this evening my son said to me “antivirus says i have a virus!” and i knew we were in for a long night. i’ve battled infections of Antivirus 2008 and i know it to be a very insidious enemy. well, Antivirus 2009 is new and improved with extra insidiousness!

Antivirus2008 / Antivirus2009 attacks when you visit infected websites, and has a very aggressive installer, once it’s popped up it is virtually impossible to click or do anything that doesn’t grant the installer permission. It uses a logo/icon with the shape of the Windows Security icon, and the Windows logo colors; it is very carefully designed to look like a legitimate piece of software. once installed it pops up a bogus virus scan window with a list of viruses, none of which are on the computer. i will repeat: it does not find viruses! there may indeed be infections somewhere on the computer, but this software does not find them. it is a scam. it then tells you to buy a license in order to remove the non-existent threats. it will continue to pop up dire virus warnings every few minutes or so, and it can’t be shut down. it is not possible to uninstall this software through the normal methods – either its own “uninstaller” or through Windows Program Manager.

the difference between 2008 and 2009 versions, is that the 2009 version is capable of disabling existing anti-virus software – in my case, AVG free. after AVG dies (and this is the seriously insidious part), Windows Security Center then pops up and informs you you have no virus protection because Antivirus 2009 is not activated, and offers you a button to purchase a license from Antivirus 2009.  further, the Windows Security Center alert logo appears in the taskbar, with a message that Antivirus 2009 is not activated, and says to click this balloon to fix the problem. they have managed to exploit the way Windows Security Center monitors the computer’s protective software, in order to compel the user to purchase a license, and the user can initiate this process by clicking a button within the Windows operating system itself. 

seriously, get a Mac.

haha, just kidding. i have Macs and PCs and i like them both, you’re not going to get any of that OS-bashing here.

a friend recommended Simply Super Trojan Remover, but i installed Windows Live OneCare first to see if that would do it. i’ve used AVG, Avast, ClamWin, Norton, and Macafee, but i’m most happy with Live OneCare, it is effective and (unlike most of the freeware anti-virus programs listed) it is not a system resource hog.

before Live OneCare was even finished with setup, it had found and dealt with Antivirus 2009. i’d expected to do a lot more work to get rid of the insidious pest, but it was actually quite an easy fix.i am very impressed (and surprised) by OneCare’s ability to deal with a very nasty infection. 

i guess it’s not going to be such a long night after all.

note: according to Miguel Campos, it might require more effort, but for now, i’m going to relax and be happy that the computer is suffering no further symptoms.