Internet Security Essentials – The Russians Strike Again!

by admin on Mar 10th in Troubleshooting, Virus/Malware Problems

As the person who gets a call whenever a virus or malware is found on friends, family, colleagues, and clients systems, I have come to really dislike the group of Russian hackers who initially started the ‘fake’ AV concept, using names such as AV 2008, AV 2009, etc.  Their interface looks just like a real AV program, appears to scan your computer and comes up with hundreds of infections that you apparently need to remove.  And if you buy there software, they will fix it for you.  You’d be amazed at how many people actually give them their credit card info and pay the $59.95.  Unfortunately, the software just paid for is the actual malware…not malware removal software.  Removing this software is not an easy task.  There are certain locations to clean out that will usually clear it up, but it is time consuming and frustrating.

Well, they’ve come out with a new version, called ‘Internet Security Essentials’.  The problem is that many people (myself included) use ‘Microsoft Security Essentials’ as their anti-malware software.  With such a similar name, people (including my wife) assume it is legit and click on the request to install updates.  Once that is done, it is in!  I spent well over an hour last night removing it from my wife’s computer.  It has a few new twists, and the only way I was able to get it gone was to use ComboFix–a process that is very strongly recommended to be used only by ‘professionals’. 

All that to say, if you see a pop-up or update request from Internet Security Essentials, DO NOT CLICK!  If you do get infected, DO NOT PAY THEM!

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