gHacks technology news » virus

How To Run Commercial Antivirus Software Without Paying For It

Martin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:54:20 +0000

This article is not about illegal methods of obtaining software products. But read on if you are interested in how you can protect your computer with the latest antivirus software without having to pay for it. The principle is simply. Most antivirus companies are offering test versions of their products. These versions can usually be tested for 30 or 90 days. All you need to do to protect your computer with antivirus software is to install a new product every 90 days. This means that you need four antivirus products, preferably the most reliable ones that are offering 90 days of testing. You start again with next year’s edition of the first antivirus software that you started with. If there are not enough 90 day trials you switch to 30 day trials instead or use a free antivirus software to fill gaps in the 12 month cycle.

The following links point to antivirus software programs that can be downloaded as trial versions. These trial versions can be used for either 30 days or 90 days without payment.

Which antivirus software developers are offering 90 day trials?

McAfee VirusScan Plus [link]
McAfee Internet Security [link]
McAfee Total Protection [link]
Norton Antivirus [link]
Norton 360 [link]

Which antivirus software developers are offering 30 day trials?

Kaspersky Antivirus [link]
Kaspersky Internet Security [link]
Bitdefender Antivirus [link]
Bitdefender Total Security [link]
Bitdefender Internet Security [link]
ESET Smart Security [link]
ESET Nod32 Antivirus [link]
Trend Micro Internet Security Pro [link]
Trend Micro Internet Security [link]
Panda Security Antivirus [link]
Panda Antivirus Pro [link]
F-Secure Internet Security [link]
F-Secure Antivirus [link]

Please let us know in the comments if we have missed a product.

Some notes: This article does not rate the antivirus software programs. There might be free programs out there that are comparable to the listed antivirus products. The only problem with this method is that users need to install different antivirus software regularly. This not only means more work for the user but also the requirement to get used to new software products.

Many antivirus companies are running promotions every now and then that offer longer trial versions for download. This will obviously help tremendously.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Tags: antivirus, bitdefender, f-secure, kaspersky, norton, panda, security-software, symantec, trend micro, virus

Recover Computer System After Malware Infection

Martin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:14:41 +0000

The first step to recover a computer system after a malware infection is the malware removal. This is usually done by the security software that is installed on the system. Some security software programs do a great job of removing malware but fail to remove traces that the malware has left behind. That’s where IClean comes into play, a program designed to remove the traces left by malware that has already been removed from the system.

IClean is a portable application that can be run from anywhere including a portable drive or device. The computer program will then display information about the computer system in six tabs that are accessible on top of the interface.

Processes: Displays all running processes with the option to check processes and kill them or kill and delete them.
Services: A list of all running services with the option to delete multiple services at once.
Registry: Several security sensitive Registry settings are displayed here including programs that bypass firewall rules, toolbars and browser helper objects with the option to repair, backup and restore settings.
Startup Folders: Displays a list of startup items that are loaded during system start with the option to enable, disable or clear them.
Hosts: The Windows hosts file that is used by malware to redirect Internet traffic.
Advanced: Option to terminate a known process ID.

Several of these options could come in handy after a sucessful malware removal on the computer system. IClean is available at the developer’s website and compatible with all Windows operating systems from Windows 98 to Windows Vista (and probably Windows 7 as well).

Tags: iclean, malware, malware infection, malware removal, portable software, recover computer system, remove malware, trojan, virus, windows software

What You Should Do After Buying A New Computer System

Martin — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:48:15 +0000

Dante send me a link to another “malware found on purchased laptop” story. The new M&A Companion Touch netbook contained three pieces of malware: An USB worm, a rootkit and a World of Warcraft password stealer.

These things seem to happen regularly and it is not only laptops that are affected by this. We have seen malware on appear virtually anywhere where it can appear in the last years, even on music CDs from a well known company. This leads to the interesting question on what users can do to ensure that their computer system is not already infected by malicious software.

Security companies advise to scan a newly purchased computer system thoroughly before starting to work with it. They also suggest to stay offline during the procedure which can sometimes be problematic if the computer system is the only available at hand. The virus definition files of antivirus software that is already installed on the computer system is usually outdated and might not catch the virus. The same is true for antivirus software that is purchased in stores.

Security experts therefor suggest to download the virus definitions for the antivirus program from a different computer with Internet access. That’s problematic if there is only one computer system available. Solutions for this might be to visit friends, go to an Internet Cafe or computer shop to download it from there.

Which leads to the question: What do you do after buying a new computer system?

