Smart Fortress VIRUS

[jcnj6]

Sorry if this is not the right place to post this. I have several thinkpads but my question is about my daughters computer. She has just aquired the smart fotress virus. It is unbelievably agressive running even while in safe mode. I have googled it but I do not feel safe with the sites that come up so I am coming here where I feel the safest and best advice can be found.

Does anyone have experience with this virus?
Is there a trusted website where reliable advice can be found?

Thanks for any help you can offer
Rich J

[GACrabill]

... Is there a trusted website where reliable advice can be found?

You can trust the MalwareBytes Forum discussion here (use copy/paste) :
"http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.ph ... 3&hl=smart fortress &st=0"

FYI ... I always make sure that all PCs that I work on leave here with :
- MalwareBytes installed "just-in-case"
- Adobe Reader updates
- Adobe Flash updates
- Java updates
- QuickTime updates (if it is installed)
- anti-virus product updates
- all Windows updates

The MalwareBytes Forum thread implies that the virus may have been a "drive-by" since a number of folks are getting it and don't know how. This is usually caused by Adobe Flash not being up-to-date with its security fixes and then a hijacked banner ad on any website can use the Flash exposure to install a virus. One of the newest generation of viruses that I saw recently actually installs and then connects to a virus server in Europe which then downloads viruses constantly to your PC until you shut it off or disconnect it from the internet .... the PC that I fixed got about a dozen viruses before the owner figured out that the only solution was to hold the power button down for 10-15 seconds.

[ArtShapiro]

I hadn't seen that one before, but upon Googling it, it's similar to one that my wife picked up numerous times (AntiVirus 2012). I see that it installs an executable in the user's application data directory, which means that it can be cleaned up by logging on as a different user, if there are multiple accounts on the machine. Hopefully that's the case. If (as in my wife's case) it happens to also disable the file association for .exe files, then there are ways of getting around that, but let's hear if the machine has another account from which to work. Probably Malwarebytes will nuke it if you can log on from another account.

Art

[RealBlackStuff]

Or remove the hard disk, and connect that via USB adapter/enclosure to another laptop/PC and do the scanning/removal from there.

[dsvochak]

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-r ... tress-2012