Computer Spot

Fake antivirus designers can get their work done in some ingenious ways. Around the time the British royal wedding spectacle was going on, one particular malware designer thought of a pretty clever way of exploiting the Royal wedding craze to his advantage.

He put up very a popular portrait of Princess Diana on a website (because he knew people would be searching for Princess Diana).

When people clicked on the website, they got redirected time and again until they suddenly found themselves on a website that came up with a very Microsoft-ey-looking dialog box – that said that their computer was infected, and they needed to pay $60 then and there to get rid of it.

This was fake antivirus, of course. And if nothing else, people can always tell a fake antivirus pitch by how they demand money right away. Reputable companies always offer you a free one month trial.

Anyway, reputable companies never pop up a warning like that. Fake antivirus isn’t some kind of fringe business. The FBI believes that they make will that’s the one billion-dollar industry every year.

They steal money, they take control of computers, they steal information, and they turn your computer into a kind of remote-controlled robot to make it send out lots of spam to everyone else.

The problem with fake antivirus is so bad, the normally immune Macintosh operating system has just had its first fake antivirus announced. [Score for Macintosh: 01, and Microsoft 10,000].

Fake antivirus makers use every trick in the book to get through. Sometimes, they use simple spam and online advertising.

At other times, they do it through actually calling you at home and asking you to visit their website for something or the other. Once you get there, you’ll find familiar fake antivirus running putting up.

Most of these attacks come from countries in Eastern Europe and China. There are set on stealing from the West. When fake software detects that your computer uses Chinese or Russian something, it just won’t try to steal from you.

Some of these businesses make such a great living from what they do. They try pushing fake software with convincing-sounding names like Win Drive Cleaner or XP Internet Security Organization and just get past a lot of people’s defenses.

And since they actually ask you for permission and get you to pay, your antivirus software is often a little unsure whether it needs to stop this thing that you paid money for.

Some of these organizations actually have 1000 employees and proper offices in Eastern Europe. Just imagine – some of these companies make $200 million a year. That’s more money than Twitter makes.

When these fake antivirus companies are so big, they can afford to constantly rewrite their malware code so that your antivirus software has a very hard time indeed detecting anything. As usual, personal vigilance is all that will protect you.

Incoming search terms:

• fake antivirus industry (1)
• make a fake antivirus software and ask money for it (1)

The world of computers and the internet has opened up all sorts of problems while at the same time making our lives easier. This is something that happens with all improvements.

While we rejoice in the fact that we can accomplish everyday tasks with ease we have opened ourselves up to the fact that criminals are still lurking in the dark alleys. This means that protecting yourself through knowledge is important.

Knowing what malware is for instance is an important step in getting to the best possible place for protection from those that seek to harm your computer.

Malware is nothing more than malicious software and it is closely related to the virus except the malware is a very specific kind of problem that can affect your computer.

In most cases the malware that you may get on your system is designed to steal vital information. Let’s say that you do a lot of online shopping.

Well in order to save time you have stored your credit card number with several companies that you frequent. For the most part there is nothing wrong with this.

However, if a hacker is able to install malware on your computer then he or she would be able to gain access to those numbers.

Another common problem with malware is spam email senders taking over other computers so that their own ISP is not affected by the spam. This is something that is becoming far more frequent in this day and age.

When you are dealing with this kind of attack you are getting the worst possible outcome and you have no idea that it is going on. In most cases the person that has been hacked has no clue until they are contacted by their ISP.

Data destruction is another key to the malware issue. Malware is often found in systems where data is being erased and lost forever. Thankfully you will know when this is happening and can put a stop to it if you are careful.

However, the damage may already be done and you need to be aware of the dangers of not backing up the system before hand.

To protect yourself from malware you need to follow some simple guidelines. First and foremost you should stay with the most trusted sites on the internet.

Many times Google and other search engines will tell you when there is a problem with a site. If there is any doubt then simply stay away from the site.

