My HD got totally wiped by virus.....

[jagnorm]

Warning there's a bad virus or worm out. The other day after letting my computer download for a long time. My computer locked up when I tried to disconnect from online. Not only did my HD get tottally wiped (all files deleted) it made my 12gig HD look like a 40gig. When I tried to check it out as a slave hooked up to my backup HD it infected it too. At first I thought it was the file I was downloading until today my boss told me of a computer at work that got wiped by a virus and her home computer was missing files. Any body have any information on this new virus and how to stop it. Oh yeah I use zone alarm and norton's AV.
My system was set up as dual OS. win98 and win2000. computer at work winXP, My bosses computer winXP.

did you have the latest definitions on norton? what verison of norton?

and what were you downloading?

[jagnorm]

I think I had the latest definitions from nortons. Version 2002
A game from kazaa
My first thought was my own damn fault and came from game from kazaa. But when my boss told me that one of the computers from work got hit the same way made me wonder where it really came from. I work for a condo that has a computer club where they all are 55 and older, they weren't down loading any games, I don't think. My boss got hit also, she wasn't downloading anything and deffintately not from kazaa. So far there is no comon link to this virus that I can think of besides my system having win2000 which in NT and theres xp which is NT also.

[jagnorm]

So.. Is there a new virus out that is wiping out computers.
I don't believe this virus came from downloading from kazaa though it was my first thought. If it came from kazaa I would not be concerned. But if it comes just from being connected to the internet, well that does concerne me.

[jagnorm]

I now have the answer to my post. Blaster worm is back and stronger than ever. Today I learned of more computers getting nailed by the worm. Zone alarm does not stop it. I has gotten to computers that were up to date with their AV. It has gotten to computers that were up to date with windows update. It has caused problems with computers not being able to get e-mail. It is getting to computers running XP and win2000. Not all computers are affected the same. So far the only computers not being affected are those going through a router.

[Gettinbye]

If it's the blaster virus(doesn't sound like it,though), go to GRC.com and get the Dcmbobulator-disables DCOM (which is rarely,if ever, used anymore). That will prevent further exploits of DCOM on your machine.
Have you done windows updates? This sounds more like the "malformed url" exploit to me. That particular exploit WILL erase all the contents on your C: drive if XP is not patched.

[jagnorm]

A friend of mine was told by her friend who is computer expert supposedly that it is the worm. And like I said it is getting to other computers than mine that are up to date. As of todday I know of at least 5 computers that have been infected, not including mine the other day.
Ps. for now I am running win98 only till I find out more about this.

[Gettinbye]

The blaster virus was not written to delete files, but rather to exploit the DCOM RPC service (in an attempt to swamp microsoft's windows update site). It may very well be a virus, but it is highly unlikely that it is the blaster virus(sounds more like a KLEZ-style virus, if indeed, it is a virus causing this).
You may want to contact your ISP to see if they are having similar complaints from other customers. Perhaps they have a server infected with a bug...

[jagnorm]

ok here's an update to what I've found out. It is not the blaster worm. It's a different kind of worm.
Check out links below.

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/defau...=swen&cid=9060

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/defau...umaru&cid=9061

[jagnorm]

<bump> for those with wierd problems showing up on there computers.

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,61852,00.html

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger