It’s a moment you wouldn’t wish on anyone. That moment is when the realization sinks home that your computer has been attacked by a virus; a virus which has succeeded in slipping through your computer’s defences which, up to that moment, you were convinced were strong enough. Your computer technician is now breaking the sad news that you were over-optimistic of your chosen software’s ability to protect your computer, and the valuable information that it contains, from the ever growing and increasingly sophisticated array of computer viruses that are appearing on a daily basis.

As he shakes his head, your computer technician explains that the only way to give your computer a clean bill of health is to re-format your hard disc, meaning that all the information contained on it will be gone forever. There are many viruses around these days that will save the technician the job of clearing out the hard disc, as the virus will clear out the hard disc during its raid on your computer.

When it comes to protecting the information on a hard disc there are two methods. Preventing virus attacks on your computer means investing in the best virus protection software that you can find and not necessarily in the cheapest. The information that you have online will, for certain, be worth a hundreds times more than it will cost you to invest in the software.

The other method to protect your data also involves an investment, and again one that is very worthwhile. Anyone who wants to protect their information needs to spend some money on an external hard disc to house and back up all the information on their computer. The information can be related to your business and your personal life and many times cannot be replaced.      

So don’t make the mistake of adopting the “false economy” approach. Spend some money on protecting your information. You won’t regret it.

For more information on Protection your PC or laptop visit http://www.mcafee-downloads.co.uk

Tags: Anti Virus, anti-virus protection, Back Up, Computer Viruses, Digital Download Products, Mcafee, PC Back up, Trojan Horses, Viruses

Every day a fresh Trojan seems to hit the net and as they become more invasive their names become more bizarre. The latest comes with the distinctive name of the Vundo virus, and is indeed a pesky little invader. Early reports have it that the Vundo virus is particularly problematic because it is capable of installing deep in a computer’s registry and only a top anti-virus will have the ability to totally remove it in all of its many formats and disguises.  

The Vundo Trojan falls into the category of being a rootkit virus because it houses itself in your computer’s software registry, which is the very root of your operating system, and if left undetected takes full control of the computer. These forms of viruses are infamous because of the difficulty in removing them, as well as being dynamic in nature. This means that if less than capable software is employed in removing the virus, and succeeds in only partially removing it, Vundo will rapidly rebuild and reinstall itself and set about attacking its prey from where it left off, inside the registry file.

What is equally as worrying is that the Vundo Trojan virus will even start to create pop-ups that will attempt to sell its host computer a series of fake antivirus software. If anyone falls for the Vundo scam then the program or programs they will install are liable to infect the computer even further. Later on, when it has totally manifested itself, Vundo will slow the computer’s system down to a crawl and possibly cause it to seize up altogether. These are just a few of the ways that a Vundo-infected computer will behave. Suffice it to say that all of them are annoying and offensive.

The Vundo virus will make a very major struggle to prevent itself from being exorcised from a computer that it has taken over. Experience has shown that the only effective way to keep the Vundo Trojan at bay or totally remove it in the case of infection is setting the best tried-and-tested anti-viruses in place. 

For more information on Protection your PC or laptop visit http://www.mcafee-downloads.co.uk

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, Mcafee, Phishing Scams, Trojan Horses, Viruses, Vundo virus

With Microsoft hot from releasing an emergency patch on Thursday 19^th January designed to repair a zero-day vulnerability that caused Google and more than 30 other companies to be hacked in the so-called Aurora attacks, an older problem has reared its ugly head which looks like it will represent further woe for Internet Explorer (IE).

Information has reached Microsoft that versions of Internet Explorer could inadvertently allow hacker entry to a computer’s hard disc and allow them to access files on the computer. Apparently Microsoft was made aware of the problem as long ago as 2008 and despite two attempts by Microsoft to fix it two years ago, the problem seems unwilling to go away.  The virus is not so sophisticated and doesn’t allow the hacker to install other codes on a person’s computer. Despite that fact, the presence of this glitch has to be regarded as a serious breach of security, affecting all of Microsoft’s operating systems, including their latest IE8.

The hacker operates by duping a victim into clicking on a heavily disguised malicious Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The URL is created by manipulating four or five features in Internet Explorer; if the hacker succeeds in drawing a computer owner or user into his web, the browser will process files that are not pure HTML on the computer.

Despite the fixes carried out in 2008, hackers continue to find ways to pull off the same attack. Hopes are that when Microsoft’s next batch of patches is released on Feb. 9 the company will have come up with a solution to the problem by then.

