Something bad is going around
I received three calls this week all telling me the same story. The story goes something like this.
"There is something really wrong with my computer. It keeps telling me that I have a virus and need to click a button to install some new anti-virus software. Internet Explorer won't work any more and every time I try to open a program a message pops up telling me that the file is infected and to please activate my anti-virus software."
This is bad. Very bad.
I wish I could tell you the origin of the virus (which is what these people are describing) or an easy way to fix it, but I can't. The three people I talked to are most likely all facing a complete wipe of their computer followed by a fresh installation of the original operating system.
Like I said, it's bad.
This would be a great time to reiterate a couple of very important things to remember when it comes to protecting your computer:
- Make sure you have a reliable backup. Whether on CD, DVD, external hard drive or online with Carbonite, just make sure you have one. Period.
- Make sure you have reliable anti-virus software installed on your computer. If you can't afford or don't want to pay for one then at least use the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition
- Never click on any window that pops up on your computer telling you your computer has a virus and you need to install new software to fix it. All you are doing is installing the virus.
- Be very careful when opening email attachments. If you don't know who sent it to you or what the attachment is, don't open it anyay out of curiosity. Delete it. If it was important enough, the person will resend it.
7 comments for this blog post so far...
January 23, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Andy - The Digitante
Patric,
I fixed a computer with this issue, no problem. Boot to safe-mode, install and run MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. Should take care of it.
January 23, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Patric Welch
Andy - I tried exactly that with one computer. It was so bad that Safe Mode wouldn’t even load properly.
January 26, 2010 at 8:02 am
Anne
I just read about this and the person fixed it by logging in as a different user. She was then able to run her actual anti-virus software and remove the virus without a re-install. Here is her post ~ http://www.sweetwatersavings.com/i-got-a-virus.html
My daughter had this happen over the summer and we ran a restore to fix it. Frustrating.
January 26, 2010 at 8:53 am
Diane
My son foolishly clicked on the ad and we were infected. Although I ran several different anti-virus programs and spybot and adaware, I couldn’t get rid of it. I finally did a system restore to a point before the virus hit, and that worked. I figured if it screwed everything up, I was going to have to do a wipe anyway, so what could it hurt. Fortunately, it worked.
January 26, 2010 at 10:50 am
Jackie Wilson
I have been hearing rumbles about Apple also needing anti-virus protection. I do a lot of downloading as part of my classwork and research. Should Mac users be worried as well. My Vista 64 bit PC has been such a pain I just gave up and switched to Mac..
Thank you in advance
~Jackie
January 26, 2010 at 10:58 am
Andy - The Digitante
@Jackie
It might be a good idea to have some sort of virus protection, not necessarily for you, but for anyone who may receive an attachment you inadvertently send along. In the end, it may not be you that needs protection but those you are in contact with.
Is this likely to happen probably not, but it is a good thing to keep in mind.
Andy
January 26, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Laurie @ Bigpacificmedia.com
My daughter picked it up on her machine as well, with Norton Anti-Virus installed. However, she had enabled pop-ups on a site she trusted and that’s when the malware inserted itself. Kids don’t know what software and behaviors are cheats when they’re browsing, and the message is so alarming (and the false close messages so confusing) that they end up installing it just confirming to get rid of it. We found a solution, like Anne did above, by searching in google for scam + the virus message/maker and got an antidote.
Here’s some great tips for how to recognize fake alerts:
http://www.scambusters.org/fakeantivirus.html
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