You’re happily surfing the web when you get a popup telling you that “your computer has been infected by such and such. Click here to remove the infection.”

You click…, you pay…, you infect.

It’s simple marketing. If they see that you paid once, they’re going to try to get you to pay again! It may not be today or tomorrow, but sooner or later, you’re going to see a similar “infection” notice on your computer. Will you pay again?

It Happens to the Best of Us

You thought you were infected, right? The problem is that you WERE infected. If you’re seeing unwanted or unsolicited popups on your computer, it’s already too late for a “popup blocker” (a common source of infections). Your best bet is to stop what you were doing and get the infection cleaned immediately. I can promise you, without any reservations, that your computer will not “get better” on it’s own. If you think it will, you’re only fooling yourself. It’s either time to take care of the infection, yourself, or call a pro to get your computer cleaned up.

You may be left wondering how your computer was infected, in the first place. Your computer can become infected in any number of ways. You may have installed software that was bundled with some infectious code, such as greeting card software or e-greetings, downloaded games, screensavers or file sharing programs. Most people never pay attention as they install a program. They just keep clicking “Yes”, “OK”, “Run”, “What The Heck”, “Go Ahead An Infect My Computer”, “I Didn’t Need My Internet Connection, Anyway”. You don’t have to read everything, but you should at least take a glance at it. Also, if you’re not careful about the websites you visit, you can easily pick up an infection that way. It’s just as easy to place an infected file on a web server as it is to toss one onto your computer. This is made abundantly clear as Webroot Antivirus w/Antispyware actively blocks my computer from accessing malicious websites, which even include some more reputable (or so I thought) advertising sites. You may also need to question anyone else who uses your computer.

Suggested reading:

• Rogue Antispyware List