Kansas City Computer Repair: A few computer tips
June 13, 2009 by JoelC2009 · 5 Comments
As a Kansas City computer repair specialist, I have the privilege of seeing a vast array of computers, configurations and setups across the city. It continues to be surprising how many computer owners still leave there computers unprotected. The world is changing fast and the foreign computer attackers are growing at a swift pace. Some of the foreign attackers make the average domestic attacker seem relatively harmless. I say relatively because the domestic malware creator can still produce threats that will render your computer unusable.
The most recent threat types such as the “bot” bring a whole new paradigm of intrusion to the computer landscape. “A bot typically runs hidden and complies with the RFC 1459 (IRC) standard. Generally, the perpetrator of the botnet has compromised a series of systems using various tools (exploits, buffer overflows, as well as others; see also RPC). Newer bots can automatically scan their environment and propagate themselves using vulnerabilities and weak passwords. Generally, the more vulnerabilities a bot can scan and propagate through, the more valuable it becomes to a botnet controller community. The process of stealing computing resources as a result of a system being joined to a “botnet” is sometimes referred to as ‘scrumping.’” – Wikipedia.
Overlooking the technical terminology above, you can see that bots are very sophisticated in their approach and very dangerous to the well-being to all who are involved.
In the malware removal category, software like pc tools spyware doctor is a solid tool to help combat some of these bots such as the VBBot. Spyware Doctor can even remove Conficker which is a worm that is really part of a botnet that is extremely hard to counter.
If you wish to have specific botnet protection, take a look at Norton Antibot as a viable solution.
Norton Antibot is software licensed from Sana Security(update: purchased by AVG in Jan 2009- Norton Antibot discontinued) that detects bots, spyware, adware and other malware based on their behavior. It does not need a signature database to operate because it detects suspect behaviors.
The Norton 360 product now implements SONAR technology which is used to combat botnets. Therefore, look at Norton 360 as the alternative to Norton Antibot.
The Treacherous Malware Times: Evolving Threats, Evolving Tactics
May 31, 2009 by JoelC2009 · 12 Comments
Malware is not what it used to be ten years ago. The new strains are much more violent and much more permanent in their result.
In the past, I would usually encounter malware that ran as a process that you could kill and then remove. In more serious circumstances, you may have been required to do a reboot before the problem software was completely removed. Not so with the new strains of malware…they intend to leave a permanent reminder that they were there.
Trojans such as Trojan FakeAlert are almost like child’s play compared to some of the more vicious malware monsters out there today. Just this evening I went out on a call to repair a computer that the owner stated, “the computer has been progressively getting slower and slower and after clicking around it control panel the computer will not boot.” What happened is much more sophisticated than the quoted explanation above.
In reality, the computer boots to the point that the mouse arrows shows but the desktop screen is black. Even though the problem above may be do to malware using a spyware doctor download or other malware removal tool may not fix the problem as in this case. The problem is that the malware has completed its damage and now the explorer.exe or one or more of its support files has been corrupted.
The best action to take is a preventive action. Fortify your system with software like PC Tools Internet Security, Norton Internet Security or another reputable security software package so that you are protected from the bulk of these attacks.