Carl runs a site devoted to helping you rid your computer from all sorts of spyware and malware at http://www.spyzooka.com/
Don’t be fooled--Real Antivirus is a scam. How it starts is you get flooded with intrusive, deceptive pop-ups telling you that your computer is infected and the only hope is to click the pop-up. You are scared that your computer may be harmed, so you click the pop-ups and go to the Real Antivirus (also called RealAV) website where a fake scan runs and tells you that you are infected. Yes, I said fake scan. The files it lists as infecting your computer are not on your computer. If you do a search you will find they don’t exist, but most people are so alarmed at this point that they just want to get the infection off their computer without even checking if its real or not.
After the scan you are pressured to pay $89.95 on a credit card for a full version of Real Antivirus. Many cave in at this point, falling for the scare tactics, and give their credit card information to get the infection off their computer. The problem is you are not giving your credit card information to a legitimate company--you are giving your credit card information to scammers. There is no telling how they will use your credit card information.
Now that you have given your money to Real Antivirus, you get the “program.” The program is really a bundle of spyware, malware and adware. You still get pop-ups, your computer is being monitored for personal confidential information that will get sent to the original programmers of Real Antivirus, and your computer could be being used in denial-of-service attacks or for spamming others. Your computer will completely slow down because of all the background processes running on your computer, thanks to Real Antivirus. Real Antivirus is also known to hijack your web browser. We’ve also seen this program before as a different name; Real Antivirus is a clone of Antivirus 2008.
How did you get this infection in the first place? Maybe you opened up some spam and got it, or maybe you thought you were going to watch a video and got it since it likes to disguise itself as a ActiveX codec. Aside from spam, the most common place to find it is on porn sites, but that doesn’t mean that is the only place to find it. Creators of programs like Real Antivirus are always looking for more ways and places to spread their programs.
So how do you remove Real Antivirus? I hate to tell you, but it is not easy. You have to do some research. As you learned with Real Antivirus, not all programs that say they get rid of infections on your computer do so. Some, as you have learned, are infections themselves. That is why you have to do some research. The best place to start is to look for a program with awards. Some examples of legitimate awards are Tucows 5 Star Rating, Soft14.com’s 5 Stars, 5StarShare.com Editor’s Pick, Topshareware.com 5 Stars, and WUGNET’s Hall of Fame. If a program has any of these awards you can be assured you’re getting a legitimate program that has proven itself to work well. I mean, if you are going to spend money on something, don’t you want to be sure it not only works, but works well?
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