Thursday, December 30, 2010

Fraud theft has many faces – none of which are pretty – but perhaps the most insidious is that of Rouge Anti-Virus Software scams.

One of the newest virus threats online comes to your computer as a true “wolf wrapped in sheep’s clothing.” System Tool 2011, and other such malware, is being e-mailed to computers all over the world, causing damage and bilking its victims out of hundreds of dollars.

The Scam

Unless you work, live, and breathe for computers, you probably aren’t familiar with online theft information regarding the term “rogue” anti-virus software until you become a victim. This is not optimal way to learn about the deleterious effects it can have on your computer and bank accounts.

Rogue anti-virus software is spread over the Internet the same way other viruses are: in e-mail attachments, as a part of a shareware software bundle all with the help of a Trojan. (Trojans are software packets that sneak inside your hard drive hiding within another download, much the same way the actual warriors hid inside the horse.) One of the most successful, and most damaging, of these rogue anit-virus programs is System Tool (also known as systemtool and System Tool 2011).

Rogue anti-viruses have no affinity for malware, Trojan, or other harmful programs’ removal because they are in and of themselves malware. Their real and only purpose is theft fraud by capturing your credit card information under false pretenses. This qualifies rogue virus software as identity fraud theft scams at their finest.

How it Works

Once inside your computer, System Tool, or any other rouge anti-virus program, springs into action without your knowledge or consent. It self-installs and plants its malignant files deep within your registry. It sets itself to begin on your computer’s start up.

The next time you turn on your computer you will be greeted with a legitimate-looking scan results screen listing the many programs System Tool has detected within your computer. The list is fake – a scare tactic to motivate you to click the removal button option.

Once you click the remove button, a message will prompt to you to activate your account or subscription. To do this you need to pay for a one, two, or lifetime subscription option. To keep you motivated, new messages are popping up all the while proclaiming new infestations, infected files, and other damages needing repair.

Don’t fall for it. The messages are fake. The infections are fake. The computer scan results are also fake. They are all part of System Tool’s design to entice you to impart of your credit card information willingly. This program is a virus itself, so it will not do anything but mess up your computer and then take your money and run.

Recovery

First off, if you have paid for System Tool (now that you are wiser), call your credit card company and dispute the charges.

The next step is getting it off of your computer. This can be tricky because part of the programming is aimed at keeping itself alive inside your hard drive by blocking attempts to remove it. Legitimate virus removal software does not always recognize and remove it because the malware looks like real anti-virus software.

To be certain you are rid of System Tool, you will most likely need the help of an experienced computer wiz, a visit from the Geek Squad, or someone similarly qualified.

The process of starting the computer in safe mode and sifting through real system files from fake ones will be simple for them but difficult and dangerous for a novice.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

In order to uninstall Disk Doctor you’ll need Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware tool

1. First and foremost you should print out the following instructions as you may be asked to close all open windows later on in the cleaning process.

2. You might encounter downloading issues if your computer is infected with Disk Doctor, so it’s possible you won’t be able to download anything on your own computer. If this is the case, you’ll need to download the specific files for the removal procedure on another computer and then transfer them using a CD/DVD, a flash drive or an external drive.

3. In order to proceed with the cleaning, you must first close any active processes that belong to Disk Doctor so they won’t interfere. You can do that by downloading RKill from this link. Remember to use the iExplore.exe download link, and save the program on your desktop.

4. Next, open the iExplore.exe file, and the program will begin to automatically close all processes associated with Disk Doctor and other Rogue programs as well. It’s important that you let RKill finish running, even if at some point it will display a message that RKill itself is an infection. Again, this is another fake message from Disk Doctor that might even stop the process and close RKill. In case this happens, the first method of tricking Disk Doctor is by not closing the warning window, instead leaving it on the screen and running RKill once more. If RKill still hasn’t managed to run all the way to the finish point, try running it a couple more times, until the malware is no longer running on your computer. If after all this, you still encounter problems in running RKill all the way, try downloading a renamed version of RKill here, which is in fact simply a renamed copy of RKill. After RKill will eventually finish its job, do not reboot you computer as the malware programs will pop out again.

5. After you get rid of all Disk Doctor associated processes, download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM) from the link provided above and, once again, save it on your Desktop.

6. After the download has finished, close all programs and windows on your computer (including this one).

7. Open the file mbam-setup.exe from your desktop to start installing MBAM on your computer.

8. In order to complete the installations you just need to follow the prompts and you must remember not to make any settings changes along the way. When the installation process finishes, keep in mind to leave both the Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked. After you hit the Finish button be very careful not to reboot your computer even if Malwarebytes’ asks you to.

