Spyware Horror Stories

In last month’s Lavasoft News, we asked our newsletter readers to write in with online tales of terror that they had the misfortune of experiencing, to serve as a word of caution for fellow readers. Since Halloween has recently passed, it seems to be the perfect time to share a few of these stories.

Keep reading to learn about some spyware and virus tricks to watch out for. The moral of these tales: have protection in place on your PC so that you’re prepared before disaster strikes!

“I recently went out and bought a USB memory stick and I decided to put all my software from my CD Roms on the stick to save shelf space. I thought great! Now I have no unsightly CD cases stacked around and I have all my software on a handy stick that easily fits in my wallet.

So, I threw away all my discs (bad move). My XP installation disc was now transferred on to the stick, and because my pc was running slow I reformatted and installed Windows from the stick. All was fine. The operating system installed with no hitches. But, when the installation finalized, the PC rebooted. I went out of the room for a minute and when I got back..... to my horror…Windows said that the USB memory stick is not recognized as a Windows component and has over written every single file and folder with ZZZ’s.

All my pictures of my children, my family and friends, not to mention all the software that has cost me more now than originally, LOL! 20 years of history that cannot be replaced…So, a warning to everyone...backup, backup, backup!!

And thanks to Lavasoft because they do a great job, and I will be buying the product ASAP! …After running the Ad-Aware 2008 Free version scan I realized that I had what was known as a “ripper virus” that wiped my data and it wasn’t my stupidity after all…

- Mark in Northampton, UK

“Dear Lavasoft, I had spyware and a virus on my computer a couple of months ago. It was complete hell as my computer slowed down to a crawl, unknown programs were installed without my control, Internet Explorer kept loading by itself, my antivirus got uninstalled again without my control. I couldn't get rid of it, and had to pay £60 to have my hard drive wiped clean.”

- Lee in Manchester, UK