Microsoft has teamed with the Washington State Attorney General's Office to crack down on so called "scareware" merchants both believe are threats against PC users. Scareware is a loathsome breed of malware that scares you with pop-up messages such as "virus found on your PC" or "Warning! Your PC is infected." Of course the only way to "fix" the problem is to install the advertiser's software to neutralize the threat. The problem is most often no problem actually exist and the scareware is just, well, trying to scare you into buying something you don't need. And unfortunately many unsuspecting PC users are duped into handing over their money.
To fight this nasty practice Microsoft and the state of Washington are filing a lawsuit against the Texas-based company Branch Software and its creator James Reed McCreary IV which both allege is engaged in "scareware tactics." McCreary's software, Registry Cleaner XP, the lawsuit claims advertises itself as a pop-up window claiming that the system has been "damaged and corrupted" and redirects you to Branch Software's Website to download the software for $39.95. Upon download the software tells you that it has cleared your PC of 43 threats, however it finds the same 43 threats on every system it is tested on.
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