9. After you finish the installation, MBAM will automatically start with a message that advises you to update the program before performing any scan. Once you hit the OK button a new window with the main program will appear as shown below:

10. On the Scanner tab choose Perform full scan and click the Scan button.

11. The scanning process can take quite a while, so be patient while you’re staring at a window like the one below:

12. When MBAM has finished scanning your computer, hit the OK button from the message window that will appear.

13. You’ll now be sent back to the main Scanner screen where you should select Show Results.

14. A window with all the malware that MBAM discovered will be seen, like the one provided below. You must now press the Remove Selected button and MBAM will start deleting all files and registry keys and will add them to the programs quarantine. MBAM might require you to reboot the computer at some point in order to remove some files and you must allow the program to do that.

15. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, a Notepad scan log will be displayed. After you close the Notepad Window, you can exit the MBAM program.

16. Disk Doctor should now be completely removed from your computer, but we strongly recommend that you also scan the computer for vulnerable programs (you can use Secunia PSI to that end), as many rogues and malware are installed through out-dated and vulnerable programs. Hope this guide turns out helpful. Please let us know if you successfully removed Disk Doctor.

Friday, December 10, 2010

HDD Diagnostic is a rogue (malware, virus) parading as a system optimizer software that, once installed, tries to convince users there is something wrong with their system by displaying various fake error messages.
HDD Diagnostic is installed via Trojans or the TDSS Rootkit. Don’t worry, this removal guide will also show you how to get rid of the TDSS Rootkit.
Once installed, HDD Diagnostic will start every time you log into Windows and it will display error messages when the user tries to launch any program or delete files. It will then ask you to analyze your system with the program and, if you do that, it will display numerous warnings and errors that can only be fixed if…surprise, surprise…you buy the full version of HDD Diagnostic. Of course this is a scam so don’t be tricked into giving your credit card info.
HDD Diagnostic Removal Guide
If HDD Diagnostic prevents you from downloading files, you need to get them on an uninfected system and transfer them via USB, CD/DVD etc.
1. Launch iExplore.exe in order to stop all the processes associated with HDD Diagnostic. It might take a while but you’ll know that iExplore has finished when the black window disappears.
Note: You might receive some messages saying that iExplore.exe is a virus. Don’t worry, this is just HDD Diagnostic’s way of defending itself. If such a message appears leave it on the screen and run iExplore.exe again. If you’re still having problems download RKill.com and/or eXplorer.exe from the provided link and try again ( they are just renamed copies of iExplore.exe )
2. Execute the downloaded MBAM ( Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware ) setup file and complete the installation following the on-screen instructions ( just make sure that both “Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware” and “Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware” boxes are checked ).
Attention ! Don’t reboot your system even if MBAM prompts you to as you’ll have to start over.
3. Once the installation finishes MBAM will automatically start. Select Scanner, then Perform full scan and click Scan. The scanning process might take a while.
4. When the scan finishes click on Show Results, make sure every box is selected and then hit the Remove Selected button. Good Job!
You can now restart your system as HDD Diagnostic should be removed by now.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Ed Bott has experiment. He come to know how effective is free antivirus software? Ed Bott had a chance to see a real, in-the-wild example just this month, and the results were, to put it mildly, unexpected. The bottom line? Microsoft’s free antivirus solution found and removed a threat that two well-known paid products missed. Here are the details.
Ed Bott’ve had Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) installed on my main working PC for most of the past year. Mostly, he use it for real-time protection. He typically disable the scheduled virus scans on PCs and instead occasionally do a manual scan just to confirm that nothing out of the ordinary has snuck through. Last month he decided to perform a scan using the Full option.
MSE had detected several files that it considered malicious. One was a rigged PDF file. The other was a single file in the Java cache folder on this system that contained three separate exploits. Using the information in the MSE history pane, he found the file and uploaded it to Virustotal.com, which is a free service that allows you to scan a suspicious file using 43 separate antivirus engines. The file, identified by a unique hash, had already been analyzed:
Only 17 of 43 antivirus products detected this as a threat. The full results page showed the identification, if any, for each product on the list. Microsoft, Symantec, Avast, and F-Secure were among the engines that flagged the file. But the majority didn’t. That means one of two things. Either the file was a false positive, or he was about to delete something harmless and perhaps even necessary. Or it was real, and most AV programs were missing it.
To get to the bottom of the issue, he sent e-mail messages to contacts at three companies. He asked Microsoft to reanalyze the file and confirm that it was indeed malicious. He also asked McAfee and Sunbelt to look at the file; both of them had reported the file as clean, according to VirusTotal.
Microsoft had two analysts review the file. Here’s a portion of their response:
We have confirmed that the threat detection you received from Microsoft Security Essentials is indeed valid. There were more than 3.5 million reported CVE-2008-5353 attacks in Q3 2010, and Java vulnerability exploitations like these, while once a rare occurrence, have spiked this year. … [T]his exact file is something we have seen in the wild more than 40,000 times in the past six months.
This October 18 post by Holly Stewart on the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog provides useful additional detail on why these types of attacks can be challenging for IDS/IPS vendors, as well as the steps customers should take to ensure that they are protected.
According to the scan results, this threat was first identified in definition 1.85.1774.0, which was released by Microsoft on July 9, 2010.
McAfee responded quickly to my e-mail as well. A spokesperson sent this reply:
Our Labs team took a look at the file you referenced and it is malicious. We are in the process of developing new heuristics to combat the effects from a stream of recent malicious JAR files more proactively, the file corresponding with the hash you mentioned is in the queue.
Sunbelt’s Malware Response Manager, Dodi Glenn, reported that this file was in the company’s repository and submitted it for detailed analysis. Here are the results:
This file contains a malicious java.class … that exploits the CVE-2008-5353 vulnerability. … We are currently testing our updated detection for this exploit and expect to release it shortly.
The good news is that my system wasn’t compromised in any way. The exploit in question was blocked by a Java update that I had installed last year. Likewise, the booby-trapped PDF file (which all of the antivirus programs detected) relied on the user having a very outdated version of Adobe Reader installed, and mine was fully up-to-date.
Last week, when I wrote about Microsoft’s decision to expand its distribution of Microsoft Security Essentials via Microsoft Update, McAfee complained that free software simply isn’t as good as its paid protection. Here’s what a spokesperson told me:
McAfee wants consumers to be safe online. Options that provide an elementary level of security are free products including Microsoft Security Essentials, however these mostly rely on traditional protection mechanisms. McAfee products offer not only more features but most importantly, McAfee products offer real-time protection using cloud-based Global Threat Intelligence to combat even the most sophisticated threats thus ensuring complete protection and peace of mind.
In this case, at least, that protection wasn’t as complete as the free Microsoft product it was comparing itself to.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that criticizing Microsoft Security Essentials because it’s free misses an important point. MSE uses the same scanning engine and definitions as its enterprise-grade Forefront product, which is most assuredly not free.
One certainly shouldn’t draw definitive conclusions from a single anecdotal example, but as this case shows, the gap between antivirus products isn’t as simple as free versus paid, and even the best and brightest researchers can miss a threat.

