Carl runs a site devoted to helping you rid your computer from all sorts of spyware and malware at http://www.spyzooka.com/
Just like such programs as XP Defender, Vista Antivirus, and AntiSpyCheck, Antivirus 2008 is anything but what it claims to be.
These programs are all a kind of malware called fraudware. They masquerade as anti-virus or anti-spyware programs in an attempt to trick the honest user into spending money on an "upgraded" version.
Often these programs will display a screen asking if you want to download the product. It poses as a free or trial version of the "real thing" that you can try out. But sometimes these programs will load themselves through holes in your browser security, without your knowledge. Seeing a program on your computer that you didn't even download is the first sign that it shouldn't be there.
No matter how it gets onto your computer, it will soon start displaying alert windows. It will claim that you have an infection on your computer. It ever-so-helpfully provides a link to help take care of your problem. But once you click it, then your system becomes fully infected!
Antivirus 2008 will often do things like changing your background and screensaver. Even worse, it may lock your homepage, display many pop-up ads, overwrite your admin privileges, and disable basic functions or programs like Display Properties and Task Manager.
It does all of this in an attempt to con you into buying the "upgraded" version of this product.
But what's worse is that this can act as a gateway to secretly downloading unwanted files, stealing your passwords and even your credit card information!
Even if it doesn't steal your personal information, the Antivirus 2008 Trojan and its variations can effectively lock you out of most essential computer functions. It can then run several rogue anti-spyware programs in a loop, in order to get you to pay for fake protection.
Buying the "solution" will fix the infection for a short period of time. Unfortunately, Antivirus 2008 won't leave your computer. Instead, it will hide inside your hard drive and continue to release new files into your system.
A few days after buying the "full" version of Antivirus 2008, your computer will again be infected! This is the fraudware's creators' way of conning you into buying one piece of fake anti-virus software after another!
What can you do about this? Unfortunately, it is extremely hard to get rid of this malicious software by hand. Good anti-spyware or anti-virus programs might possibly do the trick. But sadly, Antivirus 2008 and its related programs often fly under the radar of many of the most popular anti-virus solutions.
One of the best things to do is find a good security program that can scan your whole system and report its findings to a "home base" on the web. This "home base" can in turn analyze the data sent and let you know if you've got a problem, where other programs often don't.
No matter what you do, the important thing is to get Antivirus 2008 taken care of quickly--and not by buying its "paid" version!
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