This happened just 2 days ago. On Saturday I installed a new copy of Windows XP. It was a brand new copy and I put it on a brand new hard drive for the purpose of software testing. I finished the install and applied the drivers. I was behind a router which acts as a firewall. I opened the IE browser and went to a favorite site. I read the forums and exactly 23 minutes after the install I was receiving AV2009 popups. It’s scare ware. It told me I was infected and needed to download their program to remove the threat. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even have an email client installed, no Instant Messenger. 
I had not downloaded a single program or installed any Java or other add-ons. What’s worse is they had blocked my access to PC Pitstop and Several other sites that would have been usful in the removal. How does that happen? I’m not sure exactly how these scum bags do it but this is exactly why Microsoft joined with the state of Washington to recently sue these fake security scum bags. Fortunately I keep all of my protection programs on a thumb drive for emergencies just like this. I was able to remove this garbage with some fast help from PC Pitstop’s Exterminate II and a couple of reliable Hijack and AV programs.
Every day, makers of malware design new and sneaky ways of stealing our hard earned cash. 10 years ago I don’t think anyone understood how numerous or sophisticated the purveyors of badware would become. But they’re here, we’re surfing, and like it or not, we’re challenged at every turn. Schemes are so numerous that it’s hard to keep up with their names, much less how to prevent or repair their carnage. ScareWare is what I now see the most of.
PC Pitstop has always worked hard to fight these increasingly nasty threats. It started with our original Pitstop Test, which identified not only settings and hardware problems but also programs running in the background. Many of the files it found were nastys, but nasty or not, The Pit Test found them and let you know about them.
In the beginning we partnered with others to guard your information and protect your machine. Our forums have helped countless people remove every form of virus, bot, and scareware. We’ve made sure that trained helpers were available to you. We’ve recommended programs for removing each and every threat. Most everyone has used Spybot S&D or CleanUp or Adaware. These came in free and paid varieties and helped our systems run clean and strong.
With driven purpose we developed our well known and industry-respected software to fight directly against these threats. Exterminate, Erase, and Optimize were all designed with the protection and performance of your PC in mind. Our insight into these threats developed because of the huge storehouse of information gathered from more than 100 million tests. “One Hundred Million Tests and Counting†recalls this event.
We continued to advance the Pitstop Full Test until it became OverDrive. OverDrive is an advanced suite of information that not only gives a rundown of your hardware and its performance, but actually tells you how to make the suggested corrections. If your time and experience is short it will point you to programs that make the changes for you.
OverDrive’s running process list tells us what processes are eating up our resources and what processes are putting us in danger. I personally worked on that list along with many others from Pitstop. Each and every process on the malicious and unwanted list was found and identified by one of us. It’s a great feeling knowing we’re a part of the good guys in this world.
Our past affiliations with other good guys like Kim Komando, PC World, BillP, and many others are just one part of how we’ve grown and developed our strategy for your protection. We fought even when lawsuits threatened to stop our progress. We were in good company then and we are in good company now.
Each day we are updating and improving OverDrive. Optimize has been updated and a new version released with Optimize II. Exterminate is currently receiving the finishing touches it needs to become Exterminate II, a POWERFUL and HUGE improvement over the original Exterminate. This transformation incorporates the absolute latest Vipre detection technology used also by a leader in this area, Sunbelt Software. The Washington Post quotes Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software as describing the problem as “pandemic”.
Exterminate’s humble beginning as a spyware detection and removal program bears no resemblance to the savvy sophisticated Exterminate II. Exterminate II wipes out virus, scareware, bots, and Trojans, and with the introduction of new Exterminate II, it’s done from the clouds. Cloud computing, SAAS and eventually Nirvana are all methods PC Pitstop is developing for you. This means you can keep, schedule, and control your protection from a secure location away from the nastys that assault you. Instead of wrestling a system that won’t let you download, use the internet, or run a removal program, your system can be cleaned and protected automatically. Virus definitions and new threats are automatically added to your protection and your system is scanned and cleaned before you even know there was a problem.
This is what PC Pitstop is all about. Beating the bad guys and protecting you. This is what has driven us for nearly a decade. It has formed us into a determined team, intent on fighting the daily battles to crush the scumware and win the war.
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*Wait! Stop! Hold the presses! After publishing this article I returned to the computer mentioned above to find that it was still infected with the AV2009 virus. I’m doing research for the best and easies fix for this problem and will post it as soon as I’ve had a chance to preform other fixes and confirm their success. I’m sure I’ll have a proven answer soon.
**Looks like our pals at BillP have found an easy solution. I’ve given it a try and will report back after testing for 48 hours. Bits from Bill Looks like we are all being blocked by these scumbags so use this link for the download.
Related Links
Washington Post
WikipediA
NewYork Times
