Category: Malware

Why Self-Fulfilling Malware causes problems!

Paul

Self-fulfilling malware? Yea Right!

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.

Via Wikipedia

It’s not really a prophecy but yet it is to a point.  I’m not saying that it is self-replicating or anything of that nature, but I am talking about how it has evolved over the last few years.  If your like me, you get a lot of calls from customers who insist that they have a virus because of a various number of reasons.   Some fo them could saying, they are getting warnings, others that I’ve seen just said that their system is really slow and thus they think they have a virus slowing down their system.  I’m sure you have many examples of this  and thus you know what I am talking about.   There have been many customers that I’ve had to deal with about just that.   They think it is a virus are pretty much won’t accept anything else but that, I’m sure I am not alone when it comes to you own small business.

Dealing with the Customer!

In many ways you probably like me, you try to insist that they don’t have a malware but yet they are coming up with ways why they do.  I’ve got a few tips to help deal with those types of customers who think they HAVE to of gotten a virus or malware along the way!  I’m going to share a few with you that might help you with your own customers.

Customer is always right! (And some that are just not right!)

The first thing I do is tell them it will cost them a certain amount of money to diagnose the problem and thus this will likely turn them away from you and help you help those who really might need the technical help.   I do recommend not charging a lot because if they do have a virus and don’t know how to remove it then you could be loosing a value loyal customer.   Consider charging something like a 30 minute fee to diagnose the problem, what ever you hourly fee is probably about right.  Something else you might want to consider, is to make it free if they have a virus or malware!

Give Customers Free Resources!

If your see my site, you will see that I offer a free Antivurs URL for anyone who might not want to remove their virus themselves but then again.   I warn them that they do this at their own risk and maybe give them some more resources if you know of any.   This will help you with the customers that might need the extra time with their problems.   I don’t like doing this option but it is a good option if you don’t have the time to worry about those customers.   

These are just my few options that I have come to use, maybe you have another way to do it and would love to hear your stories.   

Paul Sylvester

 

How to Figure out if you have a Virus on your System!

Paul
Infected by Antivirus software

Series picked up!

Few years ago, I did a post called What is a Virus and why do I have one. It spawned someone wanting to find out more about the virus but I have been really busy with my personal to finish the series. I thought this would be a great place to pick it up because of my personal life has slowed down and I wanted to at least finish this excellent series that I was so determined to write about.  Even though I have an Excellent resource for Anti-virus tools and tips, I still feel I could expand on the subject just a little more!   In this series we will talk about a few things like:

  • Where does the Virus and malware usually hide!

  • How to determine if a file should be there!

  • Which anti-virus software is the best, in my opinion!

  • How to warn you friends of Family!

  • What steps you should take in the Future!

  • Windows isn’t the only system that can get infected!

As you can see there is going to be a lot to talk about in this series because I am sure most of you have these types of questions that you would love to get answered.   I won’t say I will cover the topic a 100% because there are always going to be Rogue Viruses and malware that will do something different.   This is after all going to be a generalization of a typical virus!

Where does a Virus and Malware Like to Hide on my computer?

I’m sure you’ve asked this question before and I’m going to help you out a little.  Having removed several different viruses off my own system and others, I will tell you where you should look and what you should look for!   Note: You should look but don’t hit the Delete key.   You just might crash your system and have to restore it.   Sometimes these viruses like to latch on to a system file and you will need an Antivirus software to remove it!

Most of the time they are in the Windows directories:

  • C:/Windows/  (look for names that should be there and either Google the file to see what is being said about it!)

  • C:/Windows/System32 (Do the same as above but also look for .DLL and double check)

  • Make sure there aren’t any Hidden Directories by going to Control Panel / Folder Options / View.

  • Check the Registry for Anything Suspicious!  (The quicked and easiest way for this is to just use Hijackthis and Let it make a TXT File and then let One of the Log Analyzers  check it out!)

  • Check your Windows Program Files C:/Program Files/ and C:/Program Files(x86).   Each directory has files that are going to be Essential to run Windows but that doesn’t mean you can look and search for a file or program.  You will however need to still Google the program when you want to know if it should be there or not!

As you can see there are many places where this like to hide but that doesn’t mean you can’t protect yourself.

How to know if I have a Virus or not!

This has been asked by many people on the internet.   I’m no exception because sometimes you just don’t know, and thus you will want to protect yourself.   I will however tell you some of the more common signs of virus infection and then let tell you my opinion on which is better.  For Right now, though let’s  explore some of the more common signs of an infection:

  • System seems slow — Although this isn’t always meaning a virus, it can be a good indication.

