Plagued by the Privacy Center? Learn how to remove it

We recently received several e-mails to this blog like this:

Why can I not get past the privacy Center screen so I can get to the settings? I want to disable this program. It is useless and it will not let me use my computer.

It turns out there is a “scareware” program, aka rogue security software called “Privacy Center” that claims to be from Microsoft – it isn’t. Some victims of this nasty piece of malware have ended up on this blog trying to figure out how to get rid of it. Well, here are some instructions from the Microsoft Tips and Tricks Blog:

Privacy Center is not Microsoft software. It’s a new form of fake antimalware software (also known as rogue security software) that pretends to help protect your computer, but is really a new form of spyware. It can slow down your computer and damage your files.

To remove the Privacy Center, download and use Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft Windows Defender, the Windows Live safety scanner, or another up-to-date scanning and removal tool.

For more technical information, see the Microsoft Malware Protection Center: Win32/Privacy Center.

Here are a couple images of the Privacy Center: