Don't Fall Victim to Scareware

You're surfing the Net and all of a sudden a screen pops up warning you there is a problem on your computer. You're not sure if it's real or not, so what do you do? Be careful, it could be scareware. Bob defines scareware like this:

SCAREWARE: Software that is created for the purpose of tricking people into downloading or purchasing it, when in reality it's either unnecessary, marginally useful, or outright dangerous. Scareware programs often run a fake or cursory scan, then present the user with a list of hazards that must be corrected. Fixing these "problems" then requires the user to pay a fee for a "full" or "registered" version of the software.