05.07.05
Some Pesky Pop-ups are Real
Dear Mom,
I enjoyed our visit on the telephone the other day and am glad to hear you are doing better. I also understand your confusion with those pesky pop-ups. Most are bad, but some are just taking care of your system.
Microsoft does use the pop-up in the lower right hand corner of your screen to notify you when new updates are available for any of their products. The one you were referring to was from their AntiSpyware beta program I installed earlier this year on your computer. They do have regular updates for the “definitions” and also for the program itself. The “definition” updates happen automatically in the background and you should not notice these. The one that you saw was a program upgrade of the software. This also requires you to tell the installer “yes” you want to proceed and click “OK” a few times during the installation. Once it is installed, this particular upgrade requires you to reboot your computer to complete it’s installation.
Other Microsoft products us this same method of notification, as well, and that is what makes it so confusing. The bad programs that use this method are hard to distinguish from the good programs and it doesn’t get any easier when you add in the ways some pop-ups try to look like good programs to get you to click on them.
There are a couple of defenses to try. Read the text very closely because sometimes this will give you a hint. One popular pop-under says “Warning: Your computer may be infected with spyware, click here to check.” If it was a program on your computer installed to keep an eye on spyware, it would not have worded it that way. If it looks like a browser (Big E in top left corner) you don’t want to click one of these as a general rule. The programs installed would pop up and say something like “threat detected, worm bg2asvv is trying to install itself on your computer. It has been prevented.” It can refer to a virus, a worm, or a trojan and will usually name the one trying to disrupt your life.
Second, call or email me before you do anything with them and I will help you figure it out. Be safe and enjoy to trip to the mountains.
Love,
your son