The viruses and malware are practically everywhere these days. A recent virus outbreak on Facebook came in the form of an app.

It was an astoundingly clever one too. The app, disturbingly called If I Die, worked in a rather curious way. You were supposed to take a video for after your death.

The video was supposed to be played by someone you loved after you died. The app’s advertising slogan – “Death can catch you anywhere, anytime. Leave your If I Die message before it’s too late”. Well, how overwhelmingly silly.

But if you did find it oddly sweet somehow and you downloaded it, that’s when it hit you. It really did – it was a virus and not really an app that all.

It went and stole passwords and tried to steal from you. It did other things too – stole your photos, took pictures with your WebCam and spied on you.

It was one nasty piece of work. So what kind of method you use for Facebook virus removal? Usually, Facebook virus removal doesn’t need anything other than your traditional antivirus.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the only Facebook virus out there. Far from it, it’s only one of the latest ones to actually get any publicity. A while ago, Koobface was the Facebook virus that everyone wanted to talk about (yes, it’s Facebook spelled backwards).

In some instances as with KoobFace, Facebook virus removal can be done without actually turning to an antivirus software package.

While it can be done, it shouldn’t be the way you choose unless you don’t have antivirus (why you don’t have antivirus is anyone’s guess as there are plenty of great free choices out there).

Actually, KoobFace has been designed to thwart any attempts at manual removal. Manual removal requires that you be familiar with editing the registry. You’ll be able to find detailed instructions to do with deleting various registry entries all over the web.

With less nefarious Facebook viruses, removal tends to be slightly easier. For instance, with some Facebook viruses, all you need to do is to deny access to it and delete it from your account.

Doing that is pretty easy. You just need to go to the Account tab on your Facebook account, click on Privacy Settings, and then choose Edit your Setting for Apps, Games and Websites. At that point, it’s easy to remove the virus and deny access.

Prevention would be far better than attempting desperate cures like this, of course. Make sure that you don’t use Facebook apps and quizzes for no reason, and you should go a long way towards securing your account.

Facebook Virus Removal – what to do when you’re Infected is a post from: Computer Spot

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If they opened a James Bond movie the way spring of 2011 opened, it would seem like quite a plot – cyber terrorists around the world attack Western computer systems.

First, they try a soft target – the Sony PlayStation data center; and then they get more ambitious and take Citibank data center security down.

US Airways is grounded because of a computer glitch; and so is United Continental just a week later. It’s the end of Western civilization – if James Bond doesn’t join hands and do something.

There’s one little way in which the whole story doesn’t ring true. This Citibank data center security breach and the one with the PlayStation were the only ones we learned about.

There are breaches occur almost every week that never get reported. People who trust that the banks know how to take care of their financial information and who give their credit card numbers to dozens of merchant establishments trusting that they will do everything in their power to keep them safe live in serious self-delusion.

Banks and merchant establishments lose your data just as often as you misplace your car keys. Only, when it’s your car keys, you actually get to know about it.

What can you do when your hard-earned money sits there in your account waiting to be robbed at any time? It’s there one moment, and it’s gone the next.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has just published a proper list of all the data center security breaches that have occurred over the last six years in this country.

And apparently, there are enough people on that list to cover the US population twice over. There have been a couple of hundred security breaches this year alone and tens of millions of financial records have been stolen.

Some people can have their life turned upside down when this happens. The people who steal their Social Security numbers and everything else can commit crimes in their names.

When the victims go apply for a job or a house loan or something, their name shows on the system, flagged as that of the convicted felon. Criminals don’t need to rob banks anymore.

They just have to get a stolen bank account, sit at the computer, and steal as much money as they can from other people’s bank accounts and have it transferred to the stolen bank account they have and make away with the money. They don’t care that they’ve just destroyed someone’s life forever.

So are these cyber thieves some kind of super high-tech people with brilliant hacking abilities? Not likely. Most of these crimes are done by people who use basic old techniques that have been in place for years now. It’s just that the banks haven’t been doing anything at all to protect your interests. The question is, if the banks won’t protect you, how do you protect yourself?

Basically, all you can do is to protect your computer. If they are stealing from the bank where you have an account, there’s pretty much nothing you can do. All you can do is to take steps to minimize the fallout, once it happens.

One way to protect yourself would be to use different user names and passwords for every online banking account you have.

When thieves get their hands on a bunch of user names and passwords from one bank, they’ll try them on every other bank hoping that you’ll have been too lazy to think of a new username and password there. They have automated programs that try every bank (and PayPal) out, automatically.

