I’ve always pride myself for keeping my computer virus/malware free for the past few years, all without spending a cent or rigging my computer with too much paranoia-saturated programmes.

But just a moment ago, I was defeated.

I was searching for a way/tool to delete a folder named “.vdrift” from Recycle Bin. No matter how hard I try, I couldn’t. I then downloaded a programme that looks relatively harmless.

Algona Recycle Bin Manager 1.0 (Contains malware. Download only if you want the nasty stuff.)

Warning: Long, detailed rant ahead

The moment I executed it, trusty avast! antivirus pops up with multiple warnings. I was chilled. I quickly quarantined every single omnious executable file that was generated (10-15 in all), thinking that I will be safe.

I was wrong.

Microsoft Windows XP, being very helpful, then kept popping out ballons from the taskbar saying that my computer is infected. I clicked on it and Spyware Doctor comes to the rescue, scanning and listing all the malware (the list was long) and telling me exactly what all these evil binaries do. But, no, Spyware Doctor won’t remove them. Spyware Doctor will only remove them if you pay USD29.95/year.

Nice. I wonder why the hell I paid a bomb for an Operating System full of flaws, built-in with “spyware”/”malware” detection features but refuse to remove existing threats unless I pay.

This is not the way to make money, Microsoft. May your Vista never come to market.

I did a “Ctrl-Alt-Del” and under the process list and I still see all the nasty programmes I thought I’ve previously quarantined running in full joy. Next, avast! antivirus tells me that these programmes are trying to send a mail to some aol server. That further sent a chill down my spine. I brought my computer out of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) on the router and then quickly terminated these programmes, but XP still keeps popping out with warnings saying that my computer is still infected.

I then quickly download Lavasoft’s ad-Aware which is, (beat this Microsoft), free and feature-complete.

Two runs and it removed, seemingly all malware but XP is still not satisfied. The warnings still came.
A quick search around Google seems to suggest that the free Spybot is my next option. Spybot further detected and remove more malware.

This time, Windows stopped popping out with warnings. A check in the processes list suggests that no strange programmes are running there.

Time wasted? 4 hours.

Lesson learnt. I’m be more careful from now onwards. No, that won’t stopped me downloading software produced by individuals. I still will, but this time I’ll make sure that there’s a least some reviews of it on a notable website.

I should have not went ahead with the download when there’re almost no references to the Algona on the net by other users.

Still, this terrible incident will be forever remembered as another reason why I should switch to a Mac, or Ubuntu Linux.