Glendale (CA) - Computer users should be wary of a new virus that deletes important files and then hijacks the sound card to say "Your system files have been deleted.  Sorry."

It's a new Trojan detected by Panda Labs, the company behind the fourth largest security software suite Panda Software.

Users who catch the BotVoice.A Trojan will hear the phrase, "You have been infected.  I repeat, you have been infected and your system files have been deleted.  Sorry.  Have a nice day and bye bye," on a continuous loop while the virus attempts to wipe the hard drive clean.

It does this by taking control of Windows text reader, so the voice is an anonymous synthesized source that already exists on the computer.  Panda says it deletes system files, then modifies the Windows registry and blocks any possible action to undo the damage.

The virus can be obtained through peer-to-peer networks, external storage devices, or malicious websites.  Panda says owners of its software with TruPrevent technology are immune to the BotVoice.A Trojan.

jeffro

Jul 05, 2007 15:40     

I don't know why, but this Trojan strikes me as humorous. I'd love to hear an audio clip of an infected PC!
Jeffro2pt0 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ever wonder

Jul 05, 2007 15:50     

If the antivirus companies aren't the ones developing these viruses? It is like a talking ad for a specific antivirus product.
DaveM report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ummm...

Jul 05, 2007 16:28     

What if you don't have speakers? That seems a bit unfair to me.
Tim. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I'd like the audio clip

Jul 05, 2007 16:39     

It would make a good prank to have that sound clip played on windows start up or exit and record the reaction of the victim's computer. :)
Ezg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

lol

Jul 05, 2007 17:41     

lol at above. No worries for me.
Belgolas report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

goodbye Limewire

Jul 05, 2007 18:57     

hello norton mcaffee avg spybot adware ISS CS bot buster etc... just kidding. I wana be infected.
Joz report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

snow crash? (spoiler alert)

Jul 05, 2007 19:24     

sounds like we are moving closer to a snow crash world. 1st virtual reality, then second life, now talking viruses, so the only next logical step are talking viruses that .... spoiler alert..... hack your brain through a metaverse virtual reality interface .... spoiler
jdavid.net report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Panda, Bah!

Jul 05, 2007 21:58     

Never listen to them, they're horribly inept and their Anti-Virus is unbelievable trash, I had it on 3 PCs and it managed to corrupt itself on EACH one over a period of three months. Couldn't even uninstall it.
Revrant report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Panda is great!

Jul 06, 2007 03:58     

I manage about 25 PCs and they're all online all the time. Norton and Mcafee are crap. After switching over to Panda, no more "My computer is infected again!". It's been good for 2 years and counting. Check it out at www.pandasoftware.com
Doug_D report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Want to hear it ?

Jul 06, 2007 04:52     

Copy/paste the sentence in notepad and let SAM (the popular micro$oft reader voice) read it... as simple as that.
Toxic report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: Panda is great! - NOT!!!

Jul 06, 2007 09:20     

We had Panda corporate edition on our Windows boxes when I started as IT Manager at a software company. ALL of my users complained about how much system resources Panda took. I researched and we bought AVG Network Edition - at 1/2 the price for twice the length of coverage. AVG takes less than 5% of the system resources that Panda took, and it has caught scores of viruses that Panda did not. Uninstalling Panda - well, let's just say that it is worse to stick around than Symantec products. I'm still (1-1/2 years later) finding pieces of Panda lying around our filesystems!

Dwayne report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

No worries for Linux

Jul 06, 2007 11:29     

Windows is your computer on crack. Microsoft, Panda, Symantec and McAfee are your crack dealers. Just say "NO" to Microsoft and Windows.
Penguin report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

XP or Vista?

Jul 06, 2007 13:52     

Hey this virus is for XP or for Vista?
PeterZ report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

mac

Jul 08, 2007 09:42     

the virus is for macs duh
kill-gore report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Oh, sure... No worries for Linux

Jul 11, 2007 01:01     

"Just say "NO" to Microsoft and Windows." And at the same time, "NO" to all the software I want to run, especially GAMES, which will "NOT" run under Linux. BTW, I've installed Debian Linux... It worked so poorly and was so hard to configure, I found I'd spend less time dicking with anti-virus software on Windows.
x-man report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Why pay for Anti-virys software, it's free

Jul 17, 2007 12:33     

Avast is a great AV software free for home PC users. It uses very little resources and its free for home users. Business have to pay, but it is priced very reasonably. I use it at home and work, and I don't have to ding grandma for 50 bucks a year.
Anon report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0