Resource:http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/microsoft-vs-mcafee-how-free-antivirus-outperformed-paid/2614

Friday, October 22, 2010


McAfee, Inc. announces the new McAfee® Total Protection 2011 at a discount of $20.
With thousands of new virus threats created every day, depends on traditional security updates isn't good anymore. McAfee Active Protection™ technology instantly analyzes and blocks new virus threats in no time so there's virtually no gap in your protection.
McAfee® Total Protection 2011work with minimal interruptions with fast and effective virus, malware, and spyware scanning. Provides schedule security scans when you're not using your PC, automatic scans and updates occur when your system is idle. McAfee® Total Protection won't slow you system performance.
The Home Screen gives you all the information you need at a instant. And you're never more than one click away from it, which removes popup windows and makes for easy navigation. Simplified alerts and scan results make it easier than ever to protect your PC.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Symantec opened the public beta of Norton 360 5.0, the latest version of the company's end-to-end security suite. This beta builds upon the updated versions of Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security, and improves the usability and performance in the backup and tune-up features exclusive to Norton 360, revamps the online backup user experience, and integrates with Norton's free online tools.

New Features
The revamped UI in Norton 360 puts all of the different tools: Antivirus protection, online backup, Identity protection, Norton Safe Web, Norton Online Family, automatic PC tune-up and the global threat protection map are all displayed on the main screen, and settings/security controls for each are organized underneath.
Norton 360 5.0 now includes resource management for third-party apps on your PC. Norton 360 can immediately alert you, if a particular piece of software you have installed is using a lot of system resources. If alerts aren't your thing, you can check out resource logs to compare third party app behavior.
As with any security package, performance remains a paramount issue. Symantec says it is working to improve backup and restore performance, reduce system impact, and increase valuable communication with users in Norton 360. PC Tuneups, one of the most popular features of 360 are also faster, the company told us.
Additionally, the Bootable Recovery Tool Wizard, Norton's malware removal tool to get inoperable systems up and running again, can now be booted from USB or CD/DVD.

