You turn on your computer one morning and you are shocked to find that your browser has been hijacked by some sort of virus. At first you may not even realize that you have been cyber-attacked. Your screen is showing a large warning sign saying that your computer is infected and that you need to click on the box in order to clean your computer of any viruses. Since you have Norton Antivirus installed you think that this is Norton warning you of malware but when you double click on the box, your computer completely freezes or you cant get into your web browser. Try as you might you cant budge your web browser and it keeps coming back to the same warning message. You may be surprised to find out that the warning itself is the actual virus. These are called Fake Security Alert Viruses and they are so insidious that only the best antivirus software can defeat them.
At first you try and restart but you cant get rid of it. You call your local computer repair store and they tell you to drop off your laptop or desktop system for a couple of days while they clean the viruses off your system. Many places will do a complete wiping of the disk which means that unless they back up all the data, you will lose everything. For certain you will lose your installed programs and unless you have the original installation disks you may have to purchase them all over again.
These repair shops normally charge at least $100 and closer to $200 and take many days to complete the work. None of this is necessary if you know how to do a few simple steps and download the best antivirus software for free.
First thing is that you have to uninstall Norton Utilities, which is practically worthless and will not protect you from most of the worst viruses out there in cyberland and also will block you from installing the best antivirus software free from the internet.
Go on another computer and do a google search for software called combofix. When the search comes back with multiple hits, pick the page entitled bleeping computer and download the program named Combofix onto a USB flash drive. Take the USB flash drive with the best anti-virus software copied onto it and put it into your infected computer. Double click on the icon for Combofix to open and run the program. Keep saying yes to any screen that pops up while it is fixing your computer. It takes a little while but Combofix is the best antivirus software available will eventually clean your computer of any known malware or viruses like Trojans or browser hijackers.