Antivirus XP Creator Finally Sued (by Microsoft!)

pparently you can’t get away forever with fooling users into thinking they have malware on their system when they really don’t, and then offering to sell them a “removal tool” that does absolutely nothing but remove the fake alerts.

The creators of such programs as Antivirus XP, Registry Cleaner XP and WinDefender are getting sued by Microsoft and the state of Washington under the state’s Computer Spyware Act which prohibits making false claims of spyware or malware on a system. The penalty is actual damages incurred or a punitive damage of $100,000 per offense, whichever is greater.