What is Scareware? How Do I Protect Myself Against it?
 

What Is The Point Of Scareware?

The purpose behind introducing SCAREWARE is to scare people of something very bad and make them buy a product which will end up as a waste of money.

In many respects scareware acts like a Trojan, deceiving recipients into installing an unwanted program.

The term Scareware can be used for a number of products related which are related to antivirus scams. For example, it will show that your computer is infected by serious virus and to buy this product to clean your PC.

Naturally, the scareware then offers the solution – a highly overpriced piece of software which offers to fix all the problems that have been identified on your system.


How Do I Protect Myself Against Scareware?

Avoiding scams isn’t too hard – common sense and inquisitiveness go a long way.

If a pop-up window appears on your computer then you should question it and never, ever buy online unless you yourself have taken your browser to the page you wish to buy from.

Here are some tips for avoiding scareware and fake anti-virus scams:

1. Only use antivirus programs that have come from a legitimate security vendor.
2. Always read your email in plain text – this looks horrible but will display links as they really are, rather than disguised by fancy pictures.
3. Be wary of email attachments – unless you completely trust the sender then do not open them and never be tempted by email offers of free antivirus programs from companies you’ve never heard of.