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Hi Empty,

Welcome to PCHF.

Winfixer is known malware, it doesn't need to be listed here. This thread is for programs that either give false positived in order to trick someone into buying them, or bundle spyware in with supposedly helpful software. Thanks for your comment.

TTFN

LGW

Yup , but we might know that , most other people dont.

Its not still being sold all around the net for nothing , and it indeed should be listed in the rogue listing on spywarewarrior imo. It is mentioned a couple of times in the comments but it isn't listed separete on there.

Hey Joe, you're absolutely right! I simply assumed it was. I will contact them today and make that recommendation for the site. You always know so much, .

TTFN

LGW

Here are some sites with fake antivirus and fake antispyware
AntiVermins
PestTrap - Spyware Remover and Protection Suite
DriveCleaner 2006 - Home

also alomst every crack and keygen site have spyware

WATCH OUT


SECURITY TEAM EDIT: Links disabled as people may accidentally click on them. Thanks for the warning!

GREAT find...lots of useful info.

Thank you for this list. I have a comment about one of those programs, and I was very glad to see that it was on the list. I don't want anybody else to get what I did: PSGuard.

PSGuard is one of the monst aggressive programs I have ever seen (besides the ones that ran the shutdown process just when Windows starts, but I can't vouch for those because I haven't had them). Not only did it install itself to my old computer without consent, but it did so while I was visiting sites that I would never expect to have malware. I go to family-friendly-happy-joy sites like this one, and the only place PSGuard could have come from was a site where I got to when looking for something on Google (like half of the MS Office functions that I didn't know back then).

PSGuard first installed a little red circle with a white exclaimation point in my taskbar. When hovered over, the text "Your computer is infected!" would appear. Then, I would receive numerous notifications that I had a virus named W32-something from McAffee (which I never even installed, therefore it must have been fake. However, it's diagnosis was at least spot-on). The next day, my desktop background was completely gone! It was replaced with a black screen with a yellow line of bold text saying my computer was infected, followed by a red paragraph about PSGuard with a hyperlink. I didn't bother to go there, because I had the common sense to know that Windows wasn't going to randomly direct me to some "antivirus" program. I sought to restore my original background. In the Desktop Properties page, the entire tab to select the background had disappeared! Even if I went to a file and told it to "Set as Desktop Backgound," it would not work!

What's next is what's worst. I did not have any antivirus software, and at the time did not know of any free ones, so my only resort to save my data at the time was to burn them to CDs and wait so I could reformat my computer and restore/clean the files when I obtained an antivirus program. This was not possible, because when I tried to do so, my burning utility would crash just as it began to burn! I got SEVERAL more burning utilities, and each would crash at that same point!

PSGuard's processes eventually began to eat up my computer's resources, perhaps as hijacking or perhaps just to drain the life from my system for no reason. Eventually, the strife to back up my files became like one of those situations in an RPG where the characters attempt to escape, but every exit is blocked and the field enemies are 20 levels above you (sorry for that analogy; I just love video games).

As the months went on, eventually I was able to restore my background. Two weeks later, a final attempt at a new burning utility finally found success. I was able to back up my files onto four 700mb CDs, and Norton Antivirus managed to completely clean the files out (a big surprise, since I just uninstalled Norton and Ad-Aware has found things Norton never did).

So, in conclusion, please do listen to these fine people at PCHF; use only programs they suggest or that are available in retail stores, just in case. Also make sure you are protected, because I don't want anybody to fall into the horrors of PSGuard or anything similar without being prepared to fight. Learn something from my experience, please.

A good host file wil stop a lot of crazy ware. How To: Download and Extract the HOSTS file is a good site for understanding how to fight crazy ware (spyware, pups, malware, trojens, worms, keyloggers etc...).

This is preventive or proactive measures.
The webpages with crazy ware simple will not load. Its not 100%, but it helps so I have more time to deal with purple pills and ferrets.