A family friend brought over his computer yesterday, complaining of an annoying pop up every time he clicks on a link or folder. The pop up tells him to install an antispyware because his computer is infected with a dangerous virus.
I figure it was just a spyware, and any antispyware would do the trick. So I installed Spy Sweeper, one of the best antispyware programs available. Needless to say, the problem returned.
So I tried Spyware Doctor. Still didn’t work. Thinking it was probably a trojan, I installed Trojan Hunter. Annoying pop up was still there. Maybe it was a virus. I installed BitDefender, scanned for viruses, and found nothing.
Upon further googleling, I learned that it was a Smitfraud, a fake security alert usually accompanied by a rogue anti-spyware program. Clicking on the alert will direct you to a webpage to purchase the fraudulent software or install the software directly. The bad thing is that most antispywares and antiviruses will not detect it.
The best way to get rid of Smitfraud is SmitfraudFix, a free program developed just for this purpose. It killed the pop up in less than 2 minutes and saved me hours of reformatting.
