Hating lovepostcards.net

Got your own spyware horror story?

I've been running standard Windows XP Home Edition for about four years, with ZoneAlarm, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, and AVG Anti-Virus Professional as security measures. For a long time, they worked well.

One day, when browsing the Miniclip games forums, I posted to an interesting-looking thread. The strange thing was that a link to a site known as lovepostcards.net had been automatically inserted at the end of the post, with no help from me. I immediately contacted the administrator to see if it was a problem with the forum, but he replied by saying that it was malware on my computer. This got me anxious--believe it or not, I hadn't had any problems with malware before.

I ran a full scan with AVG--it picked up 13 infected files, which consisted of 2 dialers and a Trojan downloader. I used the shredder feature on AVG to delete them all. However, this didn't solve my problem, because when I rebooted my PC and made another post on the forum, the link was still there. I decided that I might as well ignore it, since it didn't seem to be a serious problem.

I forgot about it for a month, until I found out that the links had changed to a Russian Web site. The malware had stirred. Mozilla Firefox didn't work at all, my computer slowed to a crawl, and the CPU was burning up. AVG alone wasn't going to be enough; I needed Ad-Aware and Spyware Doctor as backup. Spyware Doctor's full scan picked up more than 200 infections, mostly Trojans and worms.

I now regularly scan with Ad-Aware and Spyware Doctor; however, since I have absolutely no idea where the malware came from, I'm now almost scared to use the Internet.

-Tom
Essex, England

Reply from the Download.com editors:

While Miniclip has had its brush with malware installations (security firms flagged two Trojan downloaders in 2005 and 2006, which have since been recorded as repaired), it's likely that some other foe is responsible. Similar stories of self-inserting links are circulating on the Internet, and are unrelated to the Miniclip site.

Scanning in Safe Mode with antivirus tools is an important first step to malware removal, since malware publishers will want to hunker down behind as many layers as possible. Safe Mode improves your chances for catching the offenders by cutting the clutter and scanning core files, which are also common malware hiding places.

With so many active threats, it's tempting to swear off the Web and stick to real-world maneuvering. However, the potential for social and professional interaction online is so great that you lose even more by allowing malware to scare you off. Sure, keeping your system healthy is a challenge and a nuisance, and one reality that the Yahoos and Googles of the world must face.

The payoff for remaining connected is too great, at least for us here at CNET Download.com. For advice about staying safe online, check out our tips for safe online surfing and securing your wireless network.