Who can tell me about trojan horse viruses?

Question

I'm computer illiterate. I have to admit it. I am addicted to Scrabble. I don't buy stuff online, so I finally broke down and bought me a disc to download the game. I've been in Scrabble Heaven....up until this a.m. when I had a trojan horse alert and it said it was from Scrabble! aauuugh! Not my Scrabble!! I automatically sent it to the vault and removed the program from my computer. Will I ever be able to install my game ever again, or is it forever a threat to my computer?

Answer 1

ok

reinstall the game on the computer

run a full virus scan on the computer with the game installed, if no virus's are found then you know its not the game

if the game is on disk and has come from a known source i.e. not pirated and not downloaded then there is no chance of it being a virus, if the download source is a known and reputable website then theres very little chance of that game containing a virus

probable cause of trojan warning is a adware or spyware program landing on your computer and then trying to make you think that you have a virus on your computer when you dont.

best action to take if you ever receive a virus threat warning of any kind

check what program is saying it:- is it a pop up, seperate internet window or is it your actual anti virus program saying this

if it is a pop up or another internet window then ignore it its spyware or adware if its your anti virus then check that your new game is registered with the anti virus properly some games activity can be perceived as a virus by some anti virus's so your game may well be fine but the anti virus thinks its a virus when its not

hope this helps and makes sense

Answer 2

There are varying definitions of a trojan. The main thing to remember that a single trojan horse on your computer can carry multiple viruses, spyware, etc.

Symantec (Norton) defined it as "...impostors—files that claim to be something desirable but, in fact, are malicious. A very important distinction between Trojan horse programs and true viruses is that they do not replicate themselves. Trojan horses contain malicious code that when triggered cause loss, or even theft, of data. For a Trojan horse to spread, you must invite these programs onto your computers; for example, by opening an email attachment or downloading and running a file from the Internet. Trojan.Vundo is a Trojan horse."

http://service1.symantec.com/support/nav...

Ask Leo defines a trojan as "...a program that claims to be one thing but is, in fact, another. A trojan horse is not a virus per se but it may carry them. For example many people consider Kazaa, the music sharing software: a trojan horse because it carries with it a bunch of spyware. There are trojans that claim to be patches for a problem, often arriving in email, that are in fact spyware and virus installers."

http://ask-leo.com/whats_the_difference_...

Answer 3

In the context of computing and software, a Trojan horse, also known as a trojan, is malware that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions. Therefore, a computer worm or virus may be a Trojan horse. The term is derived from the classical story of the Trojan Horse.

The word 'Trojan horse' is generally attributed to Daniel Edwards of the NSA. He is given credit for identifying the attack form in the report "Computer Security Technology Planning Study". The term derives from the Trojan War, as mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid: worn out by the long siege, the attacking Greeks built a giant wooden horse, ostensibly a peace offering, and pretended to sail away, but in fact left soldiers hidden inside the statue. After the Trojans brought the horse inside the city walls, the soldiers emerged, opened the gates to the Greek armies, and sacked the city of Troy.

A classic example originated from computer pioneer Ken Thompson in his 1983 ACM Turing Award lecture. Thompson noted that it is possible to add code to the UNIX "login" command that would accept either the intended encrypted password or a specific special password, allowing a back door into the system with the latter password. Furthermore, Thompson argued, the C compiler itself could be modified to automatically generate the rogue code, to make detecting the modification even harder. Because the compiler is itself a program generated from a compiler, the Trojan horse could also be automatically installed in a new compiler program, without any detectable modification to the source of the new compiler.

Trojan horse payloads are almost always designed to cause harm, but can also be harmless. They are classified based on how they breach and damage systems. The six main types of Trojan horse payloads are:

Remote Access

Data Destruction

Down loader

Server Trojan(Proxy, FTP , IRC, Email, HTTP/HTTPS, etc.)

Security software disabler

Denial-of-service attack (DoS)

Some examples of damage are:

Erasing or overwriting data on a computer

Re-installing itself after being disabled

Encrypting files in a cryptoviral extortion attack

Corrupting files in a subtle way

Upload and download files

Copying fake links, which lead to false websites, chats, or other account based websites, showing any local account name on the computer falsely engaging in untrue context

Falsifying records of downloading software, movies, or games from websites never visited by the victim.

Allowing remote access to the victim's computer. This is called a RAT (remote access trojan)

Spreading other malware, such as viruses (this type of trojan horse is called a 'dropper' or 'vector')

Setting up networks of zombie computers in order to launch DDoS attacks or send spam.

Spying on the user of a computer and covertly reporting data like browsing habits to other people (see the article on spyware)

Making screenshots

Logging keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers

Phishing for bank or other account details, which can be used for criminal activities

Installing a backdoor on a computer system

Opening and closing CD-ROM tray

Playing sounds, videos or displaying images

Calling using the modem to expensive numbers, thus causing massive phone bills

Harvesting e-mail addresses and using them for spam

Restarting the computer whenever the infected program is started

Deactivating or interfering with anti-virus and firewall programs

Deactivating or interfering with other competing forms of malware

Randomly shutting off the computer

Installing a virus

Since Trojan horses have a variety of forms, there is no single method to delete them. The simplest responses involve clearing the temporary internet files file and deleting it manually. Normally, anti-virus software is able to detect and remove the trojan automatically. If the antivirus cannot find it, booting the computer from alternate media(cd) may allow an antivirus program to find a trojan and delete it. Updated anti-spyware programs are also efficient against this threat.

