TR/Agent.6952238 Part 2

The other day, I scanned my Linux system more than once and I was surprised when I discovered that there were four viruses on my Linux. I thought it was a great “record” and I began to suspect everything, especially the stability and the vulnerability of Linux system. After scanning it, it seemed like the anti-virus couldn’t delete the viruses. It was a big annoyance, because they seem to be stubborn.

I gave up for a while, but when I scanned my E drive, which is in FAT32, I noticed that the viruses came from there and also noticed familiar names. They were some .exe files that are installed on my Windows Xp system but I wondered why Avira considered them as “viruses.” I have used AVG and it never treats them as viruses. I also use ClamAV and it also treats them as “safe.” Is Avira making up stories? I don’t know for sure.

I logged on my Windows Xp and installed Avira. I only wanted to find out if Avira will “catch” them, but I scanned my system using AVG before the installation. Everything was okay, and I still installed Avira. After replacing the anti-virus and some software managements, Avira scanned my E drive and the “viruses” were deleted. I also scanned my flash drive, and one of the “viruses” is in there. I remembered saving one of the executable files in my flash drive for later use.

I don’t remember exactly what TR/Agent.6952238 is associated with. It was this one software, but I can’t recall. I was delusional, but wasn’t drunk. So, bear with me. I can’t remember anything right now.

Anyway, I rescanned my Linux system and the “viruses” were gone. One thing that I still don’t understand is that Linux Avira cannot delete these “viruses” that reside on FAT32. Anybody know why? I need to find out, but I’m still sure that Linux is virus free!

TR/Agent.6952238 Part 1

Today is the day when I found out that my Linux system was hit by a virus or a Trojan horse. My platform is openSuSE 10.3 and I’ve had it since its first release. Before that, I used openSuSE 10.2, but was never hit by a virus. I have had Avira anti-virus on my system, but I installed it from the source. Today, however, I found out that Avira anti-virus is also available on Yast, so I installed it.

I have suspected that a virus existed on my system, because the time and the date have been messed up. Even so, I’m never sure if it has been caused by a virus. I could never synchronize the time and, since yesterday, a248.e.akamai.net has been notifying me that the server certificate is outdated.

Anyway, after Avira installation, including dazuko, in order to run Avira, I scanned my system, as well as updated the anti-virus database. To my surprise, Avira caught a virus called TR/Agent.6952238. I was curious and googled it. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a lot of information on it, except from Avira website. However, the signature has been added to the database as of January 08, 2008. I also searched a related information from the site, but there is none. I did find that it is a Trojan, based on a forum, but I wasn’t sure which platform that it would infect. Apparently, the virus is located somewhere in ies4linux/ie6/ dosdevices directory. Hopefully, the anti-virus will do something about it and Avira will give more information on TR/Agent.6952238.

I’m still clueless about the virus on my system. There doesn’t seem to be any information that it has been deleted or quarantined. I’m feeling a little insecure using my laptop now. Or, should I just uninstall ies4linux? There is more bad than good in it.

Internet Explorer. Anything related to Windoze is never virus free, and why did I install it on the first place?

Can I live without the Internet?

I have always wanted to try not to use the internet for a week. How would my life be? I will not check my emails and my messages on Facebook or Studivz. I will not read Slashdot, Live Science or Space.com. I will not check out videos on Youtube. I will not read anything on Linux or Windows XP. I will not read people’s blog, and neither will I read or write on my blog. I will not do ANYTHING that is related to the world wide web for one week.

I have been thinking, what is the purpose of the world wide web? It’s so global and almost everyone in the world knows it. It’s so addicting and a lot of people abuse it. Information is so fast and free and a lot of people give shitty stupid idiotic information on nothing, something and everything. It’s a waste of time because it’s killing my mind and your mind. It’s a silly network through ip addresses, wires, the air and satellites and everyone is connected. It’s some sort of city life, except that we’re separated by distance. Imagine, some guy in Hawaii is reading my blog now. He and I are not even connected by land, but he can enter my world.

It’s…crazy!

What I plan to do during the week is to do a lot of readings, but I will also write what happen day to day. Maybe I am tempted to type wordpress.com or facebook.com, or maybe I am curious about what is happening with my friends, or maybe I decide to update my anti-virus, my Windows XP or my openSuSE 10.3, or maybe I want to read some stuff on technology or on Linux. So, I will write whatever happens using OpenOffice Writer. A week later, I will post everything on my blog, except personal stories.

I figured I’d start Friday. That way, I will have the time to email important messages to my family and friends. I will also have the time to update everything, especially anti-virus or security patches. Then, everything starts on Friday morning until the next Friday. So, just leave a message. We’ll see what happens.