Malwarrior is a piece of fake anti-spyware that downloads itself onto innocent people’s computers.  It downloads itself onto your system and then displays fake security alerts in order to get you to buy the paid version.  But it doesn’t really take care of anything.

It downloads itself frequently through Trojan software, if that tells you anything.  And it tends to slow down your computer as well as give you “false positives” about computer infection, in order to get you to buy the paid version of Malwarrior.

Trojans aren’t the only way for you to pick up this malicious piece of software, though.  It can be bundled with shareware or other downloadable software.  Bit torrent sites are rife with this and other spyware programs, too.

Have you ever been looking at a new and unfamiliar web site, when what seemed to be a regular Windows notification box popped up with “Yes” and “No” buttons on it?  Regardless of what it was asking you, and regardless of which button you clicked, Malwarrior or some other malicious software very likely downloaded itself onto your computer right then.

Malwarrior is one of many kinds of fake anti-spyware that downloads itself onto your computer and then tries to convince you to buy the paid version.  It does this convincing by constantly popping up and telling you that your computer is infected.  Your computer is, in fact, infected–by fake anti-spyware.

How did this program come into existence?  It was reportedly designed by Russian hackers.  It makes money for them by showing fake security warnings, and then badgering the user into buying the “full” version of Malwarrior.

To make the program even more insidious, it even has the ability to re-create itself!  It can spread itself using your PC or laptop as a base, thereby implicating you in the infection of other computers.

But Malwarrior does more than just throw up annoying advertisements and deceptive false positives.  It can also open up browser security holes and steal personal information such as credit card numbers, passwords, bank account numbers, and other sensitive private info.

This piece of rogue anti-spyware can often be just the beginning of your problems, however–it’s also designed to install other spyware and malware on to your computer.  So once you get this into your computer, you’re in constant danger of multiple abuses as long as it stays on there.

Malwarrior is not easy to either detect or remove.  Like many other forms of rogue anti-spyware, it can re-install itself even after it appears to have been removed.  This makes manual removal difficult and unreliable.

Like many forms of spyware, it is constantly evolving and changing.  Even if you thoroughly rid yourself of one installation, you’re still in danger of being infected by a new, “improved” version of the software.  The only way to make certain you’re not infected again is to make sure you have reliable anti-spyware software with daily updates.