I was hunting down the cause of my wireless laptop CPU running at 100% when playing dvds. Well, Mcafee found Pwcrack-aircrack malware. I told it to remove it last night. Today, I get a popup warning me that Pwcrack-aircrack is being blocked by mcafee. I tell mcafee to remove it, however, the popup warning came up at least 6 times in a row. Each time, I told mcafee to remove, before finally stopping. I can't find much info on it online. I'm rescanning my system again to make sure its gone. Is this pwcrack-aircrack trying to hack my wireless?
Pwcrack-aircrack malware?
- Thread starter Cutehumor
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Looks like someone is trying to hack your wireless. Hope you are using WPA or WPA2 and not WEP.
http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsecur/article.php/3718671
http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsecur/article.php/3718671
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I have had a few malware/spyware/viruses that I couldn't really get rid of easily... even with a few different scanners/programs. Take a little bit of time trying to completely rid your system of the [censored]. Sometimes it is just better to format your hard drive and reinstall Windows and your programs, as your computer gets bloated with unused programs/random files and possibly malware or viruses with time.
Formatting is good because you know for sure that you are starting fresh.
If you plan on keeping your laptop, consider adding another stick of 512MB RAM. XP likes to run at 1GB.
Formatting is good because you know for sure that you are starting fresh.
If you plan on keeping your laptop, consider adding another stick of 512MB RAM. XP likes to run at 1GB.
It looks like a tool for hacking into wifi. It's listed as a potentially unwanted program. Is it in your list of installed programs?
Hermann
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Is it listed in your startup file in msconfig? The list can be accessed by selecting "run" on your start menu, and then typing "msconfig" in the box. Then select startup and look for the file you mentioned. If you find it and the box is checked, you might be able to keep it from running by unchecking the box, click apply, then click close, and select reboot. I had sucess disabling the PULAL.malware a while back with this method, it had similar symptoms that you describe. Good Luck
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
It looks like a tool for hacking into wifi. It's listed as a potentially unwanted program. Is it in your list of installed programs?
nope. I haven't downloaded anything on this laptop in months either. this is just used mainly for surfing and email.
It looks like a tool for hacking into wifi. It's listed as a potentially unwanted program. Is it in your list of installed programs?
nope. I haven't downloaded anything on this laptop in months either. this is just used mainly for surfing and email.
Do you plug in any external hard drives or USB drives? There are viruses that nest in external drives and then infect your local hard drive once they are connected.
Trying doing a search online for your particular virus/malware. But like I said, you may spend a long time trying to get rid of the stupid thing, sometimes it is just better to start out fresh.
You can try doing a virus start up scan. Do you have any spyware programs? Adaware? Spybot? You can try running programs like those.
Trying doing a search online for your particular virus/malware. But like I said, you may spend a long time trying to get rid of the stupid thing, sometimes it is just better to start out fresh.
You can try doing a virus start up scan. Do you have any spyware programs? Adaware? Spybot? You can try running programs like those.
Also, try searching you computer for any files with those names - aircrack/pwcrack. If you find any, upload them to http://www.virustotal.com
aircrack is non malicious software for cracking WEP keys
aircrack is non malicious software for cracking WEP keys
Originally Posted By: xpeteyjtx
Do you plug in any external hard drives or USB drives? There are viruses that nest in external drives and then infect your local hard drive once they are connected.
You can try doing a virus start up scan. Do you have any spyware programs? Adaware? Spybot? You can try running programs like those.
My wife uses USB flash drives frequently between our own computers. I know she used this laptop last weekend to work on school papers and saved to her flash drive. Adaware found 80 tracking cookies. it didn't find this pwcrack-aircrack. I updated the virus definition with adaware before I did the scan. I just finished another mcafee scan, it doesn't detect this pwcrack-aircrack, so I guess it deleted. but I'm still worried though.
Do you plug in any external hard drives or USB drives? There are viruses that nest in external drives and then infect your local hard drive once they are connected.
You can try doing a virus start up scan. Do you have any spyware programs? Adaware? Spybot? You can try running programs like those.
My wife uses USB flash drives frequently between our own computers. I know she used this laptop last weekend to work on school papers and saved to her flash drive. Adaware found 80 tracking cookies. it didn't find this pwcrack-aircrack. I updated the virus definition with adaware before I did the scan. I just finished another mcafee scan, it doesn't detect this pwcrack-aircrack, so I guess it deleted. but I'm still worried though.
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Try scanning with this:
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
website says, they will report viruses, but won't remove them?
Try scanning with this:
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
website says, they will report viruses, but won't remove them?
Yea, but it's the most thorough scanner.
You could try f-secure's online scanner. It's basically the same as kaspersky and does remove viruses.
You could try f-secure's online scanner. It's basically the same as kaspersky and does remove viruses.
As a rule, reduce your wireless transmit power to reduce its range, to reduce # of people able to see your network. If your router is on one edge/side of your home, foil the wall so that it block the signal.
To annoy the people who hack your network, turn off the router when you are not using it. This "unreliable network" will annoy most bandwidth thieves. Change the password on a regular basis will also be important.
To annoy the people who hack your network, turn off the router when you are not using it. This "unreliable network" will annoy most bandwidth thieves. Change the password on a regular basis will also be important.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
ESET (NOD32) also has an online scanner which I have found to be VERY effective.
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