Tags: antivirus software, computer system, laptop, malware, netbook, trojan, virus

Test Possible Conficker Infection In Your Web Browser

Martin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:12:22 +0000

While the Conficker worm did not have the serious impact many assumed it would have on April 1 it is still a threat as millions of computer systems are infected with it. We covered Conficker worm detection and removal instructions in March and would like to add the easiest way of detecting a possible Conficker infection on a computer system.

One of the traits of the Conficker worm is the blocking of url strings. This includes urls of antivirus companies, Microsoft and support sites that could aid users in removing the Conficker worm from a computer system. Users with the worm cannot open the websites in their web browser anymore and this is the exact concept of the Conficker Eye Chart. It displays six images on the website. Three images from urls that are not blocked by Conficker and three that are blocked.

If the web browser is displaying all six urls it is very likely that Conficker has not infected the computer system. If only the safe three images are displayed an infection with the C variant of Conficker is likely while the display of four images hints at A and B variants of Conficker.

The major benefit of this Conficker detection test is its simplicity. It takes only a web browser and a few seconds to test if the computer system has been infected. It is still a good idea to confirm the findings by using a software detection program which you can find here.

Tags: computer security, computer worm, conficker, conficker detection, conficker eye chart, conficker worm, remove conficker, virus

Computer Virus Effect Remover

Martin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:30:49 +0000

Computer Virus Effect Remover is a helpful software program for the Windows operating system after an infection with malicious software like a virus, trojan or worm has occurred. It can be used to remove various effects of those malicious programs.

The Open Source software can aid the user in removing effects from the Windows file system and the Windows Registry. One of the main functions of it is that it can re-enable access to the Windows Taskmanager, Registry Editor, MSconfig and the Process List.

Other options include process details that can be used to kill any running process including files that are currently in use by it. These processes and files can be added to a blacklist so that they will not be executed anymore even if they try to do so automatically.

The program provides additional options to create or restore a Registry backup, check system files and to repair AutoRun options.

Virus Effect Remover can be a helpful program to remove traces of malicious software.

Virus Effect Remover

Tags: computer virus, Computer Virus Effect Remover, Open Source, trojan, trojan remover, virus, Virus Effect Remover, windows software

AVG 8 Update Marked User32.dll As Virus Infected

Martin — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:06:20 +0000

An update of the popular anti-virus software program AVG let a false positive slip through quality control which caused widespread panic on the Internet by desperate AVG users looking for help. The update detected a virus, more precisely Trojan Horse PSW.BANKER4.APSA, in the important system file user32.dll in Windows XP. User32.dll allows programs to implement a graphical user interface and is considered a core component of the Windows XP operating system.

Users who followed the advice of the AVG software program were greeted with a Blue Screen of Death as soon as they clicked on the Heal button to remove the virus. Any attempts to boot the system afterwards failed because of the missing file. AVG was quick to react and released another update that corrected the issue.

This does not help those users who already cleaned the file in Windows. Here is the official information on how to fix the system for those users:

The system can be restored by following the steps in one of the comments on forum (using safe mode or recovery console and copying c:\windows\system32\dllcache\user32.dll into the right location)

If you need to restore deleted files from AVG Virus Vault you can do it this way:

- Open AVG user interface.
- Choose “Virus Vault” option from the “History” menu.
- Locate the file that was incorrectly removed and select it (one click).
- Click on the “Restore” button.

A possibility would have been to cross-check the detected virus with another anti-virus software or an online virus scanner to be sure that it is indeed infected before deleting the file.

Tags: anti virus, avg, avg anti-virus, avg false positives, avg restore, avg user32.dll, trojan, virus, virusscanner

Which Programs Should I Run To Scan A Computer For Malicious Software?

Martin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:12:35 +0000

The amount of security applications for the end user has reached a point where the choice is adding to the insecurity and confusion of the user. So called experts all have their set of tools that they recommend for certain situations but it can happen that you get a set of totally different applications for the same task when asking two advanced users.

To give an example. Should a user run Ad-Aware, Spybot Search And Destroy, Spyware Terminator or one of the other dozen or so anti-spyware applications that can be used freely for personal non-commercial use.

To much choice can be confusing and this article tries to narrow down the list to security applications that are recommended most of the time. Some users will disagree with the choices and they have every right to do so. You can rest assured on the other hand that the selection of tools should be sufficient to scan a computer system thoroughly

Anti-Spyware:

Spyware usually refers to malicious software that tries to spy on the user or serve advertisement to him. This can be done with tracking cookies, changing the user’s homepage or showing popups from time to time.

