subject: Personal Antivirus: Your Personal Computer Is The Target [print this page] Personal Antivirus is a rogue antivirus program that pretends to be legitimate antivirus software, but is actually a Trojan horse for other malware. This software is part of a growing trend of "scareware," and is very representative of such rogue antivirus software as a whole.
How Does a Person's Computer get Infected with Personal Antivirus?
Personal Antivirus uses a form of social engineering to infect a victim's computer. Typically, when a user visits a website with the advertisements for this software, a pop-up will appear that looks similar to a standard Microsoft Windows window. This pop-up will "scan" the user's computer and say that a number of viruses have been found. The user will have to purchase Personal Antivirus to get rid of these viruses. Once on the victim's computer Personal Antivirus will inevitably say that it has cleaned up the viruses it "found" earlier.
What are the Symptoms of the Personal Antivirus rogue antivirus program?
Personal Antivirus can have a variety of symptoms. It will inevitably cause popups on the victim's computer when on and off the internet, requesting more money for various claimed services. However, it also can carry a payload of other malware within the program, based on the version that one buys. This malware may do anything, from stealing personal information to allowing the victim's computer to be remotely controlled.
How Does one Remove Personal Antivirus?
To remove the rogue Personal Antivirus program, one must use another, legitimate anti-malware program. Unfortunately the malware in Personal Antivirus will frequently block the ability for an infected computer to visit security-related websites, so one must get this anti-malware program on a different computer. One only needs to download the executable on one computer and transfer it to the infected computer. If all else fails, one can always get personal assistance from one of the many reputable websites on the Net.
