VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Drew]

There's a computer virus out that's sneaking in via email. It's called "The Antivirus 2010" It's nailed me three times since Saturday night when I opened an email on my Gmail account from an otherwise trusted source. You'll know when it hits. Suddenly this bogus shield appears in your taskbar. Then, a pop-up appears showing an antivirus scan with other pop-ups urging you to go to their site to purchase their bogus malware protection crap.

The first time I thought I'd nailed the bugger. But suddenly it appeared again yesterday. Again, I thought I'd nailed it. This morning, no such luck. Each time there's a new iteration of this bogus product logo and then a cascading parade of pop-ups to the point the computer simply locks up.

Realizing that "fixing" it this time was simply out of my purview, I called my computer guy who, before I could finish saying, "I've got a really nasty viru..." He chimed in, "I bet it's that "Antivirus 2010. It's hitting a lot of people around here."

Sooo, It'll cost me $80 to get the computer cleaned and the loss of one of my computers until Thursday. Fortunately I have backup for stuff like this, and most of my work will hit deadline. But a video project I'm working will be delayed.

Just thought I'd get the word out.
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www.voiceoverdrew.com
Skype: andrew.hadwal1
Although I have a full head of hair, I'm quite ribald.

[Lizden]

Hackers just have WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much time on their hands!

Thanks Drew.
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[bobsouer]

This hit my daughter's computer from a web comic site she likes. Two infections in less than a week. Finally managed to eradicate it after calling in professional help. Nasty bug.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Dan-O]

Drew, you're not alone. I was hit Sunday night. Did a system restore and had to re-install my McAfee, update Spybot and Ad-Aware and ran full scans using all three. It seems, fingers crossed, that did the trick. Thanks for sharing. I felt like I did something wrong, until now.

p.s. Thank you, again, for your help with the video conversion, the other day.

[Lizden]

OK...you guys are scaring me....
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[bobsouer]

Liz,

Just don't do anything on the Internet for the next 6 weeks and you'll be fine.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Drew]

Keep 'em crossed, Dan. I did the same exact process, Saturday, Yesterday and this morning. It managed to lay dormant and reactivate.

You're welcome regarding the video help. Odd, now I see your PSA all over one local station. Nuthin' against you, buddy, but when they're running that PSA 4 and 5 times in a newscast, it means they aren't selling spots. Broadcasting is still hurting. I know. A news department I launched 2 and a half years ago in South Texas shut its doors this week. Now, a TV station 800 miles away is producing their news for them and sending it down an optic fiber link. Hardly local I'd say.
_________________
www.voiceoverdrew.com
Skype: andrew.hadwal1
Although I have a full head of hair, I'm quite ribald.

[Lizden]

Gee...thanks, Bob!
Oh Drew! NOT the station you gave blood, sweat & tears to!
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[Dan-O]

Drew, there are some companies already combining their services in order to try and keep their heads above water. Cox here in Dayton owns a TV station, the local paper and a few radio stations. From what I understand, they are looking into moving all three companies into one building and and sharing resources with each other. (Which translated means downsizing for optimization.)

BTW, if anyone is interested here is the spot we are referring to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zsEuwmeXU

[Bish]

A word of caution to everyone that gets hit with this issue (or any other virus, trojan, malware etc.) If you don't see any immediate ill effects apart from the little bugger announcing its presence, just hang in there for a while. I worked in IT for ages, and for the most part these things are little more than annoying. Many times I've been called (as extended family IT support) to clear this stuff up, and while I have the ability to do (almost) anything that's humanly possible to get rid of this stuff, I usually end up telling people to wait a few days or a week.

Two caveats here... I give this advice after I've pretty much trained them all to keep current backups... you all do that, don't you? The other thing is that they should have anti-virus software running. My position is that if the little bugger is out in the wild, it's usually a very short time-lag before your current anti-virus provider will update their definition files and the problem will be eradicated.

It pains me that people pay for tech support and get no real solution from it. I don't have a problem with what these guys charge or the service they supply (with the exception of the big chains like Best Buy's Geek Squad) because their time is worth as much as mine and they're a business, not a charity. You'll definitely get back a clean computer... that will probably just get re-infected if used before the real fix is put out there.

There's a conspiracy theory that a large percentage of the viruses out there can be traced back to the dark side of the virus protection companies. I don't particularly subscribe to it, but since the free solutions are getting better (including a pretty good offering from MS itself), I certainly wouldn't want my fortunes linked to (say) McAfee.

My main computer is a Mac, but I maintain anti-virus on the Parallels Windows XP partition, my laptop and the house's general computer are PCs with protection.

... and for all users (Mac and PC) ... BACK IT UP!!!
(I love my Drobo ... it's Drobolicious)
_________________
Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[Drew]

Yeah, Liz the station I took from no news to pretty good news and getting better...and now nuthin' news. Several friends are lookin' for work this week.

Interesting points, Bish. The guy who custom built my computer pretty much told me the same things. Fortunately, everything's on backup. But at the moment, it's like "pasghetti junction" back here in the studio. My CPU guru says "Big Momma" comes home on Thursday.
_________________
www.voiceoverdrew.com
Skype: andrew.hadwal1
Although I have a full head of hair, I'm quite ribald.

[ccpetersen]

Bish,

Stuff like this is why I keep my Zonealarm firewall and anti-virus updated regularly. Just to be safe,I run other scans, too. And, we have a good firewall around our office network. Still, it doesn't take much for these little bast*rds to get in.

thanks for the heads-up!

c
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Charter Member: Threadjackers Local 420

[Eddie Eagle]

If it's installing a toolbar there's usually a website that will have uninstall instructions or you may have to call the company to get instructions.

A typical reason it keeps coming back is that it plants a registry key you will have to get rid of.

I suggest PC users check their add/remove software program window to see if anything unusual is spotted. Try uninstalling it from there if possible.

[musec]

I use a product named CCleaner to rid the registry of unwanted software references...

[Lee Gordon]

One other thing to add to the discussion. Know what brand of anti-virus software you are running and if some ominous looking virus warning pops up on your screen while surfing the net, before you do take any action, check to see if the name and logo of your particular brand of anti-virus is part of the message. If not, it is almost certainly a fake.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice