Using Sandisk U3 and TBP & FFP, not U3 versions. While in Thailand for a month found many many public computers which were infected with win32/Brontok.A worm. This resulted in auto name change of several files.
Now cannot open TBP, and cannot open many mail files in FFP. Running TBP on the desktop, NOD32 detects the worm plus I cannot open several msg files. In essence have lost several msgs that needed to be kept. And FFP was rendered useless for the last week of the trip.
This was caused when Avast detected the worm and changed a file name before I could save a file under another name (perhaps it was already infected from a prior computer, so that wouldn't do any good anyway!). Actually, the worm was detected the moment the thumb drive was plugged in and Avast ran, so don't know why/how the infections occurred since I quickly removed the drive -- even if I wasn't able to turn it off.
I was under the impression that Avast would detect the worm in the host computer and simply advise me to shut down the thumb drive before using it -- but obviously this isn't the case.
Now that a month of "kept" & "pending" msgs have been lost, and FF was useless for some time I'll need to wipe the portable and reinstall. What should I do the next occasion which will be in January?
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Well Avast can cause problems for FF and TBP because Avast thinks they are viruses. I had the same problem so I got rid or Avast and went with something else. Never had a problem since
your friendly neighbourhood moderator Zach Thibeau
Your best bet is to reinstall TBP and FFP. You can install a new copy right over the existing copy and not lose any data. Hopefully you haven't deleted em yet.
As for Avast U3, I don't think it'll protect you when connecting to a host PC that's already infected. I think you have to run a scan on said PC first.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Well, the first thing that occurs when U3 starts is that it runs Avast which downloads updates, then supposedly checks the host computer. Frequently it finds bugs on the host, but somehow they still sneak into the portable program even though they are not yet opened -- or perhaps I open the program even though bugs have been found on the host, but usually do not. Sorry, can't be more positive on this point.
Perhaps Avast is not the greatest program for this operation? And/or perhaps I should use the U3 version of FFP & TBP which may then operate in conjunction with Avast?
I realize this subject may not be within your province John. Hopefully you have noticed this experience with others and have knowledge.
The only thing I've confirmed is that Avast, both the standard and the U3 packages, cause issues with Firefox Portable and Firefox for U3... causing it to have issues with bookmark backups continuously regenerating. It can also cause the PortableApps Menu to fail to launch. So, I've been recommending against Avast for a while.
I recently installed Avast locally as my primary antivirus to track the issue.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
What Avast caused in my case was that virtually every folder was found to have a worm (all 100+ kept mail folders + many other folders. And instead of delete, I used rename which added a .vexe file to each folder.
These were all deleted using NOD32 on the host machine prior to upgrading to 2.0 which was installed over the top of 1.5.7. Now just running Avast again see that many are there and have I have again deleted them - perhaps I missed one or two the first time, but certainly not the 20 or 30 just found (with NOD 32, clicked on each file and if it was a worm, it opened a window offering the choices of what to do with it.)
Perhaps this is a fault with Avast calling the TBP files worms? Or perhaps a virulant worm that quickly spreads?