Beware of Total Protect Fake Anti-virus Software

Anti-virus software can be like either Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde. Some malware wears the unassuming white coat of Dr. Jekyll and is disguised as your computer's protector. Total Protect is a clever look-a-like ruse that depends upon a PC user mistaking a real cyber attack as a fake opportunity to enhance the user's internet security. Once a victim falls for the scam, a Mr. Hyde-style Trojan launches the real attack.

When the cyber intrusion occurs, warnings suddenly pop up on the user's computer screen, appearing to be alerts from Microsoft Security Essentials. If you are the type of person who clicks before you think, you definitely fit the profile of a Total Protect scam victim. Most people who see a pop-up warning indicating their computer's security has been compromised often experience fear and may think, "Oh, no! I've got a virus!" Cyber criminals count on this fear because it often motivates people to succumb to attacks without thinking it through, precisely because the victims have been disarmed by a look-a-like gimmick. Once they click on a link and access the offer to buy the Total Protect fake anti-virus software, the real security intrusion begins.

The spyware that issues these false warnings may be installed when an internet surfer visits a website, or when a deceived user may willingly download a Trojan. An attack by the Total Protect scam typically yields a host of problems. In the worst attacks, the nightmare intrusion spreads from the virtual world to the one in which your credit card and bank account information may be at risk.

Many of these scams look very much like legitimate viral-protection pop-up warnings. If you think that you would not fall for a scammer's amateurish knock-off of someone else's trusted trademarked logos, just think for a moment how engrossed you may be in looking at content or composing an email while using your computer. Maybe you are in a hurry, and while you are feeling that time pressure, you click before you think and the download begins quicker than a flash. Maybe you were surfing the internet so intently that this wave smacked you broadside before you even noticed it was coming. This is the modus operandi of malware like Total Protect.

What happens if you fall for the deception? You could be defrauded into unwittingly disabling your security system through the implementation of false and misleading commands. Those who are victims of credit card fraud typically remember that painful lesson and quickly learn the importance of installing proper security software on a personal computer. For others, the vicious software attack may actually block their efforts to visits legitimate anti-virus software websites that would have helped cleansed the computer, leaving them in a Catch-22 lurch.

A multitude of fake security software circulates in cyberspace on any given day. The same lessons in avoiding this type of ruse apply to other security threats in general. First, make sure you have installed legitimate anti-virus software to guard against Total Protect and other types of vicious malware. For PC users, Microsoft's website regularly posts alerts, warning Microsoft's community of users about software ruses similar to Total Protect. The company also provides instructions on how to cleanse a computer that has suffered an attack.

This story could still end well if the user who has suffered the kind of attack mounted by Total Protect learns the value of installing and consistently using legitimate antiviral software. Once this protecting software is installed, it is important that the user keep it up to date. Security software firms offer regular updates. These companies also provide news alerts and other information that is helpful in protecting users from the multitude of computer viruses that constantly circulate in the wild.

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