Do not under any circumstances download an anti virius program called Cyber Defence! It just destroyed my computer! I am using my brother's computer to warn you. You can dowload it free. But then it will want you to upgrade and pay for the "whole" program. If you do not upgrade and try to delete it , it will destroy your computer when you restart. I have had one Tech wiz try to fix mine with no luck. Another one is going to try to save what was on my hard drive but he will be gone for a few day and is making no promises! I had a genealogical program on it with close to 10,000 names., besides my mail list and bookmarked favorities etc.

Thanks for the warning.

Sorry about that! Is there any way to report them?
I use AVG free and have been very happy with them.
I hope you stuff can be saved.

Thank you for the warning. I am sorry that you lost the data on your PC. I hope your friend will be able to recover it for you.

I also use AVG free

I use AVG too but sometimes bad stuff gets through before they have a clue and an update. With these types of virus' even if you paid for the fix from the warning notice, you would not get a fix. I had this happen once to my computer but as soon as I realized I had the virus, which was spread by the warning notice that I had a virus, I shut my computer down. I went to DH's computer and researched the virus and found a guru site that gave the instructions to remove the virus. I turned my computer on, downloaded the needed free software and made the fix myself. I used Malware Bytes which is a free download.

The computer place should be able to get in and back up all your important files for you. Then they can clean your hard drive and reload your system files, AVG, Open Office etc. You should be good as new when they are finished. Good Luck!

Thank you for the warning.

That's horrible! Thank you for sharing the warning! Did you lose all your patterns stored on your computer too?

OMG. There is a special place in hell for people who make programs and viruses like that. That is disgraceful. I'm sorry that happened to you. And this is why I use carbonite to backup my computer. It's not cheap but at least my stuff should be safe (I say "should be" because I'm a pessimist at heart).

I am so very sorry, particularly about your endangered data. I hope you had backups.

Yes looks like I lost everything! But cross your figures that my computer Whiz friend can save my hard drie but I will not know for a week or so as he is going out of town.

I use Avast! and it's blocked so many things. I think these hackers have nothing better to do with their time.

I hope the tech's can save your things.

my guy had me download Dropbox and made me move stuff I don't want to loose if something should happen to my computer' Its free

I was reading one of Billy's post a few days ago and he was talking about backing-up your work. I use AVG free and have no problems.

I use AVG also but not the free one

WOW...so sorry to hear that. We only use Norton Antivirus on our machines.

Thanks for the info. I back up my hard drive onto cd's. I'm always fearful of some terrible virus wiping everything out!

So sorry

OMG...that is awful. My first computer...got a really bad trojan virus on it that it took forever for me to get rid of...with the help of my son.

I bought a new computer about 5 years ago and the hard drive went on it in Feb. of this year. Instead of having it checked and fixed I bought a new computer...but will eventually have someone retrieve the stuff off of that hard drive. Anyway...got my new computer hooked up and had previously added my dad's name and info on the WWII Memorial website. I went there to check something and bam...a virus. It took me almost 2 days to get rid of the thing. I had been using the virus protection that Verizon offers...ditched that and went with Norton. I love it.

I have used Norton Internet Security for about 10 years, and never had any problems. If you search around the web for a good price, you can find it for around $40 a year, and that covers up to three computers! Cheap enough for peace of mind.

This sounds like something you get from "scareware" - that is when a pop up box comes up saying your computer might be at risk. NEVER NEVER click on anything like that - in fact close your browser and shut down your computer if necessary to make it go away. Do not even click on the "x" in the corner.

If you need an anti-virus or anti-malware program, go to a trusted site to download it - I always use Cnet.com.

I ended up using Mozilla Firefox and have had very few viruses. I got lots and lots and ruined 3 computers by using microsoft internet explorer. Google chrome is also a good one that stops viruses.

Get AVG it's free and you can buy the regular program which I have. It's the best program out there even better than McAfee, Norton, and such.

I know this how! I had both Norton and McAfee on few years back along with AVG. AVG detected stuff that Norton nor McAfee didn't.

NEVER download a free program without first checking what it's all about. Nothing like this is ever free. If it's not miliacious in some fashion at minimum it still has robots in the program that tracks everywhere you go online and check and see what you have on your system.

Thanks for the warning.

So sorry to hear this. When you get up and running, buy an external hard drive and backup regularly. :-(

There is no one program that is virus free. (Norton didn't stop my virus.) Many times it depends on where you go and what you download. All of them have loopholes.

Your best bet, according to my computer programmer son, is a fire wall and many of the anti virus programs out there offer one for more money. I back up on a regular basis, both on dropbox, and my external drive, and use a free one off the web. There are several good ones out there.

Taking care of your data is just as important as taking care of your car or your home. :)

Are you sure it's not Cyber Defender you're talking about?

That's the company that's notoriously bad about wiping out errors that aren't errors - to the point of destroying your operating system.

There's a class action suit against them.

I can't find anything about an anti-vi called "Cyber Defence."

I hope you can get everything restored. I went through this whole thing with Cyber Defender a couple of years ago so I know what kind of havoc it can wreak. :(

Yes, I'd heard Cyber Defense does this to computers. I was a victim!! What I had to learn was to save all important information onto a flash drive. I have a flash drive for all quilting information, one for family photo's, and one for important documents. And AVG is awesome btw!

So sorry. I had to replace a hard drive with too many risky downloads too.. that was not nice.. to think you were helping yourself for safety. :(

hard lesson to learn but buy yourself an External hard drive to keep your photos and geneology stuff on then only use the EHD when you need those programs...that way the info is stored there and NOT on your computer

Keep in mind that cds and dvds also do not last forever. Experts recommend reburning your data at least every 5 yrs, more often if you're using the cheaper discs. I can't imagine trying to fit all of my stuff on disc. let alone the time it takes to burn it. Even my pictures alone would take dozens of dvds.

Thanks for letting us know. I'm so sorry about your files being lost!

An external hard drive is good for backup

Thank you for the warning! I am so sorry about your genealogy. I do genealogy and know how awful that would be if it were gone. Hopefully yours can be brought back by the techie.

I have Avast, and Malware Bytes. Seems to work for us~

But keep in mind that an external drive hooked up all the time is just as vulnerable to viruses and malware as the native hard drive. Also, any hard drive can fail-even externals. I know people who put all of their photos on externals and deleted them from their computer's main hard drive, only to have the external fail and lose all of their pics. It's best to have more than one backup for the most important files. I have all of my pictures backed up at least 3 different ways in addition to them staying on my hard drive.

Thank you for the warning and i'm sorry that happened to you.
That is why I just pay for one every year. I have to plan for when I know it's renewel is coming but it has protected me so far.

Ouch thats horrible! Thanks for the warning, we use McAfee it came on our laptop and we paid $39 for the full yr upgrade. I find they work well I used a free ware one may have been AVG before but found I still got a lot of viruses. When we went to McAfee it's always catching stuff at least once a week and I don't go on many websites.

There's new viruses released almost every day it seems I don't think it matters what software you use you many always get one or two that slip through the systems.

I have a laptop. My external hard drives is only attached when I do a backup. I have two.

My currant protection is Trend Micro Titanium Maximum Security.

Thank you for the warning. So sorry you lost your files!