Friday, October 8, 2010

How to Remove the Conficker Virus (Removal Guide)

UK’s daily The Register has been reporting (here) that 3 out of 10 computers running Windows are facing ConfickerWorm attacks. According to Wikipedia, it uses flaws in Windows software and Dictionary attacks on administrator passwords to co-opt machines and link them into a virtual computer that can be commanded remotely by its authors.

Conficker vhas since spread rapidly into what is now believed to be the largest computer worm infection since the 2003 SQL Slammer, with more than seven million government, business and home computers in over 200 countries now under its control.

The worm has been unusually difficult to counter because of its combined use of many advanced malware techniques.

Two variants of Conficker affected computers connected to the global networks. During early November 2008, Conficker was launched and propagated via Internet exploiting a vulnerability in a network service (MS08-067) on various Windows versions: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 including Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta.

In response to this, Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band patch on October 23, 2008 to close this vulnerability in Windows 7 (public beta). Despite all these, a large number of Windows PCs estimated to be around at 30% continued to remain unpatched as late as January 2009.

The second variant of the Confiker worm was discovered on December 2008. It added the ability to propagate over LANs through removable media and network shares allowing the worm to propagate quickly and by January 2009, the estimated number of infected computers ranged from almost 9 million to 15 million.

According to Antivirus software vendor Panda Security, 2 million computers analyzed through ActiveScan reports around 115,000 (6%) were infected with Conficker .The worm continues to change in its propagation activity and update strategy of recent variants. This how-to focuses on removing the Conficker Worm as well as the relation between Conflicker and fake Antivirus protection software.

Source:- techmagnews.com

Monday, October 4, 2010

End Infected Processes

Step 1

Press "Ctrl" + "Alt" + "Delete."

Step 2

Click on the "Task Manager."

Step 3

Click on the "Processes" tab.

Step 4

Right click on "Antimalware Doctor.exe," and select "End Process."

Delete Infected Registry Values

Step 1

Click on the "Start" menu.

Step 2

Click on "Run."

Step 3

Type "regedit" (without the quotation marks) and click "OK." The Registry Editor will open.

Step 4

Locate the following registry values in the left pane of the Registry Editor and delete them. To delete a registry value, right click on it and select "Delete."

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Antimalware Doctor Inc\Antimalware Doctor"
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Antimalware Doctor"
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run Antimalware Doctor.exe"

Delete Infected Files

Step 1

Click on the "Start" menu.

Step 2

Click on "Search Files and Folders."

Step 3

Search for and delete the following files. To delete a file, right click on it and select "Delete."

"enemies-names.txt"
"Antimalware Doctor.exe"

Saturday, September 18, 2010


According to a recent report from SecureList, viruses and other malware attempted to execute over 540 million infections globally in the second quarter of 2010. To protect their users from these malcious threats, ParetoLogic has launched latest defence against viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious software. ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS version 7 offers enhanced threat detection and removal and adds new features to improve the user’s experience. As well as redesigning the interface, developers also dramatically improved scan times and system resource footprint.
Version 7 of ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS has two significant technological advances. The first one delivers enhanced rootkit removal. Rootkits act as “burrowing” malware, and entrench themselves so deep in a users system that they are some of the most difficult to remove.
“ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS now gives users state-of-the-art protection against these dangerous potential threats,” said Elton Pereira, Cofounder, President and CEO of ParetoLogic. “We know that infections are on the rise, and paired with heuristic detection, our software will keep people safer than ever.”
So-called heuristic detection is the most recent development in security software, and the second of ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS 7’s advances. Rather than relying on a database of found and catalogued malware samples, heuristic detection is behavioral based.
There are a large number of different types of malware, but their actual goals and methods of operation all follow a similar pattern,” explained Jean Taggart, Security Analyst at ParetoLogic. “Heuristic detection is able to recognize a suspicious file or process, even if that specific piece of malware was never programmatically analyzed, or examined by a malware researcher. This is achieved by looking at behaviour, or common traits.”
The ParetoLogic Anti-Virus PLUS update also adds Windows 7 support and a sleek interface to match the popular new operating system. Additional software improvements resulted in shorter scan times, and a lighter system footprint. These upgrades allow users to scan their system without slowing down their other applications or tasks.

