I Got A Virus In Ubuntu Linux

I was using Ubuntu Gutsy to surf the internet when suddenly this pop up appeared.

















Oh My Gawd! I got me a virus because the XP Antivirus Online Scanner said so.
It says I have several trojans including a backdoor password stealing trojan and several serious spyware components. They are in my System32 folder.
It says to click on the Remove All button to clean up my system but when I click on it, nothing happens!
What am I gonna do!??????

Oh! Wait! I said I was using Ubuntu, not XPee.
I don't have a System32 folder. I can't execute exe files natively and because of how Linux configures user accounts, crap like this can't install itself without my permission and a password.

Ah, the stuff I don't miss using Linux.
No spyware, virus, trojans, hijackers or all that other crap that comes with Windowz OS's.

But what really scares me is that the above pop up looks like an official Windowz security alert window and that poor sap that believes it is real is gonna be royally screwed.
He won't be ''Fixing his system. He will be installing a form of the Winfixer virus.

I've had my bouts with this scourge of the internet.
When it first appeared the antivirus companies were about 3 days behind in releasing new database signatures to prevent being infected with this crap.
I lost over 100 Gigs of files because it downloaded another previously unknown virus which permanently infected many of my files.

I still get the occasional repair call for this crap.
Usually it is because the kids were on the internet, go to an infected web page or to a web page that is using an infected ad server and see the pop up.
They get scared thinking they did something that infected the computer.
They don't want their parents to get mad so they click on it thinking it will be fixed and the parents will be none the wiser.

Seems that is how much of this stuff spreads. Either by ignorance, fear or gullibility.
The fact that it looks like an official Windowz security window leads people to believe it is legit.

My all time favorite in terms of cleverness was the SULFNBK.EXE email scam.
It told users to check their system for that file. If they had it they needed to delete it because it was a virus. It wasn't a virus. It was a legit Windowz file.
People deleted it and were no longer able to use long file names.

A few days later another email appeared with a ''fix'
That fix was a virus.
Complete misdirection and confusion were used to distribute that virus.

So when you are tired of fighting and wasting time with spyware and viruses do yourself a favor and change over to Linux.
You will never regret it!

TaZMAn