A term that describes malware that scares users into purchasing a program. A scareware program may claim to find threats on a computer merely to scare the user to purchase a solution.
Most scareware is installed on a computer through false Internet advertisements or free programs. Although most of these programs can be uninstalled through Add/Remove programs in Windows, some require a special anti-malware tool such as Malwarebytes to be removed.
Ransomware, Security terms, Software terms, Ware
Related information
- How to protect yourself while on the Internet.
- Computer security help and support.