LOL do people actually give money for FAKE antivirus software?

[RadiclDreamer]

my wife got that last year or so. that is a evil evil program. they make it so damn hard to kill.

The new versions are getting worse, some of them deny pretty much ANY app to run, notepad, taskmgr etc.

I had to install malwarebytes as soon as the pc rebooted, reboot again, install updates, reboot, run scan...finally got it removed.

 

[Tremulant]

The new versions are getting worse, some of them deny pretty much ANY app to run, notepad, taskmgr etc.

I had to install malwarebytes as soon as the pc rebooted, reboot again, install updates, reboot, run scan...finally got it removed.

When I've gotten the ones that prevent me from opening the task manager, I'll use PsTools (google it) to remotely list the running processes and kill the bad ones (since they usually some gibberish name). After that, I can use malwarebytes to get rid of the crap for good.

edit: ofcourse, this is for other machines on my corp. network.. so I'm able to access them remotely. If it's a machine that someone has brought to me, then I'll try going into safemode (but I haven't had to do much spyware/malware removal on non-work machines lately)

 

[Gillbot]

If people send thousands to Nigeria for their share of Millions, then yeah there are people that stupid out there.

 

[mb]

my wife got that last year or so. that is a evil evil program. they make it so damn hard to kill.

Yeah that's what I read. I was asked to fix it... thankfully she's just the type who all she does is use facebook and hotmail so all I really had to do was reformat. No point in wasting time cleaning everything out.

 

[darkswordsman17]

My mom installed some Fast Browser Search toolbar. Nothing kills it. I uninstalled it everywhere I could, then uninstalled Firefox, then deleted all the files it should be using (searched and found others who had trouble with it and deleted everything they had found it to be), and had Spybot search and remove it. Then rebooted, checked to see if the registry files had come back, they hadn't. Installed the newest version of Firefox (and had deleted all prior Firefox stuff). I thought finally it was gone. I go and add one of the regular add-ons, and its fucking back now.

I'm just going to install Windows 7 (my Mom's computer still has WinXP MCE).

 

[rockyct]

Absolutely. I know a few people who have installed one of those programs that had a fake security warning pop up.

 

[coloumb]

Yes - mainly the older generation [60+ age group] will click on the pop up windows if it states it can protect your computer, make it faster, enhance your retirement income, make you 20 years younger, etc.

At least the browsers have an option to block pop ups which deter most of those annoying crap software...

 

[Fox5]

Crap like these is why Microsoft needs to create a software store for windows, like on the mobile phone platforms and linux repositories. (though I think microsoft wouldn't be very likely to carry free software, especially not in the gpl sense)

Make normal exes very difficult to install (bundle it into UAC). Make the preferred software installation method to get things through the Windows Software Store (which should be relatively easy for vendors to get added to and non-partisan). Physical software already has to be signed by Microsoft, so that could be verified and given a pass.

 

[Via]

There was a program a while back that hijacked your startup process and wouldn't allow you access to ANYTHING unless you paid for an anti-virus "download". I've seen it.

If you clicked on any icon it said "so-and-so is infected with a virus" and took you back to a payment/download window. It wouldn't even let you open task manager.

Bypassing it was as simple as repeatedly hitting ESC but a lot of casual users would never have known to try that.

So - especially if it's a business PC - they probably try to pay it off to regain control of their PC.

 

[Via]

edit - I missed the posts at the top of pg 2 that mentioned this very thing.

 

[Sumguy]

Every time I come home from college my parents have some sort of shit going on with their computers. My dad mostly just used his to play games and doesn't really use the internet, so that was fine.

My mom now tells me her "hard drive isn't working". I assured her it is. I look on her computer to see whats up, open Firefox (oh how long it took to convince her she doesn't need AOL to go online) and half the browser is made up of toolbars.

Think I know what the problem might be...

Edit: Oh yeah, my sister also tells me her laptop is acting up. She just drove back to her house to get it (4 hour round trip...) I'm sure that thing is gonna have all kinds of fun stuff to deal with as well.

My brother can't make it this year (the only other person in the immediate and extended family I know of who knows how to use a computer) so I get to deal with it all. At least I know what he had to deal with before I was 14 and decided it would be a good idea to learn basic computer skills.

 

[Number1]

The users at my job are ALWAYS downloading this shit. Malwarebytes does a bang-up job of getting rid of 90% of it, however.

I Google Malwarebyte and the top result is for a site called "Anti Malwarenow.com".

Norton flagged the site as malicious!!!!

You got to be careful out there.

Anyway I downloaded Malwarebyte and I am running a full scan now. I don't expect it to find anything.

 

[Modelworks]

I was talking with some developers and they said the malware creators are so quick now that the anti virus companies can release a changed UI and within 24 hours it has been copied in form and function, except its a trojan.

They even copy the logos from the other program. The worst offenders encrypt .doc , .txt, .rtf, etc so that you have to pay to get the password to decrypt them. Holding your data hostage till you pay 🙁