A growing threat on the internet today is that of the rogue anti-virus infection, also known as “scareware”. This classification is used for any program that pretends to be an anti-virus utility, but is actually just a very noisy adware infection. It is often also accompanied by one or more Trojan infections, widely known for opening computer security holes and allowing all sorts of other undesirables in. XP Antivirus 2010 (shown below) is one such fraud.

Learn how to remove antivirus 2010

To make things worse, these programs are always designed to look very close to a legitimate antivirus program, or else part of Microsoft Windows itself. These threats tend to slip right by automated protection tools such as firewalls and virus scanners, and then sit on your hard drive entirely un-accosted by nearly all legitimate virus scanners on the market. (In the meanwhile spamming you with annoying ads, all of which try and convince you to hand over credit card information. –Don’t do it!) The pressing question is of course, how can I know when an anti-virus is one of these frauds, and not a legitimate software?

Top 3 Signs You have a Malicious Fake Anti-Virus

In my experience, there are three main signs to look for. First off, the way it got onto your computer. This kind of program often appears of its own accord without you installing it, or is downloaded and installed to your computer after claiming “You are infected!” on an otherwise-unrelated-to-security website. Often times you may encounter a popup ad pretending to be a Windows file folder, and it has an animation “scanning for threats”. It will come up with a number of bogus entries, and then tell you to install their software and fix the problems you don’t actually have. Example advertisement pictured below.

Screen shot of a fake anti-virus.

Secondly, fraudulent anti-virus programs are VERY LOUD and have a frantic sense of immediacy intended to incite panic. They will tell you that you are critically, extremely, computer-about-to-explode infected, and that it is urgent, URGENT you give them your credit card information right away so that they can save you. There will be popups, that when closed result in additional popups, sometimes 2 or 3 times. These popups will return every minute or so, and interrupt whatever you are doing to demand your attention –often filling the whole screen and appearing on top of all other windows. A legitimate anti-virus by comparison, will pop up just one notification, nowhere near as frequently, and will also give you a “stop telling me about this” sort of option.

Third and last, the threats found by fraudulent anti-virus programs are entirely fabrications –none of the threats problems by these infections actually exist on your computer. If you have another scanner you know to be legitimate installed, and it isn’t finding anything, chances are the noisy, pushy program shouting that you have 100 infections is a fraud.

There are hundreds of these fake programs on the market now, but some of the more common ones I’ve seen as of lately include Antispyware 2010, Spyware Protect 2009, Total Security, and XP Antivirus 2010.

For help with removing rogue anti-virus infections and related threats, contact us at SupportNerds.com now! We guarantee all threats removed or your money back.

Below are common signs that your PC might be infected with viruses or malware. If you are experiencing any of these issues don’t hesitate to start a chat with us or call us toll free at (866)960-0592. Our friendly American Technicians can help repair your PC remotely and remove all viruses! We offer a low price and money back guarantee.

Malware Attacks

Malware is the most intrusive type of computer attack an individual faces on the internet today. Internet Users who get malware are usually deceived by some sort of advertisement and end up downloading a program they believed would help them. The malicious hackers often disguise their destructive code in alleged toolbars, anti-virus software, and other software that deceives the common internet user. Most of the time, internet users have no clue their computer has been infiltrated by malware. More often than not, the computer may not function properly, until the virus has been removed completely from the system. The sole intent of malware is to modify your PC’s registry, and ultimately destroy your computer’s overall performance. Malware Removal is essential in any computer clean up.

Spyware

The main purpose of spyware is to market products or services to you, via your PC, typically without your consent. It is intrusive just like many forms of Malware, but it is not usually self replicating the way malware is. When spyware presents itself on your computer, it can often come from P2P clients, unsolicited pop up advertisements, unwanted routing of an HTTP request to some out of the ordinary advertising site known as “Hijacking”. The goal of spyware is to intrude a user’s computer for maximum commercial gain. Spyware Removal is one of the toughest challenges that PC users face due to the complex tactics that spyware uses to infiltrate your system.

Browser Hijacks

A browser Hijack, simply put, is a form of malware that is designed to take over your web browser, for commercial gain or any other purpose. The Hijacking code gets into the registry of your computer, and it completely ruins your ability to surf the internet freely without problems. One of the most common types of browser hijackers is the homepage hijack, which automatically sets your homepage to an unwanted URL. The Hi-Jack automatically overwrites any manual settings you may have chosen for your browser homepage.

Additionally, browser hijacks may disallow access to certain anti-virus websites. They often will run Active X scripts through pop up ads that request permission to install a program. Once the program is launched, the hijack can eat away at your computer’s registry and ruin your browsing experience altogether. A browser Hijack can be removed by a computer expert. Many anti-virus programs are simply unable to monitor or catch browser Hi-Jacks. Some browsers defend against the hijacks better than others. Internet Explorer is much more vulnerable to these exploits then more modern browsers, like Mozilla Firefox.

