We Are NOT The Police Pro Virus
09/08/2009 14:32
I had an unexpected phone call today (Tuesday,
September 8) from a truly nice woman in North
Carolina informing me that a virus by the name of
Police Pro had taken over her computer, which is now
useless. She had called the Norton Utilities company
who somehow apparently directed her to us, since
(reasonably) we have a similar name - but no space
between the “Police” and
“Pro” words.
So some filthy, lowlife piece of crap has inflicted the world with yet another worthless virus, and this time they’ve used a name a hell of a lot like our own. While I was on the phone with the woman, trying to figure out what was going on here, I Googled “Police Pro Virus” and, sure enough, there’s hits all over the place about this new and very virulent piece of malware/adware whatever you want to call it.
IT IS NOT US. PolicePro has been around for some twelve years now, performing what every one of our clients will tell you is a vital function in their police departments. Whoever the idiot is who is perpetrating this new scam, be assured that no one would rather have their hands around his throat than we would.
Apparently this occurs when a webpage that looks a hell of a lot like a real Microsoft security window appears and tells users that their computer has been infected with one of several virus names, and directs users to click a button to safely remove that virus. As soon as you do that, you’re apparently toast... the Police Pro virus is installed on your computer, and from what I’ve read in the last several minutes, it can be a hell of a thing to remove.
There are various suggested solutions already on the Web, but be warned they all require some fairly technical familiarity with the operating system. As much as I wanted to help the woman on the phone, it became obvious pretty quickly that she was going to need some onscene, knowledgeable assistance. In her case, a nephew in the IT field is probably getting a phone call right now with the list of a few of the suggestions I read about.
So we are also victims of this outrage, in that a brand I have been building for twelve years is all of a sudden associated with all this hell. I can’t wait to see who this eventually turns out to be, and what we might be able to do about it... which is probably nothing, since the name, while close enough, is not actually the same as ours.
My complete sympathies to anyone who becomes a victim of this virus, but trust me: it does not come from Steamboat Data.
So some filthy, lowlife piece of crap has inflicted the world with yet another worthless virus, and this time they’ve used a name a hell of a lot like our own. While I was on the phone with the woman, trying to figure out what was going on here, I Googled “Police Pro Virus” and, sure enough, there’s hits all over the place about this new and very virulent piece of malware/adware whatever you want to call it.
IT IS NOT US. PolicePro has been around for some twelve years now, performing what every one of our clients will tell you is a vital function in their police departments. Whoever the idiot is who is perpetrating this new scam, be assured that no one would rather have their hands around his throat than we would.
Apparently this occurs when a webpage that looks a hell of a lot like a real Microsoft security window appears and tells users that their computer has been infected with one of several virus names, and directs users to click a button to safely remove that virus. As soon as you do that, you’re apparently toast... the Police Pro virus is installed on your computer, and from what I’ve read in the last several minutes, it can be a hell of a thing to remove.
There are various suggested solutions already on the Web, but be warned they all require some fairly technical familiarity with the operating system. As much as I wanted to help the woman on the phone, it became obvious pretty quickly that she was going to need some onscene, knowledgeable assistance. In her case, a nephew in the IT field is probably getting a phone call right now with the list of a few of the suggestions I read about.
So we are also victims of this outrage, in that a brand I have been building for twelve years is all of a sudden associated with all this hell. I can’t wait to see who this eventually turns out to be, and what we might be able to do about it... which is probably nothing, since the name, while close enough, is not actually the same as ours.
My complete sympathies to anyone who becomes a victim of this virus, but trust me: it does not come from Steamboat Data.
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