Bock Norton security scan!

[xmorg]

Ive already followed the tutorials on the painstaking process of removing this unwanted malware from your computer. Now Im looking for ideas on preventing it from installing.

I cant be there all day and night monitoring the "family" computer to make sure that someone doesn't upgrade flash or shockwave and accidentally install this piece of crap.

Is there anyway to fake out the computer and make the install error out or something?

[Beastie]

How about creating a "limited user" (LUA) account for everyday use and keeping the administrator's password secret?

And you can ditch all the useless AV crap and get some disk imaging software instead.
Format the system partition, reinstall the system and all the needed software and create an image of the partition.
Every time the system slows down or gets infected, or the registry gets corrupted, etc. simply restore the backed up image. Most imaging software can do that within minutes.

[Carpetsmoker]

Educate your family about malware. In general it's easy to spot once you can recognize the signs.

[fbsduser]

Remove windoze.

[robbak]

It really is nasty seeing companies with such (user)trusted names as Norton and McAfee getting into the malware scareware markets.
And I don't really have any solutions. All antivirus products can't, for legal reasons, block the actions of their legitimate counterparts. As these things come with things like adobe and flash, .... Well, I'm lost.

Create a limited user account and keep the admin passwords. Lock the user out of their computer.

[Mako_Elite]

Ditch the windoze if you can. There are many good alternatives to replace it, BSD flavors, Linux, etc. But if you absolutely have to use windows, then you may have to deal with it.
I am running Vista on my wife's laptop for last few years and Norton 360 4.0 and so far did not have any issues.
Just be careful when something pops for admin password and really think twice before
clicking yes. If not sure, cancel it. Use standard user account with limited privileges and let only one person to do any updates, installs etc == only ONE administrator.
Personally I ditched windoze long time ago, and I am running OpenBSD on all my laptops. I also like FreeBSD.
It is just a matter of preference. Whatever operating system works for you and get the
work done.
Good luck.

[Carpetsmoker]

Using Microsoft EMET also helps a lot by the way.

[jggimi]

I saw this earlier this week on Bruce Schneier's blog:

Scareware: How Crime Pays

Scareware is fraudulent software that uses deceptive advertising to trick users into believing they're infected with some variety of malware, then convinces them to pay money to protect themselves. The infection isn't real, and the software they buy is fake, too. It's all a scam.

Here's one scareware operator who sold "more than 1 million software products" at "$39.95 or more," and now has to pay $8.2 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint.

Seems to me that $40 per customer, minus $8.20 to pay off the FTC, is still a pretty good revenue model. Their operating costs can't be very high, since the software doesn't actually do anything. Yes, a court ordered them to close down their business, but certainly there are other creative entrepreneurs that can recognize a business opportunity when they see it.

[Carpetsmoker]

Paying money for a nonexistent imaginary problem. Where have we seen that before?