Spybot Search And Destroy – Spybot Search and Destroy is updated regularly and does not confuse the user with different versions like Ad-Aware does with Ad-Aware Free, Plus and Pro.
Spyware Terminator – A tool that has been downloaded more than 17 million times should do a good job. Spyware Terminator is fast and efficient.

Anti-Virus:

Anti-virus applications create probably the most controversy. There is so much choice of free and commercial applications that makes it nearly impossible to make a decision. The applications protect the computer in realtime and can scan the computer thoroughly.

AVG Anti-Virus – A classic anti-virus software that provides protection against viruses, rootkits and spyware.
Free AV – Antivir protects the computer against viruses, rootkits, dialers and phising.

Rootkits:

Rootkits have been gaining popularity in the last years and one could say that Sony did not have a small part in raising the public’s perception of rootkits with their music CDs that contained a rootkit in order to prevent customers from copying the music.

Rootkit Unhooker – a portable rootkit scanner with a size of under 100 Kilobyte.
Gmer – is another tool to scan the computer for rootkits.

Is the list missing any categories? Would you put other applications up there (I know you would so let me know)?

Tags: rootkits, scan system, security applications, security programs, security-software, software, Spyware, virus

DLL Remover

Martin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:49:07 +0000

UnDLL is a specific application for Windows 2000 and Windows XP that can completely remove Dynamic Link Libraries (Dlls) that are currently in use in Windows. This comes in very handy if the computer has been infected by an aggressive virus, trojan or other malicious software but also any other situation where a malicious dll has to be removed from the system.

The DLL Remover works by pointing the application to a dll on the system which initiates four actions in the software. It searches for infected threads, deleted infected files, deletes entries in the Windows Registry and restarts the computer at the end to complete the operation.

UnDLL (via Techtrends) can be dowloaded from the Italian ESET (Essential Security against Evolving Threats) website only.

Tags: dll, remove-dll, trojan, virus

Overview of Online Virus Scanners

Martin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:54:45 +0000

Scanning the computer from an online location provides several advantages over the classic local scan. The most prominent one is that the risk of a virus infection of the virus scanner is not present and that the engine used by the scanner is usually up to date. A local virus scanner needs to be updated regularly to stay effective.

An Internet connection is needed on the other hand to perform the scan which sometimes can be a problem if the system is not booting into the operating system. A Live CD could help but many Online Virus Scanners demand the Internet Explorer which is obviously unavailable on Linux systems.

Online Virus Scanners can be used to get a “second opinion” without having to install another anti-virus software on the computer. It is probably a good idea to use as many of the virus scanners as possible if it is suspected that the system was infected by a virus. Below is a list of services that provide access to online virus scanners.

Bitdefender Online Scanner – requires Internet Explorer 4+

Eset Online Scanner – requires Internet Explorer

F-Secure Online Scanner – works only with Internet Explorer 6+

Kaspersky Free Virus Scan – browser independent, downloads roughly 25 Megabytes of files prior to scanning. User can select locations to scan. The scanner does not remove infected files.

McAfee FreeScan – requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5+

Microsoft OneCare Live – requires Internet Explorer.

Panda ActiveScan – requires Internet Explorer or Firefox, does not run in Opera.

Shields Up! – browser independent but very slow and unresponsive currently.

Symantec Security Check – down or gone.

Trendsecure HouseCall – Java based scanner, works with Java compatible browsers.

Windows Security – Trojan scan that requires Internet Explorer 5+

File Scanners:

Avast Online Scanner – file size limit of 512 Kilobyte

Virus Scan – file size limit of 10 Megabyte.

Virus Total – email upload option, 10 Megabyte file size limit.

Do you know any other services where users can scan files or the computer ?

Tags: malicious software, online scanner, online virus scanners, trojan, virus, virus scanners

Free McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:30:56 +0000

McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 retails for $39.99 for a one year license normally but you can get it for free for a limited time. It runs on computers with Windows 2000 or newer Microsoft operating systems including Windows Vista and protects your system from various threats such as spyware, viruses, trojans and phishing.

I personally do not install software like this especially if it has Norton / Symantec or McAfee written on it. Still this might be useful for some and it is free after all. Here are the steps that you need to do: (Thanks to Raymond for finding another great offer)

Visit the Natwest website and click on the huge banner at the bottom saying Free PC Security, Protect your PC for 12 months with McAfee VirusScan Plus. This will lead you to a McAfee website that has a Register Now button. Click on that button and fill out the registration form.

