How smart are rootkits/trojans?

There are rootkits that NOD32 (or any AV) cannot detect. However, NOD32 does detect rootkits.

 

Hi,

Their apparently not as smart as 'Blue Pill

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

I doubt they are 'smart' enough to past a Turing test.

Yes, I always thought your security setup was on the light side.

 

Tauting is not smart.

See, they named it "HiJackThis"--and the jerks did.

 

Yes you did controler along with only a few others, and they did get quite a lot of stick over it. As you rightly say, look what has happened since.


StevieO

 

@ DA, with "smart" I of course mean the ability to hide from anti malware tools. But yes I really need more protection.

@ NicM, trust me you and others will not find anything strange on my system, I know what to look for, I´m not a newbie. And like I said, it might be that I´m paranoid, perhaps it´s a conflict on my system.

 

Rasheed, all this sounds very familar....

You might think you are not a newbie, but you seem to be caught in a vicious cycle.

1. You start with a clean system, but you are worried about world class hackers gunning for you, far out threats like bio rootkits , so you load up on tons of security programs whether they will help or not, switching and changing to whatever is new and fashionable.

2.Your system works strangely due to the inevitable conflicts (ZAP+KAV 6 + 2 other HIPS and what else I don't know) , you get paranoid, you add more security software instead of spending time trying to learn what is wrong.

3. Eventually, you decide to reformat when the conflicts gets big enough or you get overly paranoid that something is wrong ,

4. Go back to step one.

 

Well actually, this does sound familiar, but I still don´t get your point. Which vicious cycle? And as far as I know, being paranoid and being a newbie are to different things.

About 1: Yes we all do this, we are all trying to figure out which tools are best for us. Of course you will never know for sure if all this tools will actually protect you against all malware or not, I agree. But it does not mean we should not use them.

About 2: Well actually, I have to say that the current anti malware tools on my system are most likely not the cause of my problem, it all started when I changed a couple of settings on my system. So "conflict" is maybe not the right word. And of course I always test my anti malware tools in VMware to make sure they won´t conflict.

 

The one where you periodically think you have being hacked, format , then
restart .

Being paranoid is different from being constantly faced with weird computer behavior.

Being paranoid just means thinking that you are hacked with no reason what so ever. But according to you, you have reason.

I don't know if you can be considered a newbie, but at best someone who keeps getting computer problems that makes him think he has malware is surely someone not much above newbie.

Certainly if one would in such a position, I think it would be wise to hesitate when giving advise, soft recommendations (particularly of newer products) to other people. If you can't even keep your own house in order....

Actually no, not all of us are constantly trying to figure out which tools are 'best', not all of us worry about far out threats etc. But leave that aside.

But I never said you shouldn't use them as usual you miss the point.

If that's the case, it's simple enough to reverse them no? Only a newbie makes changes he doesn't understand and even if he did he would have ensured he could reverse then.

And those 'couple of settings' might perhaps have worked on a normal system, but your system with all those anti malware tools is hardly 'normal'

Your testing needs more work then! Given the rate of your system change, I highly doubt your 'testing' is any more than,

1. run x
2. No Blue screen
3. play around with x and some tests
4. done.

 

Believe it or not but this is actually the first time in six year that I will reformat my system.

Keep getting computer problems? This is my first "major" problem in 10 years of computing. And it isn´t because of my anti-malware tools.

Sorry but this doesn´t make any sense at all. Because I have a certain (not really serious, but annoying) problem I can´t advise/give my opinion about certain tools anymore?

Well, the thing is I do not want to reverse these changes and besides, I´m not sure what´s causing this certain behavior in the first place. Because I´m paranoid I think it´s because of malware. Sue me.

Well actually from my experience I can tell that it does not take that long to figure out if apps conflict with each other or not.

 

Controler
I've only just spotted your message now, I dont have notification on replies to this thread.
I've got the windows 98 compatible one on my desktop and XP compatible one on my laptop, can I have the same license for 2 different BOClean versions? Is it too late to ask for a refund on one license?

Cheers

 

Hard to believe.

And this problem appeared just after you started playing with security tools? Coincidence? I think not.

Not exactly, just that I would be cautious about promoting newer products that fewer people have used.

Sounds like someone who knows what he is doing indeed.

Funnily my experience is opposite. Oh sure, you can instantly tell , if the software doesn't crash your system. But there are often subtle things that don't appear until later, or things you don't do regularly enough that appear only later.

Or maybe you are right someone hacked you and he is reading this board , having fun at your expense.

So either you don't know what you are doing causing conflicts, or you got hacked.

Doesn't look good for you either way I think.

 

Well, I have never had any major problems prior to this, so I never had a reason to reformat. Of course a lot of geeks do this just for fun.

You may think what you want, but I have reasons to believe that the several anti malware tools that I´m running in realtime, are not the problem.

I do not promote anything, I`m just giving my opinion about certain tools, we all do this. I do not force anyone to install certain tools on their system.

And you sound like someone who is quick to jump to the conclusion without having all the facts.

Yes that´s why I´m going to reformat.

 

OK, Devil's Advocate, stop hacking his computer and quit picking on him.

 

Funny you didn't think so a while ago....

Well, the only 'facts' I need to know comes from your postings on your setup changes in wilders threads , and that you have computer problems serious enough to make you format because you think you are hacked. Many 'newbies' I know have no problems compared to you.

Sometimes I wonder what's the point of being not a newbie if you spend all your time wrestling with computer problems and thinking you are hacked... lol.

Okay your wish is my command. The second part anyway. LOL.

He's paranoid enough, your words are not helping Hjam...

 

@ DA

Funny but I think you´re confused, I already explained that this strange behavior started a while ago when I changed a couple of settings. Actually, I have had this behaviour for months but it comes and it goes. So no it was not serious enough for me to reformat, but since I now think it might be malware (I´m paranoid remember) I´ve decided to reformat anyway.

@ all other BS, you don´t even know what the problem exactly is and still you think it´s related to my antimalware tools. You don´t even know how many times I´ve changed my setup on my real system, but you keep talking about "all my setup changes". Seriously, you´re not making any sense.

He seems to know so much details about my system that I wouldn´t be surprised about it all. Great job DA!

 

Rasheed187,

Sounds like you're committed to a reformat and there is nothing wrong with that although, if it is an intrinsic application conflict, a reformat won't resolve the problem.

One thing to consider is that seeming intermittent system problems can arise from situation dependent software conflicts. We often consider A+B="working fine" as a clear indication of compatibility. It's not. I have run into multiple instances of infrequent system instabilities that were tied to conflicts between constantly running applications that were ultimately tied to either joint timing issues or conflicts involving child processes which synchronized their activity on an infrequent basis.

Just a thought to keep in mind moving forward.

Blue

 

@ BlueZannetti

Yes of course, I understand this, but I can assure you that in this case it has nothing to do with my (real-time) anti malware tools.

I know this because the only tools I´ve been running in realtime were AntiVir, Process Guard and ZA Pro, never had a problem with them in months. But suddenly after playing around with a couple of tools (no HIPS were involved and some of them were not security related) the problem started. After this I added 2 more HIPS and the problem seemed to come up less frequent. I also sometimes got a couple of suspicious alerts, so that´s what triggered my paranoia.

 

Go to Control Panel in Xp click on administrative Tools, Click on Event Viewer.

Click on first Application and look at errors, then click on System and look at errors.


con

 

I have an old desktop Windows 98 SE computer, is windows 98 vulnerable to rootkits? I've heard most are designed for newer versions of windows?

If it is vulnerable, are there any anti-rootits that work on windows 98?

Suggers