There is a scam going around on some other sites saying spam has been detected coming from your computer, and you must click on a address listed to perform a virus scan.Well if you click on the site that is when you get the virus Good luck, don't get fooled.
Being a bit of a computer retard,I got caught with that one a couple weeks back.Took my son three attempts to delete it.Every time he located the programme and tried to delete it,it moved to another location! Eventually got rid of it though. Mark.
There's one I got coming in to Email that says it's from your PayPal account . It says; "...Why is my account access limited? Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s): March. 08. 2010: We have reason to believe that your account was accessed by a third party. Because protecting the security of your account is our primary concern, we have limited access to sensitive PayPal account features. We understand that this may be an inconvenience but please understand that this temporary limitation is for your protection. ..." click on this... and post your access numbers etc. Thing is, I don't have a PAYPAL account! so I know its a fishing scam!
Always, Always, Always close any popup window with the big red [X] at the top right. Even if it says you have spam, virus, money, etc... Never, Never, Never try and login to a website from an email (i.e. the Paypal one above). They send you to a phony site, then have your login information. If you get something like that, go to their site from a manual type in... Just my 2 cents.
I got one from Amazon that said my order was canceled. Problem was that I had nothing pending on order. Last order was completed a month ago, three items, received all three. It used my e-mail address, not my actual name like Amazon does. And to view the items canceled, click on a attachment. I did not fall for that one. Contacted Amazon by phone, the requested that I forward the communication to them. Not to mention all the bank accounts I have all over the country, I'd be a millionare if I could get all the supposed accounts funds. At least according to the scammers.
I am an I/T guy- or at least that is what I get paid for. This virus/ spyware/ adware popup ( various alternating popups) will in fact install the virus by clicking the scan button. HOWEVER- some are programmed to install when you hit the "big red [X]". Not everytime- but have run into that a few times. In cases like that, they are the ones as Mark H mentioned- bouncing around trying to save themselves. The BEST way I use to close them is to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, go into your task manager and close it from the Applications tab by clicking the "End Task" button. If you don't see it there, it will be under your processes tab. Hope this prevents it for some of you guys! Spaz
The one that tried to install on my machine was a Trojan. I also get a variety of mails with attachments like the paypal or bank notice about your account. I usually forward them to spoof@ the site being misrepresented. And then there are the Nigerians....
Does a procedure like translate to MAC? I usually just quit the window or the whole program then reopen it and don't go back to whatever site I think had the popup.
I get those all the time, usually after I buy something on....that one auction site, yeah. When and if you get a paypal email you think is BS, don't open it or click on any link(s). Forward it to spoof@paypal.com and let them deal with it.
Posted a vehicle for sale on C.....list a while back. It was a VW Beetle, so not appropriate here. Promptly received an e-mail asking "Hey man, is the car still for sale?". I had just posted it! This threw up a flag right away about the inquiry. Anyway, I replied "If it is still posted, it is still for sale...man?". Came back stating that this individual thinks the car is under priced and I can check the value by using the enclosed link. Another red flag!! I have seen similar attempts by scam artist to get the gullible to bite. Fortunately, my e-mail allows scam to be reported and block certain addresses from further trickery. Not a similar situation to the "warning" Hot Rod Bob posted, but a scam none the less. Just wanted to share the experience. Mark
Thanks for the heads up! I had one a couple weeks ago so I didn't even open it just deleted. Now Im glad I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had a PM on here the other week with that message - the sender was tagged as 'BANNED' so I guess the mods were onto him and sorted it out - I don't recall deleting it but was gone pretty quick. The PM was copied to a handful of other HAMBers so maybe one of them reported it?
I got this virus on my computer at work. It basically trashed the computer. It is a Trojan horse that blocks all your executable files, disables task manager and more. It will self-install without you even clicking on any of the windows that pop up. The next day it showed up on my home computer. It shows up as a "learning program" that works it way through your firewall and self-installs. Here's how to beat it: Look through your anti-virus software's history and look for a trojan or learning program named dhxpsftav or something similar. Search on the name and locate the executable file dhxpsftav.exe. You won't be able to delete this file, so rename it to dhxpsftav.txt. Then reboot your computer and go in and delete dhxpsftav.txt. Next create a dummy file called dhxpsftav.exe and put it in the same place as the previous file. This will trick the prgram into thinking it is already on your computer if it tries to get in again. The IS guy at work has used this technique sucessfully a few times now. He has found that the program can have various names, but they are always similar to dhxpsftav. Give it a try. Good luck!
