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ROGUE APPLICATIONS

            We have seen a major increase in the number of ROGUE APPLICATIONS appearing on computers brought into our shop. For this reason we are providing you with this information sheet to help you prevent these from getting on your system.

            These applications are advertisements that try to scare you into buying a protection product of some kind. They are ruthless in their approach and are very difficult to remove. They are scams. The protection provided by these products is questionable. The charges for the software can be extensive. They change daily in order to bypass normal protection software but there are things you can do to prevent them from getting on your system.

            They APPEAR to be legitimate programs, but in fact have been designed to look similar to OTHER real protection programs. DO NOT BE FOOLED by these scare-ware versions of other software. They LIE to you about the presence of viruses or other problems on your system in order to fool you into buying their product

            BE FAMILIAR with your real protection software. If some other program pops up on your system and tells you that you have viruses, spy-ware, or registry problems, then it is a LIE. It is a TRICK to fool you into clicking on the window somewhere, which then DOWNLOADS additional software to your system which cannot be removed by normal means. If such a program appears on your system at any time, DO NOT CLICK ON ANYTHING! Not even the X in the upper corner to close the window. STOP immediately and hold down the POWER BUTTON on your computer for 7 to 10 seconds until it shuts off. You may then start the computer again. You should then run Spybot Search and Destroy, or SuperAntiSpyware. Update each and then scan your system for remnants of the offensive rogue application. Other legitimate ad-ware / spy-ware removal products may also be able to get rid of such remnants as well. HOWEVER, we CANNOT guarantee that these baddies can be removed since they change so often.

            These programs can appear from many different kinds of web pages but are most common on hacker sites and porno sites. Pay attention to the sites you are visiting and if these appear from those locations, DO NOT GO BACK to those sites!

            If you click anywhere on the window when it appears you are letting the remote server know that they have a “live” connection and they will download things to your system that will make it appear infected, prevent internet access, and shut off other protection software in order to prevent you from being able to remove the scare-ware.

            Special tools are needed to remove these rogue applications and we can get them off of your system, but if you do not follow these instructions you will likely have such items infect your system again and we will have to charge for their removal.

             Be sure to use the IMMUNIZE feature of Spybot Search & Destroy to block as many of these potential bad sites as possible.

            We can NOT bullet-proof your computer against all forms of mal-ware, but if you keep up with your updates, do frequent scans, immunize, and avoid questionable sites, you should be able to keep your system out of trouble.

            If you do not understand these instructions or have questions about ANY of the protection software that we supply or recommend, please give us a call or attend one of our free protection classes. Thank you.

Last modified: 01/22/2010