Friday, September 10, 2010


One of the biggest burdens of protecting yourself against viruses, spyware, and other threats has been the degree to which security software can be problematic itself. Norton and Trend Micro are both announcing new versions of their software today with a focus on providing security that you can welcome onto your computer–and better yet, largely ignore once it’s there–rather than stress over.
Symantec’s products once had particularly bad reputations for being a resource-sapping, in-your-face hogs. The company has spent the past couple of years paying penance by reducing the load that new versions put on your system and the demands they place on your attention. It says that its 2011 editions are faster than both their predecessors and its competition, and that it’s reduced the number of alerts they’ll bother you with. They also snitch on other programs, via System Insight, a feature that monitors running applications and identifies ones which may be bogging you down.
Norton uses community-based reputation–judging files in part by whether other Norton users have downloaded them without problems. Other new features include protection against dangerous downloads that works in a comprehensive range of browsers, IM clients, and e-mail programs; and the ability to manage other browser-based Norton services from within the Norton dashboard. And the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool now lets you easily prepare a CD-ROM, DVD, or USB drive to undo damage to computers so crippled by an attack that they can’t even start up.
Norton 2011 is available in two versions. Plain-jane AntiVirus 2011 costs $39.99 for a version that covers up to three PCs for one year. Norton Internet Security, which adds a firewall, antispam, parental controls, identity protection, and other features, is $69.99 for up to three PCs.
Symantec is also touting several free security downloads it offers, including Power Eraser, which is designed to remove “scareware” that’s often maddeningly difficult to shake, such as malware which poses as real antivirus software.
Trend Micro, meanwhile, has given its security products a new name: Titanium. More important, it’s given them a new approach: Instead of making you download signatures to your PC to detect viruses and other dangers it’s put most of the detecting in the cloud and aimed to prevent dangerous files from ever reaching computers in the first place. The company says that this dramatically reduces required resources.
As with Norton 2011, the goal may be to be unremarkable, but there’s a lot of information and settings if you want them:
This cloud-based strategy, Trend says, is particularly effective against zero-day attacks–ones so new that security companies haven’t created and distributed fixes for them.
Trend’s basic package, Titanium Antivirus+, is $39.95 for one PC or $59.95 for three. Titanium Internet Security adds antispam, parental controls, and other features for $49.95 for one PC or $69.95 for three machines. And Titanium Maximum Security tops that off with 10GB of online backup, system optimization, a secure erase utility, and other features for $59.95 for one PC or $79.95 for three. Unlike Norton, Trend doesn’t include a firewall with any of its versions, choosing instead to integrate with the one built into Windows.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Ad-Aware Free Internet Security, one of the most popular spyware killers. It's not just an anti-spyware killer any more. The newest version adds anti-virus capabilities to its already very good job of detecting and killing spyware while keeping a low profile.
Ad-Aware Internet Security Free now includes anti-virus protection--but its heuristics protection runs on-demand only.
Version 8.3 protects against rootkits, stealth attacks designed to escape detection and burrow their way into the operating system--as did the previous version. Ad-Aware Free Internet Security also includes several types of heuristic detection, which offers you by examining complex system behavior, rather than just looking for known malware signatures. If the program's heuristics work as well as do the heuristics in other anti-malware software, it should provide better security against emerging unknown threats.
New to this version is Genotype heuristics detection system, which Lavasoft claims is superior to its previous heuristics. PCWorld has not yet lab-tested this software and cannot offer an opinion on the antivirus feature's efficacy.
Ad-Aware Free version 8.2 promises to protect you against malware that tries to restore itself after a system reboot. Also useful is a "Simple mode" that lets you set your configuration once, and never has to do it again. If you prefer, you can toggle to Advanced Mode, where you can select advanced features for customization. Ad-Aware Free Internet Security is as simple to use as previous versions. Tell it to scan your system, and it finds spyware and other malware, and then deletes it or quarantines it for you. New in this version is the ability to schedule scans.
Ad-Aware Free Internet Security doesn't provide real-time comprehensive protection, which means that to keep yourself safe, you'll have to regularly scan your system. It provides basic real-time protection, but that doesn't include Registry protection, or real-time behavior-based heuristic scanning. For full real-time protection you can get the $30 Ad-Aware Internet Security Pro or the new $50 Ad-Aware Total Security.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

According to data released by Admob in 2010, 65 percent of iPod touch users and 13 percent of iPhone users are below the age of 17. Furthermore, twice as many kids own an Internet-enabled mobile device versus a computer1.

