Help with virus message!

[gary]

I gave my sister in Illinois my computer (two year old Compaq) with Widows
XP. She is on line with Comcast cable who gives her the free McaFee
Anti-Virus Software. She has been on line for about 3 months and as of a few
days ago, she started to get the message in a new window that a trojan was
found and she needs to pay $49.99 for a virus removal ......she ran Mcafee
and it said a "fake alert" was detected but did not remove it. Now it seems
she is getting messages saying Microsoft has found 47 viruses on the hard
drive and she needs to pay for that protection......she cannot even log on
anymore as as soon as she boots up, that window pops up and she cannot
delete, minimize, or remove it!!! Anyone for suggestions?
gary (e-mail address removed)

 

[Malke]

I gave my sister in Illinois my computer (two year old Compaq) with Widows
XP. She is on line with Comcast cable who gives her the free McaFee
Anti-Virus Software. She has been on line for about 3 months and as of a
few days ago, she started to get the message in a new window that a trojan
was found and she needs to pay $49.99 for a virus removal ......she ran
Mcafee
and it said a "fake alert" was detected but did not remove it. Now it
seems she is getting messages saying Microsoft has found 47 viruses on the
hard drive and she needs to pay for that protection......she cannot even
log on anymore as as soon as she boots up, that window pops up and she
cannot
delete, minimize, or remove it!!! Anyone for suggestions?

Your sister's system is infected with a rogue antivirus program. It is
called "rogue" because it pretends to be A Good Guy but is really Evil.
She should not pay them!

She can look for removal steps at the link below. Because you didn't give
the name of the program that is trying to get her to buy it, I can't give
you a link to specific removal steps.

Bleeping Computer removal how-to's -
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum55.html

Further general information about this sort of infection:

=====
These removal steps may work for you and all may be well. However, in many
cases the computer will also be infected with Zlob and/or Vundo trojans and
protected by a rootkit. These machines are extremely difficult to clean.

If your machine is one of these cases, either get guided help at one of the
specialty forums below OR back up your data and do a clean install of
Windows. It is your choice. If you are unsure how to back up your data or
how to do a clean install, you can take your machine to a local computer
professional. I don't recommend using BigComputerStore/GeekSquad types of
places.

PLEASE DO NOT POST LOGS IN THE MS NEWSGROUPS.

http://aumha.net/ - Click on the HijackThis forum. Read the announcement and
the stickies *first*.
http://www.atribune.org/forums/index.php?showforum=9
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum22.html
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/cleanup
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25Look
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Malware_Removal_HiJackThis_Logs_Go_Here-f37.html
http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/index.php?showforum=170
http://spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5
http://forums.techguy.org/54-security/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
=====

Malke

 

[Richard in AZ]

|I gave my sister in Illinois my computer (two year old Compaq) with Widows
| XP. She is on line with Comcast cable who gives her the free McaFee
| Anti-Virus Software. She has been on line for about 3 months and as of a few
| days ago, she started to get the message in a new window that a trojan was
| found and she needs to pay $49.99 for a virus removal ......she ran Mcafee
| and it said a "fake alert" was detected but did not remove it. Now it seems
| she is getting messages saying Microsoft has found 47 viruses on the hard
| drive and she needs to pay for that protection......she cannot even log on
| anymore as as soon as she boots up, that window pops up and she cannot
| delete, minimize, or remove it!!! Anyone for suggestions?
| gary (e-mail address removed)

What she has is a "malware" program (known as spyware) not a virus.
McAfee is an anti virus program and did not catch this crap ware program.
She should download, install, update and run at least two of the following programs (all are free)
Spybot Search and Destroy. www.safer-networking.org
Windows Defender. www.microsoft.com download security programs
Adaware. www.lavasoftusa.com

Under no condition should she buy the program that the scum ware is pushing.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Gary,

Cleaners that work: See line 393 (right hand side):
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

SupportSpace
www.supportspace.com/pages?aiu=kellyskorner

 

[Dustin Cook]

I gave my sister in Illinois my computer (two year old Compaq) with
Widows XP. She is on line with Comcast cable who gives her the free
McaFee Anti-Virus Software. She has been on line for about 3 months
and as of a few days ago, she started to get the message in a new
window that a trojan was found and she needs to pay $49.99 for a virus
removal ......she ran Mcafee and it said a "fake alert" was detected
but did not remove it. Now it seems she is getting messages saying
Microsoft has found 47 viruses on the hard drive and she needs to pay
for that protection......she cannot even log on anymore as as soon as
she boots up, that window pops up and she cannot delete, minimize, or
remove it!!! Anyone for suggestions? gary (e-mail address removed)

Give MBAM (malwarebytes antimalware) a try. You can find it here:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php