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Total PC Defender

Total PC Defender review: The Latest Scareware Scam 2

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Author of the review
11:59 am EST

Internet security firm SpyZooka is cautioning netizens of a new piece of fake security software or scareware called Total PC Defender.
According to the security firm, Total PC Defender belongs to the Desktop Defender 2010 family of scareware. As far as further details of the scareware are concerned, it displays phony security warnings deceiving users into believing that their computers are in fact infected with a piece of malware.
Security experts are appealing users not to fall for these false security warnings as this is nothing else but yet another scareware. Total PC Defender typically infiltrates a PC using a Trojan file, and is meticulously designed to execute automatically with the Windows start up. So this may be well called "invasion" rather than "attack".
The experts further highlighted that if a user's computer is found infected with this malicious program, then the priority should be to eliminate the scareware from the infected machine.
Besides this, they also noted that removal of Total PC Defender from an infected PC can be done in two ways: by reformatting the infected hard drive and using authentic antispyware software of a well-known vendor. However, it was emphasized that only users fully aware of scareware should make attempt at manually getting rid of Total PC Defender from their PCs.
Meanwhile, this incident of Total PC Defender scam only proves that scareware scams are surging globally. It is learnt that in the beginning of this year almost all security firms predicted an increase in scareware scams in 2010.
Just few days back, another security firm McAfee revealed in its report that scareware are victimizing a million netizens daily around the world. In the United States, 69, 000 such cases are seen daily. The report also stated that scareware scams are bringing in huge profits for cybercriminals globally.
So, the best way to remain safe and protected is to keep computer systems updated by installing latest version of some reputed vendor's security software.

2 comments
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Donald Ira Pendleton
Saint George, US
Jan 20, 2010 3:23 pm EST

This software would not let me accesss the internet until I purchased it, then when I got a virus it would not do anything and I had to purchase another software to clean up my harddrive.

I really expect a refund of the $79.95...

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PurpleMuse
Iowa City, US
Feb 28, 2010 6:11 pm EST

Agree with you, however. This scam av software is not malware and won't remove anything, but add it. The only way you are going to get your money back is to go through whatever bank or credit card you used. Call them immediately. Hopefully you have fraud protection for the card.

I am a PC technician and this software has been particularly aggressive of late and most of the work I have had in the past 2 weeks is removing this program from infected PC's.

As a word of caution against this happening to you again, BEFORE installing ANY program you want to purchase (or download for free) you should investigate first. A simple Google search will tell you all you need to know about the program. I know it takes a few minutes, but it is always well worth the time.

Keeping your "real" anti-virus and malware programs up-to-date and doing DAILY scans will help prevent or nip infection in the bud. There are MANY excellent FREE anti-virus and spyware / malware programs out there: Among them are:

AVG anti-virus (Free Edition) (www.avg.com/ )
Commodo Internet Security - Free edition (has a GREAT firewall in addition to AV) (www.antivirus.comodo.com/)

For Malware:
Spy-bot S & D (Search and Destroy) - has a malware inoculation capabilities (www.safer-networking.org/)
Malwarebytes (www.malwarebytes.org) This one will remove Total PC Defender and many other "fake" infection software - FOR FREE

An excellent all Around utility to keep your windows system (including registry) clean and in great shape: Advanced System Care Free (www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html)

I put these applications on MOST of the computers I work on after I have cleaned them up. They are all very user-friendly, even for those who don't know much about the technical side of computers.

My personal recommendation is to use Commodo, Spybot, and Advanced System Care along with BillP's WinPatrol for added protection and awareness of what is wanting to run on my computer - with and without my consent. Feel free (and I encourage you) to look into the software above, you won't be disappointed - or scammed.

Happy and Safe computing.

Lesa

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