If you are hit at any time, the only way you’ll ever know is if you take a look at your credit report and see some suspicious activity. Make sure you keep on top of your credit reports.

Accepting the Reality of Data Center Security Breaches and Coping is a post from: Computer Spot

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A new malware attack for computers connected to the Internet isn’t really news. There is one every minute. But only when it’s for Windows computers is it not news – Windows computers have famously had nearly half a million pieces of malware designed for them.

When someone designs malware especially for Apple computers, it certainly is news. The Mac has tried to push as its selling point it’s low profile to malware designers.

Apple has always said that the company, with its 12% market share, just doesn’t present as interesting a target to malware designers.

Apparently, someone just thought that designing stuff to take the Mac down could win him a bit of attention. The malware in question is especially remarkable for the fact that it masquerades as a version of the MacDefender Macintosh antivirus software.

Mac users who try to download the popular MacDefender Macintosh antivirus software end up often with the pirate version that brings up a load of viruses with it.

So what exactly do people do wrong to actually become infected? Apparently, Mac users have mostly been targeted by the malware through the course of a search through Google Images. The malware apparently just downloads itself as you browse through images.

You also need to be using Safari. As you go about the Internet, minding your own business, the Safari browser suddenly displays a message that your computer has been infected. It offers the rogue MacDefender macintosh antivirus software as the remedy for it.

Macintosh users, who aren’t really used to the deviousness that malware makers use to get past their defenses (Windows users would never fall for that one), readily believe in what they’re being told.

The reason the creators of this virus have chosen to masquerade as the popular Macintosh antivirus software is probably that the Safari browser is by default set to automatically install trusted software. Since MacDefender is a trusted software company, it just gets right past the gate. The good part is, that this virus, clever as it is, isn’t really that malicious. It just keeps asking you for payment and for your credit card number. To remove it is pretty simple.

To stop the program from running, you probably want to go to the Activity Monitor and disable everything that’s named MacDefender. Search Launch Agents and Launch Daemons for any mention of MacDefender; look at your Library and StartUp items as well.

Once you’re done, you can then drag the MacDefender program from the Applications folder to the Trash. You can also search for MacDefender with Spotlight and delete everything you find.

If you don’t have the virus yet, make sure that you make it difficult for the virus to enter your computer in the first place. You need to open Safari, go to Preferences and under the General tab, take the checkmark out of the “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading.” Box.

A New Virus That Masquerades As Macintosh Antivirus Software is a post from: Computer Spot

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How often do you use your personal computer? More than likely you make use of this handy resource on a daily basis. Moreover, you probably have more than one PC or Mac in your home that gets used every day.

At this point, most people simply cannot function on a day-today basis without their trust computers at their side. Since these advanced little machines are so extremely important for routine rituals and chores, it is naturally important to keep your PC healthy and running properly.

After all, it is not worth much if it can’t perform how you want it to. This means that you may require free computer virus protection to stay on the safe side.

Think about all of the sites and email addresses you come in contact on a daily basis. Whether you realize it or not, all of these can have an impact on your computer’s safety.

Surely you’ve been surfing the web before and random pop-ups covered your screen. There was a time when many personal computer browsers had no clue how to deal with these. Every time you clicked one closed, three more would arise.

This was utterly annoying to say the very least. Even though many major browsers have been updated so they can deal with most pop-ups now, you still might require free computer virus protection of some sort. Sure enough, some spyware still gets through.

Take a look at your PC more closely to see what current anti-virus software you have on it. If you have Norton or Symantec, go ahead and do a full hard drive scan to make certain your computer is free of all viruses and spyware.

This only takes an hour or so to run. If you do not have any anti-virus software to assist you with this, proceed to acquire a free computer virus protection download online.

Websites that can easily assist you with this are CyberDefender.com, Symantecstore.com, and webroot.com. Take a closer look at these so you can get started with a good anti-virus software program now. The sooner you protect you PC, the better.

A lot of people assume that their computers are free of any damaging viruses and spyware. This is never a good idea. After all, you can’t really know if you need a free computer virus protection download if you haven’t scanned your hard drive for threats.

Fortunately many websites that offer these free virus protection downloads can scan your computer promptly for spyware and other potential dangers.

Some issues that may arise if your computer is infected are as follows; The speed of your processor seems slower than it was originally, the PC crashes regularly, the screen locks up and you have to restart the computer, or certain password protected accounts appear to be accessed by someone else.

Go ahead and see which free computer virus protection download is right for you now!

