Spyware Techie

Do you know what TotalSecure 2009 is?

DESCRIPTION

Have you ever had several popups come up on your computer screen repeatedly that a parasite, Trojan or virus was found on your system and you must use a certain program to remove it? TotalSecure 2009 is one of those programs that cause these popups and is found to be a fake anti-spyware program that does not remove parasites, Trojans or viruses. If you have TotalSecure 2009 installed then you may get these popups or fake system alerts which can really annoy you.

So what exactly is the TotalSecure 2009 or Total Secure 2009 program? TotalSecure 2009 is a rogue anti-spyware program that uses popups or alert messages or system scans to scare computer users into thinking that they need to purchase the full TotalSecure 2009 to remove the parasites that it found on your system. The reality behind the scans and popups is that they are all bogus. What is also funny is TotalSecure 2009 will not remove a lick of spyware from your computer. After we took a close look at TotalSecure 2009 it was evident that it is a clone of the IEAntivirus or IE Antivirus group of fake anti-spyware programs including IE Antivirus 3.2, IE Antivirus 3.3, IE Antivirus 3.4, MalwareBell and IEDefender.

Do you know what AdvancedPrivacySuite is?

DESCRIPTION

AdvancedPrivacySuite or Advanced Privacy Suite, is a fake anti-spyware program known to be extreamly annoying once installed. Advanced Privacy Suite, after installed, starts scanning your computer automatically then displaying results that we have confirmed as being bogus. The parasites that Advanced Privacy Suite supposedly finds are used as a scare tactic to get you to purchase the full Advanced Privacy Suite program.

Advanced Privacy Suite may come from the Zlob Trojan infection where it can install without your permission. This has got to be some type of illegal violation by installing without a computer users consent. AdvancedPrivacySuite may create a situation where your personal information is at a great risk which could result in identity theft if you do not take action to remove it.

You can run from Trojans, Spyware and Viruses but you cannot hide!

Recently an abundance of reports have come into us from computer users who have been infected by Trojans, spyware or viruses by means of mostly malspam or spam messages that redirect you to malicious sites. Usually these sites prompt downloads of fake flash player files or redirect you to other websites that require you to click on a link that says “click to watch the video” or a “Video ActiveX Object Error… – You need to download a new version…”. The nature of many of these reports of spreading malware onto computers has been talked about by us before. We suspected that these new campaigns would start to ramp up as the hackers have discovered a deciding way of effectively spreading their malware to make money.

In addition to receiving emails from computer users seeking help on removing recent Trojans and spyware, we have received a slew of malspam messages including those that we warned users of in the past such as the fake CNN.com and MSNBC malspam messages. What is most disturbing about the malspam messages that are now circulating is that they all look real and legitimate. They are so enticing that we have made the mistake of clicking on links that redirect us to a web page that promotes the download and purchase of rogue anti-spyware programs. It seems that we were only two small steps from entering our credit card information to purchase one of these bogus programs.

Do you know what CleanupTool is?

DESCRIPTION

CleanupTool is a fake anti-spyware program that is designed to only “cleanup” the money in your wallet instead of cleaning up parasites from your computer. CleanupTool is pretty much worthless for removal of spyware viruses or even Trojans. Funny to say but, CleanupTool may come from a Trojan such as Zlob.

If CleanupTool is installed on your computer then you may immediately know it by the annoying popups that you get or system alert messages that bombard you in the middle of working on your computer. You may notice that the www.CleanupTool.com website looks similar to those of other fake anti-spyware programs. That just supports the fact that you should never visit www.CleanupTool.com.

Do you know what AdvancedPrivacyGuard is?

DESCRIPTION

AdvancedPrivacyGuard is a foul program that presents computer users with popup messages and system scans that makes it look like several parasites or spyware infections were found on your system. Advanced Privacy Guard or AdvancedPrivacyGuard is more or less a fake anti-spyware program.

Rogue anti-spyware programs like AdvancedPrivacyGuard make false promises of being able to “fix” your computer of resolve issues from spyware. AdvancedPrivacyGuard is only advanced in the field of taking people’s money for a stupid program that does not do anything good for you.

Do you know what ErrorSmart is?

DESCRIPTION

ErrorSmart was discovered to be a rogue anti-spyware program running lose on the internet around the world. ErrorSmart seems to be one of the malicious programs that computer users install manually and end up purchasing it before they find out that it is no-good for removal of spyware.

Once ErrorSmart aka Error Smart is installed, usually manually, it will start to scan your system only it is not a real scan, one that displays erroneous results as a scare tactic. What may be most dangerous about ErrorSmart is that it has the potential to hijack your homepage (settings) which could redirect you to a malicious site that promotes other rogue anti-spyware programs. Another scary part about ErrorSmart is it is known to download other malicious files onto your computer without your permission.

Do you know what AndromedaAntivirus is?

DESCRIPTION

AndromedaAntivirus or Andromeda AntiVirus, is a fake anti-spyware program found to be a clone of the MS Antivirus 2008 rogue anti-spyware program. We know first hand how MS Antivirus 2008 was discovered to be a very devious program that tries to get computer users to waste their money on the full version. AndromedaAntivirus is no exception to this rule as it uses some of the same tactics through it’s annoying popups and alert messages.

AndromedaAntivirus may come from a Trojan such as Zlob or even from a virus that you may have got from surfing a porn or hacked site. AndromedaAntivirus is not a good program to leave installed on your computer.

“Remove Antivirus XP” search term returns an Antivirus XP 2008 Sponsored Ads

Rogue anti-spyware programs such as Antivirus XP 2008 are being advertised through Google Adwords in an effort to spread fake anti-spyware programs over the internet.

Several security sources have post about the Antivirus XP 2008 sponsored ads appearing through Google searches. We have recently tested this theory by entering in the simple search term “remove antivirus xp” in Google and the results yielded a Sponsored Link shown in the images below.

The link reads:

Free Antivirus scan
Online edition + Antivirus XP 2008
New generation!
antivirus-2008.org

Do you know what AntiSpyHunter is?

DESCRIPTION

AntiSpyHunter or AntiSpy Hunter, is fake security program that falsely claims to remove spyware or parasites from your computer. Several reports have come into us about computer users experiencing their desktop background and web browser home page changing without their permission when AntiSpyHunter is installed. This was confirmed after we installed AntiSpyHunter only to find out that our default home page in Internet Explorer was pulling up a blank page.

We have further examined AntiSpyHunter and find that it performs fake system scans and alerts you through popups of infections that really are not present on your computer. AntiSpyHunter can thus be said to be a complete waste of time and money.

Do you know what Spyware Preventer is?

DESCRIPTION

Spyware Preventer is a corrupt security program that falsely claims to be a spyware removal utility. If you ever find yourself on the spywarepreventer.com home page it may be hard to believe that this site is pushing the fake anti-spyware program Spyware Preventer because the site looks like a normal software page. The reality behind spywarepreventer.com and the SpywarePreventer program is they both have malicious intents on scamming computer uses out of their money.

Spyware Preventer is not a “Spyware Preventer”, more like a spyware nightmare. Spyware Preventer may not even install on your computer system but you should never attempt to do so.