Date: 04/08/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, web

There's something going around - I assume a worm - that is sending IM's to a user's buddies:

can I add this pic of us to my profile on facebook or myspace? http://tinyurl.com/phag8


The URL given leads to the file pict32.scr, and once opened it auto-terminates itself. I hear that Norton Antivirus isn't detecting it, and I know that Avast! Antivirus isn't either. Does anyone know of a program that is detecting this or able to remove it?

BTW - hyperlink on that URL has been changed so that no one accidentally clicks it. I've already contacted Avast!, as well as Tinyurl.com. Is anyone able to tell where url is being forwarded to? Perhaps someone could contact the folks of that webservice.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/909010.html

Date: 04/26/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, browser, virus, antivirus, spyware

     I have a C3500 averatec. It's been crawling lately, and I can't figure out exactly why..
     I've been taking good care of the laptop since I knew there would be no free legitimate way I could reinstall windows XP tablet onto this machine (no CDs came with the laptop, or so I remember.) But nonetheless the laptop is getting a little bit more unbearable everyday:

The computer starts to crawl randomly if I copy and paste something big (such as a photoshop file, lengthy amounts of text, or sometimes even screenshots). Sometimes it recovers, sometimes it doesn't. It used to recover all the time. I can use it normally, but nowadays I seem to be shutting it off by holding down the power button because the laptop becomes very very slow to repond, rather than shutting it off properly.

The laptop usualy starts to crawl after 4~5 hours of use, which consists mainly of firefox, trillian, and ultraedit(text editor). Once in a while I also play a 3D game called RagnarokOnline and use photoshop to draw stuff. Gaming or using photoshop doesn't effect when the laptop gets sluggy - it seems to be kind of random. I didn't install any file sharing programs on the laptop except bittorrent original.

I scanned for spyware and ad-ware using spybot, ad-aware, and I ran hijackthis to make sure no strange browser help objects were installed. Nothing.

I also checked in windows registry to make sure only what was needed was running and made sure nothing else was starting up when windows starts through msconfig. Nothing suspicious there..

I also removed everything but two shortcuts (antivirus and a gamma correction software written by adobe) in the Startup folder in the start menu.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling firefox since at first the computer was freezing up mostly when I was leaving firefox open for long periods of time, but later I realised that it was freezing equally as much when I'd try to use a file browser to look at what files I have in a folder. I tried turning file indexing back on hoping that would help explorer list files faster, but so far I don't feel any difference.

I've spend the past few weekends checking for errors on the hard disk and defragmenting the data on it. Currently 20GB out of the 74.5GB available is empty. Defragging didn't lessen the crashes, and no errors were reported from disk error checking. I used the disk checker and disk defrager that was included with windows XP to do these tasks.

Usually when the laptop crawls, the hard disk light goes blink.. blink.. blink.. and all buttons become unresponsive. The curser usually still moves, but the momement will be jerky. The screen stops responding to clicking, and then once in a while it lets out angry long beeps as if I clicked the desktop 100 times in 2 seconds.

The laptop used to have a overheating problem but now that I open it up once  a season to clean out the innards, the heat problem is almost gone. The laptop still gets burning hot during gaming, so I try not to game for more than 15 minutes at a time.

The laptop is about 10 months old. I dropped a few times and have a corner chipped, but nothing seemed to be wrong with it right after the drops. The specs are kind of like this:

I thought the RAM amount was 512MB, but it shows up as 480MB.. I'm puzzled.
Maybe it was always like this.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/916615.html

Date: 04/27/06 (IT Professionals)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

I have a question about SMTP mass mail viruses.

My client is running Symantec Corporate Antivirus with AV Exchange as well.

In the last two days the system has reported a small flood of virus infected attachments coming from inside the SMTP transport.
As far as i can tell, the system is saying the viruses are coming from inside the network.

The "from" addresses are all bogus but of course contain the clients domain name.

I am as I type this running a full virus sweep on all the connected PC's and the 2 servers. So far nothing is showing up (if only Symantec AV recorded IP as well).

Now I am thinking that these are actually INCOMING viruses, probably addressed to bogus addresses.

