{"id":45,"date":"2006-03-15T13:45:56","date_gmt":"2006-03-15T20:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/2006\/03\/15\/watch-out-for-new-hoaxes-that-can-put-ransomware-on-your-computer\/"},"modified":"2007-11-18T08:05:25","modified_gmt":"2007-11-18T15:05:25","slug":"watch-out-for-new-hoaxes-that-can-put-ransomware-on-your-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/watch-out-for-new-hoaxes-that-can-put-ransomware-on-your-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch out for new hoaxes that can put “Ransomware” on your computer"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve probably heard of Adware and Spyware. There\u2019s a new word for programs that deceptive advertisers coax people into downloading from the internet – \u201cRansomware\u201d.<\/font><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a scenario\u2026<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

You go to a website and an official-looking pop-up window appears on your screen telling you that you have viruses and<\/em> spyware on your computer. The pop-up may give you a \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d choice to scan your computer \u2013 though clicking \u201cno\u201d has the same affect as the \u201cyes\u201d button. After a program is downloaded, it appears to scan your computer and shows you that you have several viruses or spyware. It offers to clean the junk off your computer for \u201conly $29.99\u201d. If you don\u2019t buy the program you get more pop-up ads and (fake) Windows alerts. The only way to stop the pop-ups and scare tactics is to buy their software. They are holding your computer at ransom until you buy their software. Many people give in. <\/em><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what really happening\u2026<\/strong><\/font>You initially visited a website that gets paid every time a visitor clicks on one of the ads. These ads are made by clever and deceptive marketing companies that will do anything to coax you into clicking on the ad. Once you click the ad you\u2019ve allowed the marketers to download anything onto your computer. Soon afterwards a program claims that you have a number of viruses or spyware programs on your computer. The names it shows are usually names of real threats \u2013 but they\u2019re not really on your computer, it\u2019s just another gimmick into making you think you need to purchase their program.<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

After seeing dozens of these programs on people\u2019s computers in most cases I\u2019ve discovered what people have really bought was a hoax, and an \u201cAnti-Virus\u201d program that slows down your computer and doesn\u2019t protect you from any real viruses or spyware.<\/font>These fake anti-virus\/anti-spyware companies are trying to sell you something. The internet makes it easy for them to make money off of millions of naive computer users. Remember they are trying to sell you something, don\u2019t believe everything you see on the internet or from a pop-up window.<\/font>If you get a pop-up window that you are unsure whether it\u2019s an official Windows message, or just an advertisement you can check by visiting a trustworthy website. Close all browser windows, go to Start > Run and type in www.ctreno.com. That should open your default internet browser to Computer Tech\u2019s home page. There is nothing on the Computer Techs home page that should generate a pop-up window or advertisement.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve probably heard of Adware and Spyware. There\u2019s a new word for programs that deceptive advertisers coax people into downloading from the internet – \u201cRansomware\u201d. Here\u2019s a scenario\u2026 You go to a website and an official-looking pop-up window appears on your screen telling you that you have viruses and spyware on your computer. The pop-up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computing-tips","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/computertechsreno.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}