should I be worried?

M

mikeburtless

I've been using housecall for a while with no viruses found. My son scanned
with eAnthology and it found several old viruses in OE identities I no
longer use(have installed XP pro twice since I accessed these identities).
One is a trojan which worries me, do most antivirus programs scan files that
I no longer have access to? If so then why didn't housecall catch these
viruses that I've had on my computer for quite some time? Now I feel as if
to be totally safe I should reformat and install XP pro again! I did not
reformat before installing XP previously.
 
A

Alfalfa

Hope the following helps you:
I've been using housecall for a while with no viruses found.
Not knowing enough about this package will not comment on it, but please
know that most antivirus programs have two modes: On access and the
on-demand file scan, now assuming a file is infected but not active or not
operational the on-access scanner will not detect it. But if you perform an
On-demand scan chances are excellent that the virus will be found and the
file containing the virus identified. OE identities and related files are
loaded/resident within your HDD.
One is a trojan which worries me, do most antivirus programs scan files that
I no longer have access to?
If the virus/worm/trojan is dormant detection will not happen. Running the
On demand scan (raw scan) should find it.
If so then why didn't housecall catch these viruses that I've had on my
computer for quite some time?
Hard to say, depends on the antivirus software' signature-library. Its
usage, and the software settings/options.

Suggestion: Perform a full scan on your PC and no, you don't need to
re-install the OS.

Regards.
 
D

Dirk

mikeburtless said:
I've been using housecall for a while with no viruses found. My son scanned
with eAnthology and it found several old viruses in OE identities I no
longer use(have installed XP pro twice since I accessed these identities).
One is a trojan which worries me, do most antivirus programs scan files that
I no longer have access to? If so then why didn't housecall catch these
viruses that I've had on my computer for quite some time? Now I feel as if
to be totally safe I should reformat and install XP pro again! I did not
reformat before installing XP previously.

Housecall is scanning default area's on your HD only. It is reliable as far
as it is about running virea.
Debris of old ones it might not pick up since they are not in the default
area's.
You better download some free up-to-date AV program like AVG from Grisof
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl7.phpt
or some fully operational free trial version like McAfee
http://download.mcafee.com/eval/evaluate2.asp
 
Y

YoKenny

mikeburtless said:
I've been using housecall for a while with no viruses found. My son
scanned with eAnthology and it found several old viruses in OE
identities I no longer use(have installed XP pro twice since I
accessed these identities). One is a trojan which worries me, do most
antivirus programs scan files that I no longer have access to? If so
then why didn't housecall catch these viruses that I've had on my
computer for quite some time? Now I feel as if to be totally safe I
should reformat and install XP pro again! I did not reformat before
installing XP previously.

Read these:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8095156~root=security,1~mode=flat
http://www.wimdows.net/forums/forum.aspx?fid=5&mid=1151
http://www.safersite.com/PestInfo/e/eanthology.asp
 
Y

YoKenny

N

null

I've been using housecall for a while with no viruses found. My son scanned
with eAnthology and it found several old viruses in OE identities I no
longer use(have installed XP pro twice since I accessed these identities).
One is a trojan which worries me, do most antivirus programs scan files that
I no longer have access to? If so then why didn't housecall catch these
viruses that I've had on my computer for quite some time? Now I feel as if
to be totally safe I should reformat and install XP pro again! I did not
reformat before installing XP previously.

Well I hope you don't have to reformat/reinstall to get rid of the
mess eAntholgy made :( I see others have already given you a clue.
Another clue is to simply Google "eanthology antivirus" which you
should have done in advance. Investigate any and all software you
allow to run on your PC!!

You should really have a good antivirus scanner or two on your PC and
learn how to use them for on demand scanning. Also, check out our
"safe hex" page:

http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
D

Dirk

You should really

I realy don't want to argue with you about grammar in English but is it
realy or really? Since I am not native tonque in English and make therefore
alot (or is it allot?) of mistakes, like verry instead of very :) I would
appreciate your answer.
 
N

null

I realy don't want to argue with you about grammar in English but is it
realy or really? Since I am not native tonque in English and make therefore
alot (or is it allot?) of mistakes, like verry instead of very :) I would
appreciate your answer.

It's really really. Genuinely and truly it is!


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
M

mikeburtless

Thanks everybody for your input, after reading everything I suspect my 9
year old son accidently installed "stop sign" from eAnthology. It has been
educational. I have removed most of it with AdAware. I was just surprised to
see viruses on my machine that were over 2 years old (which by the way
stop-sign didn't offer to remove unless I bought the program, not much
chance of that after reading about their support issues). I have a one time
or another run 3 well known virus checkers and none of them caught the 2
year old viruses. I suspect it is because the OE inbox was inaccessible.
After 2+ years maybe it is time to reformat anyway, nothing like washing the
old hard drive to bring back a sense of security and I might even pick up
some speed, not that speed has really been a problem.
 
Y

YoKenny

Dirk said:
Why not? Could you be more specific?

Very resource intensive. There are better applications available. Read
this newsgroup for other applications. It is just my opinion. It costs
money.
 
D

Dirk

Very resource intensive. There are better applications available. Read
this newsgroup for other applications. It is just my opinion. It costs
money.

I still not agree. I am verymuch satisfied with McAfee.
 

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