My wife clicked on a site on Google and then some kind of pop-up although we have pop-up blocker installed and we were infected with this virus. It's a Dell Optiflex running Windows xp home and using the latest version of IE. The virus mimicked Security Essentials and directed me to click for a download. I stopped when the download was identified as from an unknown source. Then the light blue screen of "security tools" came on and claimed many viruses and insisted on payment. It took a couple of hours to get rid of it using malwarebyte software. There is nothing on the net about fraudulent security essentials lookalikes. Nor anything here in Microsoft. Also, it seems the perpetrators could be easily traced by following the money. Any acceptance of payment under the circumstances would be fraudulent and prosecutible. Anyone minding the store?1 person needs an answerI do too

Please see the Microsoft Security site Watch out for fake virus alerts for information about programs like Security Tool. The Spyware Warrior List of Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites has links to several more sites. For details of how such programs work, see Anatomy of a Hack 2008 on the Microsoft Tech-Ed 2008 site. Boulder Computer Maven Microsoft Most Valuable Professional