MS Antivirus 2008 is one of the most deadly rogue anti-spyware going rounds these days. Hundreds of computers are getting infected with this deadly software, whose primary purpose is to rob you of your money. This article is intended to alert you not to let it enter your system. This will also let you know, what are your options if MS Antivirus 2008 has already got installed in your system.
But let us first know - what is a rogue anti-spyware?
Spyware programs are designed to reside into your system with an intention to spy upon your private and confidential data. While spyware programs are there in your system, they send this information to planters of that spyware onto your system. To remove them from your system, we use Anti-spyware. There are plenty of them, like Spyware Doctor from PC Tools, available on Internet for download. Some of them offer a free scan.
But there is another category of software, which actually are malicious in nature and disguise themselves as anti-spyware program with rogue intentions. These are called rogue anti-spyware program.
MS Antivirus 2008 is also a rogue Anti Virus program. It generally gets entry to your PC through Trojans like Zlob. They can come bundled with some video codec files, which you might have downloaded from an un-secured location like torrent sites. MS Antivirus 2008 can also get entry to your system, when you visit their website (Website link omitted).
Once MS Antivirus comes in contact with your system, it pretends to be an Anti-spyware program and starts generating fake pop-up alerts that your PC has multiple instances of malware and spyware infections. At the same time it offers to clean your system, if you purchase a full licensed version of it. Many people get panicked after seeing such warnings and proceed to purchase it.
Now, this is a dangerous situation. When you proceed to buy such a rogue anti-spyware, you actually are providing your credit card details to a rogue company, who can grossly misuse this information. Besides this, the software you are getting is not going to clean your system. But instead, it may try to install more malware scripts in your system, while you are complacent that you have installed an anti-spyware.
There is no need to state that you need to urgently get rid of MS Antivirus 2008, if you have come into contact with this deadly piece of software.
How to remove MS Antivirus 2008?
First of all you need to scan your system whether it is actually infected with MS Antivirus 2008. If your system has got any trace of it, then either you can go for manual removal of it or you can buy a full and paid version of a reputed Anti Spyware program, which will effectively clean your system. It is always better to go for the automatic route unless you are fully acquainted with the pros and cons of deleting and modifying the Windows Registry Keys.
If you want to manually remove MS Antivirus 2008, then there are basically four steps involved.
1. Stop all the Windows Processes associated with it. For this you have to open the Windows Task Manager and open the Processes Tab and find the Processes associated with it.
2. Delete the files associated with MS Antivirus 2008. Before proceeding for this step, you should search for which files are associated with it.
3. Delete the DLL files associated with it.
4. Delete the registry keys. This is the most important step, which you need to execute with utmost care. Windows Registry is an important area of your system, and you should handle it extreme care. You should search for the exact Registry Keys associate with MS Antivirus 2008 and then delete them.
Silki Garg has sinced written about articles on various topics from Spyware, Online Security and Spyware. Silki Garg is the author of many high rated articles on Online Security, Spyware Removal, Phishing, Malware Protection etc. She advices on how to clean your PCs. Silki Garg's top article generates over 14800 views. Bookmark Silki Garg to your Favourites.
Colleges With Culinary Programs So get out into the culinary world and enjoy yourself. Enroll in one of the great culinary programs around the country, earn your cooking degree and soon you will be running your own kitchen