Homeland Security Virus

.Dear Computer Lady,

The computer has been taken over by a virus that shows a page that says it is homeland security, which we know it isn’t and it demands three hundred dollars within forty eight hours. He couldn’t shut it down so he unplugged it.

It is sitting there while we research how to fix the computer without having to reload all the programs again.

I don’t know how he got that virus. He has Eset Virus protection.

Thank you! Brenda

Dear Brenda,

You have been infected with the latest type of malware known as ransomware. I have seen an increase in this type of malware recently, and many people do fix it by using their recovery disks and erasing the entire computer in the process.

Fortunately, your local computer repair shop should be able to get this out of your system without losing your files or needing to reload all your programs. This is something that I find myself doing for my customers more often than I would like.

As far as preventing this type of infection in the future, I would suggest a combination of programs. I like to use AVG Internet Security and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. These programs work well together, and will usually keep out most of these nasty programs.

Elizabeth

 

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
Connect with Elizabeth on Google+