You should also have a good firewall installed on your system. A firewall is a defense system that will help protect you when the attacks come. In most cases the firewall will alert you to system attacks and allow you to take action against them.

Finally you should not open emails that come from people that you do not know. In most cases the malware that is installed on your system is done so through email and you will not even known that it is happening.

Incoming search terms:

• how to improve system knowledge through internet (1)

There is a worrying phenomenon making it’s way around the walls of your Facebook friends, and it risks infecting your computer with malware and viruses. The phenomenon is called clickjacking.

Clickjacking is a scam wherein your friends are tricked into clicking a link. When they do this, a link will be placed on their Facebook wall, to trick others into clicking.

The click through from your friend’s wall will lead you to a second page, where a video may be played, or images shown.

Sometimes the videos will contain a virus, or else there may be a fake, overlaid page that is invisible. When you click on the ‘play’ button you are actually clicking another button on the invisible page, which may then be used to take your money, make you buy something through a logged in Amazon or eBay account, or which may steal your information. Read the rest of this entry →

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. Read the rest of this entry →

The first program I always run is Microsoft’s Malicioius Removal Tool.  You may have noticed updates to it downloading when you do your windows updates, but did you have any idea how to run it?

For Windows XP, click on Start, then Run, and type in MRT and click OK.  You can select to either do a Quick Scan or a Full Scan.  If you suspect your are infected, do a full scan, it will take longer, but is much more thorough.

The only difference on Windows Vista, you’ll need to hold down your Windows key, and push R on your keyboard to get your Run menu.

Another tool I like to run is ComboFix.  It is a very agressive tool in removing spyware and malware.  I’d recommend trying Microsoft’s Malicisious Removal Tool first.

But often when Microsoft’s tool fails, ComboFix will succeed.  ComboFix can be found quickly by searching on Google.

The most important thing to do after you’ve cleaned your PC, make sure you have a current generation AntiVirus/Malware program, and you keep it up to date.

Schedule it to scan your PC at least once a week, to make sure you’ are staying clean, and ready for use.  I personally like Trend Micro’s Internet Security Suite.

It is full featured, and has been very effective.  Trend also has a wide variety of free tools for you to use to clean your PC.  It is critical that you keep your Windows up to date, for the best protection.

By using these simple tools you can clean your PC, and keep it clean for the future.

Have you experienced any unusual behaviors on your computer system after downloading a file from an unknown source?

Have you had a corrupted data replaced by unknown files stored on your hard drive? Have you had a slow internet connection because of high bandwidth usage?

Well, think again.  These things are possibly caused by malware’s malicious actions.

Malware is any program or software that has malicious actions designed specifically to damage a system.

Malware starts by entering a computer system through different ways like attaching itself as an email attachment or downloading itself once a user visits a malicious web site. Read the rest of this entry →

Malware can cause damage to your computer especially if you are not aware of its malicious actions.  Usually they modify and infect other files, propagate through the network you’re connected with and cause unusual system behaviors like frequent system restarts and slow performance.

Identifying a malware program on your computer is hard especially if the program that you are suspecting as malicious is a legitimate file.

Worst thing is , once the suspect file affects your computer, it’s too late for you to prevent its attack.

There are tools that you can use in order to help you identify the malware program and prevent further infections on your computer. Read the rest of this entry →

Malware is used to refer viruses, Trojans and worms or any programs that have malicious actions.

Worm, a type of malware, propagates through the network.  This means that worms can propagate via file sharing, instant messaging, downloading applications from unknown sources and visiting malicious web sites.

An example of network-infecting worm is Slammer that spread around the world in less than 15 minutes!  Internet traffic caused by Slammer in its search for computers to infect caused slowdown of the Internet and affected telecommunications and some financial networks.

Trojans and viruses, also types of malware, are not capable of propagating through the network but they can modify and infect files.  They can possibly cause data loss.

Data is very important on businesses and contributes to a business’ profit growth.  If these malware infectors can cause data loss, they can also be a factor to profit loss. Read the rest of this entry →

Incoming search terms:

• how does malware affect businesses (1)