Today McAfee also released results from its Secret Life of Teens survey which provides a detailed snapshot of online teen behavior. It reveals that 85 percent of teens go online somewhere other than at home and under the supervision of their parents, nearly a third (32 percent) of teens say they don’t tell their parents what they do while they are online, and 28 percent engage with strangers online.

McAfee® Family Protection iPhone, iPod touch and iPad Edition offers Web site and search filtering. The program will automatically block age-inappropriate sites, such as known pornography web sites. It also includes location tracking for Apple devices that are equipped with GPS. McAfee Family Protection iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad Edition is available for download now at the iTunes App Store and McAfee.com for $19.99.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Global IT security vendor Panda Security has announced the release of the new Beta of Panda Global Protection 2011, its most complete anti-malware solution for home users. Panda has also announced that the ten most productive beta-testers of this solution will receive a $200 (R 1533) Amazon coupon.

Panda Global Protection 2011 is specifically designed for highly active users with demanding protection needs, it includes a series of new features, such as the option to manage home networks or run the protection in gaming/multimedia mode to avoid interruptions for gamers. “It also offers users greater protection and minimal resource consumption as it uses the latest protection technologies on the market".

The new solution maintains the features that have made it a market-leading security suite. These include a powerful antivirus engine to protect against all types of known and unknown viruses, firewall with WiFi security to block intruders and hackers, Panda USB Vaccine to protect USB devices, confidential information filters to keep personal data safe, backup copying and system recovery, as well as a PC tune-up feature to optimize system performance.

The lineup also features new intelligent updates, web filtering for even safer internet browsing, home network management, gaming/multimedia mode, remote PC access, virtual keyboard and a sandbox virtual browser. The anti-spam filter, protection against spyware, phishing, rootkits and banker Trojans, parental control and 2 GB online backup have also all been improved.

Panda Global Protection 2011 delivers real-time protection against new or unknown threats, and leverages the knowledge from the global community of millions of Panda users and Collective Intelligence technologies.

Sunday, June 6, 2010


Iexplore.exe is the Microsoft Web Explorer file. Basically, iexplore.exe is used to access the Internet when users enter an URL in the handle bar. The location is displayed on the consumer’s screen when the appropriate page is found.
You might come across the next error message when utilizing the Internet Explorer software:
“Iexplore.exe has encountered an issue and must close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

Cause of the Error:

This error usually generates when you have one of many following Browser Assist Objects (BHO) added to your Web Explorer:
1. BuyersPort
2. Morpheus
3. Morpheus Buying Club
4. WURLD Shopping Group
You usually experience this error when you’re logged on to the PC with a unauthorized user account. BHOs attempt to entry system files and Windows registry entries and modify them. Since a restricted user account has restricted rights, the BHO is unable to make these changes. This causes your Internet Explorer to crash and produce the error message.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Antivirus firewall software are two different method to secure your laptop against being compromised. A firewall blocks access to your machine, while an antivirus scans your machine for signs of a virulent disease and deletes them. A third quite product is an anti-spyware that is specifically targeted to stop unwanted ads and examine your laptop activity. Antivirus firewall software is incorporated during a comprehensive security suite. An epidemic can arrive gain access to your computer either by exploiting a flaw on your system or by being activated by the user by imagine to be one thing else.
You will have come back here as a result of you think that that your laptop is already suffering with a pandemic as it\’s running slowly or showing popups once you browse the net, it may be instead that you\’re infected with spyware, have a examine fixing spyware infection.
It\’s important to possess antivirus firewall software otherwise you pc may be taken over. Once your laptop is compromised during this method then the intruder has the flexibility to strive and do anything they wish along together with your machine, this includes reading all your emails, making you see popup adverts constantly, identifying your passwords, reading all your documents, sending out spam email from your machine doubtless infecting your friends computers, copying illegal files to your machine etc.
Windows seven comes with its own firewall since service pack 2. If you\’ve got not already then enable windows update then it might be prudent to attempt to to thus currently, note though that initial build sure that your laptop has enough free space. then go start-> control panel -> system -> automatic updates, and check it\’s on automatic. Once it\’s put in you must see a protect in your system tray (bottom right), click on this to work out if the firewall is active, if it is not then activate it.

