Comments on: The Most Mal Of Wares

By: Siirenias

Siirenias — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:20:47 +0000

I know, I know. This is from four months ago.

However, my father works as a computer consultant, and one of his old-time clients actually bought it, and pays them for "antivirus service." He happened to call when I was spending time with him and my step family for the holidays.

I can only imagine the forlorn "so I can't get a refund after all?" that prompted one of his responses. Or several, if I'm any judge of character.

By: Fren

Fren — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:45:01 +0000

Or, you could … dunno … give Mom a nice, clean Linux install.

By: Zoe

Zoe — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:32:14 +0000

Unfortunately my mom installs Webshots and various other bloatware on every computer she can get her hands on (including mine, once – that'll teach me to stay logged in when I go to the bathroom) so Adblock isn't much good. The "guest account" idea is brilliant. Brilliant! If only she wasn't an MCSE – granted she probably doesn't know how to get around it, but she'd still know something wasn't quite right.

By: mdhunn

mdhunn — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:42 +0000

My personal solution: Ditch Win-doze and just use Linux. I haven’t looked back for two years. Free can be safer. Use the FOSS!

BTW I’m a former Mac user and Mac doesn’t have much to offer me over Linux other than marketing and commercial apps. If you look under the slick Apple GUI what you find is very similar to what you find in Linux, heck the two even share code.

By: Lyss

Lyss — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:10:45 +0000

Been there. If you can get it to boot up in safe mode, you can then run msconfig and turn off any unfamiliar start-up processes. Once you've done that, you can restart the computer and get your anti-malware software/ anti-virus protection to get rid of it. AVG and SpyDoctor both caught it once I managed to keep it from starting up, but you need to be able to run the scans normal mode.

By: mortalcoil

mortalcoil — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:44:57 +0000

My dad is the sysadmin for my house, so I guess we're all a bit spoiled in that he can help with any issues we have. (Then again, we're a Mac household, so the problems are few and far between.)

Good for your husband's grandmother. My grandmother lives on the other end of the country, and she sometimes calls my dad for help with computer stuff. She's pretty savvy, though. I, too, want to be like her when I get old.

By: cindy

cindy — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:05:45 +0000

Yup, I'm dealing with the same issue. My understanding is that it's tricky to remove.

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:39:42 +0000

Here's how my husband dealt with his parents killing their computers multiple times: He's the administrator and they're just guests on their own computers. If they wanted to install something they have to call him to come do it. Since they have to wait a few days for him to come by they generally don't ask for much. Their computers have run quite nicely now for a few years.

His 88 year old grandmother gives him significantly less problems. He bought her a laptop a few years ago and she's amazing on it. I want to be like her when I get old.

By: BlueNight

BlueNight — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:20:44 +0000

Yeah, I just got that "antivirus" trojan. It pops up a fake Windows Security Center, to try to get you to buy an antivirus that doesn't exist. I'm having a rough time removing it.

By: Steve the Pocket

Steve the Pocket — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:33:04 +0000

I mean it's weird because magic isn't supposed to be a verb at all.