McAfee announced this week that it estimates that at least million computer users are victimized by “scareware” each day. “Scareware” consists of malicious programs that get on your machine and prompt you to download a bogus spyware or anti-virus solution. Find out how to identify these programs and how you can remove them quickly.

What is “Scareware”?

These “scareware” prompts seem innocent enough, posing as notifications of viruses or spyware and giving suggestions on how to fix the problem. Cues like “Download Now” or “Your Machine is Infected” can usually be seen with these sort of invaders. If you click on the link and download the recommended fix, you are opening yourself and your machine up to serious security breaches. Most of these programs are actually trojans or viruses, not anti-virus or anti-spyware programs. They will install programs to capture credit card and other sensitive information, or open your machine up to remote attacks through backdoors. Once these malicious programs are on your machine, they can be quite difficult to remove. Luckily, with a little know how, you can take the proper steps to clean things up.

How to Remove “Scareware”

Really, there is no sure-fire way to remove any particular form of “scareware.” However, if you start by scanning your machine with a good anti-spyware or anti-malware program, you can usually identify the programs quickly. If it is not found and removed, look for any identifying information, such as the name of the fake virus or trojan that the “scareware” claims to have found or the name of the suggested download, then search for this information on your favorite search engine. You can probably come across a few sites that will let you know how other users have solved this issue. Maybe you just need a different utility or you need to update the program you previously used. Once you have identified the problem, it’s usually pretty easy to find the answer.

Next Wednesday, we’ll review a great program that can help you remove “scareware,” Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, which gives you on-demand scanning capabilities for free and scheduled scans is you purchase a license.