The Various Dangers of Antivirus 2009

<h1>The Various Dangers of Antivirus 2009 </h1>Author: <a title="Carl Atkinson" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/carl-atkinson/81027.htm">Carl Atkinson</a> Have you ever seen a pop-up window for a program called Antivirus 2009?  Does your Windows Security Center list it as your new antivirus protection?  Have you gone to the front page of Google and seen ads for it?  Has it run a "courtesy scan," and found malicious files that it needs to protect you from?  If so, you may have considered buying it, to rid yourself of these threats. Don't. Antivirus 2009 is not what it at first appears.  Someone has spent an awful lot of time making this program look like a legitimate piece of anti-virus protection.  It's all smoke and mirrors though, because this program is anything but! Among computer security professionals, this program is known as a piece of "rogue antispyware".  But that name can be a little misleading.  "Fake antivirus" is much more accurate, because this program is nothing but a fake. It will download itself onto your computer without your permission.  Then it will pop up and "scan" your computer and alert you to threats.  These may be nothing but fake threats--or they may be threats it installed itself. Why does it go through the trouble?  You guessed it--so it can sell you the "upgraded" version--which will do you just about as much good as its free, unasked for version did! But the trickery doesn't end there.  It will literally hijack your browser (!!!) so that when you go to Google's front page, you will see an ad for it, making it look legitimate! This program is very well-done, in terms of its trickery.  You probably first encountered it when you landed on a new website and got an official-looking pop-up box.  One of the gray ones that look like a regular Windows alert/dialog box. This box probably said something like, "Your computer may be infected--would you like to download and scan now?"  The tricky thing is that it doesn't matter which button you pushed--this thing downloaded itself onto your computer either way! And now it will stop at nothing to get you to buy its upgraded version.  You can try deleting it from your hard drive, but it will likely pop back up.  It hides copies of itself in several places, so that even when you think you've got it beat, it just regenerates itself next time you boot up your computer. But even trying to find and destroy it on your own can be dangerous.  It will often attach itself to DLL files and registry keys, things you don't really want to mess around with if you want your computer to keep working right. The best thing to do is to get some real anti-virus software, and take care of it.  Unfortunately, not every anti virus program can do this.  <a href="http://www.spyzooka.com " target="_blank">Antivirus 2009</a> is technically a "codec", so not every security program recognizes its true nature. Spyzooka is one program that can take care of this threat.  It even has a 100%, "wipe out every threat or your money back" guarantee.  Do you know any other program that does this?  I sure don't.   About the Author: Carl runs a site devoted to helping you rid your computer from all sorts of <a href="http://www.spyzooka.com/">spyware</a> and malware at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.spyzooka.com/">http://www.spyzooka.com/</a>Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/the-various-dangers-of-antivirus-2009-580906.html" title="The Various Dangers of Antivirus 2009 ">The Various Dangers of Antivirus 2009 </a>

Have you ever seen a pop-up window for a program called Antivirus 2009? Does your Windows Security Center list it as your new antivirus protection? Have you gone to the front page of Google and seen ads for it? Has it run a "courtesy scan," and found malicious files that it needs to protect you from? If so, you may have considered buying it, to rid yourself of these threats.

Don't.

Antivirus 2009 is not what it at first appears. Someone has spent an awful lot of time making this program look like a legitimate piece of anti-virus protection. It's all smoke and mirrors though, because this program is anything but!

Among computer security professionals, this program is known as a piece of "rogue antispyware". But that name can be a little misleading. "Fake antivirus" is much more accurate, because this program is nothing but a fake.

It will download itself onto your computer without your permission. Then it will pop up and "scan" your computer and alert you to threats. These may be nothing but fake threats--or they may be threats it installed itself.

Why does it go through the trouble? You guessed it--so it can sell you the "upgraded" version--which will do you just about as much good as its free, unasked for version did!

But the trickery doesn't end there. It will literally hijack your browser (!!!) so that when you go to Google's front page, you will see an ad for it, making it look legitimate!

This program is very well-done, in terms of its trickery. You probably first encountered it when you landed on a new website and got an official-looking pop-up box. One of the gray ones that look like a regular Windows alert/dialog box.

This box probably said something like, "Your computer may be infected--would you like to download and scan now?" The tricky thing is that it doesn't matter which button you pushed--this thing downloaded itself onto your computer either way!

And now it will stop at nothing to get you to buy its upgraded version. You can try deleting it from your hard drive, but it will likely pop back up. It hides copies of itself in several places, so that even when you think you've got it beat, it just regenerates itself next time you boot up your computer.

But even trying to find and destroy it on your own can be dangerous. It will often attach itself to DLL files and registry keys, things you don't really want to mess around with if you want your computer to keep working right.

The best thing to do is to get some real anti-virus software, and take care of it. Unfortunately, not every anti virus program can do this. Antivirus 2009 is technically a "codec", so not every security program recognizes its true nature.

Spyzooka is one program that can take care of this threat. It even has a 100%, "wipe out every threat or your money back" guarantee. Do you know any other program that does this? I sure don't.

Carl runs a site devoted to helping you rid your computer from all sorts of spyware and malware at http://www.spyzooka.com/

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Article Tags: Windows, Anti-spyware, Vundo, Antivirus Program, XP Antivirus, Xp Defender, Vista Antivirus, Xp Security Center, Antivirus 2008, Xp Antivirus 2009, Windows Xp 2008, Antivirus 2009

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