Antispy.microsoft.com is another Scareware

It looks like the people who invented “[intlink id=”3805″ type=”post”]Antivirus System Pro[/intlink]” have made another site looking like it was a Microsoft site:

Antivirussystempro1

It looks like they use hijack your host file and inseart “Antispy.Microsoft.com” to the host file  with the IP address of “209.44.111.62”  There is no real website at Microsoft with that url so if you get this you have a some kind of trojan or virus on your system.   By using the domain name of Microsoft.com the chance that people will believe this is actually from Microsoft and buy this fake software is higher than with it having its own domain.

[ad]They seem to have incorporated the [intlink id=”3872″ type=”post”]Site Adviser Scareware tactics[/intlink] these tactics seem to be a new way for them to look Official almost like they are the read deal and should there for be taken for the REAL Thing.   You should [intlink id=”3884″ type=”post”]Download SUPERAntiSpyware[/intlink] and See if you can find the problem.   If that doesn’t work you can always remove this threat manually.

This has the same ideas as the “ITsecure.Microsoft.com” Malware, they both look like they are from Microsoft and have modified the host file but are really Scareware trying to trick you into buying there fake antivirus and you would be loosing money.   I would recommend you checkout my [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Malware resources[/intlink] and find out what I recommend to prevent this from the future.

Why you can’t run Antivirus or Taskmanager!

Photo by : Kristi Evans Photo by : Kristi Evans

As you know there has been more and more virus writers and scammers who don’t want you to interfere with the ultimate plan.   You see the two major plans these people have are:

  1. [intlink id=”2811″ type=”post”]To use your computer as a Botnet[/intlink] —  This is most common because the Command and Control server is where they tell these other computers what to do weather send spam or do a denial of Service attack on a website.  Although this is the most common it isn’t however the easiest to get rid of rid.   Far be it from being easy these virus writers want to keep a foot hold on your system.   This is like the SG-1 the “Foothold” Situation, they try to look like there is nothing wrong.
  2. [intlink id=”3805″ type=”post”]Fake Antivirus software[/intlink] — This is the other common reason why you can’t load up Taskmanager or SUPERantispyware/Malwarebytes.   It could even prevent AVG,  Norton Antivirus, and Other Antivirus software from being loaded at boot up.  Because most Antivirus software can detect this type of scareware.   The scammers want to make as much money as they can so they don’t want the End user to be able to stop the program from scaring you into buying the fake product.  It could also have a [intlink id=”3872″ type=”post”]Scareware Adviser[/intlink] trying to get you to buy the fake product!

As you can see these are what I call the Prime “2” reasons why you can’t run your Antivirus software, although there is a way around this.   I have found loading up in Safe Mode to be the easiest way to run antivirus scans on an infected system.   Although this can be difficult to do it, however it helps prevent these programs from loading up in more ways then one.  If you can go download the Antivirus programs from another computer and have them to install once you load up in safe mode.   You should also think about installing other software like a [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Firewall even the Free firewalls[/intlink] are the better than Microsoft’s Firewall.

[ad]The other options for those tech savy people who know what a hard drive is and how to remove it, is to mount it onto another system as a slave and then run your antivirus software on the hard drive in question.   This however shouldn’t be done unless two conditions are met:

  1. You Know what you doing —  Again if you don’t know what your doing please don’t try this.  It could hurt your system far more than you can know.   If you don’t know how to do this you should take it to a professional and let them do the work for you.
  2. Out of Warranty — Yep that is right if this has a 2 year or longer warranty and you open up the hardware you automatically void the warranty on anything to do with your system.  So it is best to have someone who is qualified warranty specialist to open it up.  This way you still have your warranty on the system and if something does go wrong in the shop, they can fix it easier than a novice.

If you know what your doing this can be an easy process or it can be a hard process it only depends on how knowledgeable you are and how far you are willing to go.   Although there are [intlink id=”2955″ type=”post”]some viruses that require you to just start over[/intlink].  This is because they have embedded so deeplyinto the system that removing them will ruin your Windows system and prevent it from booting in the first place.  This is the last option, if you have a system who has been overrun with virus and spyware it might be time to reinstall the Operating system.  This is what I call the end all way to get rid of the Virus, Trojan, Or spyware on your system.   If you do this you will need to make sure to install all the Microsoft updates before you do anything else.  Also you will need to [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]re-install any Firewalls and Antivirus[/intlink] software to better protect your system from having the virus in the first place.

