Bonza Mobile Computer Repairs

Fake Antivirus Software

There has been a massive increase in the amount of users getting infected by fraud antivirus programs that are floating around the internet. Over the past 3 years I have seen the rate of infection climb from every 1 in 10 machines that have viruses to 1 in 3 machines which seem to contract it.

What is a fraud antivirus?

A fraud antivirus is a legitimate looking antivirus program which may pop up while you are browsing or after you have had a downloading stint using various P2P software downloading programs (see my guide on limewire and p2p programs for more information on these). These fake programs are actually viruses themselves and they disable your current antivirus and in some cases allow more viruses into your PC. They can be particularly difficult to remove and can even remove important windows files from your PC in some extreme cases, claiming that these needed files are in fact viruses and removing them upon the users request. A lot of these programs will ask you for credit card details to ‘activate the software’ and allow it to remove the ‘infected’ files. Under no circumstances should you ever enter your details into these programs as they have been linked to bank fraud, which means you could wake up the next morning to an empty bank account.

Why doesn’t my antivirus package prevent this type of infection?

This is a very valid question as you have more than likely spent good money on your current security suite. Basically, most antivirus programs will come up with a popup asking if you are sure you want to let certain files into your PC. If someone allows the fraud antivirus into their machine, there is nothing that your antivirus package can do to stop it. The virus gets in, knocks out your scanner completely or compromises it to hide itself and then starts creating problems.

How do I prevent my PC from being infected by this?

Familiarise yourself with your antivirus package and what it looks like. If anything pops up that seems different, simply don’t click it. The only time an antivirus package will ask for money is when your subscription has expired. It will not ask for money to remove a particular infection.  If anything you aren’t sure about asks you for money, don’t enter your bank details. Just like a strange doorknocker from a company you have never heard of asking you for money… you wouldn’t give them any until you knew more about who they were and what they were selling. Apply these common sense rules to the computer and internet world and you will come out on top. If something looks really confusing and you aren’t sure what to make of it, feel free to give us a call. Phone support only costs $20 which is a small price to pay particularly when we are talking about something that could potentially compromise your bank account or credit card. On a final note, if you have a free antivirus package consider upgrading it to a paid antivirus solution. In this world nothing is truly free, and the quality of these free packages is extremely low.

Cheers

Tags: antivirus frauds, fake antivurus software, fraud antivirus packages, fraud antivirus programs, How do I prevent my PC from being infected, What is a fraud antivirus