January 18, 2010

Critical Update

The malware programs that we have been calling "The Rogue" continues to plague our customers. I'm sending this 'Critical Update' because it has evolved once again and has become much more dangerous. If you are hit by this new version no Antivirus product will stop it yet, however, Eset and Vipre will still clean it. Below are the steps to protect yourself:

When the Rogue presents itself (the 1st time), a windows will pop up telling you that you are infected and it will start scanning and reporting multiple infections. Some versions ask you to "click here" to scan the system. At this point YOU ARE NOT INFECTED. Shut your computer down immediately. Don't click anything in that window, don't acknowledge any pop up, use the Windows start button to shut the system down, and if it won't let you, use the power button (hold it in for 4 seconds) to power the machine down. You will lose any unsaved open documents. If you can't manage that, pull the power cord.

Immediately restart your computer, and run a full system scan. Currently the only products that we know will suceed is Vipre, Eset, and Malwarebytes (free version), be sure to run the software's update feature before scanning. Allow the software to do a full (or Deep) scan of all drives and remove any malware found.

Your system will be clean after these steps.

As always, please call us for any question or concern 317-733-0213.

Regards,

Steve Weigle and the staff at Village Geek Computers