The answer is yes. I have picked up a bug that "scans your computer for viruses" then wants to sell you the "fix". I have contracted it twice on both my laptop and desktop for a total of 4 instances. I didn't recognize what was happening until just tonight while watching a tv show that I started at my son's home using his wireless router with my laptop, while baby sitting our grand daughter, then finishing it later at home. It doesn't appear to be difficult to remove but aggravating non the less. I wrote Surfthechannel.com a note and will post their reply if they do.
I have also ran into this bug, not hard to remove, it has just started recently on STC. I have also contacted STC about this, but it seems to me they are more interested in profit ( they were prob paid to have that put on there) It does look authentic as if windows had detected a virus (if you know nothing about computers and safe browsing) its very easy to be fooled. I'm sure several people have actually bought into this scam and paid for it... As I have had to remove several Similar programs on several friends computers..
The people that make these programs, are really pathetic... Most of them after installed come with their own trojans, they allow you to scan then ask for payment to remove THE VERY VIRUS THEY PUT THERE. Complete Scum.
You only get viruses if you're a complete idiot and click on the big flashing buttons offering you free porn (or run an insecure out-of-date version of internet explorer). Keep up-to-date with the latest patches (or use Firefox), don't click on links offering porn or gambling and you'll be fine. I don't even run any virus protection and my computer is perfectly uninfected.
My friend and I were watching shows and movies on her mac while at her house so when I got home I when to the website and without even clicking on anything my screen went bright green and said your computer now has a virus. That really sucked because I had to clear everything of my laptop and then reload the things I could find. I lost a lot of pictures and programs like Microsoft Office so be careful I guess
I used to go on STC all the time and I never had any problems. One day I got a virus while on the website. I foolishly thought it was just a coincidence or that it probably came from a site I had visited previously. I logged on to STC with a different computer and got the same virus. I never clicked on any of the pop ups either.
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We use STC all the time and never have had a problem -- but we use Macs. While housesitting a couple of months ago, I used their PC to try to watch a show and an obnoxious popup virus immediately made the PC unusable. It was not difficult to remove, but it was an annoying, time-consuming, multi-step process. I'd never go to STC while using a PC -- and the lesson I learned is stick to Macs.
I run IE8 with the avant browser rendered in IE8 mode, microsoft security essentials, and advanced system care 3.(there is a paid and free version of asc3). Set advanced system care to defrag only if hard drive is 3 mb fragmented if you decide to use this program, otherwise, there's a possiblity it could defrag more often than needed. I've been using this site for years with live one care and have never acquired any type of unexplained behavior or virus. Microsoft security essentials has replaced live one care and still no infections or unexplained behavior. Avant will block all of the hidden links that are loaded on the site.
Surf The Channel is not safe. I too got the registry virus on my laptop, as a result all exe shortcuts stopped working. Had to take the system back to a restore point. If STC won't even acknowledge the problem, I won't go back.
NOOOO. After clicking a link on the SurftheChannel page, I was taken to a site that dropped a registry virus in my system. The end result was completely formatting the machine. Evil bad mojo.