Am I right in that assessment? If so, why on earth do the Symantec logs show the "target" as the "author"?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/37035.html

Date: 04/30/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spyware

I go into the BIOS, set them to defaults, no change.  I then boot into the new HDD and go into disk management, and see this:

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/918594.html

Date: 05/06/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

Launches antivirus for Mac, saying Apple's operating system is "just as vulnerable" to targeted attacks as its competitors.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6069330.html

Date: 05/16/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, security, virus, antivirus

Ten commandments for computer security: Thy shall create strong passwords Thy shall use good antivirus software Windows users shall regularly update critical updates Thy shall download online forms after verifying URL https:// or forms with lock icons Thy shall use secure shell (ssh or sftp) for file transfers Thy shall not open unnecessary emails Thy shall regularly back up important files Thy shall [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/ten-commandments-on-cyber-security/

Date: 05/16/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, virus, antivirus, spyware

Companies may have the best antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall software, but that hasn't stopped rise in spyware.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6072948.html

Date: 05/17/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, security, virus, antivirus

Antivirus giants launch initiative with legal action against group selling illegal versions of their security software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6073382.html

Date: 05/22/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software, security, virus, antivirus, web, microsoft

I have been having trouble with a few websites in Firefox lately. They don't look like they load fully. I tried loading them in IE and everything is perfect.

I ran spybot and found the following thing pop up:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\AntiVirusOverride!=dword=0 Kind=Registry.


Is this a virus? Did something get changed and I didn't know it?

If there is anything you can tell me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/925496.html

Date: 05/29/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, security, virus, antivirus

Symantec’s antivirus software, which protects some of the world’s largest corporations and US government agencies, suffers from a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious programs, researchers from eEye Digital Security said. Symantec is investigating the issue. The reported threat to computer users would be severe, [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/symantec-anti-virus-software-exposes-computers-to-hackers/

Date: 05/30/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

Company works through the holiday weekend to fix hole in corporate antivirus products that could let a worm spread.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6078160.html

Date: 05/31/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, microsoft

Windows OneCare Live will be available for sale in the U.S. this week, marking Microsoft's official entry into the consumer antivirus arena.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6078249.html

Date: 06/13/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

Antivirus vendor wades into the debate over the merits of open and closed code, while Red Hat takes a cautious approach.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6083490.html

Date: 06/21/06 (Security)    Keywords: software, security, virus, antivirus

Update to Zone Labs' security software interferes with the Eudora e-mail client and McAfee antivirus software. A fix is available.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6086095.html

Date: 06/21/06 (Java Web)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

A new e-mail worm, Sixem-A, is on the loose that preys on the intense worldwide interest in the football World Cup. It began circulating earlier this week, and has just recently been blocked by few antivirus vendors. Victims receive messages with subjects like “Naked World Cup game set,” or “Soccer fans killed five teens,” and [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/email-worm-sixem-a-targets-soccer-world-cup-viewers/

Date: 07/17/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

Antivirus vendor McAfee cites potential for harm if power, efficiency of open source is misused.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6094779.html

Date: 07/18/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, spyware

I've been experiencing some issues with Windows XP's shutting down process, whenever I shut down the computer from the desktop, it takes longer than normal to do so. What happens is this-- I go to the Start menu, select "Turn Off Computer", then I choose "Shut Down", and then the computer does the normal process of shutting down, closing whatever was in the background-- usually not very many programs running in the background (I think), but then for a minute or so, it goes through this process where it doesn't do anything-- I can still move the mouse around and still use menus, programs, as if I'm normally using Windows. However, it does eventually go to the screen where you see the logging off/saving your settings/Windows is shutting down messages, but even on that screen it still seems like it's not doing anything, but then it does eventually shut down. Before this happened, it never was this slow. Is there anything I can do to correct this problem? Everything else in Windows runs fine, the startup process is fine but the shut down process has me concerned. I've checked for spyware and viruses, but nothing's come up when I ran Norton AntiVirus.

If anyone can assist me with this problem, I'd appreciate it.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/657341.html

Date: 07/24/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, microsoft

Microsoft has quietly held meetings with top antivirus researchers for almost 10 years, but there's some unease now that Redmond is a rival.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6097342.html

Date: 08/11/06 (IT Professionals)    Keywords: virus, antivirus

I need recommendations please for an Antivirus program for a Home PC for the Owner of one of my consulting customers. She does not want to use Norton or McAfee, and I hate the CA products....What else is anyone using?
EDIT: Sorry should have specified, the PC is Windows XP Professional. Suggestions to switch OS will be ignored, sorry.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/42421.html

Date: 08/17/06 (Security)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, microsoft

Vincent Gullotto, former head of McAfee's Antivirus and Vulnerability Emergency Response Team, AVERT, will join Microsoft.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6106603.html