Re: Help with a Virus?

William R. Walsh

Hi!

(MediaMax)

> My AVG later flagged it as a virus, and after a little reserch I found
> that
> it is a real problem to get rid of.

> What should I do?

Remove it if AVG can. You *don't* want it on your system, because it may
have known security vulnerabilities, and acts as though it were a rootkit in
some ways. This was quite the news a few years ago.

After you've gotten rid of it: Sony was replacing CDs in the US with this
infestation after a little "encouragement" from some class action lawsuits.
They may still be doing so--it would not hurt to check. Around this same
time, they also provided owners of CDs that were infested with this
"disease" an opportunity to retrieve DRM-free MP3 files by downloading them
from a Sony web site at the same time a replacement disc would be delivered.

If AVG cannot get rid of it, Sony also provided a removal tool. How well it
worked I cannot say...I have autorun turned off, read the entire CD label
before playing it (and they did say something about this on the label, which
earned their "quality hotline" an immediate call to report a serious
defect!) and then ripped the thing to MP3 format on a Mac. (Oh, I wasn't
supposed to do that?) <g>

William