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I know this has nothing to do with TG elements, but I know a lot of you are computer savvy, as I am not.
Yesterday, my computer somehow caught a cold. A trojan horse or virus, I'm not sure which, was acquired. I called the local tech support number that was listed on the anti-virus program Grover and I use for our computers.
The tech guy was nice and helpful, and of course I could barely understand him because the call was outsourced to another country. As I started telling him the problem I'm having, he said he could remotely access my computer and fix it. I agreed, and he got to work. About half-way through downloading a program he suggested, he starts telling me I need to pay him $140 to subscribe to this tech support membership so he can finish the job.
I was outraged!! Why didn't he tell me this BEFORE he started working. He then started to use scare tactics, and bullying me so he could make the sell. After 10 minutes of trying to be nice and tell him to buzz of (in a polite way), I finally hung up, and it appeared he would not or did not finish the job.
I ran the virus program one more time, and it told me there were no more problems. I'm wondering if he was just yanking my chain and fixed it, or did he mess with the virus program to not have that virus or whatever show up?
Any ideas? I would appreciate any opinions or help you can give me.
Thanks,
Paula Young
Comments
Download and Run Malwarebytes
It's free. If Malwarebytes and your AV program says all is well, then you can be fairly comfortable that all is well. If all isn't well (including if you can't get Malwarebytes to run), the Malwarebytes support forum is free and very good at resolving issues.
Malwarebytes download: http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Malwarebytes problem resolution forum: http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showforum=7
I know the name is weird, but this is a very good program for finding and removing difficult problems. You only need the free version and to run the "Quick Scan". The paid version is a lifetime license and adds real time protection and automatic updates, but isn't required. Malwarebytes is designed to work with your AV program not replace it.
Wrong Word
This is not a hard sell. It is called being dubbed, swindled, conned, or, my favorite, screwed.
The term 'Buyer beware,' should always flash across one's mind when dealing with people who run a business, especially if you have never dealt with them before. Most are not the evil capitalist intent on oppressing the hapless proletariat as current political culture is suggesting, but rather people no different than you and I. As such, they suffer from the same human frailties all humans do, which include, from time to time, self interest and dishonesty.
The problem you ran into is no different than that which many a modern American have run across in the past when their automobile broke down in a strange place. It reminds me of the scene from Chevy Chase's movie, 'Vacation,' when he asks the mechanic how much it will cost to repair his car. The mechanic grins and replies, "How much ya got?"
So, I advise, buyer beware. My advise is to take your poor computer to an established, brick and mortar business where you can put eyes on the people you are dealing with, make sure you understand what the initial cost will be, what additional costs may be incurred and understand what they are going to be doing, (in general terms). This way, if something does not play out as you thought, you can start climbing the corporate food chain until you get satisfaction, threatening as you go referral to the Better Business people, Consumer Union, etc.
In addition, the idea of allowing an unknown person or business to remotely access my computer is, to my mind, not a good idea. Having dealt with cyber warfare and security issues, I understand the risks you run every time you do so. Trust me, if you value even the smallest hint of personal security, it is not worth it.
I know this doesn't help, and no doubt will raise a few hackles, but having been dubbed more times than I care to admit to, all I can do is hope you take my unsolicited advise to heart in the spirit in which it was meant.
Okay, enough. I'll get off my soap box now.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Paula, I don't know what
Paula, I don't know what anti-virus program you are using, but I'd switch to a better one if I were you. *grin* I'm not a computer guru like other people who have answered you, but I have 5 computers set up and running here at my house. All of them are using Zone Alarm Extreme Security for their anti-virus protection and I haven't had a problem yet. I know, knock on wood, but 3 years and 0 infections has me convinced.
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/home.htm?lid=en-us
BTW, Zone Alarm costs a lot less than $140
Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue
If you are running
a valid windows install for XP or VISTA or even 7, go to the Microsoft website and download their free for valid customers, anti-virus, and spyware package. Failing that, or choosing not to mess with them, go to komando.com and check her security free downloads for Grisoft, AVI, and other FREE virus and spyware packages.
edit... and I use the free version of zone alarm as my firewall in XP, as the one XP has is supposed to be crap. I have been told the one included in VISTA and 7 is pretty good.
Here is a nother wonderful program to use
Don't forget CCleaner, it is a Registry cleaner and a anti-spyware program that works with ALL forms of Windows. It can be found here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
The answers to all of life's questions can be found in the face of a true friend
The answers to all of life's questions can be found in the face of a true friend
Virus
He most likely fixed it. If he was talking costs and was overseas, I'm guessing he didn't have time to do much other than run a quick virus scan/removal. Try going to trendmicro.com and running their free scanning tool. If a virus is still their, they'll flag it for removal.
