[mountainlion]

I have heard that paying the ransom goes form bad to worse as you give up your banking or credit card information. I am struggling with Marc's cyber page pirating Waterfox. I am using programs form Download.com and have removed Trojans and other virus files but not the pirate page. I expect things to get worse as the government gives our information to China.

[fwdude]

The transaction is done with bitcoins, so there is no exposure to your bank account.

[Lazamataz]

I have heard that paying the ransom goes form bad to worse as you give up your banking or credit card information.

That's why God invented one-time-use debit cards!

Load the card, spend 6 bux on the fee, and boom. Done.

[ConservativeMind]

“Fixing” virus infections from within an infected Windows instance is no longer assured of wiping a virus. You need to download and use one or two emergency boot CD/DVD disks from an antivirus vendor and run those against your hard drive.

Once you burn the disk image, boot only using the CD/DVD and let it clean your system. This works because the virus isn't capable of thwarting the cleaning, while when in a booted Windows session, it can actively outwit being cleaned.

Almost all antivirus companies have these boot images, now. 80+% of them are free.

[grayeagle]

I had problems with Download.com about a year ago. Long-story-short, I had to reformat and reinstall. It may not be their fault but they are not protecting their clients.