Avast has allowed this to infect my computer. I am less than thrilled, of course.
Any suggestions on removal. Have tried several malware removal tools etc.
How about how to prevent this again?
Thanks
Hey Dave, sorry to hear that you got infected.
Do you mean desktop defender 2010? That’s all I saw on Google.
This removal guide from bleepingcomputer should help. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-desktop-defender-2010
As for protecting yourself in the future, all we ever say around here is “layered security”. Remember, it’s not really avast’s fault that it got on your computer. No A/V in the world can protect from everything. Furthermore this is malware, not a virus.
Anyway, try using things like Avast + Malwarebytes + a hosts file from here http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm + maybe even a third-party firewall that blocks outgoing connections.
Panda software also has cloud antivirus that you could use as well.
If you want one solution, you’ll probably have to pay for Avast’s Internet Security product or one from another vendor.
I hope you get it all straightened out, and let us know if malwarebytes can remove it. If not, there are plenty of other tools in the box… ;D
Fake AVs generally require a degree of user agreement to first display the your system is infected, etc. etc. or visiting a hacked site that runs something in the background to display the fake alerts.
I would also suggest you start using a browser such as Firefox with NoScript and RequestPolicy add-ons so that things can’t automatically run if you happen to visit a hacked site. Add to that the web shield and network shield are also on the look out for hacked and malicious sites.