DAUPHIN COUNTY, PA—
A number of new, alarming viruses are infecting computers across the area. They are being picked up on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.The viruses are not being detected by most anti-virus software. Once a computer is infected, there is no easy fix.
Rose Umana, owner of Vision Healthcare Services in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, knows the threat first hand. All of the computers in her office, equipped with Norton Anti-Virus Software, crashed.
"It was effecting me, it was effecting everybody that works with me, it was very stressful. You could work a whole day and get nothing done if you had to use the computer," said Umana.
The viruses start with a pop-up, a screen alerting users that viruses have been detected.
"The pop-ups are designed to look exactly like the same type of pop-up you would receive if a virus were to attack your system and your anti-virus were to notify you of the infection," said Joshua Nelson, owner of My Computer Doctor.
Nelson says once the pop-up opens, immediately click on the "X" in the top right corner. Do not click to disinfect or ignore.
"It will say click here to disinfect, once you click, it installs the application," said Nelson.
Nelson says 99% of the anti-virus pop-ups that happen are in fact viruses. The best protection is don't click on anything that doesn't show the exact name of the anti-virus software you have installed.
"A lot of the free anti-virus applications out there now are actually more effective than the ones you pay for, it is good to do your homework," said Nelson.
Once your computer gets one of the viruses, the hard drive must be completely cleared out. There are several different free anti-virus programs available, for a list go to mycomputerdoctor.net.
