A cautionary tale about norton
There is some Malware out there that holds your computer for ransom. You might have come across it your self.
Suddenly your Browser screen is invaded by a frame that flashes at you and claims
'your computer is infected!
Followed by the claim that the only way to get rid of the infection is to pay a fee and let the scammer clean your computer. It can be almost impossible to get rid of the screen as it keeps on popping up.
There was a story in the media on Thursday, January 29 about such malware floating around. Well there is another form of Ransom ware floating around, it is called Norton Antivirus. Norton now insists it must charge its customers to remove malicious programs that Norton Antivirus missed in the first place.
I have been a Norton customer since it first became available quite a few years ago. Paid my annual dues and put up with the occasional problem while waiting for a fix.
Occasionally over the past few weeks I would be presented with a screen claiming 'Your computer is infected' and that I needed to take immediate action to fix the problem. The action included paying a fee to rid my system of the malware. I had to use a forced shut down on occasion when this pesky screen would appear while I tried to access my Hotmail inbox. So I would run a complete system scan by Norton in addition to the regular Norton protection. Nothing ever showed up on the Norton scan. This morning while reading online news stories my eye caught a story about Malware / Computer Kidnap / Ransom Ware. The light began to glow somewhat dimly that perhaps I too was under such an attack. So I called up my Norton help screen and entered into a chat with Norton service technicians. I logged all of the chat (s). I was soon told I would need an extra Norton service to clean my computer and that this additional service would cost me US$139.99 on top of my annual dues for Norton Antivirus service. I asked the Norton technician if they were aware of the irony of Norton charging me to remove a virus that Norton was supposed to keep out of my machine in the first place. I also pointed out that Norton's demand for additional money was tantamount to the Ransom malware that the technician claimed Norton would now remove. I began to get a bit peeved about this and when the Technician wanted my credit card information with out providing a secure site I terminated the online chat.
As soon as I did that I received a phone call from what seemed to be India. The caller said he represented Norton and that I could provide the required credit card information over the phone so that Norton could begin cleaning my supposedly infected machine. I wasn't about to do this anymore than I was about to provide credit card information over an open site. I am very annoyed about Norton's lack of service and support for the product I have purchased year after year.
Norton now charges extra fees to remove Ransom ware that it was supposed to protect against in the first place.
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