WWW--And now, it's time for some hard-earned wisdom, kids! Just last night I was getting hit by these fake warnings that I had a virus infecting my hard drive with these constant pop-ups harassing me that if I didn't, I could "lose critical files and functions" on my computer. It just pops-up again, and again, and again, and again, until you want to perform a vivisection on the idiot that created the malware doing this to you, your computer, and of course, your mind and your sense of well-being.
Oh yeah, I had a virus on my drive alright, and it was Winisoft's "Softcop," a Trojan horse program that installs itself on your computer without your knowledge or required permission to get you to buy bullshit. Not-so-ironically, Softcop's exactly what it's telling you that you need to remove from your drive by buying their fake software that does nothing. Well, it does nothing except give you more problems like the one you stupidly paid to get rid of! That's when I'm certain that extreme violence is in order, but it's best to inform your credit card company immediately about this intolerable situation and to start the disputation process. Send them a refund message at Winisoft and refuse to pay.
This scam must be making the rounds since there's a bevy of articles about it that provide links to Malware's legitimate removal software that's free and actually works. Once you've downloaded it, run it, and then restarted your PC, the problem not-so-magically disappears. Fancy that. Yes, yes, we don't need any rules or regulations, said the Libertarians. This is exactly why we have to have laws and why business has to be regulated heavily. I could have used these articles yesterday, but this is a fairly sophisticated scam and didn't do my usual Google search, lesson learned. My guess right now is that it's from the Czech Republic, possibly from Brno, a hub of hacker and scammer activity like this, but who knows? All I know is that I'd like to remove their fingernails one-at-a-time, and very slowly...
"Can Softcop Save Your PC?", PC1 News, 10.21.2009: http://www.pc1news.com/news/1057/softcop.html
"Safety Keeper Removal," Free PC Security, 09.11.2009 (with legitimate Malware removal downloads): http://freepcsecurity.co.uk/2009/09/11/safety-keeper-removal/
"Remove Softcop (Uninstall guide), Bleepingcomputer.com, 10.17.2009: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-softcop
Thanks for sharing that meaningful information with all.i always use the best spyware removal software to rid out the spyware, adware, Trojan horses, malware etc. I hope that the information in the blog will be helpful for all.
ReplyDeleteThanks! They nearly got me on this one, my credit card company put it on hold and I sent an angry message to these people, they are crooks. When I tried to email them back, I got a bounceback from Germany. That doesn't mean that Winisoft is based there, they might be using it as a relay since it's obvious they don't want anyone knowing where they are, but if I were to put money on it, I'd say they were based there or the Czech Republic.
ReplyDeleteI hope to be a writer when I grow-up. I'm 41. ;0)When are the adults going to let us play with their toys and be adults?