Computer Repair Blog / Compudoc Computer Repair Phoenix AZ

Archive for the ‘Virus and Spyware’ Category

For a few years now, there has been a scam going around where an unsuspecting computer user will get a phone call from someone claiming to work for Microsoft.  We just recently got another phone call from a customer who got one of these phone calls and accidentally gave the scammer on the phone access to their computer remotely.  In most scenarios, the user gets a call from someone claiming to work for Microsoft.  The user is told that their computer is infected or has corruptions causing problems, and that they can see the problems you’re having from their end.   Read the rest of this entry »

For the past few years, social networking websites have been all the rage. Sites like Facebook and MySpace have helped people find old friends and reconnect. With the popularity of these sites and other social networking sites, scammers and spammers have now taken notice and are starting to use social networking sites as a place to infect users and quickly spread the infection to all of their friends. Over the years we have seen many viruses on computers that got in by a user clicking on an ad or clicking on a link or attachment.  Read the rest of this entry »

Desktop and laptop computer viruses and spyware are becoming more and more prevalent. A large percent of our business in the computer repair field is virus related. Most computer users are infected and the user doesn’t even know it.  About half of the computers that come to us for any repair reason have some form of virus or spyware on them. Your computer could be infected with any number of virus or spyware programs without any notification or pop-ups.

You may be asking yourself, “How do I know if my computer is infected?” or you may think, “I have antivirus software, so my computer must be clean”.  For the first question, Read the rest of this entry »

This is one case where having too much security can be a bad thing. Having more than one antivirus client installed on your laptop or desk top computer at the same time can cause havoc to your system. To make matters worse, many antivirus clients do not uninstall correctly, and leave behind pieces that will either cause your new antivirus software to not install, or cause problems with your computer.

If you are installing antivirus on your computer, or switching to a new antivirus client, you will first want to make sure that no antivirus is still installed on the computer. You will want to check your programs and features list and Windows 7 and Vista, or the add and remove programs list with Windows XP, Read the rest of this entry »

Rogue antivirus and hard drive viruses have been going around for over a year now.  A few months back, the feds busted some rings overseas who were creating these viruses.  That seemed to cause a slowdown in the amount of rogue software infections that we were seeing in the shop.  About a month ago, or early December, the phones started ringing, and haven’t stopped!  There are several rogues going around, such as system fix, and other fake antivirus and hard drive programs.  The fake antivirus softwares will pop up a fake scanner and then ask for money to activate the software and remove the virus.  The fake hard drive virus will actually hide your files and clear out your start menu to make you think you have a hard drive failure, then it will ask for money to activate the software and “repair” your files.  Both cases are viruses and you should call us for removal, as improper removal methods will make the virus harder to repair and can even delete files that were hidden by the virus! Read the rest of this entry »

system fix rogue fake antivirus hard drive software

For over a year or so the most prevalent viruses going around are rogue security applications.  These viruses will act like a virus scanner or a hard drive recovery program.  They do this to look legit.  The only question is, did you download it?  In most cases the answer is no, if you did download it, shame on you….lol.  Usually the user is infected by going to a website that has the virus.  Other ways of infection are like most viruses, clicking on links, ads, or email links and attachments.    In most cases, the user does nothing to initiate the download.  Simply going to the infected site will do.  The virus takes advantage of flaws in your internet browser, adobe flash, adobe reader, and Java.  This is why its so important to update adobe and java software as well as doing Windows updates. Read the rest of this entry »

Compudoc Computer Repair specializes in Virus and spyware removal in Phoenix AZ and Glendale AZ and other valley areas.  We offer a flat rate virus removal and if you have our basic tune up service added to the service on the same computer, the tune up is 50% off! Read the rest of this entry »

One thing we hear from customers and friends all of the time is that they do not have a virus on their computer, they scanned, and “all clean”.  The first thing we say to that is that there is no perfect antivirus software out there.  Most antivirus clients use a definition file list of known viruses in the wild.  This is how they see a file on your computer, compare it to the definition file list of known viruses to see if its on the list.  Here is the issue, the antivirus companies do not share this list because they want their client to find more viruses than a competitors antivirus software. Read the rest of this entry »

If you need security software for an older Windows XP computer and the standard “internet security” software just brings your system to a slow down, give Malwarebytes a try.  We love using this in conjunction with a free or lightweight antivirus software on computers with less than 2 gigs of ram.  It works great on newer computers as well, and almost always works well with any antivirus software. 

Malwarebytes has a free version, but it does not provide real time support.  This means it will only stop infections when you scan the computer with Malwarebytes.  The paid version is actively looking for threats and will try to stop the infection before it has a chance to install.  The best part of Malwarebytes is the price!  It’s only $24.95 for a lifetime subscription!

Superantispyware software

Superantispyware is another great piece of software to use along side an antivirus software.  They also offer a free version, but again, with the paid version, you will get real time protection.  Their cost is $29.95 for a lifetime, and they offer specials and 2 for 1 deals all the time.

These are both great antimalware / antispyware programs to run along side your existing antivirus software.  These can prevent many computer repair service problems from ocurring on your desktop or laptop computer.  You can contact Compudoc Computer repair if you have any questions on these products or if you would like to purchase either product.  Virus removals are becoming our most common service, and these programs will go a long way to making your computer more secure.  Just remember, no antivirus software is 100% secure. 

Contact us today if you think your computer may be infected for a computer repair and virus removal visit in the Phoenix, Scottsdale or Glendale AZ area.  Computer repair phoenix.

The rogue antivirus and security products continue to spread like wildfire.  This one is called “AVG antivirus 2011″ and is copying the name of the legit AVG anti-virus software to fool users of its legitimacy.  The infection will install, and then like most rogues, show a fake scan with infections, and then ask for money.  The real AVG anti-virus will advertise a paid version, but it will still remove threats in its free version.  The rogue version, is the virus itself and will not remove anything.

This one was a little surprising due to the fact that they are directly breaking copyright and tradename laws and using the name of a legit software.  In the past, the rogues looked like legit software, but would always spell the name wrong to try to avoid copyright such as MacAfee instead of the real McAfee.

If you have this virus or any other unknown security or utility software popping up on your computer, call Compudoc Computer Repair today for a virus removal appointment in Phoenix, Glendale, or Scottsdale Arizona.  You can even see a list of known rogue software products on our website.