McAfree VirusScan Plus 2008 Features

Safe Search, Safe Surf. McAfee® SiteAdvisor™ adds ratings to websites to help you avoid online dangers.
Home License Subscription Service. Automatically delivers the latest software features and threat updates and lets you easily manage security subscriptions for all your PCs.
Stops Viruses. Blocks and removes viruses and even stops them before they even get to your PC.
Stops Hackers. Protects and conceals your computer from hackers.
Blocks Spyware. Blocks spyware before it installs on your computer and removes existing spyware.
Improves PC Health. Cleans clutter off your computer so it stays healthy and secure.

It requires your name, email and a password. You might want to uncheck the options below the form so that you do not subscribe to those newsletters. Click on the I Agree button to proceed and in the next window on the Go To My Account button.

This should load the account window and you should see the McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 subscription in a table on that page. A download / install button is available in the same row, click that button to download the file DMSetup.exe and execute it when the download is finished.

You should be automatically logged into your account, if not the option is given in the tool. Just click on the Download button to download the real product which takes a while. Once the download is completed you click on Install to install the product.

The Register Now link is not working all the time. My first test through up an error message. Just try it again and it should work afte all.

Tags: antivirus, mcafee, offers, phishing, software, trojans, virus, Windows

Norton Antibot Free 1 Year License

Martin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:01:15 +0000

I did not think that we would see more of offers like the free Kaspersky or AVG on the Internet which were intended for a local audience but spread widely throughout the Internet because of information leaks. It seems that even Symantec is not protected against this kind of leaks.

The offer this time was directed at the readers of the German computer magazine Computer Bild which would receive a free one year license of the software Norton AntiBot if they purchased the magazine. Unfortunately though the link to generate the serial number leaked and is now available on the Internet.

I discovered it at Raymond’s excellent blog. To receive the free one year license you need to visit this official Norton page. Enter your email address in the form field, check the Ich akzeptiere box and click on the Gratis Produktschlüssel Anfordern button which will send the serial number to the mail address that you entered in the form.

Now download Norton Antibot in the meantime and activate the product with the serial number that you have received in your inbox. The serial number works with the English version – and probably every other language version – as well. The link above points to the English version of Norton Antibot.

Tags: norton, norton antibot, Security, software, trojan, virus, Windows

Say no to Drugs Virus

Martin — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:02:44 +0000

I received an email today from a reader who told me of a problem that he encountered lately on his computer. The message Say no to drugs appeared whenever he clicked on a shortcut to the My Documents folder. This sounded clearly like a virus and a quick search revealed that it indeed was the I Love Her virus.

The problem with the Say no to drugs virus is that most virus scanner still do not detect it. Extensive information about this virus is available on the Precise Security website. If you suspect that your computer is infected with this virus you need to download the (free) Ewido Micro Scanner and perform a scan of your system. Remove the entries found and remove the entries of the virus as an autostart entry (autoruns comes in handy) and kill the tasks associated with the virus as well.

I was not able to find out if other products like Spyware Terminator or the various anti-virus applications like Antivir would be able to find and remove the Say no to Drugs virus. I was not infected with it but I guess they should be able to if you consider the fact that the removal procedure at the Precise Security website was posted in January.

Tags: say no to drugs, Spyware, trojan, virus

Free Kaspersky Anti-Virus for 1 year

Martin — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:03:58 +0000

I have the feeling that this offer wont last long so you better hurry up. A free registration at the Chinese Kaspersky forum will reward the user with a Kaspersky Anti-Virus key that is valid for one year. The only catch, if you can speak of a catch, is that the website is in Chinese and that users have to navigate and register an account on that website.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus sells for $39.95 regularly and is considered by many magazines to be one of the best antivirus solutions available. The key works with the English version of Kaspersky as well so don’t worry about that. The key will be send to your inbox after finishing the registration at the Chinese forum.

Raymond posted a nice registration walkthrough and I recommend that you check out his website and use it as a guide to make your way through the registration process. Once you got the serial number you can download Kaspersky Antivirus 7.0 and use the serial number that was send to you to activate the software.

Tags: anti virus, antivirus, kaspersky, trojans, virus

NTFS Alternate Data Streams

Martin — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:51:55 +0000

This article is going to explain NTFS Alternate Data Streams: what they are, where they are, how you can detect them, create them and how they are used by hackers. In short, NTFS Alternate Data Streams can be used by hackers to fork file data into existing files without altering the existing file’s function or size. You can guess where this is going, right ? They make it relatively easy to hide malicious code inside them which is much harder to detect.

