Zeus computer virus

[pipsky2008]

Be aware

Yesterday as I was watching a programme on You tube, a full page box popped up saying that all my bank and credit details card would betaken unless an amount was paid

Another box appeared which the android voice said I was to click on before the time limit had ended.

I immediately shut down the computer, restarted it and run a full virus scan which stated that there had been no breach of security and that all was in order.

I wish I'd taken a screen shot to show you but didn't

Checked the bank account balance at an ATM today. Nothing missing, email account seems normal. I haven't used online banking because of any lurking nasties.

Any advice or thoughts welcome

[Blah Blah]

A virus scan from your antivirus software won't always find browser hijackers or malware. Popups usually are some kind of backdoor malware.

Some free software that I recommend are;

- Spybot search and destroy

- Iobit Advanced Systemcare (extremely good for system health)

- Malwarebytes

All of these are good at tooting out malware stuff and cleaning out cookies etc

Another great piece of software for repairing windows OS is;

- Tweaking.com

This little gem will fix any problems or infractions on the OS by malware, as well as fix problems that try to rewrite access to your antivirus, or just regular file corruption on the OS.

Once again, all of those things are free (or have fully functioning free versions). Hope that helps.

[ianr]

Search on Zeus virus warning and you'll get some reassurance that it's a known tech support scam: the popup is a fake warning. You did well to power down. It's probably best to assume that some misdirecting malware or worse may have been installed on your system (maybe piggybacked with a recently installed program) and do a clean-out. There's plently of specific advice about, like https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-windows-detected-zeus-virus-popups/. As Blah Blah says, there are adequate free scanners and cleaners around.

ETA: Just reread the OP. I'm not quite sure now why I concluded so definitely that it was a scam. I still suspect it most probably was, even if the substance of the message was a demand rather than a warning, so add those two words to my description. How did you arrive at the Zeus attribution btw? Did it announce itself? I think it might have been that inference that influenced me.

[Blah Blah]

Plus youtube is notorious for popups. Using a browser ad blocker usually sorts that problem out. Most browsers offer free ad blockers than can be downloaded for that particular browser.

[Loz]

As Blah Blah mentioned, Malwarebytes is terrific at detecting such stuff. If I get any sort of feeling something is not as it should be, I run Malwarebytes for my own piece of mind.

And also, as BB said, get yourself an ad-blocker. Stops such shenanigans and makes most websites much easier to read.

[pipsky2008]

Thank you all very much. Fantastically helpful

[pipsky2008]

Thanks again for the good advice. I downloaded and installed the malwarebytes from the official malwarebytes.com home page.

I opted for the 14 day free Premium trial version 3.3.1 to get a sense of it and what it could do.

It scanned and came back with items scanned 164,937, scanned detections 0, real time detections 0 . I'm wondering what happened to Zeus, where did it go ?

ianr-yes Zeus was named on the pop up page but as the voice said that all of my bank and credit card details had been taken, I thought shutting the computer down as soon as possible was the right thing to do and so don't recall much more but the name Zeus stuck in my memory.

[Blah Blah]

I suspect it was a backdoor popup which presented itself while you were watching a youtube video. They are fairly common, usually claiming you have a virus to get you to go to their site and download software that is then malware. Using an adblocker will stop those. What browser do you use Pipsky?

[pipsky2008]

Blah Blah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I suspect it was a backdoor popup which presented

> itself while you were watching a youtube video.

> They are fairly common, usually claiming you have

> a virus to get you to go to their site and

> download software that is then malware. Using an

> adblocker will stop those. What browser do you use

> Pipsky?

Thanks for your reply. I use internet explorer with windows 7 with windows security essentials. I recently bought a Groupon for windows 10 pro which I have yet to install. I will certainly take your advice regarding adblocker though

[Blah Blah]

Adblock Plus is free and works with most browsers including IE.

http://download.cnet.com/Adblock-Plus-for-Internet-Explorer/3000-12512_4-75938563.html

[pipsky2008]

Thank you very much for all your help and insights Blah Blah, ianr and Loz

[Brian Mcculloch]

Thanks for the info. God knows wats happening these days.