Trojan Infiltration

The purpose of a Trojan, also known as a Trojan horse, is to allow a user unauthorized access to target a personal computer system or large computer network. Once a Trojan horse is installed on a user’s computer, the hacker then has the ability to control that user’s PC in almost all aspects. The hacker can add or delete any type of files, view the user’s screen, log keystrokes, waste computer space, extract private data that is sensitive to the victim..(security codes, passwords, financial information such as banking or credit card information) To avoid Trojans, never open a file or click a link that you are unsure of. Many Trojan horses are delivered via email or through some sort of website scam.

PC lagging and Constant Freezing

Computer lagging often occurs when a user Is using multiple programs at once and the user’s computer does not have sufficient memory to handle numerous applications at once. Computer freezing occurs when a user’s computer completely ceases to function (unable to move mouse/browse) and is usually a more serious indicator that your computer may be infected with some sort of virus, or that it is in need of a PC tune-up. More often than not though, PC’s will lag or freeze due to some sort of spyware, malware, Trojan horse, or any type of computer virus. Whether you need spyware removal, malware removal, or any type of computer repair, support nerds has U.S. Certified experts that can help right away.

Internet Connectivity Issues

This occurs when your internet connection is not as smooth or fast as it should be. Usually, some form of browser Hijack can impact your internet connection. Once the HI-Jack is removed, browsing returns to normal connection and speed. Sometimes, connection problems are due to simple internet configuration settings, which can be changed from your computer’s control panel.

System Failure – Problems with Booting

Sometimes a user’s computer may boot slower than normal. Sometimes this is related to how computer shut down. Many types a user will not shut down their computer completely, or properly, and the result of that is a slow boot up session. This can be solved by simply rebooting properly. Never reboot your computer when you have tons of unclosed programs running. Close all programs & applications, then reboot from the start menu. Unfortunately, problems with booting or rebooting are due to overall system failure and must be analyzed by a computer expert.

Software Errors & or Installation problems

Installation errors or software errors typically can occur when the installation package for a particular program were not downloaded properly, or the version is either corrupt, or out dated. Support Nerds experts are well trained this field, and would be glad to assist you.

Browser Settings

Most users like to control their homepage, enable or disable block pop up windows, enable/disable JavaScript, java, control their font and colors, or any other typical content settings. Typical settings for a common browser can be typical found in the tools, options section.

Installing/Uninstalling Software

Spyware, Malware, and other aggressive hacker programs can prevent a user from installing or uninstalling programs. Typically this can be done from a user’s control panel/add remove programs, but when you unable to access those settings, it then becomes difficult to remove unnecessary programs.

This is the sign of a serious virus, to prevent further data corruption of your system , you should immediately contact a Support Nerds Certified Expert by clicking the green chat button above and telling a experienced technician your issue. It is a difficult virus to remove and waiting will only make it worse.

One of the latest forms of malware are fake anti-virus programs.  A common symptom of this type of malware is that you are unable to run any of your normal applications. When you attempt to open a normal application you get an error message similar to this:

• WARNING YOU’RE IN DANGER! YOUR COMPUTER IS INFECTED WITH SPYWARE!
• Application name is not a valid Win32 application
• cannot find (Program Name).exe Application not found
• Your PC is Infected! Click Here to Turn Protection On

These messages are the malware infection trying to convince you to purchase their fake anti-virus software so they can steal your credit card information.  The fact that your programs will not run indicates that the malware has infected the registry and changed the shell commands to keep common files from opening and operating.  Unless you are highly skilled in registry editing and removal of malware, fixing this is something too advanced to be done by a common user.

Files that you might also find blocked are:

• exe
• com
• vbs
• scr
• reg
• inf

Instructions for Removal for Basic Windows Users

Attempting to remove a serious virus threat such as this by anyone other than an expert Windows user will likely result in a waste of time and the strong possibility that the computer will become nonoperational. Virus scanning programs will not work on this type of virus as .exe files have been disabled by the virus. If you find that you are experiencing any of the symptoms above, we recommend that you get help from a professional. We at SuppoertNerds.com can diagnose and fix this issue for you right away.

Instructions for Advanced Windows Users

If you are an advanced windows user, you can run regedit and find the shell commands in your registry and change the value properties to the shell commands to exactly “%1″ %* .  This will restore the original registry setting allowing you to run executable programs again and so enable you to continue with the virus removal process. It is also recommended to work from Windows safe mode before and after attempting this registry edit until the virus has been cleaned up. This will stop it from re-installing itself.  If you are having trouble doing this, feel free to talk to one of the Support Nerds Technicians as they are highly trained in the removal of Malware such as this and can restore your PC to a healthy state.

Application name is not a valid Win32 application