US Spyware Distributor Fined
The United States Federal Trade Commission has recently brought action against Sanford Wallace for putting Spyware on people's computers without their permission.
The software that was installed displayed pop-up ads which enticed computer users to purchase anti-spyware software by tricking them into believing that their computers were infected. One method used was to open the CD tray and then display a message on the computer saying "If your cd-rom drive's open . . .You DESPERATELY NEED to rid your system of spyware pop-ups IMMEDIATELY!".
To read the full article from the BBC website click here.
Recent reports have highlighted the problem of bogus anti-spyware software that is sold through means similar to this. If you receive an unexpected pop-up message telling you that you are infected with spyware and recommending that you purchase software to clean your computer we strongly recommend that you do not follow these 'warnings'.
The only exception to this is if the warning is from a product that you have intentionally installed, such as Microsoft Defender.
These warnings are created by software that is installed without your knowledge and so is a form of Spyware itself. To clean your PC we recommend you purchase and install a reputable anti-Spyware product (see the relevant section in the Library).