My son , 9 years old , was on my computer last night and one of these notices showed up . He immediately stopped what he was doing and scanned my computer and found ...nothing!Iam glad they teach computer skills to young kids it saved my hard drive for now. Just once one of these scammers was found so I could jam this key board up their ass and see if their hard drive gets ruined!!!! Rob.
Thanks for the warning....here's some advice that may be helpful to some. 1: If you didn't ask for a scan, why would someone claim you need one? So, don't assume anything 'free' is good-it ain't-especially on the Web..when in doubt, close the application as suggested above or shut down your Web browser completely. If I had a dollar for every time my father clicked on some free offer just because it was 'free' ...Arrrgh! 2: Buy a good Anti-Virus package....again free ain't good, and good is usually far from free...I use an online anti-virus package that gets updated everyday, sometimes several times a day. It's worth it... 3: Buy a cloning package...I use a cloning package that clones my entire set-up, drivers, passwords, exec files...everything once a week so even if I do get the virus from Hell, I can reformat my C drive in a few hours (I use BootNuke when necessary) and load my entire set-up from the cloned copy in about 1-2 hours...I do the reformat when I go to bed, then during breakfast I reload the clone. It doesn't have to be painful or a long process to rebuild your machine if necessary. 4: Macs do suffer from virus attacks a LOT less frequently than PCs. With only 2% of market penetration, the hackers rarely waste their time writing viruses for Macs....I know many a Mac user who uses no virus protection at all. 5: I keep only software, drivers etc on my C drive....all work, all images, all files go on external drives so if I don't want to plug it in to risk exposure of my work, I don't...if a real shit storm hits me, or there's a fire in my house, I can grab my external drives super quick...and yes I backup the backups... 6: Do not give anyone, especially some pop-up ad scam your name, Social, phone number address or anything...you're NOT the 1 Millionth visitor, the 1-week free trial is not free, the 'free sample' is either embedding a virus, worm or at a minimum a lot of cookies for later....if I had a dollar for everyone who has been burned by the myriad of 'free credit score' offers....Oh my God, do people really give completely invisible strangers on the Web their Social Security number ? Not good.
For those that get caught with any of these Combofix is your friend. Only download it from www.bleepingcomputer.com other sites will try and charge you for it. Its a FREE tool, and saves me tons of time each week fixing computers from people that love clicking "yes"
Another awesome program is Spybot Search&Destroy which will catch and remove any of the stuff your normal Anivirus won't. You can download it here: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
I got that same virus a couple weeks ago. It stopped all my executables so I couldn't do a thing. I had a friend use his comp to load a stick with "Rkill" to shut it down so my comp would work and "Malwarebytes" to get it out completely. I haven't had a problem since.
Just once one of these scammers was found so I could jam this key board up their ass and see if their hard drive gets ruined!!!! Rob.[/QUOTE] Man I couldn't agree more!!
I'm a Network Administrator and have been working on computers for 22 years now. So, I may know something about this. If you get spyware and are having a really hard time getting rid of it, even the AntiSpyware and AntiVirus 2010 versions, go out and get a copy of this program and run it. Sometimes running a few times are needed. http://www.superantispyware.com/ As mentioned above, if you get a popup and you didn't open it and it doesn't look normal, or didn't install or see that program running before, something is wrong. -Mark
Hello All, Something not mentioned is Restore CD's most people buy a new PC and do not take the time to create and when you get a severe virus attack you cant do a system restore.....I work at a PC retailer and see this everyday we then have to order from the PC maker and charge accordingly also no one backs up their data (8 out of 10) and it's a simple thing to do with an external hard drive....Loosing all you data sucks!!! also cost is huge to recover once your hard drive crashes. So tip of the day have recovery CD's and back it up!! John
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