A computer security firm has been fined $1million for falsely claiming PCs were infected with spyware in order to sell its software.

A lawsuit was filed back in January against the company Secure Computer, which used aggressive and deceptive tactics to convince users to pay $49.95 for its Spyware Cleaner software.

The company used pop-ups, spam e-mail and search engine links to inform users their PC had been infected with spyware when it had not.

The company also falsely implied that the software was endorsed by Microsoft.

Experts claim Spyware Cleaner failed to remove spyware and actually changed settings to allow more malicious code to infect a PC in the future.

The company was accused of violating Washington's spyware laws. Secure Computer has agreed to pay $1million to settle the charges.

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