Showing posts with label download. Show all posts
Showing posts with label download. Show all posts

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Skype Targeted With Worm

Skype, the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is considerably less secure than traditional telephone lines. Many people have switched to using Skype because of the savings they can make, and many have abandoned their traditional telephone lines altogether.

Skype was founded in 2002 and was bought by ebay in 2005 for US$2.5 billion. It has seen a steady rise in the number of subscribers to its service.

However, it still has many pitfalls, including the latest Worm called ‘W32/Ramex.A’.

It spreads through the peer-to-peer instant chat utility and is activated when a user clicks on a link within an instant message asking recipients to download a file.

It is very cleverly disguised within a jpeg image of soap bubbles, one of Windows default built-in wallpapers which has been embedded with a malicious executable code.

This code installs Spyware that can easily steal passwords and other personal information. It may also block users from visiting certain websites and stop programs from running or responding. It also connects to a remote server to download additional malicious code.

It is often titled ‘really funny’ or ‘look at this crazy photo sent to me’ with a clickable link. Once clicked, users who continue to download the file then have the risk of their machine becoming infected, and it then uses Skype’s application program to access files on the infected machine. The worm then attempts to replicate itself and then send out messages to recipients on the users contact list.

Ensure your anti-virus is up-to-date, windows updates are downloaded and installed, especially The Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which was last updated September 11th 2007. To remove the worm and its variants go to the link below and Download the file, save it to your Desktop (or location where you store downloaded files) and once the download is complete, select Run and the program will install.

You then have the option of a Quick Scan, Full Scan or Customized Scan.

Select Quick Scan and if any Malicious Software is found you will be prompted to run a Full Scan which may take several hours depending on your machines hard drive capacity but it’s worth it for the safety and security of your PC.

Download Here

Friday, September 07, 2007

More Email Dangers

The email Trojans are back in full swing.

Many of these will be titled ‘Office Antics’, ‘It Takes Guts to Say Jesus’, ‘Free Web Tools’ and many other eye catching subjects.

DO NOT open these emails as they contain a Trojan Downloader and if the link contained in the body is clicked a new window will open and you will be prompted to download a file.

Only trust emails from trusted sources, but also ensure that you have real-time anti-virus running. Even trusted sources can innocently pass on trojans and malicious code.

Virus Name: JS/Psyme also known as HTML/Mht@exp

Spreads through Web Browsing, Downloads Code from the internet, Exploits your system and/or Software vulnerabilities, and in extreme cases it can wipe your hard drive of all data.

Ensure your anti-virus is up-to-date. I recommend AVG Anti-Virus (freeware) which catches these Trojans and opens a ‘Threat Detected’ window.

If you are infected with this update your virus definitions file and reboot into Safe Mode, scan with anti-virus and also scan with ad-aware.

Email will read similar to this, with some variations:

Welcome Member,

We are so happy you joined ************

Member Number: 6257277682314
Your Temp. Login ID: user3795
Your Password ID: eq708

Please Change your login and change your Login Information.

Use this link to change your Login info: ******** (link removed)

Welcome,
***********
***********

These emails all follow the same format with a clickable link…….DO NOT click.

Monday, September 03, 2007

eCards and Postcards from Friends

From: BlueMountain.Com ufp@btconnect.com

Subject: You’ve received a postcard from a School mate!

Hi. School mate has sent you a postcard.
See your card as often as you wish during the next 15 days.

SEEING YOUR CARD

If your email software creates links to Web pages, click on your
card’s direct www address below while you are connected to the Internet:

http://**.***.***.**/?e3ca036e47840d8e117868911e6c3

Or copy and paste it into your browser’s “Location” box (where Internet
addresses go).

We hope you enjoy your awesome card.

Wishing you the best,
Webmaster,

BlueMountain.Com

At present there are millions of these being mass mailed on a daily basis, from ’schoolmates’, ‘friends’, ‘family members’, ‘your mate’ and many more.

Ensure that your Anti-Virus is up to date, and all system security patches have been downloaded.

NO Greeting Card company will ever ask you to DOWNLOAD anything, ecards are viewed online through a link in an email, but the links contained in these ‘cards’ prompt you to download.

