Rescue Me from Virus Rescue!

By Chris Boyd
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

The latest in a long line of rogue applications that appear on your PC via a hijack and demand money to clean it up has arrived, in the less than dazzling form of VirusRescue:

One of the ways that spyware gets onto your computer is by tricking you into installing a codec. Usually, a video file will be on a web page and you will be prompted to install a file to be able to view it. When a spammer posted a link to an adult site on one of the sites I visit, I took a look at it. The first thing on the site was a blank video and a message that I needed to download a codec to view the file. Installing the file brought spyware to my computer. Source: Security Ticker

We Say: I love how these people now show up on security sites and try to defend their products with the most outrageous claims. I had my fair share with the creators of Yapbrowser (nasty web-browser / Adware combination that redirected you to illegal content), and the guys behind this one are keeping up the “noble” tradition - hilarity here. Take my advice - if you need a codec for something, at least ensure the site you’re downloading it from is reputable. Otherwise, you’re going to be seeing an awful lot of pay now, ask questions later nag screens…