So the machine was unprotected for 1, possibly 2 days. Depending on the
user's habits, that's certainly more than enough time for the machine to get
so infected. (A single SmitFraud infection could bring along friends like
Vundo and SDBot, all three of them known for dropping scores of files on a
machine.)
Defender: Unless the user updated manually every day, this app's only
auto-updated twice a week. (And I've seen posts in WU newsgroup this week
which suggest that the WU servers haven't been successfully pushing out
Defender updates since last weekend.) Furthermore, we all know that
Defender's not at the top of the anti-spyware application heap. That said,
it's probably best to have this free protection anyway.
Ad-Aware: Only Ad-Aware Pro's Ad-Watch provides real-time protection (and
user must choose to enable it).
Spybot: Of Spybots 2 Residents, SDHelper, if enabled, provides some
real-time protection but certainly not enough; Tea Timer is not enabled by
default (nor would I recommend enabling it for the average user). If the
user keeps Spybot updated but neglects to Immunize after updating, Spybot's
pretty worthless.
I'd recommend adding BOClean and SpywareBlaster to the homemade security
suite. Keep the latter updated and all of it's protections enabled.
Security FAQ & Checklist
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/8463
--
~PA Bear
R. McCarty wrote:
> It expired on Tuesday. Can't image how that many threats got on
> the machine in that period of time. Plus I had added Windows
> Defender, AdAware & SpyBot. The owner claimed that the 3
> tools where kept up to date and run periodically.
>
> Last time I actually worked on the PC was back in October.
>
> "PA Bear" <PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%239ScDSGOIHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> How long had VirusScan remained on the machine after the free-trial
>> expired?
>>
>> R. McCarty wrote:
>>> None, Zero, Zip - Nada. The worst part is that McAfee AV was
>>> up to date with definitions and program patches. I've seen other
>>> situations where maybe 1 or 2 items go undetected by a formerly
>>> installed AV, but this one was a surprise. I usually see more Trojan
>>> infections go undetected - but this machine had both Trojan and
>>> Viral infections.
>>>
>>> "PA Bear" <PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:eM4eUWFOIHA.3556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>> And how many of them were System Restore files?
>>>> --
>>>> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
>>>> MS MVP-Windows (IE, OE, Security, Shell/User)
>>>> AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
>>>> DTS-L.ORG http://66.39.69.143/
>>>>
>>>> R. McCarty wrote:
>>>>> Just finished helping a customer who was determined to keep the
>>>>> free/trial-ware version of McAfee on their PC till it expired. I tried
>>>>> my best to get them off McAfee. Today I installed AVG, it began a
>>>>> full system scan and after only 6,000 scanned files had already found
>>>>> and removed over 17 different viruses and trojans.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just some insight for any current or possible McAfee customers.