I found some posts online about a new spyware threat called spywarebot. It looks like it could be a spy falcon / spy sheriff / spyware quake variant - I think.

I have not had the chance to infect our test system with it yet, so I thought I would ask if any of you have been hit with this or know someone who has been.

I got burned by spy sheriff a couple weeks back, another derivative of some backdoor Trojan, burned me good, I ended up formatting. Forget the name of the Trojan, it was released into the wild April 26. Nasty bugger. ;(

Spywawrebot is in fact a malicious creation designed to leech cold hard cash from the grips of the ignorent. First you download it, then install. Next thing you know your getting spyware reports every time you boot saying that you have all this spyware on your computer. Only Spywarebot won't do anything about it until you agree to but the product.

And yes, i downloaded and intsled that trash the other day thinking it would get rid of any harmful files i recieved from Trustyhound. That's what i was under the impression it was suppose to do according to the site i downloaded it from. The reports i got back didn't even mention my Trustyhoud.

Don't do it!

I should have read this first. I has the same experience. I installed the "free trial" on my new computer and it found a serious threat, that it would not fix until I paid. I politely (er, maybe not so politely) wrote to the purveyer, saying that telling someone there was a threat against them, but for money you will make it go away, is extortion.

Pissed, I uninstalled Spywarebot. It doesn't like to be uninstalled. The uninstall program automaticaly opens the "buy this trash" web page, so you have to persist and go back and run uninstall. Then I downloaded and ran Spybot, which found and destroyed the "spywarebot" spyware still on my computer. Don't know what it does since it wasn't on my machine very long.

Anybody know a good reason why a virus protection program would need to plant spyware on you?

You already have the answer as to why some do that. For the money that they want to rip you off for. That is programs like spyware bit that do that. I have yet to run across an anti-virus program that does that to you.

Cormac, eAcceleration's Stop Sign plants spyware on your computer also. It finds all kind of weird threats that other spyware just doesn't find.

Another one of those programs that doesn't like to be uninstalled, don't get sucked in.

There is a old saying that applies to these situations:
"if it sounds too good to be true,it probably is"?
There are numerous hoaxes and false ads permeating the Internet
that can fool even experienced users.The best advice I can pass on,is do not install anything without checking with another
knowledgeable source;particularly,if it claims to be FREE.

Watch out for the latest addition to this scourge called
VirusProtectPro which shows numerous false infections after
you fall for a FREE scan.It then requires you to pay-up to
remove them.Removal is a task only for experienced users.
Good Luck
Mr Security