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Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
Untitled Document
Aaaargh, I’ve Been Hit
Last Tuesday my PC seemed a bit pokey so I checked my Internet speeds on a
couple of Internet speed test utilities (Speakeasy and Global Bandwidth Speed
test). My Internet connection speeds were normal but my stand-alone applications
were slow to open and giving me some error prompts. Then my printer started
acting up. I changed the cartridges but then the printer quit responding altogether.
I tried to reload the printer drivers but the download was incredibly slow and
hung up at 96% completion. Finally I called in one of our techs. “Looks like
you’ve got a virus boss,” he chuckled.
Six months ago I got hit with a “scareware” bug but we all knew exactly
when and how that happened. I was opening an e-mail attachment from the “Save
Discovery Creek” organization when up popped a prompt telling me that I
needed to update my Adobe Reader in order to read the attachment I was trying
to open. “Click here to update,” it said. When I clicked I was immediately
attacked. First it disabled my virus scan (AVG) and spyware sweep (Malwarebytes)
and then announced that my PC was infected and for only $49.95 it would be happy
to take care of my problem.
We rebooted my PC into “safe mode” and reinstalled “Malwarebytes”
through a USB flash drive and swept away the offending bit of “scareware.”
Within half an hour I was back in business, no virus, no damage. I got off easy
because we managed to dump the infection quickly before other “malware”
programs had the opportunity to infect my “exposed” PC.
This time it was different. I had no idea how or when my PC became infected.
My virus scan program had been disabled and “Malwarebytes” erased. I
was a victim just like the other half dozen hapless souls who had brought their
infected PCs to us that day.
I asked for no special treatment but I suspect the gang may have pushed my
PC closer to the front of the line. They removed my hard drive and started the
clean-up process on the “scan benches.” For the next two days I was just another
anxious customer asking how things were going every couple of hours. After the
second day they told me my PC had been afflicted with Adware/LOP, Hackingtool/rebooter
and generic malware.
Those rascals were gone but there was still more to be done. The hard drive
was put back into my PC and virus and spyware programs reactivated. Then they
ran several applications to see if Windows was still intact. Everything was
fine. Friday morning I got my PC back and life was back to normal.
Catching a virus infection early is the key. Virus programs may replace some
of the Windows operating system utilities in order to conduct business their
own way. When the virus is removed, a “hole” remains in the Windows.
When this happens the operating system is “corrupt” and must be reinstalled.
That means more time, expense and trouble getting everything back to normal.
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The Computer Buzz