Monday, May 10, 2010


Spyware is really a big security threat people are facing now a days. The nasty programs are capable of draining every single bit information from your PC. They make your PC accessible to anyone. Adware are Spyware that monitors the user’s activity on the Internet and the type of software the user uses on the computer. These Spyware do affect the smooth operation of the computer by slowing down the system. They can be removed with Anti-Adware or Anti-Spyware in addition the registry must also be cleaned.

Step: 1 Click the "Start" menu button to open the Start menu.
Step: 2 Click "Run."

Step: 3 Type "regedit" into the text field and press "Enter."

Step: 4 Access the many different entries in your Windows XP registry. It is separated into primary sections: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS and HKEY_CURRENT CONFIG. Each section contains a different set of entries related to different aspects of Windows XP operation.

Step: 5 Click on one of the plus-signs (+) next to one of the root directories, opening a more detailed list. This second level will have more directories to choose from, and will make it easier for you to find entries you need to clean the registry.

Step: 6 Delete entries in the registry that you know are either causing conflicts or are no longer necessary. Do this by pressing the "Delete" key, or by right-clicking on your mouse and choosing "Delete entry."

Step: 7 Invest in a third-party registry application to help you clean your Windows XP registry. Several programs are available that do the dirty work for you. Some even include backup capabilities to retrace their steps in the event of a critical error.

Step: 8 Clean your boot records by changing which programs load themselves at startup. Click through both the LOCAL_MACHINE and CURRENT_USER directories until you reach Software/Microsoft/Windows/Run and RunOnce. From here, you can clean out registry entries that are causing certain programs to run on startup.

Thursday, May 6, 2010


Symantec a leading Antivirus and Antispyware company reported that there are more than 12000 malware detected every day.

What actually malware means? Malware is a short name for malicious software they are designed to infiltrate your PC without your consent.

The best-known types of malware, viruses and worms, are known for the manner in which they spread, rather than any other particular behavior. The term computer virus is used for a program that has infected some executable software and that causes that software, when run, to spread the virus to other executable software. Viruses may also contain a payload that performs other actions, often malicious. A worm, on the other hand, is a program that actively transmits itself over a network to infect other computers. It too may carry a payload.

How do they infringe even though we have a firewall? The question is still unanswered. Is there any solution for this fatal ruthless infringement? Some would say that keep your anti-virus software updated and do a system run now and then, scan the external hardrive before using it and keep a back up of all the important information you have in your system. The saddest part is that, there are some malware that could even affect the anti-virus application.

One way to keep a check on malware is by changing the extension of the executable file of the antivirus software. But we have to make sure that the program runs with no problems what so ever. Expert technocrats suggest that one can change the extension of the executable to .com from .exe. One can also check the “hide the known extension file types” in the folder option under tools in Microsoft Windows Operating System. Although this is not the only solution to all the malware attacks one can try to keep a check on such nasty malwares.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Today users always get confused in selecting the top antivirus along with several options available in the market. While choosing the best antivirus software program for your PC, you should do antivirus comparison analyze according to your requirements and after that look for the features that suit you.

With the availability of a variety of antivirus brands, it is very difficult to choose the best antivirus software for your PC. Although most of them look similar, there are major differences in their features. The most important issue which every user should consider while making a option is usability and compatibility with his PC and operating system.

Here is the list of top 10 antivirus programs along with their brief features:

Kaspersky Antivirus: It is one of the most trusted antivirus programs that provides the vital protection you need to guard your PC against Internet threats. Kaspersky not only protects against viruses, spyware, Trojans, rootkits, but also detects application vulnerabilities, scans websites for malicious software and offers a line of defense against phishing and identity theft.

NOD 32 Antivirus: It is an effectual and easy-to-use antivirus program that provides real-time protection against worms, Trojans, malware, phishing, and hackers. It not only stops the viruses to enter your computer, but prevents malware from degrading the performance of your PC.

Bitdefender Antivirus: It provides better protection by preventing your PC against viruses, spyware and phishing attacks. It scans e-mail and instant messaging traffic in real time and blocks spyware programs that track your online activities.

AVG Antivirus: It offers numerous enhanced features. Apart from preventing the stretch of viruses on your PC, it also checks your system for malicious content. It has Web Shield that allows you to download and exchange files preventing your computer against the risk of virus infections.

McAfee Antivirus: McAfee PC security and virus scan offers upbeat PC security that help prevent malicious attacks, search and download files without any threat from virus infections. It detects, blocks, and removes viruses, spywares and adware from your PC and warns you before accessing dangerous scam websites that try to steal your personal information.

