BEWARE: Rogue Antivirus 2010 is no friend of Internet Explorer 9 !

From The Windows Club 9-18-2010

So "anti-virus 2010" is actually a malware virus, disguised as a free anti-virus program but really hijacks your computer and holds it for ransom until you pay AND it trashes ie9. How pleasant ... NOT!

Here is a guide for removal but Nibs post says malwarebytes doesn't work so this may not work on the latest version.

Why is it so difficult to track down the authors of such programs and dismember them. No I'm not kidding either.

Do we not have an organization trying to stop this crap. Why must we download software that will ignore any attempt to install or remove if it does install. Where is the organization that will track down and stop these things at the source.

I still say that Anti-Malware makers are more content in living with the threats than they are motivated in stopping them. After all where is their money coming from.

There would be a lot of people typing with a stump. I can't verify the accuracy of this data, it was just somebodies wiki answer but it sounds plausible. This is 2 years ago and virus growth has been increasing exponentially.

"Nobody keeps tracks of "new" computer viruses, as almost all are offshoots of existing ones. However, according to a Symantec (anti-virus manufacturer) report found on the CERT (USA Government office; Department of Homeland Security) website (refer to the link, below), "nearly 7,000 new worms and viruses . . . in the first half of 2006; this is the highest number ever recorded for a 6-month period." Given that figure, one may derive that over 1,166 worms and viruses are created per month. As an aside, according to the Computerworld link, below, the total number of viruses created as of the end of 2008 reached the one million mark, with over 25% of them having been created in the latter half of 2008, alone. Given that the numbers have been tracked since 1988, that would average to over 4,166 viruses per month"


So it would be a full-time job for a lot of people ... tracking people down and cutting off their limbs. I doubt PETA would like it either. And the cost of airfare would be astronomical because the internet is global and many of these viruses (are presumed by experts to) come from Russia, China, the Middle East.

I have to agree with C_C, there's no incentive for the anti-virus industry (except MSE, founded and ran by Microsoft) to eradicate viruses, malware, spyware, fake AV's & so on. It's a multi billion dollar per year industry.

Sure, there's many "free" ones on the market, some good, some not so good, but the fact is this: They will only "give" you so much protection, if you want the best, you must pay for it.

Thank goodness for MSE, they are the single one that I can see that would love to eradicate the problems. Most of the others, virus protection is their money maker, and unfortunately, the more bad code written, the more richer they become. They love it.

Fortunately for us, our health care system doesn't work with this kind of mentality. They aggressively fight various illnesses and diseases on a daily basis, not always for free, but do fight to eradicate as many diseases as much as possible. Most doctors have ethics.

The AV / Malware /spyware industry doesn't have such ethics. They only look to contain, rather than eradicate them. And the ones that write bad code are difficult, if not impossible to catch. Sure the CIA or whoever will catch someone once in a while, blowing it up to look big, like we're supposed to feel safer on the net. It would be foolish to think for a second that we're anymore safer, than we were yesterday. One may get caught, but what about the tens of thousands that doesn't? The same way with the "drug war". If illegal drugs were eradicated, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost. Don't be fooled by advertising that suggests otherwise.

Viruses and malware are here to stay. All that we can do, is do our best to stay safe as we can, by keeping our AV / Malware protection updated, and scan on a regular basis, and anytime that your computer starts to act weird. And don't depend 100% on a single product for everything. I use & recommend MSE, but that's each user's decision. Regardless of your choice, a stand alone scanner such as Malwarebytes can help keep you safe, and let you know if your choice of AV is doing it's job or not. At no cost to you.

Cat

It is amazing (in a bad way) how much crap is in the wild now. At work when Win95 was still new we had a social club computer to play with in our downtime. It was connected to the internet and as in those days we did not have women in our proffession you need only imagine the sorts of sites we used to visit.
That the computer lasted well over 12 months with NO AV software installed shows how much different things were then to now.

First thing PETA can kiss my A$$. People that create viruses, give away their right to be treated as an animal.

My question is how much is being spent towards protection each year and wonder why this would not be enough to cover the expense of such an operation. I'm pretty sure that the cost of finding the main players could be paid by the expense one major city pays in protection alone. I would rather my money went toward virus eradication from the internet not virus blocking or removal

Personally I don't need a global internet connection. I would be perfectly happy with a statewide connection, if that would stop the majority of viruses. However if that happened, I would lose connection to this forum. I wouldn't like that but would live with it if that is what it took to make my browsing safer.

The bottom line is I don't see any development in prevention or a better term eradication of viruses. Makes me feel as if I am in a home infested with roaches every time I go online and there is nothing I can do about it. And Terminex is still a thought for the future.

Now you are just scaring me - there was mention of providing a method for the President of the United States to be able to hit a button and disconnect all internet connections outside of this country. Because of the way the network was created I think this would be a heck of a feat but if they forced all traffic through a few points it might be possible. Would make a heck of a mess and probably slow things down and cause bandwidth issues squeezing through those few points.

Even so, it won't stop viruses. They would come from a flash drive or laptop flying into this country and you would still have the ones created locally.

I believe you are being overly concerned. I put it on the same level of denying basic principles this country was founded on because of another possible 9-11. You would have a better chance praying daily and updating your anti-virus regularly than you would of stopping all the bad out there. If you want the world to be a better place then share knowledge rather than bottle it up. Enlighten rather than enslave. The Bible says we are all brothers and sisters and to treat your brother as you would be yourself. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ... all that sort of positive energy. If your brother sends you a virus then turn the other cheek ... that's right MOON 'em (OK , that's not what it means "butt" kill'em with kindness not chop their limbs off).

Female virus-writer, Gigabyte, arrested in Belgium, Sophos commentsComputer virus inventor arrestedI know these are old but have things really changed in the last few years? Come on fining them and then letting them go so they can pay with the money they made from the very thing that landed them in lockup. WOW the very thought would be incentive to anyone who has the knowledge to create a virus.

Japanese virus writer arrested.. againOnly two years and then he will be creating more viruses. Is this really the way to protect people?

Personally I think they should serve a week for every computer that Anti-malware reports about removing the virus. Let the severity of the virus dictate the severity of the sentence.

Well to bring this thread back on topic ... I wonder if any of those three people you mentioned created Anti-virus 2010; you know it's possible!

And I don't mean to say viruses don't exist but if there are over 4000 created per month, then locking up 3 people even for life will have no noticeable impact. So I am not saying you shouldn't be careful; I am simply saying we need to live our lives, and I don't plan to live mine in fear of what may happen tomorrow by cowering in a corner today. I will look for the beauty in today and trust God's hands with tomorrow.