badvertising
If you visited the
New York Times website last week, you may have been surprised to have your browsing interrupted by one of those scammy "we're scanning your computer for viruses OH NO YOU HAVE A VIRUS!" ads that overtake your window. Now
Microsoft has filed 5 lawsuits in an attempt to fight back against the jerks who may have been responsible for it, and certainly for other ads like it all over the web.
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malware
Computer virus company McAfee has assembled a
list of the top search keywords that are most commonly linked to malware exposure. The winning phrases are: word unscrambler, lyrics, myspace, free music downloads, phelps, game cheats, printable fill-in puzzles, free ringtones and solitaire. In addition, the general categories that are considered riskiest are: screen savers, free games, work from home, Olympics, videos, celebrities, music and news.
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customer service
Reader Lance emailed
Digital River to opt-out of the automatic license renewal that came with his three-year subscription to BitDefender Antivirus. Rather than read Lance's email,
Digital River instead decided to cancel his entire purchase. After throwing several protest emails into Digital River's
customer service void, Lance decided to accept the refund so he could buy a different antivirus package. Except now, the refund is nowhere to be found...
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symantec
Something bad has happened to Symantec's once-good chat service, notes Neil J. Rubenking at PC Mag. In the past, he says, they were helpful and knowledgable; now they pass freeware apps off as their own and attempt to get you to pay $100 fees for their "expert" service when you're trying to troubleshoot a problem with them. He writes, "My new experiences while evaluating
Norton 360 version 3.0
opened my eyes to the magnitude of the problem. Did Symantec switch outsourced support companies? Has the chat support team gone rogue?"
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apple
According to
Computerworld, Apple yanked a "controversial" support document from its website Tuesday, after it began a heated debate among the Apple faithful. What was the controversial advice? Apple suggested its users run anti-virus software.
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norton
If you have an unresolved Norton/
Symantec complaint and regular customer service doesn't help you out, you might want to try giving one of the top-ranking company executives inside a call or an email. Don't forget to be nice, polite, and professional, and remember the
guidelines for contacting executive customer service. If you need help writing a solid complaint letter,
here's a template to follow. And if you want a real anti-virus program that won't hose up your computer,
try NOD32. Now here's the complete executive contact list...
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symantec
According to ZDNet Australia, if you want your computer to be as disease-free as a virginal Catholic school girl lesbian, you're better off going with the little guys than Symantec, McAfee or Trend Micro.
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Consumerist
