Micro Computer Service - Brockville

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You Have Spyware - Click Here to Remove It !

I'm sure at one point or another you've seen the pop-up window that warns your computer is infected with spyware. According to this pop-up, clicking it is the only remedy to getting rid of this nasty spyware. It looks similar to this, and there are an infinite number of variations:

Now, maybe you were lured into actually clicking this, and you know where the rest of this article is already going!? Some pop-ups are very dangerous, and can result in the following:

Home page hijack
Shortcuts added to your desktop and Favorites
'call-home' trojans are usually installed
new toolbars are added to your web browser
many XXX links are appearing for no reason

Of course this is simply a pop-up Ad, but many of them can be convincing enough to look genuine. These are placed into websites that are usually off the beaten path, and the host of the website in question usually makes money for every person that clicks on the Ad. Here is a complete break-down of how it works:

Company A and Company B want to advertise on the Internet, but simply putting an Ad on the net won't guarantee exposure.
Company A and Company B decide to hire Advertising Place C.
Advertising Place C sells the idea to webmasters that they should place his Ads on their website
for every click the Ad gets, the webmaster will receive a 1/2 cent payout
the webmaster pushes this Ad in your face in the form of a pop-up, because they are thinking of the $5.00 for every 1000 clicks!

Now, in the end, after you've clicked on the above pop-up, there is no mention of Spyware at all. Instead you are greeted with a dozen more pop-up ads - each of them generating a fraction of a cent for every click. You of course click frantically to get rid of the pop-ups, but you are only endowed with more and more. I have seen some people get so frustrated they reach down and shut their computer off.

The bottom line here is, every day on the internet there is an estimated 3.3 billion clicks on pop-up ads. If you count 1/2 cent for every click, this amounts to 16.5 million cents, or $165,000.00 generated from people clicking on pop-up ads. Of course half of these people actually buy stuff being sold in these pop-up ads - full economic circle!

Last updated by Administrator (admin) on Jul 07 2006 at 09:27

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