Dear All

Can anyone tell me how to permanently fix this problem?

Everytime I scan my PC with Spybot Search and Destroy, it tells me it has detected "Windows Security Centre.AntiVirus Override".

I click on "Fix this problem" but it's there again next time I boot. I can see the change it makes to the Dword value in the Registry setting but obviously something is changing it back again.

This is confirmed by Windows Security centre itself which always warns me that no anti-virus software is detected even though I have checked the box to tell it I have my own anti-virus solution.

Any advice about what is going on here? I'm not sure if this is being caused by a virus, trojan, Spyware or Malware or whatever.

If it's of any help, I have the following installed thanks to advice from UK Bob and LOTR.

McAfee Viruscan 4.5.0
Spybot Search and Destroy 1.4
ZoneAlarm 6.1.737
Ad-Aware SE
Malwarewipe 4.0.100

The definition files are all up to date as far as I can see.


Thanks and regards

Trevor

Trevor (& Sphinx)

This is the very first time I am going to be on the opposing side to Sphinx and, as she guessed, I totally disagree with her assessment.

First of all, to get rid of this virus try starting your PC in “safe mode”, this will stop the virus from loading into your PC’s memory, where it hides, and re-infecting your PC when you reboot. Then you should be able to delete it with your AV app or Spybot.

As for Sphinx’s “less is more” policy it is only effective if your protective apps clash or if you try to use two or more of the same types, i.e. anti-virus or firewalls, the exception to this rule is anti-spyware apps, you can quite happily run two or more of these without problems, I run three. However, since I use more protective apps than you do, eight at my last count, I can quite honestly say that they co-exist quite happily together without me having to constantly make adjustments.




UK Bob

PS: I will be looking into "Malwarewipe" in the new year.

exactly my point, less IS more. Ive run into this problem myself with trying to install too much protection on your computer system. It drains your resources first off all AND WILL conflict like its doing to him right now.

Im not here to argue the point. I have learned this from pros in the past that it is not a wise idea to have so much running in the background of your Windows system.

But, this is just my opinion mind you.

To each his own. cheers.

Im going to add: you also realize that by having all that on your computer that these programs may detect Limewire or other file sharing programs as a threat right? I just cant understand the reason for having sooo much protection/detection installed on your desktop? I only have one virus program installed and it does the job of ten applications all in one. lol. You really must have one hell of a computer system then to be able to run all those apps. good luck.

Dear Sphinx

I suppose the reason I have more protective apps than you may think reasonable is because my PC priorities are, more than likely, different to yours.

Let me explain, the most important activity I use my PC for is Internet Banking, not only for myself but for other members of my family as well. So you can imagine how devastated my family and I would be if some miscreant managed to get hold of our financial information and/or our identities. That is why I am protected up to the hilt with protective apps and if my PC slows down a bit, because of all those apps running in the background, I believe it is a price worth paying to protect my family’s welfare.

Now I do realise that other people primarily use their PCs for game and music playing, simulations and other (not so important) stuff. If this or a similar case fits your PC scenario then only minimal protection is warranted.

Peace.



UK Bob

PS. It's good to debate without getting angry

UK Bob

Thanks again for the help. Will try that right away.

Do I undertand this correctly? Spybot S & D is smart enough to detect the malicious code, then change the reg entry back to what it should be, but not to "destroy" the code once it's resident in memory? (I don't know if the payload is anything other than just changing the reg entry)

Sphinx

I think the important point being missed here is that, as UK Bob pointed out to me in a previous post, all the threats are different - Virus', Trojans, Malware, Spyware, Adware and all the rest. You need different apps to track and elimate them, right?

I believe a lot of the latest Anti-Virus programs or Internet Protection Suites have a lot of these built in. If you're using one of these then of course you wouldn't need separate apps.

In principle, I agree about running too many background apps but I'm happy to sacrifice a bit of performance for some security until an all-in-one package comes along.

Thanks for the help and info.

Trevor

Well I am going to have to agree with ukbobboy01 on this. In all the testing I have done I have yet to find a AV or spy ware program that did not miss something occasionally. And you do not have to have all of them running in the background but you should do regular scans with them all you will be surprised if you try it some time what is actually missed by different programs.

Any way like ukbobboy01 says the more the merrier I myself use 2 AV, 3 , spy ware programs on a regular basis and 5 other AV and spyware programs occasionally.

__________________










A little common sense goes a long way

Later Grandpa

UK Bob

Spybot S & D couldn't detect the problem in Safe Mode, I'm afraid.

It just said "Congratulations. There are no problems"

I re-booted the PC in normal mode first to make sure the problem was loaded before re-staring in Safe mode. Back in normal mode, Spybot S & D has picked it up again.

Trevor

Dear Trevor

I do not know of any application smart enough to delete virus written registry entries and put it back to what it was before but WinXP has a facility to restore the last good entry. However, you must delete the virus before you action XP's restore facility.

Unfortunate, some viruses cannot be directly deleted out of memory so when you close down or reboot your PC the virus is re-written back to your HD. That is why, for some viruses, Trojans and worms, you have to boot up your PC in "safe mode", that way the malware is not lodged in the PCs memory but still on the hard disk.

I would just like to add one more thing, most anti-spyware apps have use similar databases of malware names and signiatures. However, sometimes it's those small differences that saves your PC from being infected with something nasty. Recently this year I found that a "keylogger" had infected my PC, of the three anti-spyware apps I have MS Anti-Spyware found and deleted this piece of rubbish. Even more recently I found "Winfixer" installed on my PC, a particularly nasty piece of spyware secretly installed when I upgraded my Divx media player from version 5 to 6, spybot found and deleted this hidden nasty. And, as you know, Ad-Aware regularly finds and deletes spyware/adware cookies.

The point I am making is this, at the moment no one anti-spyware app can cover all the dangers that are out there, that is why I use three of them and may also use "Malwarewipe" in the near future.




UK Bob

Trev

Just read your last post, after I finished my last (one before this), and I have to ask this silly question:

Have you tried running your AV in safe mode? If so, and it didn't find anything then try using a different AV app, such as Avast, which is free.

Here is the URL: http://www.avast.com




UK Bob