One of my readers wrote me a while back about a problem she was having with pop up ads and all sorts of problems with her computer.  I suggested that she run her anti-virus software to scan her computer for issues and also any of the anti spyware & malware programs she had as something was definitely wrong.

It turned out that she had a Zlob Trojan called, “Advanced Antivirus 2009″ which is an extremely evil entity.  This Trojan is also known as, “Advanced Antivirus”, “Advanced Antivirus 2008″ or a generic video codec that MS supposedly needs you to install and many others.  This beauty first started showing up in late 2005 and has continued on to the present day.

The way Advance Antivirus works is that it will pop up on a website advertising a free virus scan for your computer.  Once you run it you will receive notice that you have many infections that your own antivirus software couldn’t find or remove.  The software and the viruses are all fakes and you most likely have none of those viruses.

It will then convince you that you must download and install AA- DO NOT do it!  If you choose to download Advanced Antivirus the program will continually warn you of numerous problems that don’t exist in reality.  It will continually try to persuade you purchase the pro version of this and other programs.  It will tell you to install more anti spyware programs which are fake and harmful.  Once you fall into the trap your computer will have all sorts of security concerns.

You should react quickly if you feel that your computer is infected with Advanced Antivirus.  Basically you will be continually nagged by pop ups.  However, your passwords could be at large in the world; you could be sending all of your browser history or possibly each keystroke you type to strangers.  The list could be never ending depending on how big a grip this program has on your system.

If you are a very advanced computer user and not worried about editing your Registry you may try to remove AA yourself.  However, the removal process is said to be fraught with dangers so be extremely careful.  To learn how to remove it use Google or MelZoo to search for a resolution.   Then good luck my friends, you may need it.

I really suggest strongly that you seek professional help to rid your computer of this problem.

I have one final repeated warning for you.  Do not install anything on your computer that you haven’t been informed by a trusted source is safe for you to use.  And never install something suggested by a pop up advertisement unless you are familiar with the site and the program to be installed.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 5:58 am and is filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.