Free Computer Virus Protection is a post from: Computer Spot

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Of course, if you think of free antivirus protection, you think of AVG if you want to go outside the family; or you think Microsoft’s Security Essentials if you want to think local.

If you want to cut down on the cost of your computer build by $50 or so a year, doing it with your choice of antivirus, is a great way to go.

But there is so much choice out there, some would say even more choice than you would if you were looking to pay money for your antivirus needs.

The best free antivirus protection out there can be basically indistinguishable from the paid ones in most areas that count. So what do you think could be missing?

The first thing to go in a free program is support. If you have trouble installing it, or with determining what to do if it says that it is unable to remove something, who do you call?

With free software, you call your geek friend, if you are lucky enough to have one. But there are a few enterprises out there that do give you limited e-mail or forum support.

Avast and Microsoft Security Essentials for example give you free e-mail support; AVG  does give you the option to use their toll number to call support.

Just one small catch there though, it costs $50 a call – which is more than you would pay for the program itself. But maybe limited or no support is no real deterrent; usually, for the reasonably educated user, very little goes wrong that they would actually need help with. And if they do, they can always go to an online forum and ask.

The other thing with free antivirus protection is the question whether it updates itself as regularly as the paid version. As a general rule, the free ones don’t check with the update server as often as the paid ones.

If you do happen to have the bad luck to come upon one of the newest viruses out there in between updates, you would be in trouble.

But no one actually has that kind of spectacular bad luck, that the newest virus out there should get to you in the one day it takes your antivirus to update itself.

But here too, the free ones are all caught up; Microsoft Security Essentials, if it is not up-to-date, and still comes across something it finds suspicious, will get online to check it out.

Panda antivirus will do the same. Paid ones will give you some extra computer scanning features, and will look out for you on your chat client too; and of course there is always the benefit that you don’t get the annoying “Do you want to install the Ask Toolbar” option,  when you install.

But really, this is just quibbling and splitting hairs. You get to save about $50 every year, using free antivirus protection, and that is not a bad deal. If you choose Microsoft Security Essentials, it might be even a better deal.

What do I think is the best free antivirus protection out there? The word to the street today is that Avira Antivir Personal is the real winner.

Its malware protection is second to none, it is fast in its scanning, and it doesn’t seem to slow down the computer as much. But it can be a bit tedious the way its user interface is designed.

And the same goes for Avast. These days AVG is particularly popular, but the protection does seem a little off. Microsoft Security Essentials is really good too.

The Panda Cloud antivirus does need a closer look; it uses a new approach entirely, going online every single time to search for virus definitions on its servers.

But this is kind of a new approach, and one needs a little more time to understand it properly. Free antivirus protection has really come of age now; if you ask me, you really can put your money away now.

What Does your Cash Buy Anyway – Free Antivirus Protection is a post from: Computer Spot

Viruses and malicious code have been a major problem since the rise in popularity of the internet. A more recent, and growing problem are botnets, and the effect that they are having on cyber crime. Just what are botnets and who should be responsible for cleaning them up?

Botnets are a group of computers that have been compromised and that link themselves together to form a network.

The computers are compromised by malware, and are termed zombie computers. They do the work for the virus without any input from the owner of the computer.

These networks serve many purposes. They are normally used to generate money from the person who created the botnet, or they may be used to attack a website or a server.

Attacks such as these are called denial of service attacks, or DOS. They are intended to simply create havoc by stopping anyone else from using the server or website.

Spam is another function of these networks. Each computer in the botnet (and there may be thousands-even a million or more) sends just a small number of the spam emails in order to escape detection by the usual spam detection protocols. However, when a million computers send out a few spam emails-that’s a lot of spam that is sent out.

The worst of the attacks by these services include financial cyber crimes. The larger the botnet, the more powerful it becomes, allowing the user to go bigger, and more damaging in the attacks that it makes.

The services of a botnet may be kept for just the creator, but some will allow others to use it for their own purposes, for a price.

Botnets can be wiped out by simply installing the right anti-malware software and keeping it up to date. The problem is that too many internet users either do not know what they are supposed to do in order to keep their computer safe, or else they simply choose not to.

Though it is their right to risk their own personal files, personal information and computer, the problem comes because of the fact that their inaction drastically increases the risks to other people’s computers and personal information.

And while they can choose to risk harm themselves, it’s not fair when that then hurts more responsible computer users.

Some internet service providers (ISPs) in some parts of the world are taking action. In Germany for instance, the government has paid for call centers to be set up that the ISPs report infected users to.