Creating NTFS Alternate Data Streams is not complicated at all. You can use the “type” command to do that. To fork the file virus.exe into calc.exe you would use the command type virus.exe > calc.exe:virus:exe if they are in the same directory. Add the path if they are not. The size of the calculator does not change, the only indicator is that the file changed stamp is altered.

But executing those files must be harder, right ? Wrong again. To execute virus.exe you use the command “start”, in our example it would be start calc.exe:virus:exe.

A software like Stream Explorer can find those NTFS Alternate Data Streams on your hard drive. An alternative is List Alternate Data Streams

Tags: Alternate Data Streams, hacker, Hacking, malicious, ntfs, virus

Test Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium for 6 months

Martin — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:41:04 +0000

Giveaways, more giveaways and even more giveaways. Seems we can expect more free software giveaways this year. It’s Avira again with a promotion to test the AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium for six months with no obligations whatsoever. All you have to do is fill out a small form and they will send you a working serial number that is valid for the next six months.

The premium version of AntiVir sells for €19.95 (that’s Euro) usually and adds protection against spyware, adware. pop3 email protection and fast updates through premium servers in comparison to the free version. Both versions protect against viruses, dialers, phishing, worms, trojans and rootkits.

Make sure you fill out the form above and download the Personal Edition Premium from the Avira servers.

Tags: antivir, antivirus, avira, offers, trojan, virus

Fix Your Task Manager if it is Disabled

Cheryl — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:08:01 +0000

If you are running Windows as an administrator, it is possible to disable the task manager. This is one of the options you would get if you right click your system tray. However, the most common reason for a disabled task manager is viruses. Disabling the task manager is one way for a virus to prevent you from getting rid of it.

Luckily, enabling your task manager is possible, with a few simple steps. The first thing though is to make sure your task manager actually is disabled. If you right click your system tray and the task manager option is grayed-out, it is disabled. You can also check by going to Start –> Run and typing ‘taskmgr’. You will get a message saying your task manager has been disabled by the administrator.

If the task manager has been disabled by a virus, you will first need to get it out of your computer. Once that is done, you are ready to proceed. Go to Start –> Run, type ‘gpedit.msc’ and hit OK. This opens up the Group Policy Editor. Once there, double click the following entries;

User Configuration
Administrative Templates
System
Ctrl+Alt+Del Options

The first entry is ‘Remove Task Manager’, which will be enabled. Double click this entry to change its setting. Select ‘Not configured’ and click OK. Your task manager will be enabled after this.

The above method works on Windows XP. An alternate method is to modify the registry manually. Go to Start –> Run, type ‘regedit’ and click OK. Expand the following registry keys in order.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Policies
System

You will see a DisableTaskMgr entry with a registry value of 1. Right click this entry and select ‘Delete’. Confirm the action and you should be able to access your task manager once again.

Let me know if any of these methods work for you. Also, comment if you know of any other ways to fix a disabled task manager.

Via [AskLeo]

Tags: task-manager, virus, Windows

Melissa Strip Captcha Breaker Trojan

Martin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:00:36 +0000

I bet you have never seen such a tempting Trojan before. The Trojan named Melissa Strip, identified as TROJ_CAPTCHAR.A by TrendMicro and Trj/RompeCaptchas.A by Panda, starts by asking the user if he wants to play a game where she (Melissa) will strip for the user if the enters the correct code.

After clicking Start Play the image of a women on the left side and a captcha on the right is displayed. The program asks the user to enter the captcha to see another picture of the woman with less clothes on. After entering the captcha correctly and clicking on enter the Trojan loads another picture and captcha asking the user again to type the correct code to see Melissa strip even more.

You might have already guessed that the captcha is actually the captcha of another website, Yahoo for instance, and the Trojan uses the help of users to enter those captchas correctly on those websites. Captchas are used to tell human users from bots apart and make it more difficulty to create automatic process to signup or submit data.

The Trojan does not seem to cause harm on the users system. It simply uses him to create correct responses to captcha codes that are used to create accounts on websites like Yahoo Mail.

Trend Micro reports that the Trojan most likely arrives as a file downloaded by other malware on the system. It could also be send as an email attachement.