  • Network Slowness — Again, this isn’t always a virus because you could be downloading updates to Windows or other Window files.  It however should be kept an eye out for.   If your interested to see what might be hogging your connection you can always use NETSTAT to see what is being used on your computer.   Remember to make sure you Wifi is not being used by your neighbors.

  • Unusual Website Popups — This is pretty much showing something is being done without your permission.   So you can usually attribute this to Malware but not always.

  • Hard Disk is constantly on — This isn’t always about a virus but something being accessed to much and thus might mean someone Malware is using your computer to store data that they want to hide.

These are the usual tale tale signs of something that shouldn’t be there and thus you should do a system scan to make sure!

Which Software is the Best, in my opinion!

I might be a little biased when it comes to removing viruses and which Antivirus does the job.   I’ve even talked about some of them om my Antivirus page, so you can see I do know a little more than the average Joe.  This doesn’t mean I am a expert on the field but I do know which software seems to run best for removing viruses.   I’m still under the opinion that the free antivirus, which is Malwarebytes [Affiliate Link].   They are constantly updating their virus definitions and have always been there when I had a question.  I have no problems with them in any way and thus I tell people who I remove viruses from to go and buy it [Affiliate Link] because once you have it you are set for life.   No need to buy a license every year, you only have to buy once and you are set.

If your worried about having a virus, just go check out Malwarebytes [Affiliate Link] and they do have a free version that you can try before you buy.

Paul Sylvester

Related articles

Techniques to remove malware from your domain!

Paul1 Reply

Starfleet Officer Image by Sam Howzit via Flickr

Websites and domains!

I recently had to help my favorite club remove some malware off their website.   My club, Starfleet-command Quadrant One website, was one of those sites that didn’t see this coming.   As a website owner, I’ve seen many of things come and go but experience has taught me that it will always come back.  I will be watching for this again in the near future but hopefully it won’t come back!

The back story was something that I have to at least talk about because this is how the site got infected.

One reason that this site got infected was by being hosted with the same hosting server.  They were both using the Goddady shared hosting account to display their webpages or forums on the internet.   Thus Godaddy, with their infinite wisdom tried to explain it away as that.    I don’t know if I buy that reason or if there was something else that might of been the culprit but I do know this website had urls redirects and such to malware sites.  I much rather keep with Hostgator, then have Godaddy anyways.

Another Reason is that it was probably some kind of key logger, or something that was sending back the important password information to a Command and control server and thus the website owner was infected or someone in the organization that had access to the account was unintentionally allowing a hacker to gain access to the website.

Removing the Malware off your Site!

Nothing in the world is ever going to be easy, but it is necessary to get into the guts of the website.   Your probably thinking, websites don’t have guts.   You’d be wrong, when I thought about having to go through each part of the code and remove the html malware redirects that is what I mean by guts.      Many people will come to understand that as a programming language but I like to think of it as a doctor who does surgery to remove an infectedc limb or something like that.

So I’m going to give you a few areas to look at if your having this problem with Malware being on your site or domain.   It won’t always be the same place for the same infection but it will at least help you find it and remove it.

.htaccess — This is one place where they will first make changes to redirect traffic to the domain that they want your visitor to. If you have had much experience with what it does.   It is a good time to learn what they do and how to use them.

 

index.php or index.html— This is something that the hackers have learned to use but most often is over looked.   This is something that I haven’t seen before until now.   Certain browser will display the virus or malware warnings and others will not even see it or have any problems!   See example for more information, because I couldn’t do a better job then them!

 

Check Subdomains and subdirectories —   This is something that is also needs to be looked at.   even if they aren’t showing the signs of being being infected it is always a good idea to at least make sure they stay uninfected.   Check them for the .htaccess and index code and remove what you need or change it to where it should be going to in the first place.   I found the .htaccess redirect code all in subdomains and sub directories on the one that I helped to remove the infection from.

 

Change ALL passwords — This is a MUST, if you’ve been infected then your passwords are at risk of being the source of the infections.   Change your FTP Password, your log in information password, and anything associated with the site in question and possibility the subdomains passwords.

 

Limit the number of people with the new passwords — if your like me, you don’t want to many people to have the ftp password and thus you should consider only allowing a select number of people having it.   Like the organization I have, they have people left and right who use it to upload files and stuff that is needed.   It also might be required to just have a server that is used for nothing else but to upload files for publications and other things like that.

 

Disclaimer

Nothing in the article is a must do or will get rid of your site being blocked by Google and other such search engines but it will at least give you a place to start looking to find culprit and maybe get your site running again quicker.   I will not make any guarantees that this will fix the problem or that it will solve your problem 100% but this is to be used as a tutorial on where to look and what you should do to prevent re-infections with malware.

