My laptop got infected a few hours ago by that malware and I had to quickly back up stuff and factory reset it (I didn't have the weekly back up file... yeah, I know, dumb...). In the process, I all my fonts as well as custom brushes I downloaded for PS7. I have been looking all over, but no luck with the brushes.

Now, my comic is going to be delayed unless I work my butt off...

So has anyone else been effected by this piece of crap virus? I read that it's pretty smart and keeps relocating itself, making it hard to catch and delete. Any advice to prevent it?

Sorry, didn't know where else to post this!

Haha, get a Mac.

Not really.
My Vista machine with Norton is pretty secure. Despite the naysayers, it works nicely.
I haven't really heard much about this virus. Why did you get infected? Did you download and install something pretending not to be the virus?

I got a virus thing a while back but it wasn't major apparently, the factory reset did more damage then it ever could have done. On an upside my computer became super fast since norton was deleted in the reset, I haven't reinstalled it since.

I probably will get it again since that virus sounds disturbing..sometimes I wonder if microsoft purposely releases viruses so you'll have to upgrade.

Don't use IE.

yea , and get the noscript plugin for firefox

I don't use IE, I am deathly afraid of using IE! I have no idea how I got it, my brother just said "dude, your computer just went all blank" and that's about it. The virus itself gives fake warning balloons that says the computer is infected and stuff and even if you try to X out of it, it begins installation. I think another kick in nads is the uninstall icon... it actually installs it. I was just royally fudged.

My little nine-year-old cousin unknowingly gave me a virus through MSN Instant Messegner once, and that's the most recent problem I've had. But at that time I installed and tried three different antivirus programs before I got it off (and that was in addition to Symantec Antivirus, already installed).

That's right, antivirus programs will never fully protect anyone nnd no system is fully secure (Mac, Vista Linux, Unix whatever), unless only a tiny community uses it. The easiest vector for viruses will always be the user- it's clever tricks, baits, traps and lures, not exploiting vulnerabilities that get most people.

there's this article of how people usually get it and how to fix it.

http://www.xp-vista.com/spyware-removal/antispyware-xp-2009-removal-instructions-antispywarexp-2009

I'm just running Vista with the bare minimum of McAfee. So far no problems yet.

I really don't trust Norton or McAfee to do the job. Just use AVG. It's free and it'll get rid of the virus and any other spyware and such that might have come from it. I repair computers as a side job and we've received tons of computers that had that XP Antispyware virus on it. It's actually a trojan horse. Very nasty. But AVG cleans it all up.

Here's the site: http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition

Thanks for the tip Knuckles and Joel. Unfortunately, I factory reset the system already, and though it's gone... so was everything else and I needed to put stuff back in. The biggest problem I face right now... music in my iPod. It's going to be a pain to put the stuff that was on it back without leaving stuff out, not to mention it's going to take a few hours just digging up the stuff that is supposed to go in there.

On my search for brushes, though I didn't find what I lost, I found a cool site. Maybe you guys can find this site useful too.

http://www.psbrushes.net/all_brushes_01.php

Well, if you don't have any antivirus software on your computer right now, I would strongly advise getting one ASAP before downloading anything or surfing the net. As for brushes, I know DeviantArt tends to have some brushes to download for Photoshop, but I'm not sure if they have some for PSP as well.

my McAfee did nothing but allow me to use the school's internet because a requirement was some sort of anti-virus protection, and they provided McAfee for free, so I just got installed the bare minimum so I could surf the web.

Ok, I need to remember to backup my photoshop files together with my files. If I'd lose my custom brushes they'd be irreplaceable, as in, TRULY custom brushes made by me.

Also, I've been using a pc since 2002 and I've never gotten anything serious. So far anyway. But then again I'm paranoid about that stuff and I fell for a link only once, when a friend's pc (who's in hungary) sent me a link to some photos through msn. I clicked automatically and went "whoa, wait, something's wrong here, shouldn't have clicked that... odd url". The "image" tried to redirect me to some active x script, which luckily don't work in Opera. Phew! :D

yea , the only anti-virus software i use is my brain

Haha, Aurora, I thought I was the only one that used Opera! Yeah, I totally adore Opera because I feel more safe using it. You really do need to back stuff up, at least the personal stuff like that. Paranoia sure does help out at times like these.