Microsoft launches campaign against scareware vendors
September 30, 2008 by admin
Good for Microsoft. One of the scourges of the Internet, useless software products called scareware that make you think something is wrong with your computer, is now under attack for violating consumer protection laws.
Microsoft and the Washington state attorney general are suing a Texas-based company called Branch Software and its owner over false claims made about $39 program called Registry Cleaner XP which bombards consumers with annoying popup ads trying to frighten them into paying for the useless security program.
“We won’t tolerate the use of alarmist warnings or deceptive ‘free scans’ to trick consumers into buying software to fix a problem that doesn’t even exist,” Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna said in announcing the action.
Here’s a great background report: Microsoft tries to put fear of God into scareware vendors.
Finally!
That scareware spaming is really annoying.