In the meantime, if you come across a link that looks suspicious, you should stay clear. If you click on the URL you might find yourself on a web site that is an exact replica of the one that wanted to link onto it, but is instead an attempt to access private information and introduce a series of viruses into your computer.

For more information on Protection your PC or laptop visit http://www.mcafee-downloads.co.uk

Tags: Anti Virus, Computer Viruses, Digital Download Products, IE, Internet Security, Mcafee, Phishing Scams, Trojan Horses, Viruses

Owning a computer and especially one that is used as a work or study tool is not without its pressures. All of a sudden, in the middle of the day or night, something can happen to your computer that is difficult to explain: Strange occurrences that seem to happen only once in a while, and certainly not often enough to become a major irritant. You mention it to your friends, family and colleagues and it becomes a bit of a talking point, and you almost wish it would happen again. Till it does! And then, instead of it becoming an irregular occurrence, it becomes a regular one, and a nuisance to boot. What has happened is that your computer has become invaded by a virus and your failure to react properly the first time has meant that the virus has spread and you will have some work, some inconvenience and some expense, to cope with until your computer will once again be virus free.

One of the most likely and early signs of a virus attack is when the browser page of your computer changes itself, usually to something a lot less than savoury. While it takes next to no time to change your home page back to its usual format, many people will regard this as a bit a fluke and a talking point, little realising that there is something much more sinister afoot.

Known as “high-jacking”, it is almost always caused by some spyware that has succeeded in infiltrating your computer. You will find that even if you have some forms of anti-virus software installed in your computer, the people who are smart enough to program such sophisticated forms of spyware will make short work of slipping past your virtual sentry. And once these spywares are in place they are difficult in the extreme to remove, even by the most powerful and sophisticated anti-virus programs.

The secret of keeping your computer clean and clear of viruses is to not cut corners with your computer maintenance and the type of computer software that you use to protect your privacy and safety. Many spywares are introduced to a computer by the owner downloading other freeware programs and innocently allowing these invasive programs to be downloaded at the same time. Not every anti-virus software will pick up on these spywares sneaking in and the damage and inconvenience they can cause is considerable.

There are many people that neglect the first signs of computer problems. You shouldn’t neglect those simple maintenance tasks that can enhance or prolong the life of your computer.

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, Mcafee, Trojan Horses, Viruses

Although the can be pretty annoying an certainly unwelcome, but Adware  is actually a software program that have been designed by people who know a little about the business,  and how to use their software  to promote certain product or service to online users. The truth is that the majority of adware programs are relatively safe as well fairly innocent. The fact that you didn’t invite them onto your computer, and in fact they gate-crashed may be annoying to you but it won’t have bothered either the people who developed the adware as well as the hacker who infiltrated your privacy but it should bother you, the computer owner.

And why should it bother you? Because these people are creating a precedent, and one which can be potentially very dangerous. First of all one item of Adware on your computer might be livable with, but when the number of visitors begins to mount up, which they invariably will, and then the fun goes out of it altogether.  Whatever you like to do on your computer, either work or play will be constantly interrupted by yet another adware popping up. Some, if not most, adware programs advertise products that you wouldn’t want to know that they exist let along buy. Not only that if such a low level adware pop up when a member of your family or a colleague at work is on your computer, you will have a bit of explaining to do.

That can be the best possible scenario as far as allowing adware to take over your computer and much worse things can happen. There are malware programs that disguise themselves as adware and these can cause problems in many ways. They can be used to monitor how your, or members of your family, surfing habits. This is information that is recorded by your resident computer hacker and transmitted to other parties who can use this information to generate all kinds of nasties that will take over your computer and at some stage later your financial history.

All this unpleasantness can be avoided if a professionally developed anti-virus software program has been installed on your computer. Never forget for a moment that the programmers that develop these adware programs are fairly sophisticated, and it will take at least an equally sophisticated program to keep them out. One of the acknowledged market leaders in software protection is MacAfee, who results are the envy of all these wannabee virus protection programs that can be downloaded for free. Ask yourself, wouldn’t you think twice before using contraceptives that you got for free?

Tags: Adware, Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, Home Electricals and Computers, Trojan Horses, Viruses

And that is never to switch it on, or at least never connect to the internet, which would kind of defeat the purpose of having a computer in this day and age.  Once a computer has been connected to the net, and it is without virus protection than it is vulnerable to invasion as if it has been online for years.   Viruses and other malware  are lying in wait to invade a computer and it could just a few minutes before they come knocking on the door, to discover that it has been left ajar.

