Busy fixing Rogue Anti-virus

[MooPi]

Like many on the forum I'm the tech support for an extended group of family and friends/acquaintances. Just recently I've been busy repairing Windows systems that have been hit with the rogue anit-virus. Anyone else have the same problems with friends? Some are fixable while others are so fubar'd that reload is all that's left as an option.

[Frogs Hair]

A great place to get a list of products to avoid is http://www.spywareguide.com

[Shakz]

There is one that my family recently got on several computers. The only thing they have in common is facebook. Security Tool is what it was called. Removal is simple although there is tons of crap on the internet on how to remove it that dont work at all. Most wanna charge.
1. Boot the machine in safemode.
2. go to the security tool shortcut thats on your desktop.
3. right click it and go to the folder that it points to.
4. Delete the exe and reboot in normal mode.

Your golden...for that one in particular at least.

If this isnt your problem then I am sorry but you didnt give a name. This is the one I have been seeing lately though.
2 PCs at my mother in laws.
1 Laptop my niece.
1 netbook my other neice.
1 laptop my sister n law.

[madjr]

i do not give support for windows viruses, specially if am not going to get paid

family and friends are not going to pay, nor do i like accepting their money

i migrated most of them to ubuntu

maybe you could do the same

install ubuntu as dual-boot and keep the infected windows

that way they will want to log into ubuntu and wont see it as being forced

now everyone in my circle saved hours upon hours of scanning, fiddling and reformatting/reinstalling

it's worth a shot, the majority will like it, the ones that prefer windows still have the dual-boot option for safe browsing and help with the windows recovery

lucid should be a good chance to get them out of the vicious cycle of virus infections

[3rdalbum]

Like many on the forum I'm the tech support for an extended group of family and friends/acquaintances. Just recently I've been busy repairing Windows systems that have been hit with the rogue anit-virus. Anyone else have the same problems with friends? Some are fixable while others are so fubar'd that reload is all that's left as an option.

I had some friends who were actually dumb enough to "buy" the fake anti-virus. Funnily enough, once they'd "bought" it, it let them back onto the Internet and even reactivated the Task Manager and Regedit, so it was easier for me to remove the malware.

I made the mistake of telling another friend that I could reinstall Vista on "a friend of a friend's" laptop. Oh, I accomplished that task and charged an arm and a leg for the stress of dealing with a Windows machine. But now I'm the local computer fix-it guy and currently retrieving data off a dying hard disk from the THIRD laptop I've been asked to deal with.

The money is welcome, but I can tell that I'll soon be asked to remove viruses and troubleshoot small problems and stuff like that. And I'm going to struggle with that, because I simply don't know Windows.

[MooPi]

i do not give support for windows viruses, specially if am not going to get paid

family and friends are not going to pay, nor do i like accepting their money

i migrated most of them to ubuntu

maybe you could do the same

install ubuntu as dual-boot and keep the infected windows

that way they will want to log into ubuntu and wont see it as being forced

now everyone in my circle saved hours upon hours of scanning, fiddling and reformatting/reinstalling

it's worth a shot, the majority will like it, the ones that prefer windows still have the dual-boot option for safe browsing and help with the windows recovery

lucid should be a good chance to get them out of the vicious cycle of virus infections

I've used the live CD as a taste of Linux. When I take their computer away to work on I leave an Ubuntu disk so they can try it on other computers. I've had a few nibbles but no bites as yet on the Ubuntu bait. Several months ago someone I knew paid for the fake protection. They had a hell of a time getting the credit card company to stop future payments. Ughhhhh.

[Giant Speck]

i do not give support for windows viruses, specially if am not going to get paid

family and friends are not going to pay, nor do i like accepting their money

i migrated most of them to ubuntu

maybe you could do the same

install ubuntu as dual-boot and keep the infected windows

that way they will want to log into ubuntu and wont see it as being forced

now everyone in my circle saved hours upon hours of scanning, fiddling and reformatting/reinstalling

it's worth a shot, the majority will like it, the ones that prefer windows still have the dual-boot option for safe browsing and help with the windows recovery

lucid should be a good chance to get them out of the vicious cycle of virus infections

Ubuntu = best antivirus EVAR!!!1!!

[madjr]

I've used the live CD as a taste of Linux. When I take their computer away to work on I leave an Ubuntu disk so they can try it on other computers. I've had a few nibbles but no bites as yet on the Ubuntu bait. Several months ago someone I knew paid for the fake protection. They had a hell of a time getting the credit card company to stop future payments. Ughhhhh.

well i study human behavior and psychology and unless they use something different like ubuntu for days or even weeks, they wont break from their associative pattern (comfort zone)

they have to really use it, have their files in it , etc.

it's got to become part of them, so 1 slow loading and unmodifiable live-cd session is not enough

don't get shy, you're the one doing them a favor. it's your time and ubuntu is a tool that saves you precious time