I got hacked

Published:

XP Internet Security 2011 popped up on my computer yesterday.  This program has taken over and will not allow me to surf the net.  This program insists I purchase their anti-virus program for $60.  Only then will I be able to resume surfing.

Does anyone know who this company is?  Where they are located?  I want to find an attorney and sue them for thief of services.

And if you know how to delete their program, I would like to know that also.

I have tried System Restore which has worked in the past but this company has b locked even that.  System Restore will not work anymore.  Mytwo options are to pay someone to wipe my disk clean and start over or buy a Vista and start over.

ny help would be appreciated.

Entry #19

Comments

Avatar CarliG -
#1
Have you tried running malwarebytes in safe mode. I've always had good luck with it taking care of anything that pops up.

CG
Avatar budward -
#2
First, boot into Safe Mode With Networking. (See below for details.) That sometimes keeps malware from protecting itself. Then, if you have an anti-virus, make sure it has the latest virus definitions and run a full scan with it. If you don’t have one, many people here swear by Malwarebytes (it’s free).

Also, turn off System Restore to evict any copies of bad stuff that might be lurking there.

To get into Safe Mode with Networking:

1.     Log out and reboot your machine.
2.     When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly.
3.     Select Safe Mode with Networking from the resulting menu.
4.     Login. If the malware has changed your password, try logging in as Administrator. By default, Administrator has no password.
5.     The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different.
6.     When you're finished doing what you need to do, log out and reboot back into normal mode.

Another trick that may enable anti-malware and/or its installer program to sneak past the malware is to change the name of the anti-malware program itself. The names of the files and their locations differ between anti-malware programs, but the procedure is always the same:

1.     In Windows Explorer, find the folder with the anti-malware.
2.     Change the name of the program (it always ends with a .exe) to virtually anything else, but keep the “.exe” part.
        Malwarebytes will be mbam.exe. change the mbam to something else.
3.     Run that.

Note that even if the anti-malware programs get rid of the malware, they may not be able to reverse the effects. Search the Web for possible fixes.
Avatar TigerAngel -
#3
Spybot (free) quarantined something for me once that nothing else could remove.
Avatar rcbbuckeye -
#4
I had a similar problem last week. Windows Security popped up with a warning, but it was a fake. I ended up logging on to Microsoft website and hooked up by chat with a tech. I let him remotely control my computer and he got rid of it and downloaded microsoft antivirus and malware protection. Took him 3 1/2 hours, but it works great now. And it was free.
Avatar GASMETERGUY -
#5
I finally wound up taking my computer to a Geek. He got rid of the virus. While I waited, I wandered around the new computers. Now I want a newer, faster computer. There is nothing wrong with the one I have now but I want a new one.

Somebody help me!!!
Avatar marcie -
#6
Microsoft website very interesting thanks for the info.

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