Help! Defence Centre/Spam/Pop Ups/ Possible Virus

Very detailed report cindy.

My assumption would be that you installed a software recently or went to a site that installed something into you computer without you knowing and is now being intrusive on the system.

It only mean the anti-virus guard didnt do its job of blocking or giving a warming of the installation in the first place. Now since, as i am sure, it has to be an installation of something recent, the only ways to get rid of it is to either:

1) find out what was installed recently on the computer and un-install then scan the computer with the anti-virus and clean up what showed up.

2) do a system restore to a previous day before the software was installed.

you could walk into canada computers store on rideau/king edward just past the pizza pizza i think.

the store closes by 7:30pm.

Defense Center Description

Defense Center (aka DefenseCenter) is a rogue antispyware program designed to pilfer money from unwary computer users. Defense Center emplys a browser hijacker to redirect users to a fake scan page which produces bogus results claiming the PC is infected with malware. The system will then be bombarded by pop-up alerts urging the 0purchase of Defense Center to remove the so-called threats. Do not fall for this trickery. It is a blatant scam to get you to spend money. Remove Defense Center using a reliable antispyware program.

Two web sites with info on how to remove Defense Center are:

http://www.spywareremove.com/removeDefenseCenter.html

http://www.spynomore.com/defense-center.htm?gclid=CKXn9YbHpaICFR5rgwodXD5QxA

Microsoft Windows Defender is good and free to stop this type of infection. It can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

I would suggest completely moving over to Linux, my favourite is Ubuntu.... I've never had a problem.

Is there a place that could in Ottawa, Downtown that could fix this if you bring your computer in and present the problem?

 

I'm completly dumbfounded.. !

Sprint Computer on Somerset by Preston or Pc Cyber on Rideau just east of Dalhousie. I can't remember the street name they are on but they are right on the corner you can't Miss it.

A very similar scenario happened to me over the weekend Cindy. I got almost exact same fake warning messages as you. This is most likely a scam. Don't be alarmed. I started doing some research and found out about this scam. The one who is sending you these fake warnings and probably wanting to sell you their piece of junk software to combat the non-existance virus.

Mine was security master AV and if you do research there are plenty about their vicious tactics to sell their junk software by tricking us into believing that we are under attack (I even got messages warning me of identity theft attempts on my laptop). After some research I found the STOPzilla that I loaded and removed this virus from my laptop and now everything is fine with my laptop. It cost me $40, but it worth it (I think I bought a one year protection). Try loading spaware doctor first (which is free I believe) and see if it works.

http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/

http://www.brothersoft.com/stopzilla-download-187536.html

Also I think that the sites that wpg2010 has suggested are directly related to removing your specific problem (defence centre). I don't know if they come free or will cost you anything.

The sites I listed are free tools. They are specifically for defence centre not any other virus and/or spyware.

I would suggest completely moving over to Linux, my favourite is Ubuntu.... I've never had a problem.

i am not very computer savvy , and have been told by others that linux is for more advance users . do you agree with sarcasticsid , or is it simple enough to figure out ?

I knew it was a scam!

 

These two websites were helpful but I can't even get to my Task Manager when I ctrl+alt+delete it says Task Manager Disabled by your administrator.. ahhh what a mess.

How about the re-boot option. Turn off your computer completely and let it reboot. Then download the anti-defense centre software and remove the virus (and likely your laptop will be re-booted again).

Linux is not just for advanced users....it's for everyone.

Emma... RIM makes your Blackberry, and they host the IP. RIM is located in Waterloo!!!! No worries!

Sounds like XP defender or malware doctor. In order to get rid of it, if you google xp defender or malware doctor you get a link to a site where you copy a notepad file. This file when the extension is renamed (instructions on site) will disable all running processes for the malware. Once that's run, download, install, update and run a full scan of malware bytes. That *should* get rid of it all. I've had situations where it didn't but those are rare.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

The free version works fine, the paid version has a real time protector is all. Hopefully that works for you since formatting is always a pain. :x

Best of luck and keep us posted!

This won't help your current problem, but will help avoid future ones.

Firefox Add-on ...WOT "Web of Trust" :cool:

Warns you of spam /attack sites.

When all else fails..... :sm185:

I switched to a Mac Pro at home and convinced my airline to spring for a MacBook while i am on the road........

Never have had to worry about the viruses since.....

in the meantime, I HIGHLY recommend you get StopZilla , ( http://www.stopzilla.com ) which worked PERFECTLY for my PC, and I never had these issues once it was installed....

SNK

I had something similar on my system not too long ago. I didn't fall for it, but it took awhile for my anti-virus program to recognize it as a trojan.

Dear Cindy,

it sounds like you have a serious spyware infection, and possibly a virus.

What I recommend, and use myself is a combination of AVG antivirus, the free version, and spybot search and destroy. If you run the programs I mentioned two things will happen, first, I'm almost sure that your problem will completely disappear. Second, I guarantee it won't happen again.

I had a similar problem few months ago and used AVG antiviruS along with ad-aware anti spyware and it helped. :)

Posted via Mobile Device

AVG and SPYBOT are a good combo and do help prevent spyware/trojans/worms/virus/etc.... BUT (and this is a BIG BUT)..... nothing is 100% unless you disconnect your computer from the internet and never insert a disk, cd, thumbdrive, etc... into it!!

The way the antivirus works is that it looks for signatures of "KNOWN" virus/trojans/etc... (Same with spyware). This means when a virus is let go into "the wild" it infects lots of computers as the VIRUS DEFINITIONS are not instant. (This is why your antivirus is forever downloading updates or definitions).

With the SPEED of email and the web in general a virus can be passed around VERY quickly (Way quicker than the antivirus companies can write the code to detect them).

If you Avoid opening email attachments (Even from friends) - Files that end with ".exe", ".ini", ".bat", ".pif". ".vbs" ".zip" are a few extensions of executable files that can launch dangerous programs, although they are, of course, sometimes legitimate.

Some .wmv files (Movies) can contain virus's .pdf and stuff like word docs with macros or excel docs with macros can contain virus's (and the list goes on) at this time .jpg and .gif are safe (Images) but some people send files that look like myHotPhotoblablabla.gif.exe and this fools some people as they see .gif and think it's ok but really the LAST extension is the nasty one!! In this case .exe

The most spread virus's come from trusted sources. Your friends computer gets a virus and your on his/her email list... the virus sends a copy to you pretending to be your friend. You think it's a trusted source and you open it... WHAM! you and 10000's of others are infected and it was SO QUICK that the antivirus companies don't even know that this virus exists yet (let alone how to prevent it)

The antivirus companies need to get a copy of the virus, disassemble it and see what it does than develop a detection algorithm and often a way to remove it if it is already wormed it's way in. This can take WEEKS!!!!!!

SO YOU ARE NEVER 100% SAFE (Maybe 60% with a Antivirus at BEST but it is still worth having a antivirus and spyware running as 60% is better than 0%)

You can increase your protection with a gateway (firewall) that provides UTM (universal threat management) services that can block spyware, virus, hijacked SSL certificates etc. As these devices can automatically send suspicious data back ti the vendor to be analyzed and when a fix is implemented the hardware manufacturer pushes updates to all firewalls. This fixes the problems far faster and can provide an 80%+ protection rate. The devices are not cheep and are designed for business. The best low cost unit is over $400. Many firewall manufacturers claim to provide these services (and more) but are very ineffective.