Most varieties of Trojan horses are hidden on the computer without the user's awareness. Trojan horses sometimes use the Registry, adding entries that cause programs to run every time the computer boots up. Trojan horses may also work by combining with legitimate files on the computer. When the legitimate file is opened, the Trojan horse opens as well.

How Trojans work

Trojans usually consist of two parts, a Client and a Server. The server is run on the victim's machine and listens for connections from a Client used by the attacker.

When the server is run on a machine it will listen on a specific port or multiple ports for connections from a Client. In order for an attacker to connect to the server they must have the IP Address of the computer where the server is being run. Some trojans have the IP Address of the computer they are running on sent to the attacker via email or another form of communication.

Once a connection is made to the server, the client can then send commands to the server; the server will then execute these commands on the victim's machine.

Today, with NAT infrastructure being common, most computers cannot be reached by their external ip address. Therefore many trojans now connect to the computer of the attacker, which has been set up to take the connections, instead of the attacker connecting to his or her victim. This is called a 'reverse-connect' trojan. Many trojans nowadays also bypass many personal firewall installed on the victims computer (eg. Poison-Ivy).

Answer 4

Always download content that has comments posted on, has reviews or you know is popular or good. just because you have to pay money sometimes, doesn't mean its the best or is safe.

Trojan horse is somthing that does stuff on your computer that you are not contorlling, it can run scripts to delete certain files that can damage your computer, and not even being able to turn on again. they can invade your files, send them to others, revealing your personal information or other harm

Answer 5

Where exactly did you get this CD? I do not think it came from your CD, you must have gotten a virus (trojan horse in your case) that has infected the most used program in your system. This is a common problem with alot of people now days with shame full hackers. Scan your computer with viruses, if you don't have a scanner and just a firewall go here: http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/

TrendMicro is a trusted corporation, that is purely about computer security, if you have a virus scanner please scan your computer ASAP. Also TrendMicro finds, deletes the virus's, mal-ware, spy-ware and anything else effecting your computer.

I'd advise you to please scan your computer and try your best to get rid of this virus before it spreads, yes trojan horses spread. Feel free to contact me at anytime through VIA email if you have anymore further questions: [e-mail]

Yes, even though that's my email, It's only because I'm a computer nerd. Hehe.

Hope this helped!

Answer 6

Put your Scrabble disk in... and choose that drive (should be D: or E: > right click on it > and choose check with anti-virus before playing it or adding it to your PC.

Answer 7

well... it definetlym was not from scrabble, you can instal that again. trojan virus is from watching p**n.... or clicking on pop-ups. thats what i did. im clicked on those " shoot 2 ducks to win a xbox 360 eleite!!"      i never ordered, i would exit out, but we got rid of the virus, and now i never do it anymore.

Answer 8

If you have a good anti-virus you can scan it while it's in your drive but I'd take it back where you got it, and pardon the expression,raise holy h**l.Software shouldn't come with a virus installed.I read where many products coming from china were coming with viruses installed.Look on the package it came in, it probably came from china.

Answer 9

Hi,

I just had the same problem and the conditions are: using the purchased disk of scrabble and AVG anti-virus.  This alert just came up this morning but I noticed that I had just done an update to the AVG anti-virus definitions.  To verify the problem is with the latest version of AVG virus definitions I went back to a backup of my disk a couple of weeks ago and ran the AVG virus check on the scrabble exe and it said no problems, then I updated the virus definitions to today and now it says the scrabble exe is infected with a trojan horse.   The scrabble exe is dated  April of 2007 and hasn't been modified.  I am going to alert AVG company to a false alert, and tell my AVG scanner to ignore this false alarm(didn't work see below).   One last point, I have just installed  Norton Anti-Virus and scanned the same file and it reported no problems.  Finally I ended up uninstalling AVG anti-virus and will reinstall in a few weeks after they get their virus definitions updated properly.  You may need to reinstall the Scrabble program if you disabled it.

Answer 10

The trojans arnt always bad. It could be something harmless. See what the name of the trojan is and what it does. It may be something you can live with. Like sending your score to a server or looking for updates. I have to say it is bad business and in bad taste to put trojans and spyware on programs that you pay for but its done all the time. I just wouldnt buy anything else from that vendor if it turns out that its overly intrusive

Answer 11

http://www.av-comparatives.org/ > Find the best AV for you.

http://www.isc.ro/  > Play scrabble with real people including me (Foxoff).

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I used to play scrabble with the disc and never had a problem with any type of virus. If you want the disc buy it from a shop for the genuine Mattel product.

Answer 12

A trojan horse is generaly a bit of software that lies dormant on your system and allows access to it by another computer/person over a network or the internet. Bad times.

there is a huge market in the inderground for putting trojan's on loads (1,000's) of computers and then one day the controler of all these computers (also refered to as botnets) will make all of the computers send data to one location on the internet, bombarding it with information untill it crashes. this is just one use for them, can also be used to steal passwords credit card info etc..