The Super Annoying Fake Antivirus Software Virus

[Suicide Squeezer]

I've gotten it about every five weeks for about a year now. Usually AdAware does the trick and gets rid of it with no problems, but this time it doesn't seem to be going away so I turn to my Internet friends for help.

If you haven't seen it before, It's a spyware virus that disguises itself as an antivirus software program in hopes you'll subscribe to their scam or whatever. It loads popup boxes about every seven seconds and boots Internet Explorer and a porn or erectile dysfunction site. Every time I've seemed to have gotten it, it's been from a fake Adobe pdf disclaimer that pops up for no reason when at random sites. It's happened to me on this site, too. I assume it's something else that's in my system that I simply treat with AdAware, but never truly eradicated, sort of like Herpes, though I certainly don't have that.

Anyway, I ran AdAware several times and it didn't get rid of it. I was able to download the Malware/Malbytes thing, but it won't let me into it with the effing virus blocking it, no matter how quick I am with the trigger after I get Windows started. My computer also won't let me boot in Safe Mode. It freezes every time through in the same place in the startup.

Anyone seen this before and have any suggestions or an easy fix idea? All would be appreciated. Gracias, muchachos.

 

[old_tony]

I had it once back in March and my neighbor got rid of it for me. He and his wife are both techies and did some research on it and believe it entered my system because my Adobe Reader was outdated.

I don't have any fix ideas for you but if you can get it fixed I'd get rid of your current Adobe programs and download the current ones. That at least should help keep it from coming back. I haven't had a problem since March (which is good because the neighbors moved to Texas).

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

My Adobe Reader is definitely an older version, probably circa 2008ish. I've just figured when I see the Adobe thing come up and know it's not because of anything I'm trying to access, it's the third party virus luring me in. I've been able to close that popup without incident in the past, but this time apparently not.

 

[linotype]

Is your piece of malware the Antispyware Soft virus? If so, here's a very effective way to get rid of it. It somehow infected my machine a few months ago -- this guy's easy-to-follow instructions helped me rid my PC of it for good.

http://phpnub.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-remove-antispyware-soft-virus.html

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

Yeah, that appears to be the malware thing I have and I found a few other sets of similar instructions around the interwebs, too, but this one apparently has locked me out of Safe Mode.

If I could simply get in Safe Mode, this would be an easy fix.

 

[Small Town Guy]

I had it on our desktop and eventually couldn't do anything in safe mode. My neighbor - neighbor techies are the best - said I was screwed, but he was able to salvage all of our word files and pics. It hadn't gotten to them, but eventually it reached the point where we couldn't even turn it on.

We use AVG on our laptop now and haven't had any problems but I know it's popped up on the screen a few times but this time I don't click on it and immediately run AVG and the security on the laptop.

 

[Rosie]

This is an insidious virus. It constantly re-writes to the registry, it's awful!

The only way to be absolutely sure it's out of your system is to reformat your hard drive. Sorry for the bad news.

 

[Dirk Legume]

Get MalWare Bytes. Works great on a bunch of stuff.

 

[TimmyP]

I had a nasty one of these a few weeks back. It was called "My Security Engine"

I tried about 3-4 things to get rid of it, and the only one that worked was the MalWare Bytes. And it was free, too.

 

[old_tony]

My former neighbor downloaded this freebie for me.

http://www.superantispyware.com/

I run a scan every other night or so (and then you have to reboot) and it wipes out about 100 or so spyware things.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

I spent an entire afternoon getting it out of my brother's computer. Read a bunch of blogs, forums and such and eventually found a recipe that worked. Although I agree that the best plan of attack would be to just zap your hard drive and start over.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

Finally was able to get into Safe Mode. Malware's doing its thang as I type this. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the help, everybody.

 

[mustangj17]

Had it. Keep doing system restore. Make sure you have a bunch of save points without the virus. It is a pain, but it's either that or quit watching so much porn.

 

[BigRed]

Finally was able to get into Safe Mode. Malware's doing its thang as I type this. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the help, everybody.

I had that a couple weeks ago. It's pretty brutal. I used SpySweeper and eradicated it from my system - or so I think - but I'll try the methods linked here to make sure. It's an incredibly annoying virus, for certain.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

It appears to have been removed, for now at least. We'll see what happens. I think the reason why my laptop wouldn't boot into Safe Mode was because I had a CD in the drive. After I took it out, that seemed to solve that problem.

 

[ucacm]

Buy a Mac.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

On my salary, I'm lucky enough to be able to afford mac and cheese.