The Security Shield Virus is rogue anti-virus and anti-spyware software that tries to scare users into purchasing the full version of the software. Like many other fake anti-virus software applications, you get the Security Shield Virus from downloading corrupt email attachments or visiting phishing websites. Many of these websites will download the malware silently in the background or under the guise of another name, so you'll never know how or when the fake anti-virus software first infected your system. You should remove the Security Shield Virus from your computer immediately.
What the Security Shield Virus Does
Once your computer is infected, the Security Shield Virus will begin bombarding you with endless pop-ups, claiming that the anti-virus software has run a system-wide scan of your computer and has detected several dangerous infections. The language in these pop-ups is alarming, and the marketing tactics are extremely aggressive. When you attempt to use Security Shield to remove any of these infections, you are halted as the rogue software explains you must first upgrade to the full, paid version to be able to remove the infections.
Do not upgrade to the full, paid version. If you do, hackers will charge your credit card for a bogus product and almost certainly steal your credit card numbers for future criminal activity. The scamming software is also a bit more menacing than many other types of fake anti-virus software. In addition to redirecting your web browser to more phishing websites and bogging down your system's run times, the Security Shield Virus will not allow you to run any executable files. Each time you try to open an executable file, many of which are quite important, an alert will come up saying that the executable is infected with "Exploit.Perl.Small.a" and will ask, "Do you want to register your copy and remove all threats now?" This cripples you from using your computer to large degree. This is all done in a malicious attempt to make you think that your computer is truly, gravely infected with some very bad bugs, and that you really need to upgrade the Security Shield software so that it can save the day.
Getting Rid of the Security Shield Virus
Removing the virus manually presents a challenge. Anti-virus authorities have pinpointed the locations of the viral files associated with the Security Shield Virus, but the names of the files are always different, usually a random string of numbers.
On computers running Windows XP, the viral files are located either in: "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\[random]" or "New Path C:\Documents and Settings\USER NAME\Local Settings\Application Data."
For computers running Windows Vista, the files are: "C:\ProgramData\[random characters]\[random characters].exe" or "New Path C:\Users\USER NAME\AppData\Local."
Again, the exact names of the files will be different for every user. If you suspect you have the Security Shield Virus, you can find these locations on your computer and see odd-looking files with names that include random numbers and characters, there is a good chance these files are viral. Deleting the files could get rid of the virus.
However, there could be more files in more locations, making the virus harder to manually delete. If you cannot manually delete the Security Shield Virus, consider having top-rated anti-virus software delete it for you automatically. The best anti-virus software is highly effective at eliminating pre-existing malware and protecting your computer from future threats.
At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™