 Paul Sylvester

SUPERAntiSpyware, with over 20 million users worldwide, is the most thorough scanner on the market. SUPERAntiSpyware

 

 

 

Related articles

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

My Top Five Favorite Posts for 2011

Paul

English: Posts in the sand Presumably these po... Image via Wikipedia

It’s that time again!

I know this blog has been up and down this year and thus I want to discuss some of my more popular and ones that I am really proud of.   We all know that is isn’t going to be easy for me but I thought we could at least talk about some of more favorite posts and let people who just found my blog see some of my other posts!

We’ve all seen those post each year on different blogs and I am sure I am not the only one who does this but it is something that I like to do.   It after all is about community and sharing with my friends.  I know I consider my readers like close family because I am always thinking what I can do to better my life and yours.   This is my biggest reason for blogging, to make life better for everyone and make it much more enjoyable for me also.   You don’t know how nice it is just to sit down and write to my family(readers) and not have to feel like there is pressure to post.   This is my goal every time I write a post to share and hope it makes people think about how to work smarter and not hard.

Top Five Favorite Posts!

I will start off with my Five favorite posts and discuss them in length.   You can always feel free to look around and click any article on my site without worries.

  1. How to Get a Free VPN for Ubuntu/Kubuntu! –This is was one of those that I did because it was essential for me to find a free VPN for when I go to hotspots and not have to pay.   When you are on a limited income and trying to get to your next paycheck, then you know why I couldn’t afford to pay for a VPN service.  Also I use Kubuntu and thus couldn’t use the Windows only free VPNS that were available.

  2. Three ways on how to NOT waste your Money! —  This one is a supposedly a recruiting job from (crmglobalresources.com) but after doing my research it looks to be like my other post “Why do I need to pay for recruitment?” So I was really proud of this one to tell people about it! So don’t always think there will be easy money.4

  3. Apple Needs to Worry about Security and Virus! —  This one was of my favorite post also because I am always tell people that there will always be Apple viruses and that their advertisements in the past will always haunt them because Apple can and will be targeted now and in the future for virus attacks because they are getting a larger share in the Marketplace.

  4. My Reasons why Amazon will make an Android Tablet!  —  This is another one of my favorites because it was one of those that came true.   Just look at the the Kindle Fire to verify it, that is after all an Android tablet.   I think they have more to come in the future but only time will tell!

  5. Android Malware, Ridiculous! —   Let’s face it, most people think that Androids can’t get virus or have malware.   I discuss this in length and tell you that even Linux can have viruses and you should count your eggs before they are hatched.  I am not going to say that they will or will not but I discuss why hackers and virus writers would love to do it.   Once the market gets saturated enough with Android devices they will start to develop viruses and malware for them, I am sure it.

As you can see that there were some really good posts in 2011 and I hope to get even more post done in 2012. I am going to be resolute to doing a better job of posting but that could be a futile effort.

Paul Sylvester

Need Glasses? Try GlassesUSA!

Related articles

Android Malware, Ridiculous!

Paul

English: A candidate icon for Portal:Computer ... Image via Wikipedia

 

Malware for Android??

Nothing I have read from what people have said or done indicates that it is actually malicious in being installed.   Yet, Everyone keeps saying it is malware!

Software is considered to be malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software or program.

[Via Wikipedia]

What is with people saying Android has Malware!   I don’t understand that and I have been scratching my head when I read this.   It really burns my buttons on my computer when I read it.

Use your Head!

If you haven’t been keeping up with my blog, you will know that it isn’t really unwanted.      Most programs you download using your android device is something that is being sought out but yet it isn’t going to be truthful when it comes to something you don’t know.    I can’t understand for the life of my why they are trying to scare people into thinking that you need antivirus for Android for security.   I’ve talked about this in past post but I will say it again:

 

This is something I tell my friends and family when buying an Application on the Market place from anywhere there is usually a bunch of reviews of it from various users and thus will help you determine if this application is worth the money or could be a problem.

 

My Underware!

I’m calling anything that is unwanted and stuff you didn’t know what is being rune’d on an OS.   I call this underware due to the fact that is programs that you installed on your OS but didn’t know that it is doing something it shouldn’t.  This is something that I called it because when you say malware, it makes me think of software that is being forced to be installed and running under the radar.   You really don’t know it is running and thus that is why you call it malware, but if you install a program accepting the consequences then, it should just be called underware.

What should it be called?

I’m really not sure what else to call it but the idea of underware is UNDER the radar programs.   If you can come up with something better please let me know but I don’t want it to be called malware.

Paul Sylvester

 

Have you tried Glasses USA!   

 

Related articles