What Do I Do? Scareware Pop Ups

You don’t have to tell me that malware is at an all time high. I have had at least one friend per week get hit with a trojan or koobface since before the holidays. They click on a bad link somewhere on the net and then notice the stream of spam from them in email, Twitter or Facebook.

Case in point:

I was right in the middle of doing some work when I hear my husband’s voice from the next room “Honey!” in an urgent but friendly tone. “Can you come here?” When I get to him, he is sitting at the computer and there is a popup window on the screen with a message that looks like it is an update for the computer.

I knew right away that this is scareware which tricks you into clicking on a pop-up window (and therefore downloading a virus) by making you think that you need to scan your computer. I knew right away because it was not what a McAfee alert looks like and it didn’t have a Microsoft shield on it, nor was it in the place on my screen where those warnings usually pop up.

Mayhem ensued as I calmly said “that’s scareware, don’t click on it” – just as he clicked on it.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Caption: Excellent grasp of the English language!

Scareware now makes up nearly 25% of all malware and this is why so many of my friends have called me or emailed asking what to do.  I thought I should write a post so you will know what to do if this happens to you or even a friend of yours.  I found a great post on ZDnet by Dancho Danchev which goes into great detail about what to do when scareware hits. I especially love the slideshow that shows what the popups look like. That way you can know what they look like so you can avoid them.

Okay, so before you pull out your shotgun and shoot your pc… Awww, I really wish I could write this post like the movie Zombieland. The rules would be written in big orange letters across the screen with the perfect example portrayed on the screen so you can see. <sigh>

But I digress…

Unlike Rule number one in Zombieland, rule number one from your cybermom is stay calm! Criminals are hoping that you will freak out and not know what to do. But you read my blog, so you know what to do, right? ; )

1. Stay Clam!

2. Always have a current security software subscription…which I have and so we were protected!

3. Hit alt + F4 to close the pop ups.

4. Update your security software and run a scan.

That should do it! If for some reason, your security software won’t update because the virus has temporarily deactivated it or it has deactivated your Internet network, simply restart your computer in safe mode and then run your security software. No reason to “Double Tap” your PC. Just stay calm and carry on my friends!

Stay safe out there my friends!

Tracy

P.S. If you think your computer is already infected, get a free scan here

P.S.S. I nearly forgot! If you use Firefox, get the No Script add-on. It doesn’t allow any “active” content (i.e. java, flash, etc) to run on a page that you open unless you give permission. Try it out!

Tags: keep family PC safe, scareware

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