Expert: Doug Woodall - 1/8/2008

Question
o I figure myself to be quite computer literate type of person, considering I am using the Linux partition of my laptop to post this.....

Anyways! I come home from work today and boot my laptop up in windows and find out that something is not the same as I left it. Anyways, I get a pop-up that fills the screen that poses as "Windows Security Center" and it says it is updating. Following that it gives me a 1900 number to call with a pin to enter. The number being 19009508477 with the pin being 315231. The window will not close on CTL ALT DEL nor will it close with a ALT F4. I'm at a loss of what to do. It is obviously not Windows updating something. I normally do leave my lappy unlocked so that my roomies can use it as they don't have a computer but honestly, I've never had a problem like this.

I do have a limited amount of time after starting up the computer to get a window/program of my choice up and running. But idk if my antivirus programs will cut it.


Answer
Hi Chad,
There are trojans that pose as programs that actually install malware on to your computer (viruses, worms, mass emailers). They attempt to gather your personal information and scare you into purchasing some shitty malicious software.
Sounds like you got one.
What AntiVirus are you using?
Can you boot into safe mode and run the AV?