Personal Antivirus just scareware

I was going through checking a site brought to my attention from a reader and I went there and yep he told me it might be [intlink id=”3114″ type=”post”]scareware[/intlink] and it was:

mailware-live-pro-scanv1-1

If you click “Cancel” or “Ok” you will still get to this page:

mailware-live-pro-scanv1-2

[ad]It is on the Malicious site : http://maleware-live-pro-scanv1.com.  You can also see it tries to scare you with the tactic of  knowing your IP address and where you are in the world, it’s called Geo-ip Location.   It tries to convince you have a virus, but in reality it is just trying to scam you out of money.   Although if you go to the site you will see that there is no company information.  That is the first clue this is a scam or scareware.

Personal Antivirus gets installed in unsuspecting computers by way of exploits, backdoors, Trojans, or unsafe downloading practices.   This usually means that if you have it you should remove it by any means necessary because this software has been know to cause more and more trouble as time goes by.   This software is fake ware, it tries to tell you have a virus and that they can get rid of it.   In fact, this software is not designed with Antivirus engine in it but to illicit pop ups and warning to raise the users security concerns about the computer in question.   Downloading programs from bit torrents or other unsafe ways can and most likely will have these types of programs installed alongside the program you wanted.

*[intlink id=”4403″ type=”post”]Personal Antivirus Scareware Site and How to Remove it[/intlink]*

Threat to System : Moderate

[rating:4/5]

Advice : Do a Complete system scan and make sure you don’t have any more hidden malware. Most of the time if you have one Trojan, you usually have more.  Personal Antivirus has been know to have some type of program installed on the system in question and should be removed.

I recommend :

[ad#SUPERAntiSpyware]

On a side not, if you are wondering why I think I know I am not infected with these virus for those who are probably asking that question is because I already have a [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]dependable free anti-virus[/intlink] software installed.  Don’t forget to visit the Forums for other ways to watch for spyware or scareware.   I will always recommend buying antivirus software from vendors you know and not ones that are fly by the night scams.

10 Comments

  1. Thank you for this information. These screens just appeared on my PC a few minutes ago, but did not fall for buying their product. I've heard that when these types of screens appear, you should click on the X(close) button on the window and to not click on CANCEL or anything else in the dialog box.

    What I'm wondering is, how did I end up on their page in the first place? And, am I safe as long as I didn't fall for this particular scam? I ran a Malware check program I already had installed on my PC after exiting my internet browser – Malwarebytes.

    Again, thank you for posting this information.

    – Margaret

  2. It is sometimes just a Browser redirects although if you keep going to a
    site or not even browsing and this pops up you have a really bad chance
    of having a rogue virus or worm that is trying to get you to purchase
    these scareware programs. It is always best to have some kind of
    Anti-virus installed like AVG or Mcafee Anti-virus and have them do a
    full system scan. Malwarebytes is good on occasion but you should
    always keep your Guard up.

    Your Welcome,
    If I find anymore I will post it!

  3. Oops, forgot to mention that I do also have Norton Antivirus software on my machine, so I have a regular virus checker.

    Do you know what causes the browser redirect in the first place? Is there a virus on the server side of specific websites I'm hitting? I was on a Facebook application, with other tabs open to websites I can't recall at the moment, when it popped up.

    Thanks for your response!

    – Margaret

  4. If it was in Facebook, I would be willing to bet some hidden redirect
    was on the server side. Usually they buy ad space in Google and other
    places to make more money or even to have this happen in the first
    place. They usually have have a way for Pop up ads which is what that is
    but they don't tell you this. If you disable pop ups in Internet
    Explorer or Firefox this will typically stop these kind of scareware
    tactics but not always.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scareware“ rel=”nofollow”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scareware

    Read the Wikipedia Article it should help explain how this happens
    sometimes and about How they do Browser Redirects. There are several
    ways this could happen and I wouldn't be able to tell you all of them
    without first talking about the fundamentals of redirects and how they
    came into being!!

  5. having an antivirus program won't help until it becomes a virus…there is nothing to detect until you proceed with the scam. it may be undetectable before.

  6. Actually,

    Most Anti-virus will pick the Trojan installer before you even know it
    tried it. I had it do that twice with AVG. The installer is the virus
    this is the by product because it installed it without your knowledge or
    permission!!

  7. having an antivirus program won't help until it becomes a virus…there is nothing to detect until you proceed with the scam. it may be undetectable before.

  8. Actually,

    Most Anti-virus will pick the Trojan installer before you even know it
    tried it. I had it do that twice with AVG. The installer is the virus
    this is the by product because it installed it without your knowledge or
    permission!!

  9. having an antivirus program won't help until it becomes a virus…there is nothing to detect until you proceed with the scam. it may be undetectable before.

  10. Actually,

    Most Anti-virus will pick the Trojan installer before you even know it
    tried it. I had it do that twice with AVG. The installer is the virus
    this is the by product because it installed it without your knowledge or
    permission!!

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