iYogi says I have a Keylogger

[siddharth.muherjee]

Hi dw2011,

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Siddharth Mukherjee and I am a supervisor in iYogi AVAST Support Team.

I am glad to know that your issue has been resolved. However let me inform you that for customer's who are using AVAST Free or Trial Product calls iYogi Technical Services for resolving Virus related issues. Then the customer has to pay $169.99 (complete 1 year subscription) to get the issue fixed. Let me share the benifits that you would get if you subscribe with iYogi Technical Services :-

1. Virus and Spyware removal
2. Setup and installation of - Computer, Laptop, Antivirus software, Wireless networking, Digital Camera, MP3, Printer, Installation of softwares and Windows Operating Systems.
3. PC Optimization.
4. Along with you would get a iYogi Software by the name of Support Dock (which has features like - PC Optimization, Green PC, Push to Talk, Registry Repair).

If I can of any help for you please feel free to write me an email at - siddharth.mukherjee@iyogi.net to get your concerns fixed.

Thanks a lot for spending sometime in order to read my email.

Regards,
Siddharth Mukherjee
iYogi Technical Services.

Disclaimer :- iYogi is an independent provider of on-demand tech support and not affiliated with any third party brand unless specified. Call now to get instant access to tech experts for multiple brands of PCs, software and connected devices, all in one place

[bob3160]

Hi dw2011,

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Siddharth Mukherjee and I am a supervisor in iYogi AVAST Support Team.

I am glad to know that your issue has been resolved. However let me inform you that for customer's who are using AVAST Free or Trial Product calls iYogi Technical Services for resolving Virus related issues. Then the customer has to pay $169.99 (complete 1 year subscription) to get the issue fixed. Let me share the benifits that you would get if you subscribe with iYogi Technical Services :-

1. Virus and Spyware removal
2. Setup and installation of - Computer, Laptop, Antivirus software, Wireless networking, Digital Camera, MP3, Printer, Installation of softwares and Windows Operating Systems.
3. PC Optimization.
4. Along with you would get a iYogi Software by the name of Support Dock (which has features like - PC Optimization, Green PC, Push to Talk, Registry Repair).

If I can of any help for you please feel free to write me an email at - siddharth.mukherjee@iyogi.net to get your concerns fixed.

Thanks a lot for spending sometime in order to read my email.

Regards,
Siddharth Mukherjee
iYogi Technical Services.

Disclaimer :- iYogi is an independent provider of on-demand tech support and not affiliated with any third party brand unless specified. Call now to get instant access to tech experts for multiple brands of PCs, software and connected devices, all in one place

Thanks for your reply and posting this advertisement of iYogi.

However let me inform you that for customer's who are using AVAST Free or Trial Product calls iYogi Technical Services for resolving Virus related issues. Then the customer has to pay $169.99

This certainly is NOT what we where told by your bosses during our meeting with them in Prague in Feb. of this year.

We where assured that as long as the person had an updated OS and his system was virus free, support for avast! regardless of the version
was Free

Has your policy now changed or, did you forget to check your answer with your boss

[siddharth.muherjee]

Hi Bob,

That is absolutely right. We continue to provide Free support all customers who call us with a new machine/old machine which is Virus free regardless of the type of AVAST product installed. However the only key difference is that Virus removal on Machines with Trail/Free Products in usually not supported free but exceptions are always there.

I would be more than glad if you try our services to witness the scope of support i have mentioned earlier.

Regards,

Siddharth Mukherjee
iYogi Technical Services

Disclaimer :- iYogi is an independent provider of on-demand tech support and not affiliated with any third party brand unless specified. Call now to get instant access to tech experts for multiple brands of PCs, software and connected devices, all in one place

[bob3160]

Hi Bob,

That is absolutely right. We continue to provide Free support all customers who call us with a new machine/old machine which is Virus free regardless of the type of AVAST product installed. However the only key difference is that Virus removal on Machines with Trail/Free Products in usually not supported free but exceptions are always there.

I would be more than glad if you try our services to witness the scope of support i have mentioned earlier.

Regards,

Siddharth Mukherjee
iYogi Technical Services

Thanks for clarifying your original reply. I unfortunately don't have the time to take you up on your offer since I'm on the road.
Hopefully another Evangelist will take you up on that offer.
Regards.

[DavidR]

We have plenty of real experiences of iYogi support in these very forums and in all honesty it doesn't look good.

Whilst these would only be a small number against the overall number of support calls, these are also the ones that have taken the time to register on the forums to get help and recount their experiences.

What many of these posts have in common is the iYogi support tech using the remote connection to look in other areas (windows event viewer) to support the case for offering the user the paid iYogi support package.

I certainly don't intend to become a mystery shopper to test iYogi support, I prefer to spend my time more productively trying to help other avast users on these forums.

