Privacy Protection Virus
One of the final viruses in the family of false anti-virus scams is the privacy protection virus. This virus is a ninja virus; it silently installs itself into your computer and then pretends to run a scan on your system. It acts as though it’s turned up many different compromising your privacy and credit card security (usually scary looking things like Blaster worms and child porn) and then offers to let you upgrade to total security to kill the viruses-so long as you pay for it! The privacy protection virus is a little sneakier than others because it takes time to run its ‘scans’ which makes it appear legitimate. However, the entire thing from start to finish is a scam, designed to take your money and leave you with nothing but a bunch of unexplained charges. If you have this virus on your computer, you need to get rid of it!
What is the Privacy Protection Virus?
The privacy protection virus was created by hackers intent on taking money from people who don’t know any better-con artists in other words. It’s considered part of the same family as the false anti-virus scams which include things like the System tools removal and other rogue anti-spyware software. Basically, all of these viruses work by hijacking your computer and locking you out until you purchase the software to kill it. However, once you do that, your credit card information now belongs to the hackers and they use it whenever they like.
How You May have Contracted the Privacy Protection Virus
Usually, this virus attaches itself to you if you pass through an infected website. However, you may also end up with it if you download infected content or if you click on a link advertising free scans of your computer. No matter how you get it, the result is always the same and is really damaging to your computer.
How to Get Rid of the Privacy Protection Virus
In order to stomp down this virus, you will have to showcase a bit of cunning. You can use a program which gets rid of spyware and viruses such as Spyware Doctor, Malwarebytes or other software. The trick is to run everything through SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING instead of through normal mode; you can do this by booting up you computer and hitting F8 while it’s booting so that you can choose which mode to run your computer in. Safe Mode prevents most programs from running, including the virus, so you can get online and download or use a spyware busting program to kill it.
You can also get rid of the privacy protection virus manually by going through the files on your computer, but this process takes a long longer and is very finicky; if you don’t do it exactly right, you could miss something and this virus replicates itself, so it will just come back again later. You can also reformat your drive or go back to a reset point before you contracted the virus, though this will mean losing a bunch of your data.
The privacy protection virus is a nasty one because it locks up your computer and turns into a paperweight! But you can get rid of it with some simple software and a bit of care-and next time, be careful where your internet wanderings take you or what you click! Get rid of privacy protection viruses and don’t pay a cent to those scammers.
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