Avast Antivirus: It offers full virus protection. It will let you safely browse through the Internet, block hacker attacks to protect your identity, and keep your mailbox free from spam. Daily automatic updates ensure complete data protection against all types of malware and spyware.

Norton Antivirus: This software offers effective protection against wide-ranging security threats to protect your PC. Incorporated with advanced features, it provides instant messaging scanning, script blocking and POP3 and SMTP e-mail protection.

Trend Micro Antivirus: It provides vital security you need to safeguard your critical data. Powered by PC-cillin Internet security engine, it protects your PC from unpredicted intrusions.

Panda Antivirus: This software provides one of the most intrusive protections against viruses, spyware, rootkits, hackers, online frauds, and identity theft.

F-Secure Antivirus: It thoroughly scans your PC and its built-in anti-spyware scanner provides enhanced protection against virus and spyware intrusions.

Monday, March 15, 2010

virus removalIt is very much possible for your computer to be attacked by virus in today’s world. There are many mediums by which a virus could gain access to your computer. Mostly it is observed that virus gain access into your computer via internet. Internet is very essential for every user so it is not possible to avoid Internet. So it’s really very important for everyone to use internet safely in such a way that unwanted elements like virus and worms couldn’t make their way into computer. You can manually remove viruses from computer. Many procedures for effective virus removal are available online.

Features

Keeping viruses away from your computer is essential if you want to keep it working efficiently and avoid freeze and crashes. Virus removal is not a very complicated job to perform that occupies a lot of time, but there are few things you have to make sure. It is very essential for you to remove your computer from any network whenever you suspect a virus in your computer. Follow some basic instructions given below in order to remove virus from your computer manually.

  • Scan your computer through the antivirus software.
  • If you don’t have any antivirus software on your computer then download it from any source available online. There are many antivirus software available, such as AVG, McAfee, Norton etc.
  • To install the antivirus, go through readme file available with the software. Follow the instructions in given in the readme file.
  • After the completion of installation process of antivirus, keep on scanning your computer through antivirus until it removes all the viruses from your computer.
  • To download the latest updates available for antivirus, connect your computer to the Internet.
  • After completely updating the antivirus software, run it again to remove the virus from your computer.

Usability

There are many companies, which provide Antivirus Software. Every antivirus has its own special features and characteristics. Your choice for antivirus software depends upon the features you expect from antivirus software.

It is not possible for anyone to protect his computer from virus, spyware and malware through any single antivirus because there are some viruses, which are not detectible by antivirus software. So, I strongly recommend you to go for some technical support firms. These technical support firms assist you remotely via telephone and chat. Their Microsoft Certified technical specialist will remove all the viruses from your computer very fluently. Enjoy hassle-free unlimited technical support 24/7/365.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Antivirus

Computer virus is a malicious application code that reduces work efficiency of your desktop PC. It is a software program that copies itself and infects a computer. Widely, computer virus is a common term used to represent other types of malwares, adware and spyware programs that cannot reproduce further.

There are different types of virus threat that might be detected easily, but there are viruses that are hidden in form of files. This makes the users unaware that their computer has been affected by viruses.

Some of the common types of virus are-

Boot sector viruses: This virus badly affects removal disks, diskettes and hard drive.Virus affects the Mater Boot Record present in floppy disk and inserting it causes severe infection to your Desktop PC. Inserting of infected floppy into hard drive causes infection to system as well.

Program viruses: This type of virus is referred as extensions of .BIN, .COM, .EXE, .OLV,.DRV. Opening of program file containing virus, activates the affect of virus infection. Activation of program virus causes reduplication of virus and infection to other programs atsystem.

Multipartite viruses: This virus infects the program files and boot records once the program is activated. As soon as you boot your system, all the local drives and application programs will be infected causing system breakdown.

Stealth viruses: It is not easily detected by any antivirus security software. The virus hides in a very unique manner, such as hiding himself in memory or modifying its file size.

Polymorphic viruses: It has a capability of changing virus signature that is known as binary pattern. Known for its multiplying and hiding capability, it is not easily detected by any antivirus security program.

The hazardous affects of computer virus are mentioned below-

1. It causes slow working of system.
2. The probability of freezing and halting of desktop screen increase.
3. It often restarts itself.
4. It displays some uncommon error messages, dialog boxes and distorted menu.
5. Improper working of application programs and incorrect document printing.

To prevent unnecessary virus attack at your system, antivirus install security software, such as McAfee Premium or AVG free version.