What is up with this fake Virus message I get on random web pages?

[Juke Box Hero]

I've gotten it while searching on random sites like facebook and Yahoo answers.

A message pops up and says your computer may be at risk and needs to scan for viruses. (something along those lines)

I push cancel - it then takes me to a page that looks like "My computer" and starts a fake scan.

I push the back button and here I am.....back on Yahoo answers.



does anyone else get this? is it bad? Is it just an advertisment?

[Jim]

To be totally safe, restart your computer immediately anytime you see one of these unsolicited scans starting

[NO6664ME]

It's not windows that is giving you these warnings,it 's what is known as a smitfraud infection.Although Avast is a very good anti-virus,it doesn't pick up this kink of infection.As a matter of fact,no anti-virus or security suite,paid or free will. A smitfraud is a false/rogue security program that gives you false infections in order for you to pay for that program and supposedly "remove it" after you pay for the program. This is an article from http://www.bleepingcomputer.com about this issue you have:

Big Profits in the Rogue Anti-Spyware Business

On December 11th, 2009 the FBI released a press release titled Pop-Up Security Warnings Pose Threats. In this press release they state:

"The FBI warned consumers today about an ongoing threat involving pop-up security messages that appear while they are on the Internet. The messages may contain a virus that could harm your computer, cause costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. The messages contain scareware, fake or rogue anti-virus software that looks authentic."

As new rogues are released almost daily, and we stay on top with them with the guides, this is not news to us. Rogues have become an epidemic in the malware scene and they do not seem to be slowing down. In fact the Wini family of rogues releases a new one almost every other day. This is further illustrated in a Kaspersky an article by Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky called Rogue antivirus: a growing problem that states "Such programs are extremely widespread and are increasingly used by cybercriminals. Whereas Kaspersky Lab detected about 3,000 rogue antivirus programs in the first half of 2008, more than 20,000 samples were identified in the first half of 2009.". Unfortunately, the developers of Rogue software are typically located in countries that do not have a strong policy on cyber crime and thus there is little that can be done about it.

The reason these rogues are created in the first place is because they generate huge amounts of revenue. These rogues are promoted through through affiliate programs where affiliates get paid a certain amount of dollars, some as high as $30, every time the rogue is installed on a computer. As most of these rogue companies do not care how the affiliates get the program installed, many of the affiliates will use any means at their disposal to get these programs installed on a computer. This includes using malware to silently install them or fake online anti-malware scanners to trick a user into thinking they are infected.

These huge profits are shown in the FBI press release where it states "The FBI estimates scareware has cost victims more than $150 million.". This is further corroborated in an article written by Brian Krebs titled Massive Profits Fueling Rogue Antivirus Market where we learn that some of the top rogue affiliate earners have made over 200 thousand dollars in 15 days. With profits such as this, it make perfect sense why these types of malware are so prolific and why they are here to stay.


Now to deal with this infection:
1. Go to CNET at http://www.download.com and download the free version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and update the program's signatures.
2. then shut your PC off
3.hold down key F8 (not F and 8,but F8) and restart your PC
4 after it restarts,choose the option for Safe Mode
5 once you're in safe mode,open Malwarebytes' and run a full scan.Quarantine what it finds.Then delete them only from quarantine
6.restart your PC normally.

For further information in dealing with this infection,go to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com
Go to the Uninstall List and find this program that is telling you you're infected
Follow their removal advice.

[pyrac]

they are just scams, to avoid them use an adblocker to prevent these sorts of code opening up
Firefox has Adblock plus for example