Tags: captcha, microsoft security, trojan, virus

Quick Way to Remove the Skype Worm

Martin — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:23:32 +0000

If you do not know yet there is a Skype worm spreading around that is affecting Skype Windows clients. The virus automatically sends a chat message to other Skype users containing a link to an image on a website where he is prompted to download a file with the .scr extension using a simple redirection

If, and only if, the user executes the file his computer becomes infected with the w32/Ramex.A virus which uses Skype’s public API to access the infected pc. Many antivirus companies like Symantec, Kaspersky and F-Secure have already updated their virus definitions to detect and remove the worm.

It is however also possible to remove the worm manually by following the steps outlined below:

1. Restart the PC in safe mode
2. Run regedit
3. Go to HKLM/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/runonce find entry with mshtmldat32.exe. Delete this entry.
4. Go to Windows\System32 directory and delete following files: wndrivs32.exe, mshtmldat32.exe, winlgcvers.exe, sdrivew32.exe
5. Go to windows/system32/drivers/etc
6. Find file hosts
7. Open it with notepad, ctrl+a and delete all entries (this will resume your antivirus updates), save, close.
8. Restart the PC.

via Skype blog

Tags: skype, skype virus, skype worm, virus

Rootkits: Sony does it again

Martin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:27:39 +0000

I would have never thought that a company like Sony would not learn from its mistakes especially after the first rootkit debacle which was a major public relations fiasco for Sony. The first rootkit was placed on several audio CDs that were distributed in 2005 and led to a $6 million settle case in the United States. While the rootkit was intended to make it impossible (albeit ineffectively) to copy music from the CDs it was effectively used by producers of malware, trojans and spyware to hide their code from antivirus software.

The sentenced that always reminds me of how amateurish Sony handled the whole affair went something in the line of “People who don’t know what rootkits do should not care about them”.

It seems Sony did it again. F-Secure is reporting that Sony is now selling a USB stick – the Sony MicroVault – which installs a hidden folder in c:\windows when installing the USB fingerprint software.

So, when enumerating files and subdirectories in the Windows directory, the directory and files inside it are not visible through Windows API. If you know the name of the directory, it is e.g. possible to enter the hidden directory using Command Prompt and it is possible to create new hidden files. There are also ways to run files from this directory. Files in this directory are also hidden from some antivirus scanners (as with the Sony BMG DRM case) — depending on the techniques employed by the antivirus software. It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place.

F-Secure suspects that the hidden folder is used to protect the fingerprint authentication and strongly disagrees that this is the correct way to achieve a protection.

I think that Sony made a big mistake in using such a technology again even if it was intended to be of good use for the owner.

Read More:

F-Secure Blog

Tags: fingerprint, malware, rootkit, sony, Spyware, virus

Monitor your PC with WinPatrol

Martin — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 06:40:12 +0000

What happens if your antivirus or antispyware software does not detect a malicious application ? One of the things that will most likely happen is that the malicious application will add itself to the system startup most likely in the registry to make sure it is always executed when the system starts.

WinPatrol offers a new layer of defense against malware that was not detected by your security softwares. It monitors the different Startup possibilities, File Associations, IE Helpers, Scheduled Tasks and Services asking the user every time a program wants to add an entry to those places.

WinPatrol also displays all entries that already exist in those places giving you the opportunity to remove any entries that you want. The best thing to do would probably be to take a look at all menus that WinPatrol offers to make sure that only applications and services are started that you trust. You can remove everything else and let WinPatrol do the rest to make sure that they or other elements are not added again.

The freeware has a size of roughly 700 K and has to run in the background to be able to work correctly.

Tags: malware, pc, protect, Security, virus, winpatrol

gHacks technology news » virus

How To Run Commercial Antivirus Software Without Paying For It

Related posts

Recover Computer System After Malware Infection

Related posts

What You Should Do After Buying A New Computer System

Related posts

Test Possible Conficker Infection In Your Web Browser

Related posts

Computer Virus Effect Remover

Related posts

AVG 8 Update Marked User32.dll As Virus Infected

Related posts

Which Programs Should I Run To Scan A Computer For Malicious Software?

Related posts

DLL Remover

Related posts

Overview of Online Virus Scanners

Related posts

Free McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008

Related posts

Norton Antibot Free 1 Year License

Related posts

Say no to Drugs Virus

Related posts

Free Kaspersky Anti-Virus for 1 year

Related posts

NTFS Alternate Data Streams

Related posts

Test Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium for 6 months

Related posts

Fix Your Task Manager if it is Disabled

Related posts

Melissa Strip Captcha Breaker Trojan

Related posts

Quick Way to Remove the Skype Worm

Related posts

Rootkits: Sony does it again

Related posts

Monitor your PC with WinPatrol

Related posts