• Removing Antivirus 2009 and its ilk

    Posted on April 6, 2009 at 05:55 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    I get messages like the following one from CK at least a few times every week:

    I don’t know if you can help me but I don’t know where else to go. I have Vista on my computer. I use Norton as my antivirus. Yesterday I got this other system security site that keeps popping up. The icon looks like a shield. Background is yellow with black stripes. I went to add remove programs and removed it from there. I went to all programs and system security and deleted it from there. But the icon stays on the right hand side of my computer and keeps popping up when I am on the computer telling me there is 17 threats. I ran Norton and it was OK. This system security firewall alert tells me of the threats. If you go through to try and remove them it ask for a credit card number. I don’t know how to get this off. Do you have any suggestions?

    (Frankly, my first suggestion is to get rid of Norton and replace it with a smaller, free alternative, but if you’ve read my books, you know all about it. That doesn’t solve your problem, but it makes me feel better.)

    From your description it’s hard to tell for sure, but it sounds to me like you’ve been infected with a piece of cr*pware similar to Antivirus 2009. Norton doesn’t prevent you from installing Antivirus 2009. You get it when you install a program that says it’s detected a gazillion viruses on your computer, and for a nominal fee it’ll remove them all.

    Brian Krebs at the Washington Post has a slew of articles about this scummy program and others like it. The worst ones encrypt all of the files in your My Documents folder, and refuse to open them unless you pay a ransom.

    To get rid of it, there’s a removal program from PC Tools (a very reputable scum-busting company) that’s explained on the 2-spyware site. That’s a good place to start.

    Unfortunately, I don’t know of any product that will remove all of the Antispyware 2009 clones. You may have to re-format your hard drive and start all over.

    That’s the price you pay for believing the scare tactics these companies use. A good, free antivirus program will protect you from some of the pernicious scum. But even the most bloated and expensive antivirus programs (I won’t mention Norton and McAfee by name) won’t always save you from shooting yourself in the foot.

    Windows Patches/Security ,
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