[siddharth.muherjee]

Hi DavidR,

At iYogi Technical Services when we receive a call, our main aim is to help the customer's resolve the present issue in the system along with it we check (with help of MS Windows Utility) customer's system for any previous errors which the customer might have experienced. Post discussing the same with the customer our Tech Support Team helps the customer to resolve all the errors.
This process of error diagnosing and resolving has helped us (iYogi) to achieve Highest Resolution Rates in the industry.

Allow me to invite to try our services.

Regards,
Siddharth Mukherjee
iYogi Technical Services.

Disclaimer :- iYogi is an independent provider of on-demand tech support and not affiliated with any third party brand unless specified. Call now to get instant access to tech experts for multiple brands of PCs, software and connected devices, all in one place

[DavidR]

I'm aware of what your main aim might be, but the occurrences that we have seen in these forums tend to indicate that there are also alternative aims and that is a sales pitch.

As I said I have no desire to become a secret shopper, I'm on the forums as a volunteer, an avast user and not employee of avast and see plenty of anecdotal evidence of this conversion of what starts out as a cry for help becoming a sales pitch. When we do see that in the forums it is reported to avast for investigation.

Your first post in this topic Reply #15, probably wasn't a good idea as it almost confirms what I have said above. Support call ending in a sales pitch. It is more of an advert of iYogi services and that hasn't gone down too well with regular forum members.

[dw2011]

As the original poster, I’d like to share my experience (positive and negative) for those curious about iYogi and to provide iYogi some feedback.

I am new to Avast and not familiar with its operation.  I called the customer service number which lead to iYogi to see how to delete a virus that was found by Avast.  The iYogi tech pointed out that the virus was in the virus chest.  That resolved satisfactorily my initial reason for calling
 
The tech was professional, patient, and respected my decision to decline the service contract.  I also like the fact that iYogi is responding to forum posts here even though there is a bit of marketing and PR damage control.   I think these were positives in my one experience with iYogi. 

As for the negative, I am disappointed with the tech’s definitive conclusion that I have a keylogger based on…

1. one blank entry in the MSconfig start-up menu
2. red error messages in my events logs 
3. the tech’s eight years of experience in finding keyloggers/spyware

An internet search after the tech call indicated that blank entries in the MSconfig start-up could be caused by uninstalled programs.  This entry disappeared after I uncheck it in the start up menu and rebooted.  Error messages in the event logs have a number of possibilities not just an indicator of keylogger infection.

This certainly scared me but I felt I needed more evidence (clues or signs) of a keylogger which is why I came to the forums here.  Volunteers here in the forums found no evidence of a keylogger but they also cautioned that their analysis can’t rule out that possibility.  I know there is no way to be 100% certain that your computer is safe.

I do feel like there are some scare tactics involved the iYogi service calls based on my experience and what I have read on these forums.  This call has caused me to spend a considerable amount of time researching and worrying about keyloggers.  I am still considering reinstalling the software on my computer just to be safe.

To address this negative…. a better approach may be to say the there is a “possibility” of a keylogger rather than saying “there is a keylogger” on your computer.  But this is only valid if the indicators pointed out by the iYogi tech justify the conclusion of a possible keylogger presence.  If these indicators don’t then this is just simply a scare tactic.

Anyway, this is my experience for the Avast community and iYogi.  For iYogi folks… my Case No is 201107213211810.

[Rednose]

In my opinion our forum provides the best support for Avast! and malware removal as well. And all we ask from you is a

Greetz, Red.

[dw2011]

This Avast community rocks!!  I am glad I discovered it.   

[jadinolf]

In my opinion our forum provides the best support for Avast! and malware removal as well. And all we ask from you is a

Greetz, Red.

Go get 'em Red

[REDACTED]

Thanks, Pondus.  I did Malwarebytes and nothing was found.  Attached is the log.  I downloaded OTL from the link in essexboy’s guide  (http://oldtimer.geekstogo.com/OTS.exe) and just ran it through http://virscan.org/ and www.virustotal.com. Some scans found issues with the OTL…

PUA.Packed.PECompact-1
W32/Heuristic-210!Eldorado (Heuristic)
Trojan.Siggen2.55043

http://virusscan.jotti.org/en/scanresult/0b9be36eae7e219427faf200e6dd2b7ad4274ac3
http://file.virscan.org/report/6f34381c74d4b990d7e963df4b479543.html

Can you or someone confirm these are false positives the OTL download?  I know I may be silly but this is my first time getting free online help and I am not familiar with OTL.  Just want to make sure there no risk on this download.

Also, I love http://virscan.org/ and www.virustotal.com.... thanks so much for letting me know about these sites.

DrWeb - Trojan.Siggen2.55043

false alarm will be fixed.

The error has been corrected.