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Friday
March 19, 2010 Since 1922 |
Spyware getting to customers under false name
By Aaron Barbee
Contributor Published August 23, 2009 Recently there’s been a rash of spyware slipping in on customers using some very tricky software names. Once on your computer, these programs nag you with fake warnings and fake error messages until you pay their fee to fix the fictitious problem. In an effort to help shed some light on the more aggressive and troublesome spyware, I’ll list the top couple and describe what they look like.
The most troublesome recent spyware out there is Personal Antivirus. This program is no good at all. If you see a message that wants to download, install, run, or clean with Personal Antivirus, click the “X” to close the window. I wouldn’t even click the “NO” button; just click the “X” to close it down completely. Also, it would be a good idea to shut the computer down entirely and have a someone do a clean-up on it. It’s that bad.
Personal Antivirus looks like a popular legitimate free anti-virus software called AVG. I recommend AVG to all my customers. You can get it at http://free.avg.com (note there’s no www). You’ll see the option to get the pay version, but the free version is just fine.
Another really nasty spyware program is called Spylocked. It’s a program that’s designed to trick you into installing it on your computer in hopes to fix problems it’s created. In fact, it will generate more spyware and popups that will try to get you to pay for it. Spylocked is irrefutably the worst spyware that’s ever existed. As with Personal Antivirus, just shut the computer down and have it cleaned immediately. If you keep using the computer it will just get worse and entrenched deeper.
If you have any other software that’s on your computer that you may be suspicious of, you can always search for it on Google to find more information. Just remember that spyware will never go away on its own, it will always get worse, and the worse it is the longer it will take to fix the problem. Eventually spyware will infect a computer so deeply that it will become unusable.
Always back up your data. You never know when it’ll crash. If the computer crashes too hard all data on it will be gone, including pictures, music, and documents.
Check out my Web site www.TexasComputerGuru.com for supplemental information and previous articles as well.
Aaron Barbee owns Texas Computer Guru, a local computer services company for on-site business and residential needs. He can be contacted at 281-628-5099. E-mail questions for Aaron to sunnews(at)baytownsun.com.
Contributor Published August 23, 2009 Recently there’s been a rash of spyware slipping in on customers using some very tricky software names. Once on your computer, these programs nag you with fake warnings and fake error messages until you pay their fee to fix the fictitious problem. In an effort to help shed some light on the more aggressive and troublesome spyware, I’ll list the top couple and describe what they look like.
The most troublesome recent spyware out there is Personal Antivirus. This program is no good at all. If you see a message that wants to download, install, run, or clean with Personal Antivirus, click the “X” to close the window. I wouldn’t even click the “NO” button; just click the “X” to close it down completely. Also, it would be a good idea to shut the computer down entirely and have a someone do a clean-up on it. It’s that bad.
Personal Antivirus looks like a popular legitimate free anti-virus software called AVG. I recommend AVG to all my customers. You can get it at http://free.avg.com (note there’s no www). You’ll see the option to get the pay version, but the free version is just fine.
Another really nasty spyware program is called Spylocked. It’s a program that’s designed to trick you into installing it on your computer in hopes to fix problems it’s created. In fact, it will generate more spyware and popups that will try to get you to pay for it. Spylocked is irrefutably the worst spyware that’s ever existed. As with Personal Antivirus, just shut the computer down and have it cleaned immediately. If you keep using the computer it will just get worse and entrenched deeper.
If you have any other software that’s on your computer that you may be suspicious of, you can always search for it on Google to find more information. Just remember that spyware will never go away on its own, it will always get worse, and the worse it is the longer it will take to fix the problem. Eventually spyware will infect a computer so deeply that it will become unusable.
Always back up your data. You never know when it’ll crash. If the computer crashes too hard all data on it will be gone, including pictures, music, and documents.
Check out my Web site www.TexasComputerGuru.com for supplemental information and previous articles as well.
Aaron Barbee owns Texas Computer Guru, a local computer services company for on-site business and residential needs. He can be contacted at 281-628-5099. E-mail questions for Aaron to sunnews(at)baytownsun.com.