The all mighty FTC came down on five virus scanning programs that attempted to dupe computer novices into thinking their system was infected by a life-running, credit stealing virus. The ruse involved tricky web advertisements with hidden code linked to a user-installed ‘anti-virus program.’ (WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus) Over one million people were tricked by the somewhat legitimate-looking system message, but hopefully this judgement will help the cause against pop-ups. LOL, right. Props to the FTC, but we all know that other programs will take the place of these scareware schemes. Pop-ups aren’t going anywhere.

FTC via Ars