July/August 2008

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Viruses may no longer be just a nuisance  --top

Do you have valuable data on your computer? 

While most viruses do not affect data instead attacking the operating system, ransomware is a very different matter.  It will encrypt your data with an unbreakable algorithm, then demand money in exchange for the encryption key.  The article.

And even though you could remove the virus by formatting the drive and reinstalling the operating system, your data would remain inaccessible!

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of the operating system updates, a good firewall and a good antivirus application.  But assume anyway, that someday a virus like that will get past (all of) your security... 

Back up often and make multiple backups!  It may very well be worthwhile burning your data to a CD weekly or monthly.  Put that CD away someplace safe, then use a new CD the next time... 

More ransomware of sorts...

July proved to be a busy month with another type of ransomware.  They do not capture your data, instead continually show messages or "warnings" that your computer is infected.  You are instructed to click and install WinAntivirus2008 (and other name variations), but doing so takes you to a site where you pay for that bogus product.

This type of infection typically begins as a popup from various websites such as online games, sports related, etc.  The initial popup/notice looks very official.  Some have the appearance of a Norton warning, some appear to be from Microsoft. 

Generally, once the popup occurs you are committed to answering a Yes/No question, but regardless of how you answer, the infection begins.  If you happen across one, instead of answering the question try:

• "X-ing" out of the window (note: if hovering the mouse over the red X remains a pointing finger cursor, do not click as that is a link not a close button), or

• Close the window with an Alt F4, or

• Perhaps Ctrl Alt Del and in the Task Manager's Processes tab, close all Iexplorer processes.

Avoiding this type of lowlife advertisement is difficult and it even seems to occur on computers that are completely protected otherwise.  Depending on the variation, cleanup is difficult and about half the time requires reinstallation of the operating system from scratch.

Enter SpySheriff

Recently one of our customers found multiple charges on her credit card.  She contacted the offending company, SpySheriff and here is their response:

This is not our fault that our product is being installed on your PC over and over again. We work with hundreds of affiliated advertisers. This is possible that one of  them uses illegal methods of advertising. We would appreciate your help in finding the criminal.

We applogize for these actions of our advertisers.

Try our free 3 day activation to use our product to remove the viruses from your PC. This is free of all charges and does not require credit card or any other info.

Here is a free activation code for you: xxxx - Refer to the settings section and select as much options as you wish, you can track your protection level in the bottom right corner of the window.  Refer to the scan and remove section. Click Start Scan to perform a full system scan...

And even though it was SpySheriff charging her credit card, they claim it is the advertiser causing the problem.   Based on their response, we tend to believe Wikipedia and most other sources that SpySheriff is nothing more than "malware."

It is truly unfortunate that legitimate sites use this type of advertisement, but in all fairness to some sites:

"Over 90 percent of the web pages spreading Trojan horses and spyware were legitimate websites that have been hacked through SQL injection, which is an attack that exploits security vulnerabilities to insert malicious code into the database running a website."  The article.

However, we find the ninety percent number very hard to believe...

Virus Warning  --top

While it pays to be careful when visiting sites, opening email, etc., it is especially important to be leery of unsolicited email.

Recent attempts to spread viruses via email include earthquakes video clips in China or information on the upcoming Olympic games.  Clicking the link opens an executable file and if your computer is not fully protected, it will become infected.

Scams --top

On a similar subject, the Attorney General's site offers a "top five" scams list.  While that list is interesting and worth reading, there are many more worth reading available from the Scams menu near the top of the page. The image is a partial list of the menu, some that we found interesting include: Top Ten Tips Credit Reporting Flooded/Salvaged cars Work at Home and Summer Employment Fake Invoices Labor Laws

Teenage Drivers  --top

Just a reminder for those of you with teenage drivers. 

As of August 1st, drivers under the age of 18 are not allowed to drive between midnight and 5 a.m. and they can have only one passenger (under age 20) riding.   More about this new law here.

Hotmail Issues? --top

If you are having problems reading your Hotmail messages or perhaps have other odd Hotmail problems and have AdSubtract installed, uninstall it. 

Other similar anti-adware or anti-spyware applications could cause problems.

New Search Engine  --top

http://www.cuil.com/ is another Internet search engine.

They claim to search three time as many pages as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.  Their privacy statement states they do not track user usage at all. The search results rather than a typical listing show a paragraph of information found on the result page. Not too many options (yet), you can turn on or off "safe" search or have a two or three column list.

But apparently not off to a good start according to this article.  With "incomplete, weird, and missing" results and slow response...

Cell Phone  --top

If you own, have owned or are thinking about a cell phone, this article may be of interest.  It states that Sprint Nextel's early termination fees are illegal and should pay back $18.2 million. 

Quick Links...  --top

From the what were they thinking  department...  According to this Reuters article, Canadian shops can still have porn magazines on the shelves, but cigarettes must be removed from sight. 

Looking for the manual of an appliance, computer, camera or most anything else?  Try: http://safemanuals.com/

Running Windows Vista? Here are a few handy tweaks.

Interesting video (hope you do not have Acrophobia or Vertigo...)

Take That oil companies!

We will leave you with these from Al Lowe

"Would you like dinner?" the flight attendant asked the man. "What are my choices?" he answered. She glared at him. "Yes or no."

If you don't believe that your dog is truly your best friend, put your wife and your dog in the trunk of your car for an hour. When you open the lid, who's really happy to see you?

The late, great George Carlin said he "didn't believe in reincarnation. I'm a Frisbeetarianist.  We believe that when you die, your soul goes up on a roof and gets stuck."   Here's hoping that George is stuck on your roof and a little of his great humor trickles down on you every day.