This is scary...

My daughter was browsing a Harry Potter website when AVG picked up a virus. It identified it as VBS/Redlof, and suggested that we run a scan. When I ran the scan it detected it in her Temporary Internet Files folder, and said it could not clean it. I deleted all of the files in the folder, and when I ran another scan, the virus was gone.

A few questions:

Is this normal, for a virus to come in on a web page? I googled the virus, and it says it attaches to html files, but wouldn't we see a lot more of them?

I can't find out (on google), just what damage this virus is supposed to do. Lots of stuff about creating registry entries and attaching to Outlook stationary, but no word of actual damage. Any info on that?

How can I check if it attached to anything in Outlook? I don't want to send it on.

I checked my registry and it doesn't seem to have created any of the entries it is supposed to. Can I breath easy?

Thanks for any info on this.

 

Well... my Norton's virus list doesn't seem to contain any files on that virus... what Antivirus software are you running? And have you downloaded all the updates for your OS? There are several vulnerabilities on Microsoft operating systems that could allow something like that to happen... especially with Internet Explorer 6.0 Browser. My suggestion is to make sure your computer is up-to-date, update your virus definitions just in case, and use a safe browser, or at least safe settings using IE.

 

chk this site out for info and removal
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/vbsredlofa.html

 

I'm using AVG Anti virus

 

Thanks All.
I downloaded all the updates from Microsoft and the virus seems to be gone. I still don't know what it would have done to my PC. Deleted data, mooned me on my birthday, etc.

I'll investigate.

 

Even so, if someone were to use any browser besides Microsoft, they wouldn't be "targeted" by viruses since the other browsers are a less used. I guess you're right about that one Abby. My bias got in the way that time... I'm sure it's obvious that I'm not fond of Microsoft. So my bad, Pewty... that advice was more of a persuasion than it was a solution.