How to Spot Malicious Anti-Virus Programs

A growing problem on the internet s that of the rogue anti-virus infection, also known as software gimmick. This program pretends to be an anti-virus utility, but is actually just adware infection. It is often also accompanied by one or more Trojan infections, which opens security holes and allows all sorts of other spyware in. XP Antivirus 2010 is one such fraud.

SIGNS YOU HAVE A MALICIOUS FAKE ANTI-VIRUS

There are three main signs to look for. First off, the way it got onto your computer. This kind of program often appears of its own accord without you installing it, or is downloaded and installed to your computer after claiming ‘You are infected’ on an unrelated to security website. You may encounter a popup ad pretending to be a Windows alert, and it has an animation ‘scanning for threats’. It will come up with a number of bogus entries, and then tell you to install their software and fix the problems you don’t actually have.
Fraudulent anti-virus programs have a frantic sense of immediacy intended to incite panic. They will tell you that you are critically, extremely infected, and that it is urgent you give them your credit card information right away so that they can save you. There will be popups, that when closed result in additional popups, sometimes 2 or 3 times. These popups will return every minute or so, and interrupt whatever you are doing to demand your attention often filling the whole screen and appearing on top of all other windows.
The threats found by fraudulent anti-virus programs are entirely fabrications. None of the problems found by these infections actually exist on your computer. Very often malicious antivirus programs disable your genuine antivirus software.
There are hundreds of these fake programs on the market now, but some of the more common ones include Antispyware 2011, Spyware Protect 2009, Total Security, and XP Antivirus 2010, recovery tools.