Unethical Business Practice

I'm sorry for what you are going through. I personally have never experienced any virus or malware that had such a large affect on my computer system.

I would like to give an answer to your question, but i have no basis to say one way or another, all i can say is that if you feel you want to try another program i would go with AVAST. It works fine on my computer and is not a huge hog on system resources. Depending on what you pay now and what package you decide to purchase it is cheap.

I find that even the best single virus protection program (kept up to date) sometimes misses things like malware (Symantec corporate edition didn't stop my computer from being taken over and used as a bot). Experience has shown conclusively that one program doesn't provide a full spectrum of protection.

I find it is best to run a number of virus protection programs which complement each other such as Symantec corporate edition or similar (covering viruses) and the free program Spybot or similar (covering malware and registery changes). I cannot stress this enough. Some combinations don't work so well (like also trying to run Adaware, which I found to be more trougle than it was worth).

That begs the question ' are the symptoms originated by the virus protection company as a not so subtle way to nudge me into resubscribing.'

Unlikely, but possible. There are plenty of alternatives (like Symantec corporate edition and Avast), just make sure you have the ability to regularly update the virus librarys.

Try AVG - the free edition

GA. I've been running AVG, Spybot and Adaware for several years with no real problems. If you are on a limited budget it's hard to beat free. Right now I'm using the 'pay' version of AVG. I don't notice any difference from the free version but it makes me feel a little better. This is just speculation, but sometimes I wonder if all the helpful automatic updates we get for the operating system, drivers, etc. aren't part of the problem.

You got that part right! Last time I had avoided automatic updates and was told that was the reason the malware got past my free stuff plus my paid for Symatec.This time I use NOD32 which got good reviews from CR4 forum members. Unfortunatly it created conflicts with several of the free stuff being recommended. I had to uninstall them to clear the alert messages.

Being a non programmer I really don't know how to work around these things. So this time I accepted most of the updates to Windows XP and my protection software but nothing else. I did not use Google chrome or MSN 'silverlight' having been warned by computer geek friends about these two upgrades.

I use SpywareBlaster and Malawarebytes' Anti-Malware as well as Spybot S&D.

Hi elnav,

How are you?

Sounds like you are under pressure a little?

There is a simple way to get round this. Copy the email address of one of the letters and type it into your spam, that way, all the emails from the same address or company will be diverted automatically to you Spam folder.

You need not worry about it at all between now and when it is overdue.

Actually, what I would do is let them get saved to spam and at a later date, trash and de-fragment all the emails and contacts you are getting, because you have no idea where they are from and they could easily be a Trojan or virus?

DO NOT open any email or link, as a single click is enough to let the nasty virus start to demolish your computer.

Only ever reply to sites you have bought from. When you buy something, keep a copy of the address and or any other relevant details like licences etc.

Do not ever click to the link in an email. Go direct to the site by typing its address, which you have already saved, and look to see if you have ticked a box which sends automatic emails and other info' to you. If you see the little squares and they are not ticked, then you know for sure all the emails you have been sent should be trashed.

If they are ticked, then simply remove the tick. You will get no more emails or details from that site.

But hang on, as there is a certain way you have to deal with these 'trashed' emails etc. Make sure nothing else is running like the browser. Then trash what could be dangerous virus-ed emails. Then turn the email off.

When you trash something, it does not disappear but, rather it is sent to a particular windows folder that all trashed stuff goes to.

Now turn off as many items as you can which are in your tray at the bottom right of your screen. Right click and choose end or whatever. Then run the de-frag'. If I recall it properly, all the trash and nasty stuff will be wiped out by the de-frag

Take care.

Malwarebytes anti-malware has a free version, I use it with my free Microsoft Security Essentials anti virus. I dropped Symantec, and I am dropping AVG. Both have let scamware into my computers. Scamware is a virus program that you get that claims that your computer is infected, and they can fix it if you pay. They lie. There is no virus except what they put on your machine. Malwarebytes will remove it all. FREE.

Yes this is a common business practise for many anti virus companies. Yes it is unethical. Yes they should be restrained from this type of non-sense. Dump them and install AVG Free edition, and Malwarebytes. I used to also use Adaware and Spybot but since installing AVG Free neither adaware nor Spybot ever finds anything so I un-installed them. I have Malware Bytes set up to not scan on booting or on incoming traffic but fire it up and do a manual scan every couple weeks. It is easy to become paranoid about viruses, spyware root kits etc. I went through a phase where I would spend my every free moment scanning my computer and fighting this crap. Then I realized that I could not use my computer because it was always tied up running some kind of scan or other. Use some common sense when picking a program and you should be safe. By the way Symatec and Norton go to great lengths to prevent you from un-installing their program and you will continue to get "warnings" from them for ever unless you go to Major Geeks.com and follow their Norton un-install instructions. My daughter's computer had Mcafee and I had no problems un-installing them... Maybe a little more honest company?

Malwarebytes sounds like a good idea. On the subject of uninstalling adaware and spybot, I'm not so sure. Someone had turned spybot off on one of our computers, but AVG ran a programed scan every day. When the problem was found and spybot was truned back on, it came with about 20 hits. Since any single program is likely to miss at least some of the new potential infections, I think the best bet (and the consensus in this thread) is run a team of complimentary programs.

Try this uninstaller PC Decrapifier

This will even take out the AOL that comes pre installed on lots of machines.

I run it about once a month, just to keep things tidy

Another good practice is to take a look at task manager & disable some of the stuff that runs at start up & to be aware of which programs are using up RAM

Another alternative is a program like Sandboxie or DefenseWall. These don't replace AV / malware software, but since most infections come via browsing the internet, these programs operate your browsing in an "isolated" space where infections don't get to your system.

Hi Guest,

Sounds promising!