Expert: Lorry - 1/9/2009

Question
i was on the Internet and suddenly i was led to " my computer" and was told that i had a lot of Trojans and other viruses. A small window of Internet explorer appeared and told me that i have to download some protection; otherwise, i will have my information exposed. could this be a virus disguised as Internet explorer? i have Norton anti virus.

Answer
Hi Mark,

If the pop-up window wasn't from Symantec/Norton, hope you just clicked "X" to get out of it. To verify that you do not have any threats, virus or otherwise, even though you have Norton installed, using Internet Explorer, go to:

http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/WelcomePage.asp

Click "Continue to Symantec Security Check", in the next window click Yes when asked if you want to close this window, that will bring you to a window where you should click Virus Detection.

Write down exactly anything it finds, then go to: http://www.symantec.com/search/  and do a search for what was found. Symantec usually has a removal tool and/or directions for removing manually. Make sure that you follow the instructions for removal, step by step, especially the part regarding disabling System Restore.

After running the Virus Detection, you might want to go back and this time time run the Security Scan.

This is a common ploy for people to gain access to your computer. I wish people who know how to do these kinds of things would use that knowledge for the good.

Hope this helps!
Lorry