The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #120061 Message #2610465
Posted By: JohnInKansas
13-Apr-09 - 05:49 PM
Thread Name: Tech: My first virus with MS XP 'Trojan.KillAV
Subject: RE: BS: My first virus with MS XP 'Trojan.KillAV
A recently reported "trend" is a very great increase in popup warnings that "your computer may be infected," offering a free scan that always finds vast amounts of infection, with an offer to let you purchase the full program to have it removed.
The "report" of vast amounts of infection are a lie. The "scan" usually installs malware. If you "subscribe" to get the phony "viruses" removed, you get a download of the full program which includes additonal malware.
Distributors of this junk have been capitalizing on the paranoia about the Conficker worm that has been in the news recently. Since the only ones vulnerable to Conficker are those with unpatched Windows and without good AV protection, the assumption by the distributors that they are ignorant and vulnerable has been demonstrated to be correct.
The critera used to remove or reject "malware" vary quite a lot between the various reputable AV providers. Norton ignores a lot of stuff that may be mildly annoying, but is quite reliable with respect to detecting, stopping and/or removing anything that is legitimately harmful. Anyone who chooses to niggle about the non-critical stuff can easily claim to report "stuff that Norton missed." That is just advertising blather.
An ISP can use any AV filters on their website, and the good ones don't tell you what they use, since this is just an aid to attackers. Your ISP may suggest a program you can use on your own computer, but should not be insisting that you use a particular one on your own machine.
A malware distributor can fake your ISP's page, and/or can "arrange" to have phony stuff posted on the real page.
Make your own evaluation of how and why your "Norton has disappeared;" but I'd be a bit doubtful about the intentions of who/whatever caused something like that.
John