[Alliecat]

I guess this has been around for a while, but I just tangled with it last night. What a panic. It infected my precious laptop, & it took me almost 5 hours to clean up the mess.
People who create these things are the scum of the earth!!!!!
It's also known as "System Progressive Protection" in its latest incarnation, but it looks the same, & basically seizes up your computer with a "scan" finding all kinds of toxic programs, recommending you buy or install the program... I guess if you fall for it you wind up sending money somewhere?
Nothing else works, programs, internet, nuthin'.
Anyone else encountered it?
Thanks to the folks at bleepingcomputer.com, I managed, I THINK, to fix it. Precious seems to be running ok again.

Main reason for posting is because I'm sure there are many computer-savvy folks here, & I wondered what y'all would recommend as the best free antivirus program. I see AVG & Avast scored well with CNet.
Thanks to a ton of other expenses this time of year including an unexpected one, I'm not really in the market for an expensive antivirus package. There are supposed to be some good freebies out there.

(Edit: Yes, should have mentioned, it's for WinXP.)

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Last edited by Alliecat; 09-24-2012 at 12:07 AM.

[ChrisPlatt]

So it's Platinum now? I think it was only "Gold" when I picked it up on my laptop over a year ago.
I could access the site where the antivirus software download was for sale, but nothing else. Pretty sneaky!

I was away in training. It took me a couple of days to eradicate it completely and straighten everything out.
Don't know what I would have done without another working PC, Internet, Google and a thumb drive.

I picked up something this week that turned off the firewall and disabled virus protection on my home PC.
I spent most of today performing anti-malware and antvirus scans, etc.

Chris

[pakinjapan]

...I wondered what y'all would recommend as the best free antivirus program.

windows?
"Microsoft Security Essentials" work best for me.
it's simple, easy to config, light, free, and MS always provide free update too.

[Medium FormatPro]

I agree; Microsoft Security Essentials would be one of the better choices for the software side of protecting ones computer; if it's Windows (preferably W7) and running a somewhat updated version of I.E.. But then again one also might seriosly want to weight the use of wanting or even needing Java and other items running along with their system - because Java always has been a rather massive security issue in itself.

Also noting... That any type of security software (unless also almost completely locked down under internet settings) is far from completely protecting a computer. One bad search or one bad link could destroy most any computer - but especially considering how many people make the grave error of also using their computers under administrator settings.

I personally happen to be one of those people that; in addition to security software; I'm well behind a 10k++ Barracuda (physical) firewall. I also have a rather rapid way of doing a complete system restore besides the usual system restore.

[Kozlok]

It's a bear to get rid of. I've had it once on the wife's computer, once on my daughter's. The easiest thing to do is restart in safe mode, back up you data, format your hard drive, and start all over. Always back up your files!

[reeftool]

I was using Microsoft Security Essentials too until my wife picked up a virus on her laptop and while the software found it, it couldn't fix the problem. It was a fake AV program that tried to get you to "buy" it to fix your computer. I switched back to Kapersky. The laptop is working ok again. Kapersky costs $59. My fault for being cheap. I learned my lesson.