Microsoft has been playing a cat and mouse game with computer viruses and malware. Recently criminals have been installing phony security applications that claim you have viruses and then take you to their website demanding money to get rid of them. One report states that these companies are able to make $5 million a year by charging $40 or $50 to get rid of nonexistent viruses.

Antivirus 2009 and Other Viruses

Microsoft has been fighting back. A recent update of their Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) was able to remove "Antivirus 2009" from almost 400,000 PCs. The Antivirus 2009 installs itself on a computer when the user visits a website. The bogus security application then begins to annoy users with pop-ups and warnings.

In November Microsoft was able to clean a million machines of the “Advanced Antivirus”, “Ultimate Antivirus 2008” and “Xpert Antivirus”. All three of those antivirus programs were actually viruses or Trojans.

Microsoft’s December assault focused on the "W32/FakeXPA" face security software programs. These bogus programs are also known as "Antivirus XP," "AntivirusXP 2008" and "Antivirus 2009."

Microsoft’s new update will also clean your computer of "W32/Yektel," that works alongside W32FakeXPA and is often bundled with the phony security software. Yektel is especially troubling because it will initiate false pop-ups in Internet Explorer (IE). These warnings mimic Microsoft’s own legitimate drop-down alerts.