Editing Scareware (section)

=== Spyware ===
Some forms of [[spyware]] also qualify as scareware because they change the user's desktop background, install icons in the computer's [[notification area]] (under [[Microsoft Windows]]), and claiming that some kind of spyware has infected the user's computer and that the scareware application will help to remove the infection. In some cases, scareware trojans have replaced the desktop of the victim with large, yellow text reading "Warning! You have spyware!" or a box containing similar text, and have even forced the screensaver to change to "bugs" crawling across the screen.<ref>{{cite web|title=bugs on the screen|url=https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/8a460e01-b72b-4843-a1d1-f25a5d7016b7/bugs-on-the-screen|website=Microsoft TechNet}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Winwebsec is the term usually used to address the malware that attacks the users of Windows operating system and produces fake claims similar to that of genuine anti-malware software.<ref name=AAA>{{cite news |url= http://www.spywareloop.com/news/scareware |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141108171211/http://www.spywareloop.com/news/scareware |url-status= dead |archive-date= 8 November 2014 |title= Scareware in SpyWareLoop.com|author=  Vincentas |newspaper=Spyware Loop |date=11 July 2013 |access-date=27 July 2013}}</ref>

[[SpySheriff]] exemplifies spyware and scareware: it purports to remove spyware, but is actually a piece of spyware itself, often accompanying [[SmitFraud]] infections.<ref>[http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm spywarewarrior.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180922003408/http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm |date=2018-09-22 }} filed under "Brave Sentry."</ref> Other antispyware scareware may be promoted using a [[phishing]] scam.