PC malware had its "busiest quarter in recent history," according to McAfee's quarterly security report released Wednesday.
The security company registered the biggest increase in malware in four years during the first quarter of this year, bringing the total number of samples to 83 million. Fake antivirus programs declined in popularity, but software with faked security signatures, rootkits and password-stealing Trojans rose.
McAfee counted about 200,000 new examples of password-stealing Trojan horses. A Trojan horses is a stand-alone program that represents itself as some form of legitimate software.