In this particular case, if you click the link you are PROMPTED to DOWNLOAD or informed that your DOWNLOAD will start shortly.

It is important that you just delete these mails, many contain a Trojan Script…..but they will not zero your drive or boot sector as the rumours are saying.

As with all emails, if you don’t know the sender DELETE it.

How to ruin your PC

Fighting off Viruses

Monday, June 18, 2007

Zone Alarm Install Guide - Updated & In-Depth

The following instructions only apply if you are installing
Zone Alarm for the very first time. These instructions are
NOT for the people who already have Zone Alarm installed on
their computers, and are upgrading to the latest version.

1. Create a New Folder on your desktop and Rename it to
Downloads. By doing this you will have one central
location for all programs that you download. When you
download any program DO NOT select ‘Run’, select ‘Save’ and
when you have saved it scan it with an anti-virus program.
I recommend the use of AVG AntiVirus which I have covered
in another post.

2. Go to the following thread
http://www.zonelabs.com/zadownload and select ‘I only want
basic ZoneAlarm protection’ and then proceed to download
ZoneAlarm. Download it into the folder named Downloads, BUT
DO NOT install it until you have followed the instructions
below.

3. Once you have downloaded your version of ZoneAlarm to
your Desktop Folder, disconnect from the Internet. If you
use Cable or DSL Modem, disconnect it and close any other
running programs apart from your basic programs to run
Windows. This includes the Windows Firewall. To find out
what Applications are running go to Task Manager
(Control+Alt+Delete). Look for Applications, make sure there
are NO Applications running. If they are, use the End Task
Button. To disable the Windows Firewall go to your Control
Panel, switch it to Classic View then double click on
Windows Firewall and then click the ‘Off’ button.

4. Go into your Control Panel, on top of the screen you
will see Tools, click on it, then another tab will show up
and click on Folder Options, in the new panel that opens
click on View. Scroll down to where it says Hidden Files
and Folders, put a dot or check-mark in the box that says,
“Show hidden files and folders”, then REMOVE the check mark
from the next two boxes that say the following,” Hide
Extensions for known file types” and “Hide protected
operating system files (Recommended)”. Drop down to bottom
of panel and click Apply. Now go to the top of the panel
and click on “Apply to All Folders”, click Yes in new
window then click OK in Folder Options panel. This way all
your folders will show the change. Close the control Panel.

5. Make sure you have completely removed any other
vendor’s firewall product you were currently using ie:
Norton, McAfee etc. Now for those of you who are installing
the Zone Alarm Security Suite or Zone Alarm Anti-Virus, the
very same applies, make sure you have completely removed
any other anti-virus product you were currently using. If
you are using AVG Anti-Virus and/or Spybot Search & Destroy
you can safely ignore them. If the program has an Uninstall
feature please use that, if not go to your Control Panel
and select Add/Remove Programs and select each item
individually and select Remove. Do NOT reboot if prompted
to.

You then need to ensure that there are no Registry keys
or Files left behind. Click on Start, then Search or Find,
and select Files. Make sure that the location box is set to
search your local hard drive (usually C or All Local
Drives. XP users: set Advanced search options to search ALL
files and folders! Type in Norton or Symantec etc. then
wait for search to complete. If any items show up simply
right click and Delete. Then double click MY COMPUTER,
double click on C (if that is your main drive) and you will
have a window of Folders open. Locate the Program Files
folder and double click to open it and you will then have a
list of all of your Program Files. Look for any folder that
has your old Firewall or Anti-Virus name on it, right click
on the folder and select Delete. Once you have done this,
click the Back button at the top locate and and double
click on the Windows folder. This will open a panel of all
of you Windows Files, scroll down to find the one named
Prefetch. Double click it to open then go to the Edit Tab
at the top and click on it, scroll down to Select All, left
click on it and all of the files will be highlighted. Then
go to File (beside Edit) click on it scroll down and select
Delete. You will get a pop-up message ‘Are you sure you
want to send these XXXX items to the Recycle Bin’. Click
Yes, this will remove the items out of the Prefetch Folder.
Now close the window to return to your desktop. Go to your
Recycle Bin, right click and select Empty Recycle Bin.

