The Everyday IT Blog

I got a call from a very freaked-out relative a few weeks ago.. this person was very, very worried because out of the blue a program was telling them that they had a ton of viruses on their system and they were being warned that their personal banking information had been exposed to hackers. I got this person to calm down a bit and asked if they had clicked on anything in that window.. and luckily they hadn’t. This person had nearly fallen prey to a type of potential malware called “scareware”.

What is “Scareware”, you ask?  Technically speaking.. it is a piece of software designed to fool the average computer user into paying for a service that they don’t need by convincing them that they do in fact need what the scammer is selling.  The most common scareware I’ve seen in the past few months is the very same one that my relative stumbled upon.. a fake antivirus program that looks very, very real – all the way down to the Windows Vista-styled icons.  In this case the fake AV program was only a pop-up ad, albeit a very dangerous one.. click anywhere in the window and, voila – spyware infection.  This is the very reason that you need to know exactly what antivirus and anti-spyware you have installed on your system.. if something different comes up you can kill it via the Windows taskbar.

If you’re not sure what antivirus or anti-spyware software you’re currently running is called I’ll be happy to help you.. just drop me a line.

When I get a call from a friend or client to come take a look at their computer I have a laundry list of things that I check, not necessarily in order. I mentioned operating system (OS) updates in a previous post.. the second most common thing that I find is the lack of antivirus (AV) updates. In these cases I rarely find that there isn’t any AV software installed.. what I find is that when the 1-year trial period for the AV software has ended and new updates aren’t being applied. Let me tell you now.. if you haven’t re-upped your AV subscription your computer is at high risk for getting infected, if you aren’t already.  Even if you don’t do much on the internet, just clicking a link to one person’s MySpace page is enough to cause you trouble.  Case in point.. my wife clicked on a MySpace link on Tuesday to do some research for a project.  She was instantly bombarded by messages from her AV program notifying her it had blocked several viruses.. they were apparently embedded in content on that page.  One of the viruses in question was first seen only three months ago!  Your two-year old virus definition set that you haven’t been updating wouldn’t have gotten this bug.

So, what can you do now?

Update your AV subscription NOW.  It is absolutely worth the $30 to get that done now versus the potential loss of time and money you’ll experience getting viruses removed later.  It doesn’t matter much whose AV program you use as much as it matters that you use one.  Some are indeed better than others, and with some you get what you pay for.  For example, my giant-mega-cable company gives away a pretty well-known AV program for free with your paid cable bill.. and it is absolutely horrible.  That particular program will bring well-built computers and laptops to their knees while they perform a scan.  In a corporate setting I use a enterprise-type package that gives me incredible reporting tools for machines in the office.. for remote business and personal use I highly recommend AVG Anti-Virus for its speed and ease of use.

If you suspect you’re having a problem with viruses I can help.. drop me a line.

photo credit: I woz ere