In today’s computer repairs blog, I want to talk about scareware. Scareware is similar to Malware (for malicious software) and is designed to scare you into believing your computer is infected.
(It worked a treat on my mother, who called late at night and in complete panic!). Infections of this kind are no longer limited to adult sites or pirated software downloads and provide a nice income support for computer repairs technicians.
Scareware generally pops up on your screen in the form of a realistic looking “scan”. This scan ‘completes’ and urgently informs you that your computer is over-run by infections. The message is specifically designed to scare and panic users into interacting with the program. A lot of users are so overcome by the urgency of the message that they click on the “remove” button.
This is where the extra work of computer repairs geeks is created, just at that point. Because, once you click on that button you will generally be shown a window that states that most of the “infections” have been removed, but to safely remove the remaining few you need to upgrade to the professional version of the program.
The average user (including my dear mother…who has since learnt her lesson) will get their credit card out and input those magic numbers. Needless to say that the ‘viruses’ do not get removed and in most cases the user (I am still think of my mother here) is encouraged to continue trying to correctly input their card details. Not that that is needed. You see, as soon as your number is submitted once, the attacker has got your credit card and can go shopping. What you get in return, is a package of viruses and a computer repairs bill.
To be safe, we recommend that keep yourself familiar with the types of viruses and attacks circulating the web, you can do that my regularly checking ours or another reputable company’s computer repairs blog. You may also want to make yourself familiar with your antivirus software and how it works and looks. If you see anything pop up that says it is scanning your computer and the message did not originate from your antivirus software, immediately click the X and close the program. Do not interact with the program in any other way or download any add-ons or plug ins.
If you already have a scareware or another virus issue that has gotten the best of you and your computer, give Mobile Geeks a call to set up an appointment 1300 883 021.
MobileGeekette
