Digital Convert boxes for Feburary 17, 2008

It being close to the change over, I’d figure I’d show you some of them and talk about them. To better help people make up there minds on what might be there choice of a Digital Converter Box. This is to help people get the most out of there products.

The Specs for this Converter is:

Zenith DTT901 Digital TV Tuner Converter Box

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  • Digital TV Tuner Coverter Box
  • Analog Pass-Through for Low-Power TV Stations broadcasts
  • On-Screen Program Information with Remote Control
  • Simple Connection to TV with supplied RF Cable
  • Parental Control to Manage TV Programs and advanced Closed Captioning

$59.95 Free Shipping

It could be on sale so check the link for more price options.  I also found this one that is a little more expensive but supposed to be better:
GE 23333 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box

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  • Smart Antenna Interface
  • Simple Setup
  • Analog Pass Through
  • Dolby(R) Digital Sound
  • Receives Over-Air Hdtv Signals

$76.99 Free Shipping

These are just some of the ones that I saw online to encourage people to get ready for the change over. If you’re not you need to act quickly because it will come in the next few months. You will need this if your are using an antenna and have no other way to watch shows over the air. This will only work where there is a signal. If you want to see what digital channels you have in your area please check Antenna Web. There they will tell you if you have any local channels in your area.

Tools for Virus Removal : The ones I like to use!

In this post I want to talk about virus removal tools that I like to use when I need to remove a virus.   Some thing to consider when using these tools are:

Each of these have to be dealt with differently because each requires something different.  Like rootkits if you have one installed and know that it is a rootkit you only options are to download some rootkit removers like:

  • Sopho’s Anti-rootkit remover —  This is good for those more known viruses and can remove several types of rootkits.   This isn’t the only one I use, but it is a part of group that does the rootkit removing for me.
  • Microsoft Rootkit Revealer —  This is good for proving there is a rootkit.  I’ve not seen it not detect a rootkit.  Most of the time when I find a rootkit from the other rootkit revealers this one actually dos better with information.
  • Panda Anti-Rootkit Remover — This one is another one I use when the other ones can’t remove it.  Each one does remove certain rootkit differently and works better than the other.
  • Aries Rootkit Remover from Lavasoft — This is good for those really tough rootkits but have some great benefits for removing some of the really tough rootkits.

These are the ones that work well with me when it comes to removing the rootkits.  I’ve not had one of these to remove a rootkit but that depends on how you deal with the virus in the first place.  Now for Anti-spyware and Anti-Virus software here are some of the tools that I suggest:

  • HijackthisRun it, and when you get the LOG file you will want to go to HijackThis Log Analysis Site 1 and HijackThis Log Analysis Site 2, and see what it says.  This is the best software because it will scan all of the registry and tells you like a wiki what might it be.
  • MSCONFIG — Sometimes it is hidden but if you check through the MSCONFIG for any files that might not need to load. Also check the services tab and see if there is any services that may not be needed.
  • Pctools Antivirus Free Software — This is a free software so what can I say.
  • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5.503 — This is another free one that can remove viruses really easily. Download this and you don’t have to worry to much.
  • Avast Home Edition — AVG does better than this one but people seem to like this so I have to add this for people who like this better than the others.
  • Clamwin Free Anti-virus — This is a good one because this is open sourced and easily can help detect so many viruses. This is good for those people who like open sourced.

These are just  the ones that I like to recommend that does pretty good on removing the viruses but there are others that I recommend on my Malware Resources that people have recommend to me but I haven’t tried them out yet.    Some of the Spyware and Adware removal and here are some of my favorites:

  • SuperAntispyware — Easily remove pests such as WinFixer, SpyAxe, SpyFalcon, and thousands more! Repair broken Internet Connections, Desktops, Registry Editing and more with our unique Repair System.
  • Malwarebytes can provide the needed assistance to remove the infection and restore the machine back to optimum performance.
  • Ad-Aware — This is a very good tool to get rid of some of the most annoying little viruses that try to fool you that you have a virus.
  • Windows Security Trojan Scanner — a Free online scanner to let you see if you might have a Trojan.
  • SmitFraudFix — A great little program to get rid of those Desktop hijacks, those programs that take over your browser or other file system.

If your current antimalware software let an infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of SUPERAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes License to protect your computer in the future. SUPERAntiSpyware Professional or Malwarebytes License features highly advanced Real-Time Protection to ensure protection from installation or re-installation of potential threats as you surf the Internet (Both are trusted Vendors by CCSS Forums).

These are just a few that I like to use when it comes to fighting those virus programs and the people behind the virus programs.   If you consider how hard it is sometimes to recognize a virus, you can see the problem with some of the programs they can sometimes  say a file is a virus and delete it and the next thing you know it won’t boot into Windows.  This is what needs to be considered whenever you see a warning on your system so you must be careful when you remove files.  You should always have backups that is what I always recommend because the likely hood of something terrible happening to your data.  You should come up with a way to back up your system every week like a sunday back or even a Monday while your at work backup.

Crafty little Trojan:W32/DNSChanger.ARNF

Saw this post and couldn’t resist talking about it.   This was talked about on F-secure.    It looks like they use a program call “Homeview Installer” and after you install it you get the Trojan:W32/DNSChanger.ARNF.   So how do you get that off your system?  Before we talk about that, let’s talk about what it does.  According to F-secure:

[ad#ad2-right]

This malware is dropped onto the system by Trojan-Dropper:W32/Agent.FLN. It is used to change the DNS settings on a system so that information such as passwords and credit card details can be retrieved.

[Via F-secure]

What you need to do to get rid of this of this Trojan is to scan your system.   You will also need to understand that this is a really good Trojan, it sees to modify your DNS and also your Registry.   Once you located and destroyed it you will then want to remove all your restore points.  After that you will want to check my other resources to better protect yourself.   You are the only one to prevent a virus from getting on your system.   If you like this one check out my other post as well.

Spying on Spyware.ISpynow!!

[ad#digg-right]This is another Virus that is going around and thought I’d tell you about it:

Spyware.ISpyNow monitors files, network traffic, and keystrokes. This Spyware gives the person who installed it a Web-based interface with summaries of logged information on the host computer.

[Via Symantec]

[ad#ad2-left]Now this one isn’t to hard to figure out what happened.  You have to manually install it on your system to get infected.  Symantec has a great way on uninstalling this annoyance.  I also suggest checking out my other program list just in case you don’t want to buy Symantec Anti-Virus programs.  Some other things to check out is:

This is just the beginning in getting your system clean.  You have to keep all you programs up to date and one way I do that is with Appsnap.  This little program keeps you programs up to date from Virus to Firewall.  I hope this helps people prevent and control spyware.