2009-12-07, 07:12 PM
Lots of "fake" spyware removal programs have been popping up lately, and are usually installed when you get a popup from a website, and it says something along the lines of "you have x amount of spyware installed on your computer. Click here for a free removal."
The names are usually generic, such as you got with the Windows Life Security etc. All I can say to prevent this from happening again, is to know what programs you have for firewall and for anti-virus/spyware removal. That will flag you on what a bad popup is.
The main target for these "fake" anti-virus? The elderly. They are gullible and will click on anything when they think there is an issue. The program that gets installed usually throws up false positives, which is why you only got 4 viruses removed by a real program. The list of programs that was listed in the OP by the Windows Life program seemed very generic, and some of the programs didnt seem to be real.
The names are usually generic, such as you got with the Windows Life Security etc. All I can say to prevent this from happening again, is to know what programs you have for firewall and for anti-virus/spyware removal. That will flag you on what a bad popup is.
The main target for these "fake" anti-virus? The elderly. They are gullible and will click on anything when they think there is an issue. The program that gets installed usually throws up false positives, which is why you only got 4 viruses removed by a real program. The list of programs that was listed in the OP by the Windows Life program seemed very generic, and some of the programs didnt seem to be real.