What Is Spyware Protect 2009?

Terms

Malware is a general term for software that is intentionally harmful to the computer or the user. Malware may slow down systems, damage data, or even facilitate identity theft. Viruses are malicious programs that infect computer files to do harm or steal data. Trojan viruses are programs that pretend to be legitimate software to promote installation. Once installed the program acts as a virus. Spyware is a program that is installed without consent, and collects data such as Internet logs and personal information. The data is sent to a central computer to be sold.

Spyware Protect 2009 is one of several serial products released by Russian hackers. According to the New York Times. the Trojans generate as much as $5 million a year through extortion. The Trojan convinces users to give up their credit card number and other personal information in order to remove fake viruses. Not only is the user out of the money spent on a fake product they are also vulnerable to identity theft.

The main symptom of a Spyware Protect 2009 infection is continuous warnings of virus infections. The warnings are made to appear official and may be confused with alerts from Microsoft Windows or other legitimate products. Other symptoms include advertisements for fake anti-spyware software and a general deterioration of system performance.

Either anti-virus software or malware removal tools are used to remove a Spyware Protect 2009 infection. There is limited success with anti-virus programs, such as Symantec's Norton Anti-virus, AVG Internet Security and Mcafee Anti-virus. A more effective removal method is to use a malware removal tool. Effective tools include Malwarebytes, Anti-malware and SmitFraudFix.

The hackers responsible for "scareware" constantly adapt their product name and infection methods. For this reason never click on a pop-up or download security software that is not from a recognizable company such as Symantec or Mcafee. If a Spyware Protect 2009 infection occurs on a system, use an anti-virus or removal tool immediately to improve system performance and limit vulnerability to identity theft.