I supposedly have virus protection...

[ailsagirl]

but today I was told my PC is infected.

Would it do any good to complain to the vender of this supposed protection!? Or is it my own tough luck??
😡

[Skittles]

1. yes, bring it to their attention

absolutely

[usonian]

2. Did the virus protection warn you?

There are lots of websites that fake a virus warning to get you to download REAL viruses and malware. I have to kill the browser when this happens because the sites put the browser in an endless javascript loop.

If it's the antivirus, contact the vendor, yes.

[canetoad]

3. How did the notification arrive?

Pop-up window? Alert from your security program/s?

This could give a clue to what's going on. BTW, what AV program are you using and what device are you on?

[ailsagirl]

4. I took it into the shop

He took a look and after about one minute said it was infected.

I'm using Aura virus scan

And it's Windows 10 running on my laptop.
I'm picking it up tomorrow.

What a year this has been!!! 🤬🤬

Thanks for responding.

[canetoad]

5. It would be interesting

To know what work he did on the computer after you pick it up, for example was another AV installed. Let us know the news if you have time.

[ailsagirl]

6. Yes

I plan on asking him what, exactly, he did to fix it.

I'll keep you posted.
😎

[ailsagirl]

7. You asked!!

Well, he installed a new hard drive. For some reason, I had thought it would clear up the problem, but it didn't. Instead it created a whole slew of new problems that I naively thought would be fixed once he was finished. He performed a clean installation which, unknown to me, wiped out all my files. I doubt there is a way of restoring them-- even if there is, the cost is prohibitive (in the thousands of dollars).

I'm going to dump Aura's virus scan-- and get maybe Malwarebytes, which is how he discovered my PC was infected in the first place.

Thanks for your input. Any thoughts??

[canetoad]

8. Off the top of my head

Get your old hard drive back. He's not entitled to keep it. There are all sorts of freebies to recover data, and I'm happy to step you through it.

Tell me a little about your machine: desktop/laptop? Operating system: win11 or earlier. Or Linux/Mac.

Type of hard drive: Disk drive (the older, bigger ones) or SDD - solid state? And anything else you care to pass on.

TBH, he sound like a bit of a dick. Did he give you a reason for replacing the drive? A virus or trojan doesn't usually need installation of a new drive. Did he say precisely what was wrong with it and list the problem he found?

If you can get your old drive back, I can also help you with partitioning your drive (depending on it's size) and moving your own stuff off onto the new partition. Never lose your files again.

[ailsagirl]

9. He wasn't in the office today when I picked it up

Another person was there, who really didn't know the story. Thank you-- you came up with a lot of good, solid ideas. They're closed tomorrow but I'll call/text him Monday and see what's what.

You gave me hope that maybe all is not lost.

[ailsagirl]

14. Another question

Hello again,

I hope you don't mind my asking you another question-- supposedly so simple anyone can do it blindfolded. Except me.

I have a 2025 calendar shortcut currently on my desktop. I wish to move it to my taskbar. That's all. The instructions say to select it and then move to my taskbar. Doesn't work.

Am I missing something??
No hurry-- much obliged.

[CloudWatcher]

10. Scam alert

After only a minute he said it was infected? And then he replaced the hard drive and didn't restore your files? This guy sounds like an idiot and/or a scam artist to me. Buyer beware!

[ailsagirl]

11. I think it's OK now, but I won't be going back to that shop!!

Thanks for your input

[LPBBEAR]

12. I think Cloudwatcher

is probably right.

I'm a mostly retired Computer Tech who ran a small business for many years.

1. It generally takes more than a minute to determine a system is infected with a virus or malware.

2. I wouldn't have replaced what sounds like a working hard drive with a new drive for a basic virus issue. That sounds a bit like up selling for no good reason other than puffing up the bill.

3. In some cases a tech might have to do a complete reload of a system if the virus/malware has caused too much havoc in the operating system. In that case I would have contacted the customer and talked about data backup prior to wiping and reloading the system.

4. If I had to backup a customers data I would have scanned the backed up data for virus/malware issues BEFORE restoring it to the newly restored system. I would have used 2 different virus scanners to do this to reduce the odds of one program missing an issue.

5. To do the data backup and restore process I would have used a Linux run from CD/USB operating system to reduce complications and time.

Anyway, from what you've described it sounds like you were "helped" by someone who really shouldn't be in the business at all and doesn't have the customers best interest in mind but more their own.
Hope it all works out.

[ailsagirl]

13. Thanks for your post

I worked in a software company (in quality assurance) for more than 15 years, and whenever I had a problem with
my PC, I just called the System Administrator. So I know very little about troubleshooting a computer when it is behaving strangely.

Thanks for your input.

And everyone else's!!

ailsagirl