There has been a proliferation of fake virus alerts or unauthorized security software attacks. These programs create a legitimate-looking pop-up window that appears on your screen while you’re browsing the web, notifying you that your computer has been infected and prompting you to take some type of action, such as: click to install software, press OK to install updates to some kind, or click to remove nonexistent virus or spyware infections.
When you click, the malware downloads to your computer and installs itself. Once installed, the rogue software can perform any number of malicious activities. Predominantly, the software will try to lure you into paying for non-existent software to remove the ‘viruses’ that are infecting your PC. However, this malware will also disable your legitimate antivirus software, steal personal information from your computer, such as credit card information, and disable Windows updates and/or render your computer completely unusable.
If you suspect that your system has been infected, there are a few things you can do yourself to try to remove the offending software. A very good free tool that you can download, install and use to scan your system is Malware Bytes anti malware. This software doesn’t work in all cases, but it’s at least worth a try before taking your computer to a professional for repair.
In most cases, malicious software will not allow you to download antivirus software to scan your system once it has been downloaded and installed on your computer, so you may need to restart your system in safe mode. To start your computer in safe mode, you must first shut down your system completely or perform a reboot. Once you have started the reboot sequence to enter safe mode, you need to press F8 as the system starts to power up. It is best to tap the F8 key several times while the system is rebooting to ensure that the keystroke is detected by the system.
A screen should appear with several options, one of which will be “safe mode with networking”. Use the arrow keys to select this option and press ‘Enter’.
Once you’ve reached the desktop, open a browser and use Google to search for ‘MalwareBytes’ or type ‘malwarebytes.org’ into the URL bar at the top of the browser.
Download and save the program to your desktop. Close all browser windows. Double click on the program you just downloaded. Follow the prompts to install the program and use the default settings. Scan your system for all malware and hopefully you will have removed the offending rogue antivirus program. If after following the steps above, your system is still infected, you may need to consult a professional computer repair service.