February 2010 Archives

To all my customers!  The Pandemic of "Fraudware" viruses continues!  This "Fraudware" seems to be able to penetrate any defense!  It is jumping off of perfectly innocent websites or e-mails. Many customers report they are on Facebook when it hits. You will know something is wrong immediately because multiple popups of every kind blanket your screen.  This virus "Permanently Kills" any program you try to start!  If you see this happen SHUT DOWN your PC immediately!  You must be prepared in advance to fight this or you have little chance of succeeding.

What should you do if you suspect you have a virus?

First you must know your PC.  What is "Normal" behavior?  What is your web browser's "Home Page"?  What does normal Internet traffic look/sound/feel like?  How fast is the Internet?  How fast do you get/send emails?

One of the first symptoms of a virus is a "change"!   The Internet is "Slow".  The PC is acting "funny"!  There seems to be lots of activity going on over the Internet wires but "you" aren't doing anything.  Your "Home Page" changes to some other web site, either porn or a site that tries to sell you something.  You can no longer get or send emails.

The obvious symptoms are "pop-ups".  These can happen anywhere and at random times.  They pop-up inside web pages, they pop-up in the system tray (down by the time/clock), they just pop-up on top of everything and they won't go away!  These fraudulent pop-ups can be "official" looking warnings, or advertisements claiming that you are "infected".  They FALSELY claim that they have "scanned" for viruses and found a "Trojan" or some such thing.  You have Avira AntiVir Guard.  Just who is claiming to have found something?  You should only respond if the warning pop-up is from AntiVir! (Look for the Red Umbrella)

If you suspect a virus Immediately shut down the PC.  The best way to scan and kill the latest crop of viruses is in "Safe Mode".  Look for my instructions, "Run Malwarebytes in Safe Mode Instructions" and follow them.

It may take several days before each of these products learns how to completely remove your infection.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

If all these scans fail or you cannot run/update AntiVir, Malwarebytes, or Spybot call me immediately at 763-360-2163.