Computer viruses didn’t earn their title because it slipped off someone’s tongue. There are human viruses and there are computer viruses and they bear strong similarities. A person can become really ill from being infected with a virus as a can a computer. The difference is that a human will, in most cases, eventually recover from a virus while a computer will gradually deteriorate into an uncooperative and unfriendly monster if left untreated.

The first signs that a computer has been infected by a virus, is that it begins to operate increasingly slowly. While this is something that can be very frustrating for the operator, but is a small time problem compared to what lies in store. The next tell-tale sign that there are gremlins at work is when your disc drives begin to lock you out. You will find yourself increasingly using your right click button as you battle to retain control of your computer, which is becoming increasingly unfriendly.

Dependant on the strength and the nature  of the virus which is attacking your computer there will eventually be no option but to  take some very radical  steps to get your computer back on the road to health. This will invariably require the services of a computer technician who knows what will be required to get your computer clear of all these viruses. Computer technicians are like doctors and will not be slow to point out that an unprotected computer will only become a sick one again, and in next to no time. 

So like humans take their preventative medicines so you should protect your computer with a dose of what is good for it.  Not that you should pour some cough medicine through the DVD drive, more that you should install a professional and efficient anti-virus program.

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, Malware, Mcafee, Trojan Horses, Viruses

People who earn their living in the software industry probably comprise the most innovative group of people in the world with, sadly, some of them working on the “wrong side of the tracks”.

There is a constant war going on against cybercrime, which seems to pop up in the most original of formats, with one of the latest to rear its ugly head being “rogueware” which, for the common man, means scam anti-virus products.

It’s a funny thing about anti-virus programs, where so money people are prepared to spend hundreds of pounds on upgrading their computer, increased bandwidth and all the latest accessories yet are very reluctant to spend more than £50 to protect their computer, with all the data contained in it, as well as that of their friends, family and colleagues. 

Those who lurk in the shadows of cyberspace are well aware of this characteristic and have found yet another way of exploiting it, with the launch of a never-ending stream of Rogueware, with which they tempt the less responsible and easily influenced, with prices of between thirty to fifty pounds for full “anti-virus” protection. Sounds cheap enough, till you discover that these programs at best do nothing and, in most cases, invite all kinds of malware into the innocent victim’s computer. The unbelievable truth is that  a large number of computer owners have had no form of virus protection on their computer till recently, They only become aware of the need for anti-virus protection when a pop up appears on their computer, advising them to immediately purchase a rogueware product.

Statistics show that there are now 200 different versions of rogueware available online, some of which are very sophisticated. Unfortunately, not in virus protection, but by creating variants programmed to make detection by anti-virus vendors difficult, and also stubbornly refuse to be removed from a computer system, using background processes to protect un-installation or tampering.  To date, Windows has introduced an uninstall set-up to deal with just 27 of the 200 rogue anti-virus software programs from the computer system, through their Malicious Software Removal Tool which is updated every second Tuesday of the month, as part of  the Patch Tuesday set up.

Rogueware is becoming a serious problem for the innocent and an increasingly big earner for cyber criminals, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimating that fake anti-virus programs have raked in more than $150 million (£100 million) for scammers so far in 2009.

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, FBI, Fraud, Malicious Software, Mcafee, Rogueware, Trojan Horses, Viruses

One of the most negative aspects of the virtual world has to be the considerable amount of time and money wasted on clearing out malware, spyware and these incredibly frightening Trojan horses, from an unprotected computer. With viruses becoming increasingly sophisticated and therefore more difficult to treat, there are some of them waging a virtual guerrilla war inside a computer’s RAM. Some of the most recent Trojan horses have been programmed to prevent some of the less powerful ant-virus programs from running the Task Manager, which in turn makes it even more difficult to remove them, as well preventing the running or even installing malware removal programs. And some of the more toxic can also block internet access connections, which appears to be more malicious than criminally fraudulent.

Winning the Trojan wars involves winning a series of battles in what appears to be a never-ending war of attrition.  As well as the latest and most powerful anti-virus software, computer owners should be equipped with either a flash drive or a CD containing the Firefox Web browser, as well as Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool and a safe boot program, should the virus have removed the Safe Mode.  

If you have had to clean up your computer, it would be wise to restart in Safe Mode, which you can do by rapidly hitting the F8 key as the system is booting up. The next stage, once you have succeeded in logging in, is to run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, preferably the latest version. You can do so by clicking on Start Menu, and then Run. To access the tool you will need to type in mrt and then hit enter or ok. The software will then scan and remove any malwares that it comes across.

