If you’ve ever turned on a computer then chances are you’ve come across one of those pop-up warnings that say your drive is facing a serious health threat and needs immediate attention. More often than not these messages appear as if they are being delivered from the computer’s operating system when in fact they are nothing more than scareware. This scareware plays on the fears of a computer owner, warning that failure to download the software will result in further damage. Of course the software that is downloaded does nothing to protect the computer and in many cases poses new dangers.
For a long time these scareware authors concentrated on the virus angle, convincing the computer owner that their drive had been infected and failure to download the anti-virus software would results in catastrophe. While the virus approach is still used by scareware writers there has been so much media attention on these tactics that many have shifted their focus to other “threats.”
Among the most popular threats these scareware programs “fix” is fragmentation, a computer disease that is capable of destroying your drive’s operability. Promising to clean the drive and repair damaged files the software does nothing but provide a false sense of security to the computer owner.
As most people know, fragmentation is a very real computer disease and if left unchecked it will not only slow down a drive’s speed but eventually lead to a crash. Downloading software from a pop-up will do nothing to prevent the spread of fragmentation nor will it prevent the crash; that can only be done by legitimate defragmentation software.
Using the same tactics as the “anti-virus” software these scareware writers attempt to look and sound professional when pitching their defragmentation software. Computer owners should understand that while this scareware may mimic the appearance of legitimate defragmentation software it can’t produce the same results. If you have downloaded this fake defragmentation software it won’t take long to notice as the symptoms of a fragmented drive will still be in place.
Those symptoms include a slow boot up, difficulty accessing files and software, problems with sending and receiving emails, lost information, and sluggish Internet browsing. Whereas legitimate defragmentation software from a company like Diskeeper would instantly solve those issues the scareware software simply takes your money and leaves the problem on your drive.
This is why it is imperative that anytime you are looking to improve your drive’s performance with defragmentation software you trust a market leader like Diskeeper. Having been around since 1981 they have established themselves as the most recognizable name in defragmentation software and repairing and restoring a drive’s intended operability.
If these scareware warnings provide any value it’s in reminding computer owners that their drive does actually face numerous threats including fragmentation. The great thing about legitimate defragmentation software is that it can be installed before you ever notice a problem associated with fragmentation, keeping your computer’s operating performance at a high level.
Once this defragmentation software has been installed your drive will not only be repaired and restored but the software will also prevent future files from being fragmented and littering the drive. What this means is that once you’ve installed legitimate defragmentation software on your drive you’ll know any pop-up that appears and warns of fragmentation on your computer is nothing more than scareware.
