I was looking on the search engines for a decent antivirus program at a reasonable price. I found one that claimed to be free and ran in real time. Naturally, I was wary, and emailed the company to find out if it was a beta test, was it stable, was it only a free trial, and if so, how long before I must purchase.
I was told that it was NOT in testing, that it WAS stable, and that it was free for one year.
After one year, it would cost $19.95 per year to continue.
So, I un-installed and deleted my current and outdated antivirus program, and downloaded the "eTrust EZ Antivirus r7.1".
Right away, my dell dimension 2400 became very slow, the mouse pointer acquired a mind of it's own, and nothing would work properly.
After spending hours trying to root out the problem, I found about 18 dump. Exe files currently running. I immediately ended processes on all of them. Also, I un-installed the eTrust EZ Antivirus r7.1 program, and searched all files on my 109 gig hard drive, and found 2 readme files. When I read them, it became obvious that the program did NOT un-install itself, but HID it's running programs.
That every file I had as well as anything that I typed was being sent over my dsl connection to: [email protected] and also to rmd. Adtmt.com Eventually I found the executable files that were doing the damage - (not allowing ad-aware se to run, opening multiple tabs whenever I tried to access the internet, and finally not allowing me on the internet at all).
The malicious programs were: caissdt. Exe and caiss. Exe.
These malicious executable programs were in the folder created by the install of eTrust EZ Antivirus r7.1, and were obviously the real reason behind a one year free trial.
I should have my head examined for even considering downloading a "free" actively running antivirus program. Nothing worth having is free!
An easy way to check to see if these programs are running on your pc is to do an advanced search of ALL files and folders (hidden included, be sure to check the appropriate box) for: caiss. Exe and caissdt. Exe.
ALL of my and my wife's personal and financial and medical information is now in the hands of whoever is at atdmt.com.
I called the corporate number listed on the company contact portion of their home page, and was told that a Mr. Bill Dziadowicz is in charge of the eTrust EZ Antivirus r7.1 program.
Of course, he was not in the office, and his home number is not listed either. More likely, he does not even exist.
STAY AWAY from CA Product Solutions!!!
The toll-free number for their 24 hour technical support is: 1-877-694-8509.
The Corporate number is: 1-631-342-6000.
I hope that this report helps others to avoid what my wife and I have been through with this "free antivirus service".
I just hope and pray that we do not become victims of identity theft from this theft of our private information.
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