eXPress Antivirus 2009 is one of the newest of a long line of rogue security tools. You would almost think that the developers of these things would learn what actually works. I guess ultimately, they don’t care enough to bother putting out convincing products.

The appearance of eXPress Antivirus is probably the lamest attempt I’ve seen in trying to look like a real program. They make use of some of the imagery used by Windows, but they slop that up.

The “XP” in the name, “express antivirus,” is a different color than the other letters, perhaps in an attempt to imply that they’re Windows approved. They also use the Windows shield icon, but this is of a different color scheme than the one that Windows uses—it's in brown and black. In fact, the whole color scheme is in brown and black, rather than blue and red.

Aside from the difference in "skin," you can pretty much expect a normal rogue security tool infection out of eXPress Antivirus. If you’re new to this kind of situation, I’ll explain it to you.

eXPress Antivirus and other rogue tools are transmitted from infected websites and downloads. Typically, they involve watching videos, since it’s easy to get a person to initiate the infection that way. eXPress Antivirus, like the others, also have home pages like www.expressantivirus2009.com where you can also get infected.

The way an infection from eXPress Antivirus starts is that when an infected icon or link gets clicked on, you download a Trojan Downloader, such as Zlob or Keenval. This spyware program allows the eX Press Antivirus to bypass your security features and download on your computer.

Then, the eXPress Antivirus scanning window pops up and conducts an unsolicited scan of your computer. It tells you that your computer is horribly infected with viruses. It’s an unrealistic level of infection that it shows, and it’s just there to scare you. You probably don’t even have any viruses on your computer.

You can’t just ignore this program, either. Should you manage to close it, eXPress Antivirus is geared to restart at regular intervals, when you open your browser, and when you restart your computer. Also, the longer it’s on your computer, the more likely it is to damage it.

The goal eXPress Antivirus has is to make you pay them to “fix” your problem. It causes problems to make the situation more real. They will try to convince you that they’re the only ones who can fix your problem, which isn’t true. They won’t fix your problem, whereas a real antispyware program can.

The worst thing you can do is buy eXPress Antivirus. If you do, your problem goes from having a computer infection to having been ripped off. You may even find out that someone else is spending money on your account—this is a surefire way to commit identity theft.

If you see eXPress Antivirus, you must get a real antispyware program immediately and remove it from your system. It’s an annoyance, and it compromises the security and performance of your computer. It’s not worth keeping around.