Post by juju on Apr 8, 2006 23:47:17 GMT -5
I just wanted to say this did NOT happen to me, but this was in one of my newsletters. Thought it important enough to pass along as a alert.
I was surfing the web and clicked a link to read a review of
something, although I don't remember what, when I new icon
appeared on my system tray, and a message popped up saying my
computer was infected with a virus! It also had the message
to "click here" for a detection and removal tool.
I'm pretty careful, and I was very suspicious of the virus
warning because it didn't look like my antivirus program and
especially because it offered a link to a solution within the
warning. So I did some research.
Spyware Quake was the recommended program to remove the virus.
It's a fake antivirus software program, and the "virus" I
received was malware that was automatically installed on my
computer when the bogus web site loaded. From what I read,
this fake antivirus warning is just a lousy gimmick to sell
the fake software.
It caused a lot of problems for me that I still haven't
gotten completely fixed. My antivirus software did catch it,
but some damage was done before it was quarantined. Educate
yourself. Search for Spyware Quake on the web and read up
about it. Here's a good place to start that includes screen-
shots:
www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic47826.html
I was surfing the web and clicked a link to read a review of
something, although I don't remember what, when I new icon
appeared on my system tray, and a message popped up saying my
computer was infected with a virus! It also had the message
to "click here" for a detection and removal tool.
I'm pretty careful, and I was very suspicious of the virus
warning because it didn't look like my antivirus program and
especially because it offered a link to a solution within the
warning. So I did some research.
Spyware Quake was the recommended program to remove the virus.
It's a fake antivirus software program, and the "virus" I
received was malware that was automatically installed on my
computer when the bogus web site loaded. From what I read,
this fake antivirus warning is just a lousy gimmick to sell
the fake software.
It caused a lot of problems for me that I still haven't
gotten completely fixed. My antivirus software did catch it,
but some damage was done before it was quarantined. Educate
yourself. Search for Spyware Quake on the web and read up
about it. Here's a good place to start that includes screen-
shots:
www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic47826.html