Fake Virus Scanners - Should be made ILLEGAL!

[Stockholm]

wut

[naez]

and now my wireless card magically started working fuck my lyfe

at least i can poop on my laptop again, good times

[moklianne]

Originally Posted by Humerox [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Best advice ever.

1) Use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome
2) Put Malwarebytes on a thumb drive
update your thumb copy once a week or so.
3) If you're running Firefox...get the AdBlocker plug-in
4) personally, I use Avast AV (free). does a good job imho.

+1

Currently the AV I use. Avira and Microsoft Security Essentials are decent free ones as well.

No AV is complete btw, they all only detect/remove about 50% or so of what's out there. Its a sad situation really.
If you are going to be surfing hardcore warez/pron, then install sandboxie and run IE/Mozilla/Chrome (or the app) in a sandbox until you know for sure its good.

[Ozudin]

Naez still rockin Windows 95

[Aqua]

I hate the malware as much as the next guy but just out of curiousness...

Made illegal by who?

The US government? They don't have jurisdiction outside of US borders.
Some other government? Same
The United Nations? I'm not sure that they have jurisdiction on this area either.
The Volgons [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] ?

[aggresor223]

Originally Posted by Ashimar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm talking about those ones that pop up out of nowhere, That you DID NOT download. they alledgedly "Scan your system" and then they claim to find "Malware and Trojan viruses"
you are then asked if you want to remove the viruses, but you have to "pay
a fee", and it can only be done with a "credit card."

Its a good way to hack into a stupid persons computer.

Its misleading to say the least. Once they have your info, they will
make unauthorized charges to your CC account, then, when you have installed the rogue virus scanner, which itself is really a virus, all information on your computer is compromised. I've never fallen for this scam. Have you?

Don't use internet explorer? try google chrome, has much better defenses.

[Smedy]

Originally Posted by Ashimar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm talking about those ones that pop up out of nowhere, That you DID NOT download. they alledgedly "Scan your system" and then they claim to find "Malware and Trojan viruses"
you are then asked if you want to remove the viruses, but you have to "pay
a fee", and it can only be done with a "credit card."

Dude, i haven't read this thread, just the first post, but you do realize that this is the virus it self. Like "Antivirus Professional 2011" that will inject itself through a javascript in a shitty browser like IE.

Once you've gotten that, you're fucked. This opens up backdoors for more viruses, and even if you do end up paying for protection it will rip your credit card number and personal details to be used on the black market.

I recommend using Opera, Chrome or Firefox with Microsoft Security Essentials running with auto update, and you can feel completely safe.

Many sites do not realize they are spreading these kinds of viruses cause they are not the host of it. Sites like ThePirateBay do have this virus simply just by browsing to the site. It doesn't come from piratebay tho, it comes from the adds that are displayed on piratebay which in their case have been hacked (or possible installed there with purpose).

[guineapig]

Originally Posted by Ashimar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm talking about those ones that pop up out of nowhere, That you DID NOT download. they alledgedly "Scan your system" and then they claim to find "Malware and Trojan viruses"
you are then asked if you want to remove the viruses, but you have to "pay
a fee", and it can only be done with a "credit card."

Its a good way to hack into a stupid persons computer.

Its misleading to say the least. Once they have your info, they will
make unauthorized charges to your CC account, then, when you have installed the rogue virus scanner, which itself is really a virus, all information on your computer is compromised. I've never fallen for this scam. Have you?

I know it's been said already but: Malware. Technically it's already a crime.

[Ruinous]

Malwarebytes' full version with malicious website blocker module has been rockstar for me. Kaspersky Internet Security has also been a favorite for antivirus - always seemed to use much less system resources than other AV and it has sandbox capabilities now.

Always keep windows on it's own HD if possible, or at least it's own partition - install programs and save things to a different partition or HD in case you need to wipe windows. It makes things so much easier. If you keep system restore enabled, save a rollback point right after you get done formatting, installing legit programs & updates. It's nice to fix some of the simple things when they go wrong. Making a system restore CD / DVD is always a plus as well.

Keep all of your protection updated and keep important removal tools on a thumb drive. As Rogean stated, ComboFix is a life saver. As is MBAM, tdsskiller and HijackThis if you know what you're doing with them. It's also wise to keep a boot CD around for when you can't get into Windows to try to use these tools - Hiren's Boot CD has always been good to me. Can't go wrong with a LiveCD of something like Ubuntu as well.

I'm sure that I've forgotten some things... oh well.

[Ruinous]

Should also probably note that if you've taken the appropriate steps before something like this happens, most of the time you wont need to search the internet for solutions to a problem you already have. Disconnect the infected machine from the internet ASAP to prevent it spreading anything across your LAN or downloading more malware onto the machine in question.