Now, I will try to explain to you how to find any stray
Registry Keys in your Registry. First of all backup your
Registry. Go to Start, Run and type in regedit click on OK
and the Registry Editor will then open. Go to the top Tabs
and click on File, scroll down until you see Export, left
click it and this will open Export Registry File window.
Save this file to your desktop and in the File Name box
enter Registry Backup File. Click on Save and it should now
be on your desktop. Verify the file is a good copy, in the
Registry Editor window click on File, select Import, in new
panel where it says ‘Look in’ select desktop and then click
on your saved file then click ‘Open’. Once it says it has
been read in successfully, you have a good backup.

Now to edit the Registry go to the Edit Tab at the top
left click it, scroll down until you see Find, left click
it, another panel will pop up, it will ask you Find What,
type in Norton, Symantec, Mcafee or whatever Firewall or
Anti-Virus vendor you were using before installing
ZoneAlarm. After you have typed the name, make sure that
there are checkmarks in all of the boxes - Should be 4
blocks, Keys, Values, Data, and Match Whole String Only -
then go back to where you typed in Norton, Symantec, etc
then click on ‘Find Next’. The search will locate Folders
in the left panel and strings in the right pane. Ignore the
right pane strings and keys values, look for the
highlighted Folder in the left pane, right click on it and
select ‘Delete’, click ‘Yes’ on pop-up window then hit your
F3 keyboard button and it will continue to search the
Registry, delete any Folders it finds in the left pane and
continue until a pop-up says Finished searching through the
registry. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Now go back to your desktop to where you have
downloaded and saved your copy of ZoneAlarm and install it.

7. Let ZoneAlarm configure your Program Settings. The
reason for this is that there is a very good possibility
that when you manually install the Program Settings,
something may not get properly installed, which may cause
major problems with your installation of ZoneAlarm. Later
if you decide you do not want a specific program in your
Programs Control Panel, then remove it. If it is required,
you will get a balloon alert about it allowing or
disallowing it. That’s your decision. I have always done
this, never had a problem by letting Zone Alarm configure
my settings.

8. When the installation is complete, reboot your system
and connect back on to the Internet, making sure all your
other programs are activated this includes ZoneAlarm and
the ones that you had disabled, especially your Cable or
DSL Modems. These should all automatically restart after
rebooting.

9. Final step..go back to Start > Control Panel and if
necessary switch it to Classic View. Locate the folder
named ‘Folder Options’ and double click it. In the ‘View’
tab go to Hidden files and folders and click the radio
button ‘Do not show hidden files and folders’ and place
ticks in the following two boxes, ‘Hide extensions for
known file types’ and ‘Hide protected operating
systemfiles(Recommended)’.

For additional in-depth information click on the following
link:
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/media/pdf/zaclient70_user__
manual.pdf

I will upload a ZoneAlarm tutorial on the full
installation in a few days.
ZoneAlarm will walk you through the setup when you install
it.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will
get back to you asap.

Safe P2P File Sharing

GigaTribe (also known as TribalWeb) is a revolutionary program that lets you share entire folders with friends in a private peer to peer (P2P) environment. Share all your files (home movies, pictures, documents…) no matter how large they are.

It’s secure, encrypted…and free!

You create your private network by inviting your friends.No one can join your network unless invited. You can dismiss or ban your guests at any time. Your guests can’t see each other on your network.

EasyInstall
GigaTribe, select the folders you want to share and invite your friends to join your private network! Share all your files (movies, pictures, documents…) no matter how large they are. Interrupted exchanges automatically resume with no data loss. All files are exchanged at maximum speed.

Secure
Only the folders you want to share are visible. Only the users of your network can see your shared folders. When exchanging a file, only the sender and the receiver are aware of the exchange. All data exchanged on your network is encrypted (Blowfishencryption with a 256-bit key).

Free
All these features are included in the standard version and are totally free. GigaTribe contains no adware and can be uninstalled easily.

Pick of reviews:
PC Plus June 2007 Monthly DVD - The PC Plus Essential Collection” Harnessing the power of peer to peer, GigaTribe provides a network to exchange large files with your friends.”

Computer Shopper May 2007 DVD Edition: Expert Toolkit - MaySpecials” Create a private network over the internet to share files with friends.”

Download it HERE