Rogues

Wondering why I have Shasta daisies in a blog entry entitled "Rogues"? Its like this. Today someone in the office gave me several Shasta daisy plants for my garden. She said the daisies had taken over her garden, like rogues. That description certainly struck home.

Those of us in the security community who help people with computer problems have been dealing with rogues for two years now. (See the "Top 10 rogue anti-spyware", by Suzi Turner at "ZDNet" for last year's dishonorables.) So, how far-ranging are these rogue applications? As one example, at "Nick's Computer Security" blog, Nick's "SpyAxe and SpywareStrike Removal" instructions have been read 221,130 times! Even my instructions at Freedomlist, have had 28,748 views. Add to those numbers the views of the pinned removal instructions at the many security forums and you will have a small clue as to the broad-ranging effect these rogue applications have had on computer users.

It seems there is yet another rogue application new on the scene. It was discovered by Bleeping Computer and reported on the site blog, "Security news and information" in VirusBurst bursts onto the scene as the latest rogue anti-spyware app. This comment in the Bleeping Computer report is so true.

One of the things I find most amusing about these programs are that they detect the file that is used to download and install it as a Trojan.

Sadly, many gullible people believe the false advertisements that by purchasing the fake software it will clean their computer. If your computer has been infected with VirusBurst, SecurityNetPage, SpywareQuake, etc., head to one of the security forums linked from "My Garden Roots" on the left and get help.