For those who have not heard, or have been fortunate enough not to have been effected by it, there’s a nasty, mean virus circulating around several of the web based marketing resources that is causing a lot of problems.

Just this passed Saturday night, Bill Rowe and I were working into the midnight hour when we were simultaneously slammed with a file, which we have now nicknamed, The Sissy Virus (siszyd32.exe).  Don’t let the name deceive you, this virus is no sissy.

This virus crashed through our anti-virus (both BitDefender and McAfee) like they weren’t even there.  It then hijacked the anti-virus software rendering it completely useless.   If it couldn’t get any worse, it then hacked it’s way through my ftp software, planted itself on one web host and nearly wiped out both of my blogs.  Like I said, this virus is no sissy.

Bill and I spent the better part of two days working to clean this monster from our computers.  With the help of GoDaddy and HostGator support, we were able to clean the web hosting accounts as well.

It took three different anti-spyware applications to clean off the 300 plus files this virus planted on our systems.  We used Malware Bytes, SUPER Anti-Spyware and a third application before we were clean enough to repair our anti virus applications and finish the job.

Last night, at midnight, we finally put the finishing touches on the clean up of the mess this virus made.

Those of you clicking for credits on the safe lists and traffic exchanges need to be EXTREMELY cautious right now.  Bill and I were not the only people affected by this bug.  A friend of mine from back east was hit so hard that his computer wouldn’t even reboot.

Make sure that your anti-virus and anti-spyware applications are updated and engaged before entering any traffic generation resources, regardless of what it is.  I’m quite certain there are several web hosts out there that are infected with this bug and don’t even know it.

If  you are a safe list, ad exchange or traffic exchange owner, call your hosting provider and have them scan your account.  It’s easy to remove from the web host and it will save your clients days of heartache and frustration.  In many cases, this virus is destroying computer completely.

Bill and I ask that you share this blog post with as many people as you can.  We have provided links to the anti-spyware resources we are now using below.  Super Anti-Spyware has a real time protection feature.  If you are a click surfer, I highly recommend running this along side your security suite.  I’m running it side by side with BitDefender and it’s working great… no conflicts.

Click here to download Malware Bytes.

Click here to download Super Anti Spyware – I recommend you spend the 30 bux and upgrade this.  It will do the job for free, removal wise, but the real time protection requires an upgrade.

Surf carefully for the next several days, and check your web hosts.  This file may already be on your computer without your knowledge so run these two applications and get rid of it!

If you have any questions, you can contact Bill or myself on Facebook, Twitter or Skype.

Cheers!

Rex