Are computer viruses just a protection racket?

[reaganator]

I have persistant, official looking pop ups in a yellow box (system alert) that are now telling me my computer is infected with viruses.

This eventually leads to the cure, me paying them 49.95

Seems like an old time protection racket to me. Odd that as soon as my computer acquires these viruses the prompting of the anti-virus companies begin.

Any thoughts on this?

[Soliton]

It’s a scam by the antivirus company. Go to a site you know and download a fix for free.

[Fresh Wind]

Never, ever give your money to Symantec.

[Squawk 8888]

Those popups are not from legit antivirus developers- their “solutions” are usually conduits for more spyware. Get an AV program from a reputable publisher to remove them. Even the commercial ones like Norton offer a free trial version that will remove an infection.

[gjones77]

Actually, it means you have spyware.

My advice, go to www.kaspersky.com and use their free online scan tool.

I actually never get these warning, then again I never download anything that looks sketchy.

Just keep you AV up to date, it’s not so much a protection scam though, that pop up is caused by spyware, and the program they tell you to download is even more spyware that won’t get rid of any virus, it will actually give you more.

[reaganator]

I have a anti-virus program through my ISP, I had trouble removing my Norton 2005 so I don’t know how well it’s working.

[DieHard the Hunter]

Download AVG, which is free for personal use. It is excellent, and updates its tables pretty much every night.

(And yes, I do believe that the Anti-Virus Industry is a protection racket, and I have often suspected that viruses “appear” for no better reason than to require antivirus upgrades. Only mugs believe that the Anti-Virus industry wants computer viruses to go away.)

[ER Doc]

The alert and pop-up are the virus, (or at least one of them.) The $49.95 "fix" may or may not be a legitimate anti-virus program. More likely, it's more trouble, gaining access to whatever parts of your computer aren't easily accessible from the outside. Stay out of those Czech porn sites!

[reaganator]

Thank you!

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Spybot Search and Destroy (free) does a decent job of whacking this kind of thing. Download it... install it... update definitions.... reboot.... tap the f8 key... select safe mode.... run it.... and pray.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

also, www.hijackthis.de is helpful in whacking this type of crapware. Use the direct download link on the top right of the page. Paste the log into the page, and click on nasties to remove them.

Good luck.

[Spiff]

As a computer security expert who has to deal with all kinds of malware every day, I will tell you that viruses do exist and they will mess you up.

That being said, and even though we use Symantec at work, I would recommend that you NOT use Symantec or any of the big name products on your home PCs. They're expensive and they slow your system down especially if you install the full "security suite" or whatever they're calling it.

On my Windows systems at home I use:
Antivirus: AVG Free (http://free.grisoft.com)
Antispyware: Microsoft Windows Defender (http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx)
Web Filtering: Blue Coat K9 Web Protection (http://www1.k9webprotection.com)

All of these products work well and they are FREE. I've been using these products for years and I highly recommend them.

Those are on the systems my wife and kids use. My personal notebook is running Ubuntu Linux 8.04 and I don't need any of that stuff. It is dual-boot, so on the rare occasion that I do have to boot into Windows, I've got all of that running.

Never again give Symantec or McAfee a bunch of money to slow down your computer and lock you into a subscription.

[contemplator]

Actually, it means you have spyware.

Yes and No. It may mean you have spyware or it may mean that you simply went to a website that is less than reputable and are looking at a generic popup that everyone gets no matter what. Either way, whatever you do, dont click on anything except the x in the upper right hand corner (better yet, right click on the window on your task bar and close it from there without touching the window itself at all). If you dont have a spyware tool, you should get one from somewhere reputable. McAfee, Symantec, or Microsoft are the big legitimate players in that market. Free tools such as AdAware and Spybot are excellent tools.

[marbren]

I love AVG

[TomGuy]

Those are keyed, usually, by your mouse pointer moving over a sensitive area of a web page, causing the pop up.

Some websites are worse about them.

Usually, you can ignore it or click on the ‘close’ or ‘back’ button.

==

Use a good virus program, however. It will catch most of the real culprits. AVG and AVAST are two that are free for home use.

[G Larry]

yes!

[blackdog]

I got Smitfraud into my system and it was a nightmare. I ended up wiping the HD and reloading Windows. All the “fixes”, both free and paid for were of no use.

[TomGuy]

(And yes, I do believe that the Anti-Virus Industry is a protection racket, and I have often suspected that viruses “appear” for no better reason than to require antivirus upgrades. Only mugs believe that the Anti-Virus industry wants computer viruses to go away.)

True.

I tried Norton/Symantec on Win98. It always caused conflicts.

I dropped it for McAfee. McAfee grew and grew. I tried their firewall. Never could get rid of it, even after uninstall. Every month, a McAfee 'try our firewall again' would pop up. I deleted everything McAfee I could find on my computer, including McAfee items in a scan of the registry. Still, the pop-up continued. I finally did a reformat. That got rid of the bugger. I will never have anything McAfee on my computer again.

Next, I tried a version of Trend Micro. It, too, grew and grew, until the pc got so sluggish it would hardly run. TM became little more than glutware.

I dropped it and went with the free home version of AVG. Other than it causing some sluggishness when it does the mail check and daily scan, I am completely happy with it. I have been using it for about 3 years now.

[Mr. K]

I’m with you on this one...

I once put a VERY old disk in my computer and I got a pop-up warnign that I needed a new virus software update (for a fee, of course)

The only problem is that the disk could not POSSIBLY have had the virus it claimed because it had not been written yet when I last used that disk.

I wish i could repeat that test

[reaganator]

What is AVG?

[Mr. K]

what do you think of AVAST ? www.avast.com

also free (home edition) and I like it a bunch