A Client’s computer recently got infected with the System Tool rogue anti-spyware infection. You know, the type of fake anti-virus program that bombards your screen with messages claiming that you’ve got multiple infections after it has “performed” a quick scan of your hard drive.
Luckily, they didn’t fall for the sucker punch of entering their credit card details in order to purchase the offered software which is, of course, useless.
The System Tool infection is quite clever. It will terminate any programs or utilities you try and run in order to remove it.
There are several lessons to learn from this.
- Don’t assume that just because you have an up to date antivirus program installed and running that you are immune from infection. No anti-malware software can guarantee 100% safety.
- Having said that, always keep your antivirus program updated and run scans regularly.
- Never ever enter your credit card details in response to an online request that you have not initiated!
- Unless you recognise an onscreen warning of possible infection as coming from your own installed anti-virus program, then don’t believe it!
- Always be highly suspicious of messages containing bad grammar or wrongly spelt words! The System Tool infection takes over your desktop background and displays an over the top, almost nonsensical message.
If you do get infected with System Tool don’t panic! As long as you follow the published steps in the correct sequence it can be removed without too much disruption. Of course, if you don’t have either the time or the confidence to tackle the infection yourself, My PC Surgery can sort the problem for you and return your computer to health with the minimum of fuss.