correct answer for customer on "How did I get that virus?"

[netxm]

Almost every time I do a clean up, customers ask me "How did I get that virus?, I have good antivirus, which you recommended" (which is AVG), I don't like to tell them words like don't visit porno sites or don't download illegal music.
What do you do in situations like this? I apologize if this question already has been posted here (I did search and didn't find)

[abe]

i know its difficult to say that to their faces, but you could say something like " these are the sites in your history ...." or "this file detected by spybot is called ...." "was installed at 10:53 at that time someone on this computer was viewing xyz.info" but the truth is you gotta learn to say it to their faces. They will probably deny it, but at least they will know the truth.

Abe

[Bryce W]

I get asked this all the time and these are my answers.

If the issue was something like Antivirus2009:

"You were probably surfing a website and had an error message pop up saying your computer is infected with a million viruses, press OK to fix this. It will probably look very legitimate too and often hard to get rid of on the screen. If this happens in the future, just close the browser completey and reopen it. Never ever click OK to these things as thats how you get infected"

If the issue is an email virus:
"You most likely opened an email attachment. Sometimes you'll get a random email from someone you dont know but it will try and get you to open it. They are usually very unspecific like "Here are the files you asked for". If you open them you'll most likely get infected.

The worst kind are the ones you get from your friends. Lets say my computer got infected, these viruses will send a copy of itself to everyone on my address book. Now, lets say your on my address book and you get a copy. You see the email is from me, you know me and trust me so you open the email attachment and get infected yourself. THEN it sends a copy of itself to everyone on YOUR address book. Your friends get it, they know you and trust you.. and the cycle continues"

If the issue is just adware:
"You most likely installed some software that came with it. It can be in the form of free screensavers, free toolbars, free smileys or you may have even installed some other free software like Limeware, Bearshare etc.. In most cases, while installing these it'll say somewhere that its going to install this junk. Read it very carefully or just avoid them completely."

[netxm]

usualy I tell them "none of Antiviruses will protect you if you're using harmful websites, or filesharing", or "Antivirus efective only on 80%".... something like that

[14049752]

I usually say something to the effect of "It's hard to determine exactly where the problem came from, but..." (and then a concise version of what Bryce said.)

[MLCS]

I'm the same as Bryce as well. Mentioning "Porn Sites" is a big no-no in my opinion. Because you can't be 100% sure that's where it came from to begin with, and if it didn't come from a porn site, you're now getting some younger sons in trouble, keeping a mother up at nights, or getting a husband in trouble (that husband may be the guy signing your checks btw) for no reason.

I usually tell them that these viruses can come from anywhere. I will bring up file sharing as one of the possible infectors, but if I mention sites at all it's a round about way like "harmful websites" or "websites with unknown integrity". You don't have to go into specific detail, and I don't think you should unless they really push you on the EXACT location it came from.

[Majestic]

Originally Posted by netxm

Almost every time I do a clean up, customers ask me "How did I get that virus?, I have good antivirus, which you recommended" (which is AVG), I don't like to tell them words like don't visit porno sites or don't download illegal music.
What do you do in situations like this? I apologize if this question already has been posted here (I did search and didn't find)

Usually I tell them it's impossible to know exactly how they got the virus. I continue to say how they could have got infected through a greeting card email, a malicious website, or simply opening a program sent to them in email when they didn't know who was the author.

As for recommendations.... I have been SO disappointed with AVG. These days I recommend VIPRE or Antivir.

Majestic

[nonchalant]

I agree with Majestic. Its impossible to tell a customer HOW they got infected.

I recall some years ago downloading a program from download.com which turned out to contain a virus. So I say something along the lines of "you can be as careful as you like but no matter what you do, no matter what programs you run, as long as you use the 'net you run the risk of becoming infected". I leave it at that.

[netxm]

and how about when customer mentions that I sold them an Antivirus, which has to protect them from malware and now they got infected and pay me for clean up. Sometimes people think if they have AV they can do whatever they want and nothing will infect them. Or sometimes I have situation: 1-2 days (or even hours) after clean up, customer calls and say that pop ups or warnings are back. (I'm sure it was clean, before I left) When I go back there (internet history is empty, limewire is installed) and try to explain that I'm not guarantee that you will get virus again, I do just a clean up. They are frustrated.

[Majestic]

Originally Posted by netxm

and how about when customer mentions that I sold them an Antivirus, which has to protect them from malware and now they got infected and pay me for clean up. Sometimes people think if they have AV they can do whatever they want and nothing will infect them. Or sometimes I have situation: 1-2 days (or even hours) after clean up, customer calls and say that pop ups or warnings are back. (I'm sure it was clean, before I left) When I go back there (internet history is empty, limewire is installed) and try to explain that I'm not guarantee that you will get virus again, I do just a clean up. They are frustrated.

heh I come across this sometimes. I tell the customer how no matter what antivirus they have there are programmers out there that are genius and they fool even the best protection. Unfortunately, that's the reality today. That said, I DO give them a 1 month guarantee. If they get re-infected within that time span I'll re-clean up their computer for free.

I had an issue once where I cleaned the computer and spent 3 hours (it was really nasty ). They called me back 2 weeks later.. I guess I didn't completely kill it all. I went there for another 3 hours and this time it really was out. That's part of business. That's life.

Majestic