Yesterday I was on the phone with an elderly friend who had bought a new laptop computer and needed help setting it up. She lives two states away, so the phone was the only way I could help. Once we’d set up her local account, she downloaded TeamViewer, and I used that to handle the operation.
Of course, we had to work by phone until I could use TeamViewer. During the setup by phone, she paused every now and then to tell me about something that had popped up on her screen. One alert said she needed to update a bunch of drivers, and the item kindly offered to help her with that chore. Moments later, another similar alert appeared. Each time, I stopped her and told her to ignore these alerts—they sounded like trouble to me. We got the local account established, and right away I got busy installing antivirus software. Her ISP, Comcast, provides Norton Internet Security free of charge; that’s what I installed.
Next I went to Add or Remove Programs, where I confirmed my hunches. I deleted “Chromium” and two other PUPs that had gotten onto her system in the short time it took to set up the local account! Then I installed and ran Malwarebytes and CCleaner. The former found and removed 33 PUPs. I think it’s all under control now, but I’m a little worried. My friend has a history of letting crapware onto her computer. I’m sure I’d find plenty of it if I could peek at the Vista machine she’s replacing. She opens stuff she gets from friends, and then wonders why her machine misbehaves. No amount of counseling dissuades her.
I know there’s no way to keep malware off a machine if the user simply will not exercise basic preventive behaviors. My chief, immediate concern is with the speed at which this stuff got in. I’ve set up a few new machines over the years, and never have I seen malware appear this quickly and easily. I suspect there’s no guardian at the modem or router. What can I check—what barriers can I erect—at the “front door” to help keep her system safe?