The call center calls the user and works with them to clean their machine. Refusal to do so can result in quarantine.

Microsoft also wants to see stronger measures. They now offer their antivirus software to anyone found to have none, and do it all through the Windows update service and they want to see enforced quarantine of infected files. The question is, whose job is it really, to deal with this?

The crimes that are committed are real, and can be very serious and for this reason is may be that more governments step up and enforce clean up.

Really though, the work should be done by the owners of these machines-the problem is that without someone to force them to do so, many people will simply ignore the problem.

Who Should be Responsible for Cracking Botnets? is a post from: Computer Spot

There is a virus that is aimed at the social networks-Facebook in particular, that is sweeping through the computers of the people who use the social networks. This very dangerous virus can be hard to remove and can cause a great deal of damage to your computer.

Koobface is a worm, and is not actually a new problem. It has been around for some time, but is becoming increasingly prevalent because of the number of people who now use the social networking sites.

Infection is via a link on the profile of one of your friends-or it might be sent to you via private message or be posted on your profile. Because the link is from a friend, and this encourages trust, and leads to many people clicking the link. A video then plays which contains the Koobface worm hidden within, which silently installs itself onto your computer without telling you.

It then searches your cookies on your computer. These are small files that contain your login information and other visit information to many sites.

Your username and password will be contained within, and when the worm finds the cookies for your social networks, it takes the information and logs into your account as you. It then sends on the links to your friends, and posts it onto your profile so that it can be spread to your friends as well.

Once on your computer it hijacks certain files. It will cause any searches that you perform to be routed through its own servers so that it can show you links that it wants you to visit, rather than the ones that you really want.

Most commonly the first link that it shows you will send you to another, dangerous site. These secondary sites will contain viruses or other malware, thus drastically increasing the risks of damage to your computer.

One of the more troublesome aspects of Koobface is that it blocks your access to the websites that offer tools that remove it, such as antivirus websites. This self protection may prevent people from getting help, and so the situation gets worse-ultimately their computer can become what is known as a Zombie-or a member of a botnet (a network of computers that are linked together and cause cyber crimes).

Keeping your antivirus software up to date is an important part of protecting yourself from the Koobface virus, as is a common sense approach. It is important to not click on links on your friend’s profiles that you are unsure of.

Unfortunately, though they will try, many antivirus programs don’t do well at removing Koobface. Instead a program called Malwarebytes should be used. This is not an all purpose antivirus program and so should not be relied upon (instead requiring you to also run an antivirus program), but will remove certain items of destructive malware such as this.

More importantly it does not run in real time-instead you need to load it up and run it when it is convenient to you. It also does not auto-update, and so users should cultivate the habit of updating and running it daily.

When used correctly, Malwarebytes is a wonderful piece of software that can help provide essential protection for your computer.

The Koobface Virus is a post from: Computer Spot

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We all hate finding out that our computer has a virus and, until recently, there was not a lot that you could do about it except either pay a tech specialist to fix it up or just try to keep it blocked in the first place.

The problem is, there are only so many ways to be able to stop a virus and that means the more we know, the better we can fight them.

If you have not yet heard, the Google redirect virus is one troublesome computer pest that is a real pain to deal with.

This particular strain of computer virus will take over your computer’s web browser in such a way that it ends up sending you to annoying places on the web that you probably do not want to go.

With the Google redirect virus, it is one of those types of viruses that are a hassle more than they are purely destructive, but it appears that it was designed to make money for the design team.

A redirect virus is a big pain because it means you can not go to where you want on the web since it takes over and sends you to some other place. This is a big pain and definitely not something any of us want to deal with so knowing that you can get rid of it once and for all is going to feel good.

Most people imagine that they can do very little about this type of virus, but that is not true. There are plenty of ways to be able to stop it and you can find them a lot more of a hassle than anything else.

There is plenty of great information out there which is going to help you get that Google redirect virus off your computer if you simply take the time to look around for it which is definitely what you want to be able to do.

It is worth discovering the smart ways to eliminate this hassle from your computer because you will be very glad that you took the time to do so once all is said and done.

The best part of this process is that it is really not so hard to conquer such a virus if you know what to do. The Google redirect virus is easier to handle than most because it is a fairly quick fix, compared to many more serious infections.

With Google redirect virus removal software and services, it is much easier to get rid of that virus once and for all sot hat you do not have to deal with it in the future. Make the choice to be virus free and you will be glad you did.

