"Fireball" Virus?

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  1. Posts : 7,781
    Win 7 32 Home Premium, Win 7 64 Pro, Win 8.1, Win 10
       #1

    "Fireball" Virus?


    Hi, Just want to ask if anyone has heard of a virus that forces the CPU to 100% until it fries? I'm just asking because a couple tech guys at 2 diff places have written me inquiring about this. A Google search doesn't yield anything. This is one of the letters I received with a description: "I have dealt with two separate PCs over the last two days that suddenly started blue screening after the same student had been on them. Just the prior day he was telling me about this "Fireball" virus he has on a thumb drive that instantly infects a PC when you plug it in. He says it works by forcing the CPU to 100% and keeps taxing it until it fries. Then we have the two computers they each took a dumb after he had his hands on them, with the very symptoms he describes this virus does. I found that if you reset the mobo to factory settings you can then reformat the drive and reload Windows." I wrote back that I think it's funny that the student plugged his FD in knowing it had a virus, and it only did that on his PC's...perhaps he was testing something new out? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated Thank you
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  2. Posts : 1,607
    Windows 7 x64 finally!
       #2

    Hi Borg

    Never heard of it and it seems improbable. Most computers have shut-down mechanisms that will turn everything off when the CPU temperature reaches a certain level. And it seems that the problem was not with the CPU being "fried", but the OS became corrupt, since it worked after reformat and reload.

    All in all I think, it is strange. They might have a virus, but I doubt it is affecting the hardware.
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  3. Posts : 7,781
    Win 7 32 Home Premium, Win 7 64 Pro, Win 8.1, Win 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Yeah wallyinnc, that's what I thought, most PC's have safety protocols in place to prevent that, although maybe a virus could overwrite those.

    Actually a scary thought that someone has developed something like that.

    Like I said, I think it's strange that the student knew he had it on his FD, still plugged it in and it affected both the PC's he used. Hope he isn't "testing" something new.
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  4. Posts : 2,303
    Windows 7 & Windows Vista Ultimate
       #4

    I have dealt with two separate PCs over the last two days that suddenly started blue screening after the same student had been on them.
    I would suggest that the school tighten their security, ensuring autorun is disabled and, if they continue allowing students to use thumb drives on school computers, requiring a scan prior first.
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  5. Posts : 1,607
    Windows 7 x64 finally!
       #5

    That looked like it would have been on purpose. some people are sick...

    But he also could have just messed up with the CPU voltages and gotten similar results, if he had access to the computer.
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  6. Posts : 300
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64/x86 Windows 7 Pro x64/x86 Windows 7 Home Premium x64/x86
       #6

    I have seen infected PCs that run 100% CPU 100% of the time making it impossible to open anyting but the CPUs never went thermal.

    I always just reformat and reinstalled.

    Problem solved.
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  7. Posts : 1,607
    Windows 7 x64 finally!
       #7

    I also think that the CPU is well dimensioned to run at 100% all the time, provided it has cooling / heat dissipation. But maybe a virus could act like the Overclock programs and mess up with voltages and clock speeds, then getting it overheated?
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  8. Posts : 310
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
       #8

    joel406 said:
    I have seen infected PCs that run 100% CPU 100% of the time making it impossible to open anyting but the CPUs never went thermal.

    I always just reformat and reinstalled.

    Problem solved.
    Must say that I have seen my share of those... GL :)
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  9. Posts : 2,303
    Windows 7 & Windows Vista Ultimate
       #9
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7,781
    Win 7 32 Home Premium, Win 7 64 Pro, Win 8.1, Win 10
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Well Corrine, "Fireball" is what the student called it. But like I said, it does make me suspicious that the only machines affected were the ones he used.
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