glhall

We got caught with this nasty little virus. It gets into your system via web sites and dials up expensive numbers. Cost me $80 for two calls I knew nothing about to some unknown address somewhere and telecom said we had to pay. On the radio the other day someone said they got caught for $1200 on one phone bill. Lots of other people have got caught as well according to telecom in NZ. I have Norton antivirus and it still got in. I would advise everyone to keep your antivirus right up to date.

Graham

wmoore

Just cleaned up a friends computer that had one too, despite McAfee anti-virus. She's still waiting for the phone bill...... Be very careful what you accept on the net peeps.

65 million

I heard the other day about this virus orn BBC radio 2, they said just by closing down a certain pop-up (clicking in the top right hand "x" icon) thats how the virus is exectued. So if you havnt got protection from it dont close any pop ups and shut down as normal.

Kentish Man

Get a decent ad scanner (Ad aware is good) and use frequently. This occasionally gets on my computer but as I have broadband it isn't a problem, just irritating because it won't close down!

Sharpy67

I think you'll find that your anti virus program will only pick it up if you run a full test. Don't expect the background running system to necessarily pick it up, as it will certainly be being installed by you selecting something innocent.

As recommended I run Ad aware every day and run a full virus check (use AVG) every couple of days.

Now on broadband i don't have to worry about this little nasty but there are plenty of others. Those that are supposed to copy your key strokes if you use on line banking worry me the most.

Nick

MarkMyWords

First of all, get yourself a decent popup-blocker (there have been various discussions here on what to use, go searching...)

Secondly, increase your security levels so that whatever nasty little ActiveX thing is being activated gets blocked. Don't trust the default settings.

Prevention is better than cure! (But of course being able to do both is better still, so yes, keep those anti-virus and spyware programs up to date too.)

Wol

I use FireFox as my browser - it's a Mozilla/Netscape evolution.

Popup blocking comes as standard unless you disable it - it's wonderful not to have to close down panes every few minutes!

bondipom

Have a word with your local trading standards organisations. Not sure if you do have to pay.

AVG once blocked one of these trojans for me. Spybot Search and Destroy can be useful to discover them.

Ceri

http://www.tio.com.au/FAQ/int_dumping.htm

try complaining to the ombudsman in NZ (the above is Australian), or like bondi has said your fair trading body .Don't pay it.. write today tonight anything ( current affair sort of thing if you have one in NZ) !, and complain about your phone company.. complain and shout to all bodies until you get heard - I think it should be your phone company who is responsible for the cost. Laws won't be changed if people meekly pay up without creating a fuss.

About a year back I was on a site ( not porn - it was a DVD hacking site)... I had pop-up's with porn... millions of them.. do you want to enter .. I pressed no.. but it carried on ..I had to unconnected my computer.. bill came in and I had $2 something for this call .. I was lucky I was sitting at the computer to switch it off.. it was going mad.. and I could not escape. A friends of mine had a couple of hundred dollar bill - and he paid it!!!! ( the daft beggar!) I refused to pay my bill - I phoned up Telstra and said it's your responsibility ( apparently they told me you can block these numbers if you are using your line as a phone.. but if it is internet they won't block the number for you.. huh! b*llux - I thought - they should take responsibility for it, as they also make money from it too.. anyway to this day I have not paid it.. I just deducted the cost from each bill... even though mine was just a few measly $'s - it's the principle of the thing!

Peter

Give this man a cigar! Best advice yet. And it's immune to ActiveX hijacking.

wmoore

If you're on a BT line, speak to BT directly.
According to http://software.silicon.com/applicat...121763,00.htm, BT says "...it will give up any revenue generated from customers defrauded in this way..."