Scareware Adviser from securitybrowseradviser.com

It looks like I have been added to this website but it is a fake URL Hijacker that wants to sponsor [intlink id=”3607″ type=”post”]Personal Antivirus Just Scareware[/intlink]. Yep you guessed it they are blocking this url from trying to be displayed some of the people are still ignoring the warning and coming to my site  anyways.
securitybrowseradviser1

So the first question is how do I know this is a fake site warning. Well I did my research I went to Phishtank.com and check to see if my URL was being blocked. I also clicked the link to see what this link went “Activate my Web protection software”. It sent me to this site:

personalantivirus2

[ad]As you can see this site “ieprotectionlist.com” calls itself the [intlink id=”3607″ type=”post”]Personal Antivirus[/intlink] and look it even says “Malicious behavior detected”. I start looking for anything about this software no links to contact them or no links to learn more about this product. This is how I know this is a scareware site. If you seem to be getting these warnings it is time to go download[intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”] real antivirus software[/intlink].

[ad]As you can see the Securitybrowseradviser.com is a scareware sponsor for the [intlink id=”3607″ type=”post”]fake Personal Antivirus software[/intlink] that it is linking to. So if you getting this it is time to remove it.

I would Recommend SUPERAntivirus Pro although the Free version is good to remove this scareware or spyware. I have found it does find all the programs and where they are located. If you feel like you want to do it yourself be warned that is a cumbersome process and might hurt your system more than letting a program do it for you.

I will be doing a review of SUPERAntivirus Pro in the next few weeks, I do think it does the job plus more. When I do a scan with this product it actually finds more than expected.

Using Malwarebytes to get Rid of Malware

Malwarebytes

I have been using Malwarebytes for quite some time.  I have the Installer for Malwarebytes in place on a  USB drive so i can use anywhere I go. I have seen several computers with very old Viruses and this actually detected them.

[ad]How Malwarebytes useful

  • Malwarebytes has a really good protection module to help prevent infections in the first place, but that requires you to buy it.  It should never be used without at least a [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]firewall installed[/intlink] but it is a good defense against what I like to call a Drive by install.
  • Automatically create logs of Malware that is found — This is good to for people who want to be able to check out what might be infected.   Also good to help identify the virus or Trojan, and find out how to uninfected it.
  • Cheaper than buying AVG — Cost $24.95 which is half of the cost of buying AVG.

As you can see buying Malwarebytes can be cheaper than buying AVG or Norton and protects your almost as if you have a brand name.   I think if a customer can’t afford $50 this would be the next best thing to suggest being that it will at least protect the system.   You can always install a [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Free Anti-virus[/intlink] along with Malwarebytes to better protect your system.   This is one way to not have to buy expensive antivirus and yet still protect your systems from Malware.

No matter if you Buy Malwarebytes or use the Free version you are better off then not having it.  With the Free Version you can’t unlocks real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating.  These can be done manually without the having any Real time Protect.   You can scan manually and Schedule manually without buying the full version.  This is still a good buy, I recommend this to all my customers.

Hulu Days Of Summer are here again

huludaysofsummer09

So we have it here right now, and it starts out really good.   You can watch Stargate SG1 Season 1 through 4 the whole summer.  The last of the Mohicans was the frst movie they brought out for this event.  I rember last years one where we had to guess the coming week.  Some of the ones that I did last year were:

Now I don’t know all that will come this summer but I would of liked to have clues like we did last year. That would of been really fun.  Oh well, I will keep watch on this and see what comes from this.   I also have been using the Hulu Desktop more and more, it seems to work well with [intlink id=”3059″ type=”post”]A600 Cricket modem[/intlink] really well.  For those who have it, I would suggest using the lowest quality of playback for using it.  It really isn’t bad quality for watching shows and such on.   You really don’t have to worry to much about buffering.  Although you should check your settings on the [intlink id=”1009″ type=”post”]player and change them[/intlink].

On a side note this week and next I will be really busy so I don’t know if I will update as much as I have in the past.  This is summer afterall so it might be off and on this summer until everything goes back to normal in the fall.  I will update the blog when I can this summer, so don’t you fret to much!!