Don’t Let The Google Redirect Virus Slow You Down is a post from: Computer Spot

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There are many dangers to using a shared computer, but unfortunately it is not always possible to avoid them. When you are forced to use a shared computer or else go without, how can you be sure that you are not putting your identity or personal information at risk, and enjoy safe computing?

There are two kinds of shared computer to be considered: the public computer, such as at a library, or the family computer.

The auto-fill and password memorization facilities on modern computers can be wonderful features for people who struggle to remember things, and are great on a personal home computer.

Yet on a shared computer they are a huge threat. If given the option to save or remember the password that you enter you should always say no, because the risk is that the user who follows you onto the computer can access your account by simply allowing the computer to fill in your details.

Ensuring that you log out of any accounts that you are logged into is vital. Many accounts will automatically log you out after a period of time but before this happens a person may be able to access your information.

Bank accounts are the most strict of all accounts, and are likely to sign you out again within around ten minutes. Others are not so strict, and in fact email accounts may keep you signed in for two weeks-or more-at a time.

Personal emails often contain information that could lead to identity theft, such as dates of birth, details of your parents and addresses, and even your social networking sites could cause problems if accessed by others.

Insulting comments may be posted to your profile or to those of your friends, and your personal information may be taken or deleted, or even over written. All of these things could lead to relationship damage.

If you need to carry files between computers, and yet retain privacy and security then a USB flash drive is ideal. Not only can these devices carry a large amount of information, but they can be password protected too.

Some come with anti-virus software pre-installed which can be used to make sure that your files remain safe and clean, and that you don’t carry viruses from computer to computer along with your files.

You should never save files on a public computer, other than on a removable drive that you own. But a shared family computer is a different matter.

Here you will likely have your own profile, set up as you want it. Your best friend on a family system is the password that you can use to protect your profile, by opening the control panel and selecting user account controls.

The password also prevents access to your documents, but this can be overcome. For complete privacy if needed, it is better to encrypt your files.

You can never be entirely sure that your data is safe whilst you are sharing a computer with other users. Yet a few simple precautions can go a long way to protecting what is important to you.

Careful Computing is a post from: Computer Spot

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For a long time, the writers of viruses and other malware programs have been working on ever new ways to trick people into installing their virus, or allowing it to access their computer.

One of the newer ways is proving incredibly effective, and is something that everyone should be aware of.

You may know the situation. You are sitting at your computer, looking working online. Suddenly, a pop up window opens that tells you that you have a large number of viruses, and that you need to clean your computer. What do you do?

The first thing that you should do is look at the name of the pop up. If it is the antivirus software that you are sure that you have on your machine, then there is no risk in going ahead and using it to remove the virus.

But the trouble is that many of the rogues are named similarly, with just minor differences in their name compared to the real deal.

These rogue anti-virus programs are cleverly designed so that they look exactly like some of the most popular of the genuine anti-virus programs as well.

They use the same icons, presumably taken from the genuine program, to make them look exactly like the real thing. They even use names that are similar, such as ‘Antivirus Live’, ‘Antivirus XP’, ‘Total Win Vista Security’ or any other of a long list of names that are designed to make them appear genuine.

The rogue programs get you two ways. First, they say that you need to pay a fairly large sum of money to install the program that will clean your machine of viruses that you don’t actually have-the readings are all fake.

So, having been scammed out of your money, you install the program-only you aren’t getting what you hoped for.

Instead you normally get a trojan. The program will appear to be doing something useful in the front end, but behind the scenes it is downloading other, perhaps more dangerous malware onto your computer.

This may be viruses, or spyware, or any number of pieces of software that pose a danger both to your computer and to your identity.

Eventually your computer will start to perform badly and you will realize that you have a virus. Unfortunately by then it will have corrupted the antivirus software on your own machine to the point that it won’t run, and will block the installation of any genuine antivirus software.

It makes the removal of these rogue programs incredibly problematic. MalwareBytes is one of the best programs for removing the majority of rogue programs, but unfortunately even this may not get everything.

If you are struggling to remove it from your own machine, Google search for the name that shows on your machine, as well as the word ‘removal’ and follow the instructions that you find.

What you should never, ever do is click to install the program-and never click ‘no’, or ‘cancel’ or in fact don’t click anything on the pop up window! Even clicking the ‘X’ in the corner in an attempt to close it will lead to the installation of the program. All you can do it shut down your browser by right clicking on it in the toolbar, and selecting ‘close window’.

Unfortunately many people are being tricked in this way, and the real tragedy is that until they clicked to install the rogue program, they probably never had a virus at all.

When a Virus Isn’t What it Seems is a post from: Computer Spot