Don't get trapped by Rogue Anti-Spyware software!

Posted by Richard Rossbauer on: 2005-06-30 13:40:13

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Recent computer problems raised my suspicions that a hijacker or other malware program had infiltrated its protective software.

Too many crashes and program hang-ups were taking place to be normal. Yes, there really shouldn't be any problems in a virus and spyware free computer.

But, who is blessed with such a pure machine?

The experts nearly all agree that upwards of 90 percent of all computers used to visit the Internet are infected with some sort of virus, adware, spyware or malware. And even though my startup routine includes automatic sweeps by two different spyware sweepers and one virus scanner, stuff could still get in.

So, I tried a new anti-spyware software advertised in a recent newsletter. This program indicated that two of the nastiest browser hijackers in circulation and two equally nasty malwares were buried in my Registry and 'ini' files!

I was dumbfounded! How did my top rated protective programs miss them? Not only did they get by the start-up protective software, but they apparently slipped under the gun-sights of the registry monitor that operates in the background, and the monitor (Webroot SpySweeper) that sweeps before shutdown.

What really aroused my suspicions was the price tag to have this new program remove the infiltrators. It was quite high compared to the price for registering any of the popular and highly recommended protective programs, some of which will remove spyware for free.

Before spending that amount of money for a suspicious product, I did a Google search for ["Name of Anti-spyware program" + Avoid].

Yes! It was shown as Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware(*) at SpywareWarrior.com along with another 199 similarly suspicious offerings, and advice on how to avoid being duped or robbed by False Positive findings.

(*)"Rogue/Suspect" means that these products are of unknown, questionable, or dubious value if used for anti-spyware protection.

Spyware Warrior is a great website to bookmark for future reference. Here's a link: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

These are the programs I used to confirm my suspicions. None found the four infiltrators:

Spybot S&D,AdAware, Xoftspy, Xcleaner, CWSshredder,
HijackThis, AVG, and ErrorNuker.

It's possible that the Suspect anti-spyware program would have removed them.

I wasn't going to take that gamble. It's bad enough that spyware and adware are disabling millions of home computers. Exploiting
this epidemic with fake programs that claim to remove these pests for an exorbitant fee, but might not, is unscrupulous and unconscionable behavior.

About the Author

Richard Rossbauer started his "Firewalls and Virus Protection" website and "Security Alert News Reporter" to help everyday Internet users navigate safely through the Cyber Space that has become a 'Cyber Jungle', loaded with ambushes and booby traps. He promotes his "Computer Security Awareness Campaign" thru his Blog and website at http://www.firewalls-and-virus-protection.com.

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