Invasive spyware selling

[jason.p]

Has anyone had problems with the agressive selling methods such as Sysguard. Two of my colleagues have had their PCs "taken over". The idea seems to be to stop you doing anything unless you buy their product. One of these managed to get rid of it by starting in safe mode and running spyware remover and antivirus. The other has not been able to use their PC since Christmas. Surely this is nothing short of a virus attack, and the company involved should be prosecuted.

[squarebear]

You can't do a thing unfortunately. They will claim that you clicked on something to install it (which they probably did) and it may be a third party seller who has set it up in such an intrusive way.

If you get any pop-ups which say "your computer is at risk. Do you want to check for viruses " or similar, do NOT click on the yes or no buttons. Instead close the pop up using eithe the X at the top or task manager. Click on the advert gives the green light to install.

[dizmouk2009]

Always use the Alt + F4 method, even clicking the X's can trigger the download. Or even the Ctrl + Alt + Del (task manager) like squarebear said.

[jason.p]

Thanks for advice guys.
Zac, are there any sanctions against individuals or companies caught deliberately issuing viruses or malware on the internet? I'd assumed (probably mistakenly) that there were.

[squarebear]

Nope as they will always say that you clicked on a pop up or a third party had set it up.