An email from one of my Irvine cousins was waiting when I woke up today. There was a problem.
I have pop up ads, inline text ads and my back up won’t work. I have tried everything to remove this crap but I can’t
Sounds like a job for Tech Support Man!
He’s your cousin, your brother, your co-worker, your neighborly geek, until your computer starts throwing fits. All of a sudden he’s indispensable. He’s Tech Support Man!
No wonder IT guys always have ‘tude!
This problem was mean. Pop-ups. Ad insertions in websites. Linkjacking.
The computer felt digitally unclean. It was. Strangers had usurped some control. Who knows what they were doing that you couldn’t see?
The main miscreant was “SavingsBull.” It’s supposed to bring coupons and deals. It brings ads. Lots. Few would click to install it knowingly.
It is socially engineered onto your system. It comes packaged with something you want, like a nice piece of software. Its presence is hidden in the click agreements most folks speed through.
Someone said “Yes,” to installing it, but without knowing what they were agreeing to.
We Tech Support Men have a secret. We really don’t know how to fix everything. We just know how to find the answer. Usually the solution is laid out, A, B, C, etc.
SavingsBull is a new arrival to the pain-in-the-ass scene based on the dates of tech bulletins about it.
I used a few malware scanners to hunt down the pesky files and zap them away. It’s like fighting cancer. If you don’t get it all they can sometimes replicate itself and spread! The programs look to be fully removed and the patient should recover.
There are loads of good anti-everything programs. They’re ineffective. Most of this crap is carried in by the computer users themselves. We have been conditioned to click and say yes.
Be careful. Tech Support Man, out.