How can I have 2,500 viruses?
I just picked up my PC from the Geek Squad. They said I had 2,500 viruses. How can this be. I have been using WEBROOT for many years.
Userlevel 7
Hi jrweber
Welcome to the Community Forums.
We have had a few such cases of this reported and I would have to say that this is 'rot'. I suspect that they are 'bigging up' their role somewhat and describing as viruses a number of other benign addons, extras, etc..such as PUAs or Potentially Unwanted Aplications, as we call them here in the Community.
These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behaviour that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools. But they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
Have you encountered any such behaviour...well if so then that is most likely what has been causing it.
WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behaviour that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.
Rest assured that you are very, very well protected by WSA.
Regards, Baldrick
Welcome to the Community Forums.
We have had a few such cases of this reported and I would have to say that this is 'rot'. I suspect that they are 'bigging up' their role somewhat and describing as viruses a number of other benign addons, extras, etc..such as PUAs or Potentially Unwanted Aplications, as we call them here in the Community.
These are very annoying at best in that they cause pop-us, redirect your browser home page, and other behaviour that may slow down the computer and direct ads your way, but they are not actually doing anything bad like damaging files or stealing information. Often they are installed intentionally by you the user as browser add-ons for various tasks such as quick search tools. But they also come with the result of added annoying pop-ups and ads. Other times they 'piggy back' with other software that you installed, or try to 'sneak' onto your system entirely.
Have you encountered any such behaviour...well if so then that is most likely what has been causing it.
WSA does detect and remove many PUA's, and more are being added, but WSA does not detect all of them. A simple browser add-on with PUA behaviour that is easy to identify and easy to remove is not likely to be detected and removed by WSA. Those that are intentionally difficult to locate and remove are. Please see THIS LINK for more information regarding Webroot's stance on these annoying programs.
Rest assured that you are very, very well protected by WSA.
Regards, Baldrick
It does sound like they're trying to make it look like they're the experts and you're the inexperienced user with the virus-riddled computer who needs to bring your computer back to them on a regular basis. I'd venture to say, judging by the number, that what they cleaned up were actually tracker cookies which are small harmless text files that social media websites and advertisers use to track your usage patterns for statistics and mostly targeted advertisements. They're easily cleaned up by programs like ccleaner and some antivirus programs, and they're pretty harmless (aside from taking up some disc space, and of course the privacy concerns).
I highly doubt with using webroot that there would be 2,500 "viruses" on your computer, unless you click ignore for everything. You should have asked what the viruses were and what they were doing to the computer, and listened to him stumble over his own words. With repair services like this, the technicians will try and "big up" their work to try and justify the price when what they did was most likely run a few programs that did all the work for them. Just always be sure to ask a lot of questions if you absolutely need to bring your pc to one of these places and arm yourself with knowledge - otherwise some places might try to take advantage of your ignorance (as far as computers go).
I highly doubt with using webroot that there would be 2,500 "viruses" on your computer, unless you click ignore for everything. You should have asked what the viruses were and what they were doing to the computer, and listened to him stumble over his own words. With repair services like this, the technicians will try and "big up" their work to try and justify the price when what they did was most likely run a few programs that did all the work for them. Just always be sure to ask a lot of questions if you absolutely need to bring your pc to one of these places and arm yourself with knowledge - otherwise some places might try to take advantage of your ignorance (as far as computers go).
Userlevel 7
You didnt have 2,500 viruses its really as simple as that. Your PC wouldnt boot with that number of infections.
Userlevel 7
Yep. Their definition of "Viruses" is probably very loose, if accurate or truthful at all.
I can guarantee you that my main computer is infection-free, but if I took it in to Best Buy they would claim to have found stuff and want me to setup a maintenance agreement or contract or buy some software of some sort.
These retailers make very little off of sales, most of their profit comes from service contracts now.
I can guarantee you that my main computer is infection-free, but if I took it in to Best Buy they would claim to have found stuff and want me to setup a maintenance agreement or contract or buy some software of some sort.
These retailers make very little off of sales, most of their profit comes from service contracts now.
Thank you for the info. That is pretty much what the Geek said. I don't want anything on my PC that shouldn't be on there without my knowledge. Guess I'll have them clean it up more often. Thanks again.
Thank you for your comment. Makes sense.
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