Deceptive tactics are a very common tool for programmers to get you to purchase protective software for your computer. Since they can’t get you to purchase the software based upon it’s own reputation, they resort to making you think your computer is infected with a virus and the only way to fix the problem is by use of their security software. A popular example of this approach is currently being used by the SAFETY CENTER SUITE people and it is developed by the same group that promotes PRIVACY CENTER.

Safety Center pretends to be a security suite consisting of a spyware scanner, a firewall, a registry scanner, and privacy protection. In reality, this program has only one goal and that is to take your money without providing anything in return. It will pretend that it is scanning your computer for threats and will even act as though it has found a number of them. In all actuality though, your computer is probably just fine and has no apparent problems. The bad news is that if your computer did have problems, the Safety Center program would not be able to cure it because it’s only purpose is to act like you have issues and then “fix” those supposed problems.

The following is a screen shot of what the Safety Center Suite looks like:

As the software is running, it will continue to provide you with a number of warnings and pop up windows to let you know that your computer is at risk and in dire need of repair by their software program. Again, these are all tactics to try and get an unknowing person to purchase their software. If you think this is bad, it gets even worse. Safety Center is known to hijack your web browser and give you false alerts about an infectious malware program being found on your computer when you visit different websites. The following is the warning message that they provide:

We are sorry but your query looks similar to requests from a computer infected by viruses or spyware applications. To protect our users, we can’t proceed with your request at the moment. We will restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again later.

Meanwhile, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your system is free of viruses and other malicious software.

They then proceed to provide you with a SCAN NOW button that launches the Safety Center Suite when clicked. Of course, immediately it will encourage you to purchase the program to clean your computer of any viruses or malware.

If you believe that you have been infected by the Safety Center Suite Trojan, you should be able to quickly remove it by utilizing any accredited Virus/Malware removal tool. However, if you would like to remove the infected files on your own, the following is a list of the Safety Center Files and Registry Information that will be on your computer:
Associated Safety Center Files:

c:\Program Files\SafetyCenter
c:\Program Files\SafetyCenter\main.ico
c:\Program Files\SafetyCenter\protector.exe
c:\Program Files\SafetyCenter\sound.wav
%UserProfile%\My Documents\0886b8.vom
%UserProfile%\My Documents\102.exe
%UserProfile%\My Documents\cs_def.exe
%UserProfile%\My Documents\trojan.psw.stealth.a.exe
%UserProfile%\My Documents\Adrevolver.txtAds360.com
%UserProfile%\My Documents\default.pss
%UserProfile%\My Documents\emalware.cvd
%UserProfile%\My Documents\install_tag002.exe
%UserProfile%\My Documents\tdfhex.dll
c:\WINDOWS\gbaxl2.dat

Associated Safety Center Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{BCA9B86C-91BC-11DE-B1CD-35C755D89593}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{EB09B56A-91AB-11DE-95FD-A39056D89593}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{EB09B56A-91AB-11DE-95FD-A39056D89593}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{BCA9B86C-91BC-11DE-B1CD-35C755D89593}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace\{BCA9B86C-91BC-11DE-B1CD-35C755D89593}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\{BCA9B86C-91BC-11DE-B1CD-35C755D89593}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\NetworkNeighborhood\NameSpace\{BCA9B86C-91BC-11DE-B1CD-35C755D89593}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\SafetyCenter
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SafetyCenter
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce “SafetyCenter”

We hope our readers SmartSecurityPeople.com find this information useful. We know that there are a number of programs, spyware, trojans, and malware looking to find its way onto your computer. If you know of any other popular programs, using tactics similar to SAFETY CENTER, that we should be wary of or steer clear of, please be sure to share your information below in comments. The more we all know.. the better!