All of these damage repair actions can be done away with, or at least dramatically reduced, if proper and powerful anti-virus software has been installed on the computer. Many people still ignore the virus threat as being of limited importance and only partially protect their computer. A little time and surprisingly little money will provide the level of protection that today’s computers need. The proper software can ensure that the computer, and with it valuable personal information, is protected by installing MacAfee’s anti-virus protection software.  Doing so will more or less ensure victory in the Trojan Wars. 

For more information on anti virus sofyware and protection http://www.mcafee-downloads.co.uk/

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, Firefox Web browser, Mcafee, Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, safe boot program, Trojan Horses, Viruses

An Adobe post has confirmed that the company fears that both their Adobe Acrobat and Reader are currently under active attack from a Trojan named Pidief.H.  Adobe has hastened to point out that infection rates are “extremely limited” and the company’s risk assessment level is very low, suggesting that the threat has been largely contained. .

The fact that hackers can succeed in breaching the defences of a company holding such an elevated status in the software industry has raised a few eyebrows; the attack seemingly was targeted on a zero-day level, a combination which is hard to defend against. These forms of targeted attacks against a specific company’s software invariably come in a personalised form, and usually through an e-mail. The e-mail has to be good to evade all the security blockages and anti-virus programs that most computer owners and operators should have in place, but reports are that there are many cases where it has slipped through.  

When some poor unsuspecting soul, who is lulled into a false sense of security, mistakenly opens an e-mail attachment that sets off a zero-day attack, the virus is almost guaranteed to find the weak spot in the software that it has been primed to attack, as long as that software has been installed on the computer, and Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat reader are resident in millions of computers around the globe. The only real protection against the Pidief.H Trojan is to have an anti-virus program strong enough to detect the attack. Some of the less sophisticated anti-virus software suites will have very low capability of defending against these types of small scale targeted attacks.

Thankfully, in these days of mass-produced viruses, the targeted attacks are few and far between, but can be devastatingly vicious if they get through a computer’s defences.  

Apparently Adobe learned of the attack on Monday of this week, with three of the leading anti-virus software developers advising of the attack within minutes, and MacAfee being one of them, while the majority of anti-virus products are yet to detect the attack which apparently has been active since Friday 11^th December.

Until the spread of Pidief.H Trojan can be arrested it is expected to become more wide spread in the next few weeks, especially to those whose computers are not sufficiently protected against such sophisticated attacks.

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Tags: Adobe Acrobat Reader, Anti Virus, anti-virus programs, Digital Download Products, Mcafee, Phishing Scams, Pidief.H, Pidief.H Trojan, Trojan Horses, Viruses

It has to be said that the iPhone is probably the most modern yet complex piece of cellular equipment available on the market today. As is the case with almost all of the smart mobile devices currently available, the iPhone uses public key cryptography through code signing signatures. This is done in order to restrict the kind of applications that can be run on the device. The more cynical among us might be inclined to say that at Apple they are only interested in selling their approved applications and adds-on which earn them a healthy commission; while there are others who would hasten to point out that Apple simply doesn’t want to leave this precious piece of sophisticated equipment of theirs vulnerable to all kinds of viruses and malicious software.

Those who are unable to withstand the temptation of trying some of the more  enticing third party applications do so by “jailbreaking” their iPhone, after which it is considered ” jailbroke”, in the common vernacular.  Most iPhones survive and even benefit from the procedure, while an alarming number are left susceptible to a variety of viruses. Some of these viruses are fairly innocent, although an increasing number are alarmingly toxic.

The innocent one which goes by the name of Ikee, for reasons known only to those who developed it, changes the wallpaper on the iPhone to a picture of that well-known and not often imitated pop icon of the late nineteen eighties, Rick Astley. Anyone being “Ikeed” should accept the warning and do whatever is necessary to make sure that their iPhone is secure: the reason being that there are even more powerful and sinister worms around which will invade your private information and take advantage of it to deprive you of your hard-earned cash.

If you own an iPhone and are interested in trying some of the third party applications, you owe it to yourself as well as to your family, friends and colleagues, to make sure that your personal details as well as theirs are protected. You can do so by installing some anti-virus software and the stronger the better. Because if you don’t, in the words of Rick Astley, these worms are “never gonna give you up”.

For More Info on virus protection http://mcafee-downloads.co.uk/

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, iPhone, jailbreak, Mcafee, phone virus, Rick Astley, Trojan Horses, Viruses