Over the last week, I have worked on about 6 different PCs that have been infected with the latest "Scareware". All of us in the CCS Support Department have written about viruses and malware, the latest threat is really nasty.
This threat is one of those false "Your Computer Is Infected" type pop-ups. No matter if you click the "yes, no, or X out" this will get installed. Once this software gets into your system, it is difficult to remove. I have seen many Internet posts that try to help remove this threat. Most of these techniques require knowledge of multiple tools and scanners that will print a report. These will usually need to be posted at one of the removal sites so they can help you remove this pest.
This Scareware threat can be picked up at just about any site right now, legitimate or otherwise. Recently a customer of CCS, who is a USC football fan, mentioned that he thinks he got the malware from the USC fan site. Later he found other users complaining about the same problem. The best way to prevent getting this malware is to not click anywhere on the pop-up and just shutdown your PC with the Control_Alt_Delete and shutdown menu link.
If you do get infected you will know it..Besides the numerous pop-ups you receive, most removal programs will either fail to run, or come back with a message saying the "The file is infected and will not run". This happens in "Windows Safe Mode" also. I noticed that when searching the Internet for a removal program, the first hit in Google will usually lead to an infected site. Please look at the actual link that you are clicking on to make sure it is going to the site you intended.
In trying to remove this virus, I have used about 4 different programs just to get to a point where actual removal can begin. These special tools find the process that is running, that prevents other software from removing the virus. That’s how nasty it is. I have also found that there are different levels of infection. Some of the worst infections can take up to a day of scanning and deleting to fully clean your PC of this pest, Less infected PC don’t take as long but seem to be harder to find and remove the virus.
If you think you may be infected with the latest "Internet Security 2010" malware. Please call the CCS Support Department at 800-672-4806 or send me an email. I will guide you through the removal steps. If the infection is bad, we might suggest bringing the PC into CCS to complete the removal.
Bryan 