parents could use it anyways. When I was in high school (1998-2002) I went over to a friends house to work on their computer, I ended up downloading an antivirus program and started scanning the computer. (virus's on it were annoying, not intrusive thankfully) Anyways while it was scanning I was watching the virus count and saw it going up and up and up, by the end of the scan the program found 2000+ infected files. I asked them who used the computer, the answer was everyone (friends, neighbors, them). I told them to have their neighbors and friends use the computer while logged into a limited account that I set up for them (don't know if they listened). Currently I use a Nod32 Rescuedisk for cases like that, simple quick and keeps the virus's from defending themselves. __________________ AMD Phenom II X4 925 AM3/ Giga-byte MA790XT-UD4P XFX HD5770 1GB / 2x2GB of GSKILL DDR3 10666 8-8-8-23 Samsung SH-S182D DVD-RW drive / Samsung SH-S222A DVD-RW drive Western Digital 7500AACS(Primary)/Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb(Secondary)/Western Digital 3200KS 16MB 7200rpm SATAII HD(Secondary) Fortron AX500-A PSU / CoolerMaster CMStacker Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX / Creative Inspire 6600 6.1 speakers Samsuugn T200HD 20" LCD Monitor / Logitech Internet 350 Black Keyboard Logitech MX510 Mouse

Oct 23, 2009, 12:00 AM	#11
SeraphicSorcerer Driverheaven's Sorcerer Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ocala, FL Posts: 1,136 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security This one time at band camp.... hehe... That's very generous of you Et3d, I wish the people who need it the best, I have am AV.. So I want someone without it to win, and good luck. __________________

Oct 26, 2009, 05:08 AM	#12
isaak DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 914 Rep Power: 23 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security I have never had many problems with viruses, only a few large deposits on old computers that hadn't been checked for a while. All I can say is I would genuinely appreciate this __________________

Oct 27, 2009, 01:32 PM	#13
JaccoW DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Hague. The Netherlands Posts: 17 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security The worst I have had is "spysheriff". It was a so called anti-spyware program that somehow installed itsself. It would change my internet starting page, and would try to let me pay for 'removal' of the infected files. I kept removing it, but it would be back at startup. In the end I managed to disable it, secure my personal files, and just formatted the drive. (I am still glad I use a seperate disk for my personal files) But that was a waste of time. I think I got it from a well known tech site (not DH), and have rarely visited that site since then. I have been running Nod32 for 3 years and my subscriptions ended recently. My mobo died and I am waiting for the replacement to arrive, so I can install Win 7 and make a fresh start.

Nov 3, 2009, 03:51 AM	#14
ET3D Hopeless Dreamer Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dreamland, near the pool of infinite graphics cards Posts: 2,524 Rep Power: 59 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security Anyone else wants it? About a week left until I choose the winner.

Nov 4, 2009, 12:31 AM	#15
Robert McClelland PAX Tweaker, PAX Expert. Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Some Where in Ohio Posts: 6,346 Rep Power: 103 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security I never get a virus in my life time. Because I'm carefull, but I'm also broke . Plus I been using anitvirus free ones for years lol. Well not true I used Norton 360 that was peace of crap. I had Mcafee suite also that one sucked. __________________ "XTREME AUDIO IS CRAP!" "There no support for it. It's crapist card on face of the earth it should be throw into the sun"

Nov 8, 2009, 08:02 PM	#16
Optix DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 185 Rep Power: 10 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security Back around the time I started getting into computers my girlfriend who is now my wife (W00T!) received an IM via Messenger from an out of town friend of ours who we had not talked to in quite a while. It said something along the lines of "Hey, check this out!" and provided a link. Since we knew they were dealing with some personal issues at the time my wife decided to see what this was about and bam! We ended up getting tagged with a virus that would then send out the same message to all of our online contacts on Messenger. If one of them clicked on the link they would be infected and all of their online contacts would get the message and so on and so on. It redirected any browser traffic to a bogus anti-virus website and was a pain to remove because at this time I wasn't fully up to snuff on any "l33t hax". To be honest I don't even think I was using the term l33t as a joke because I was so new to all of it. Anyway, it rendered my McAfee useless so a friend of mine who makes Bill Gates look like a jock stopped by and ran a removal tool from his flash drive. Let's just say that it has been 4 years since and neither of us have picked up a virus on either computer. The best defense is knowledge. The second best defense is a good anti-virus program. Hehehe. Thanks for the freebie. This could come in mighty handy when my Kaspersky Internet Security license expires at the end of the month. __________________ CPU-Z Validation & GPU-Z Validation $$$ Buget Builders Of The World Unite $$$ Last edited by Optix; Nov 9, 2009 at 09:53 AM.

Nov 12, 2009, 02:35 PM	#17
ET3D Hopeless Dreamer Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Dreamland, near the pool of infinite graphics cards Posts: 2,524 Rep Power: 59 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security And the winner is... Optix. Congratulations, man.

Nov 12, 2009, 02:38 PM	#18
Robert McClelland PAX Tweaker, PAX Expert. Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Some Where in Ohio Posts: 6,346 Rep Power: 103 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security congrads I was so close lol. __________________ "XTREME AUDIO IS CRAP!" "There no support for it. It's crapist card on face of the earth it should be throw into the sun"

Nov 12, 2009, 07:38 PM	#20
Optix DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 185 Rep Power: 10 System Specs	Re: Win a copy of ESET Smart Security does a little dance Thank you! **EDIT: So as an added bonus Smart Security reduced the time when my desktop appears to the time it is usable by half compared to Kaspersky Internet Security. W00T! __________________ CPU-Z Validation & GPU-Z Validation $$$ Buget Builders Of The World Unite $$$ Last edited by Optix; Yesterday at 08:58 PM.*