Microsoft Keeps On Suing!

Microsoft has taken the initiative this year in going after the "bad guys." Already this year Microsoft's helped Bulgarian authorities in busting the MBAM Gang, a group of phishers who operated bogus Web sites mimicking official Microsoft MSN pages. Now, they've chosen to pursue legal action against an anti-spyware company, Secure Computer LLC, based in White Plains, N.Y.

On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. and the Washington state attorney general said they filed separate lawsuits against Secure Computer LLC claiming that the company allegedly sold and marketed a bogus anti-spyware product. They are also accused of marketing this fraudulent software through multiple Web sites like Myspywarecleaner.com, Myerrorfixer.com and Checkforspyware.com. They also advertised through pop-ups, spam emails and hyperlink ads on search engines. The software itself is called Spyware Cleaner.

The pop-up would usually tell a computer user that their computer had been infected with spyware and offered a free scan. The scan would always report found spyware, even when there was none. They then recommended to download Spyware Cleaner, which sold for $49.95. The program itself looked incapable of finding spyware, instead it only altered the computer's registry, which made the computer more susceptible to spyware attacks.

Assistant Attorney General Paula Selis said in an interview, "When we find out, it may cause us to go back and amend the complaint." The suits were filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle against Secure Computer and company president Paul E. Burke of New York. The lawsuit also names Gary T. Preston, a New York resident who owned and managed Web domains for the company; and three other individuals connected with the advertising of the software: Zhijian Chen, Portland, Ore.; Seth Traub, Portsmouth, N.H., and Manoj Kumar, Maharashtra, India.

Microsoft and Washington, along with 11 other states with similar laws against spyware were in a position to take legal action against Secure Computer as well.