Beth
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* PS the Trend Micro tool with take a while -maybe well over an hour, depending on the size and speed of you computer
Some good free security software
I have used or installed free security software on other people's computers often enough to have formed my own opinions.
First, antivirus:
- Microsoft Security Essentials is nice and lightweight, but doesn't give you many options.
- Avira Antivir Free is very lightweight and effective, but it tends to annoy you with their daily big ad for the paid version.
- Avast's new version is really impressive, very full-featured, with a nice interface (their previous one was horrible) and nice features. You have to register once a year (from inside the program itself) but it will accept any fake info you input, so you don't even have to worry about them sending you spam. And it's surprisingly easy on your computer resources, despite packing a lot of features -- switching to Avast freed more then 50 Mb of RAM, despite my previous antivirus being already pretty lightweight. It's my current recommendation.
- AVG is very well-known but recent versions haven't impressed me very much: it became kinda bloated over the years, it keeps trying to convince you to buy the full version, and in my experience it isn't that effective.
- Comodo has an antivirus product bundled with their firewall (see below), but I haven't actually tested it, only the firewall.
- PC Tools also has a free antivirus, but I haven't tested this one either.
Firewalls:
- I stopped recommending ZoneAlarm Free a long time ago. It's not bad, but it's rather limited -- not that much more control than the XP SP2 or Vista built-in firewall.
- Comodo has a very complete free firewall product (optionally bundled with free antivirus). Its main drawback is that its somewhat "chatty", that is, it prompts you a lot. I haven't used the new version, though, which is supposed to be less chatty.
- TallEmu offers a free version of its OnlineArmor that's supposed to be very good, too.
- Agnitum also offers a free version of their Outpost firewall.
- For Vista/win7 users, Sphinx Soft offers a tool that enhances the Vista/Win7 internal firewall, giving it controls more similar to a standalone firewall. It's called "Windows 7 Firewall Control".
Antispyware:
- Spybot Search & Rescue is a very well-known name in this arena, and it's still good. And totally free -- there is no paid version, although the author does ask for donations.
- Lavasoft's Ad-Aware has grew over the years from a small and lightweight product into a somewhat ponderous giant, but it still is an effective solution.
- Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, though, has been my first choice to scan and clean computers lately. It doesn't care much to delimit his turf -- if it's spyware, adware, virus, trojan or rootkit, it will try to detect and remove it.
For the really troublesome infections, the ones that regular cleaners have a hard time with, I usually turn to ComboFix, a free cleaner tool that almost always does the job. AFAIK it does NOT have its own official site, so download it preferably from bleepingcomputer.com
ComboFix Is an Experts Tool
The normal user is really better off being guided in the use of ComboFix by one of the problem solving forum experts such as you'll find on the Malwarebytes forum.
i don't want to alarm you
i would never, ever, ever allow another person remote access to my computer, for any reason, ever. let me repeat that, ever.
do you know this guy's name? how do you know he didn't install something to give him a back door in later? how do you know he didn't hoover up a bunch of data to study later in his spare time?
if i was you i would now be backing up my important documents, one by one (and only my documents, images, movies etc). then, without backing up any applications, i'd do a low-level format on my drive, reinstall windows, add AVG free edition, and then copy across my files, scanning them with AVG as I went.
then i'd have to reinstall each and every program i needed, from scratch rather than backup.
even that's not perfectly safe. i don't mean to alarm you but i'd think twice about doing any banking from that machine.
i have a couple of computers, two macs, one pc and a little asus eee netbook running linux. the one time i had to send a computer in for warranty repair (the pc - its power supply died) i made sure to swap out the hard drive for a new unformatted drive before i sent it to the shop. when i got it back, with a new power supply installed, i swapped the drive back in.
there's a new "transportation safety administration" (excus the ironic quotes, but those guys are about anything but safety) procedure now in which they're allowed to run a software scan over your laptop if they want. the TSA is silent on whether they install anything in the process, but i wouldn't be surprised. a friend of mine had his laptop scanned last week when he was returning from a conference in europe. he backed up the important stuff when he got home, and then formatted the drive, reinstalled windows, and sold the laptop (a nice little lenovo) on ebay.
it's not that any of us have anything to hide. in fact i probably sound paranoid. but no way would i ever allow anyone remote access to my computer.
not as think as i smart i am
Thank you
Thank you all for the advice. I greatly appreciate it. I knew I could count on all of you to recommend several ideas that would work. Now I just have to figure out which one will be suitable for my needs.
I also appreciate the fact y'all are such wonderful friends and a great community. I hope ya'll receive the best of everything that life has to offer!
Hugs and Kisses and more hugs and more kisses,
Paula Young
Paula Young
A life lived in fear is a life half-lived