And how to remove it
I’ve nearly fallen for this one a few times: You click on what looks like a legitimate link – your anti-virus software may even have approved it with a little green tick – then up pops an ominous Microsoft panel telling you your PC is infected with all these nasty viruses and trojans and worms and things and you need to “click here” to get rid of them. The more computer savvy among you will sense something isn’t quite right. If you’re lucky you will have realised that official-looking Microsft window is actually a fake and what you’re about to do as your mouse hovers over the “click here” button is install a peculiar piece of Malware that’s going to annoy the hell out of you.
Number two son fell for this one yesterday evening with the result that my main PC was temporarily home to the dreaded Cyber Security malware program. The payload for this particular beast is that at random intervals it will kid you thinking you’ve got all these nasty files on your computer, it will even simulate a “blue screen of death” PC crash, telling you it was due to one of those nasty files.
The only way to get rid of these so-called infected files, it says, is to upgrade to the full version of Cyber Security. But the chances are the only nasty files you’ve got on your compter are those that comprise the many-headed hydra that is Cyber Security. Cyber Security is not a virus or malware scanner at all. It’s sole purpose is to panic you into “upgrading” Cyber Security, which costs you money. In other words it’s a scam – don’t do it.
Once it’s on your PC you cannot uninstall it directly – it will evade you. It will even prevent you from resetting your computer to a “last-known good” position. You basically have to kill it with a proper Malware scanner.
If you’ve got Cyber Security on your computer, don’t panic – go over to the bleepingcomputer website and follow the instructions there. It’s quite straight forward. You download three separate pieces of software, the main one being the Malwarebyes – anti-malware scanner. It can stake several hours for the scan to complete, after which time your computer should be clear. Mine was, and I can recommend this solution.
There are lots of Malware scanners around, but they don’t all come in a free version. They’ll say they’re “free to download”, which isn’t the same thing of course, and what seems to happen is they’ll say: “yep, you’ve got Cyber Security all over your PC, but if you want to get rid of it you’ll have to pay us some money first”. The solution outlined at Bleepingcomputer, won’t cost you anything. This is a very interesting and informative site all round, and I’m sure I’ll be visiting it again if there’s anything at all I’m not sure about regarding my computer.
While it seems there are many clever people out there using their brains to concoct dastardly traps for the innocent and inexpert computer user, there are others working to thwart them.
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