There was a time when I was able to take pride in the fact that I had never had the need to pay for anti-virus software. I thought that good old safe internet practices, such as not downloading strange files or browsing questionable websites, would keep me safe and afloat.
So I was mildly upset when my computer got hijacked by some malware (antivir) and my Avast software didn’t even notice. After decamping to a clean computer I located the recommended malware cleaner and reluctantly paid money for it, downloading the software to a flash drive that I take just about every where that I go.
But after two computers got hit at work today by similar programs (although not precisely the same one) I was glad that I a) had software on my flash drive that could take care of some of the issues and b) had spent several hours already researching the issue and so knew somewhat what to do.
Now, I’m not a computer expert by far. No. When I have computer problems I instead hold true to the XKCD tech support cheat sheet, presented below:
But I also know that several people read this blog who are probably even less computer savvy than I am (hi Grandma!). So I’m going to lay out roughly what happened to me so that hopefully someone else won’t have the same problems I did.
Of the three trojans (I’m not sure that’s precisely the right term) that I came in contact with, all of them showed up unexpectedly. No one downloaded any new files or opened any strange emails, they were simply surfing the internet. The only hint that something was wrong showed up in a new icon that started flashing on the taskbar, in my case announcing via bubble that my computer was infected and in the middle of an attack.
My first impulse was to panic, and I immediately cut my connection to the internet (which probably didn’t do any good whatsoever). But then I noticed that the icon flashing on my taskbar did not belong to any program that I had ever knowingly installed. In fact it wasn’t one that I had ever seen before. (The first one that I came across was called Antivir, the second one looked really official and called itself XP Security 2011).
I tried to right click it to see what it was, but wasn’t able to. The program itself didn’t show up on any of my program lists. Not only that, but when I tried to log on to the internet to search for a description of it I found that I couldn’t, I was constantly redirected to a page telling me that I was under attack and that I needed to download another version of the software to protect my computer.
And this is the part that I want to pass along to anyone reading this blog. If some program you have never seen before starts insisting that you need to download something else in order to make it effective, or if such a program hijacks your internet browser DON’T DO WHAT IT SAYS.
These programs are scams, full of official looking documentation and notices designed precisely to scare you into either giving them money or downloading more dangerous programs onto your computer. If you feel comfortable fixing the issue yourself go to a clean computer and search for the name of the program. Often times there will be people who have fought this fight before and have explained their strategies. (Check out here for XP Home Security: http://www.precisesecurity.com/rogue/xp-home-security-2011/, here for Antivir http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-antivir.html).
The anti-malware software that I paid for is
Spyhunter 4 which so far has possessed the admirable ability to start itself no matter how many other programs refuse to on the infected computers I’ve come across. But it didn’t do a thing for the XP Home Security malware that I came across today.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, however, worked excellently.
(Unfortunately I was left with the inability to execute .exe files afterward, which meant that I couldn’t open any programs and led me to learning about things like registry editors. Whoo!)
But if you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself (or don’t have a clean computer handy) turn it off, put it aside, and find someone who can help you. The last thing you want to do is make it worse if you can help it!
And there’s my PSA for the day. I’m glad that I won the fight with my personal viruses, but I sure as hope I don’t encounter them again. For some reason wrestling with my computer worried that I might screw it up beyond repair trying to fix it isn’t really the way I like to spend my time.
