Will you upgrade to Windows 7

I've heard this question alot lately. Windows 7 is due to ship in October 2009. I have pre-ordered a copy for the office machine. I participated in the beta trials and sent 1000's of bug reports and suggestions to Microsoft. The RTM or release version appears to be stable however, there are still compatibility issues with hardware and older software.

When compatibility is mentioned however, everyone replies well there will be an XP Mode for older software... Well there is and assuming it works it would be great if it were offered to the general public.

What do you mean you say?

Well XP Mode is only available to users who purchase Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate. Do you know of any computer manufacturer that ships a computer with anything but a stripped down OEM version of Windows??

Are you going to buy all new software??? or upgrade to a 300$ version of Windows....

You tell me.....

Security Hole Discovered In Adobe Reader

Adobe Systems late Tuesday acknowledged that all versions of its popular Acrobat and Reader software, for Windows, Mac and Linux, contain at least one, and possibly two, critical vulnerabilities that leave users open to a javascript exploit.

Until a patch is released Adobe is recommending users disable javascript to avoid this issue.

Windows users can disable javascript in Reader and Acrobat by selecting Preferences from the Edit menu, selecting javascript, and unchecking the Enable Acrobat JavaScript option.

Mac users can disable javascript in preferences, under the Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat menu.

New Conficker Threat?

Conficker Update

I had a feeling this threat wasn't to be written off so easily. The Conficker worm released a new update to infected pc's via P2P programs in the last few days.

Conficker.e is downloading and installing fake security software. Often called rogue anti-virus or scareware it advises users they are infected with bogus malware and then opening 100's of pop-ups until they spend $50 to buy a useless program or pay a local repair shop to remove it. Rogue antivirus software has become a huge business, large enough for even Microsoft to worry about.

Conficker.e seems to have teamed up with Waledac authors.
Waledac is a malicious program that turns infected computers into spam bots, steals personal data, and opens up the users computer to any number of remote operations.

We'll need to keep a close eye on this one.

Have you been infected with Conficker or another form of malware?

Let us know.

Confiker A Bust, I'm not so sure...

The conficker worm which showed up about 6 months ago has became one of the most talked about and reported on malware since the cih virus of 1998. While its not destructive in nature it has the potential to cause havoc for many computer users. There was big hype this week about a mass launch on April 1st, 2009.

News sources seem to think that the writers of Conficker, also known as downadup was defeated due to all the hype and press. I can't say I agree with this, there are still thousands of computers out there infected with this malware and they aren't even aware of it, furthermore these boys are not stupid. I beleive they will bide their time quietly sending out their new and improved version and wait til the hype dies down.

Anti-virus companies are still scrambling to add signatures to remove it. If you installed the Microsoft patch months ago you may be protected. If you install it now and have the worm its moot.

Virus and Spyware removal is what I do best and I'll not write off this one just yet.

New Firefox Vulnerability Found

New attack code has been released today targeting the Firefox Browser. This new attacks has sent Firefox developers scrambling to patch the flaw. Until it is patched, this code could be modified by attackers and used to install unauthorized software onto a Firefox user's machine.

This bug affects Firefox on all operating systems, including Mac OS and Linux. This vulnerability tricks the user into viewing a maliciously coded XML file. The attacker could than use this bug to install unauthorized software on a victim's system. This kind of drive-by download, has become increasingly popular in recent years.

Firefox users will be issued a fix for this vulnerability its it's upcoming 3.08 version release. It is recommended users update as soon as it's released.

E-mail Scam IRS Stimulus Payments

Per usual scammers are using e-mail scams to try to steal your personal information. Social Security numbers, Bank Account information and more. The new scam comes as an e-mail appearing to be from the IRS asking you to provide personal data to ensure delivery of your stimulus payment. The IRS or any government agency will ever solicit this type of information by e-mail.

Users receiving this type of fraudulent IRS e-mail are encouraged not to click on any links contained therein and to forward the message and the website URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.

Bad Symantec update leads to trouble for users

Hackers took advantage of a Symantec issue today to flood search engines with more troublesome redirection to rouge anti-virus sites. Apparently Symantec periodically sends its users PIFTS known as Product Information Framework Troubleshooter which is a diagnostic program that anonymously collects information such as the operating system and version number of the product being used in order to get a snapshot of its user base. This time however the file wasn't digitally signed cauing many firewalls to flag it, including Symantec's own firewall.

So my advice for the time being. Don't install PIFTS.exe. If you visit a website and are advised your computer is infected, CTRL, ALT, DEL and end task on your browser process. Then run a good anti-virus software and anti-spyware program like Avast and Malwarebytes.

DCS Tech Corner

DCS Computer Services has launched a tech support forum called DCS Tech Corner. You can get help with Microsoft Windows, computer hardware, computer software, networking, virus & spyware removal, and much more. Contributors are welcome to join and share their knowledge. Hope to see you there.
DCS Tech Corner