Experiments On Humans
Malware Popups Don’t Worry Users
A test of was designed by the folks over at Psychology department at the North Carolina University as part of a study to try and understand human patterns while using the Internet. Popups were displayed on a screen to the users which contained errors to do with memory problems. Three of the four popups were clearly malware popups and the fourth looked very similar to the authentic Windows error. The popups were based on browsers so moving the pointer over the buttons in the window would turn the mouse pointer into a hand. There were even popups with a clear browser window and yet more or less half of the users clicked on the malware popup buttons any way. With the practicals test over with, the students said they were least bothered with the popups and their main priority was to complete the tasks by getting the dialog windows to close.