PolyMorphic Win32:Vitro Most Viraulent Virus

This seems to be an virus that is getting some people hit hard.   I wanted to blog about this because of the nature of Virus and Trojans.   I have read reports that this might be from Online Movies, and I have to say this is one reason why you must stay away from certain online movies.  I am going to take a guess that this virus requires a special CODEC, and you downloaded it and installed it.  It Could also be the update the Adobe Flash player idea to but still results in getting the Virus.

As I said before you take a risk when you go to sites you don’t trust or know anything about.   You also should know that if you need a “SPECIAL” codec, you should just go on to another site.  These sites that claim they need this special codec means only one thing they want to install something without your Knowledge.

So what is this Virus:

The Virut family of viruses uses polymorphism to hide from all anti-virus protection, it infects executable files. File infection makes it very hard to repair a system that has been infected. W32/Vitro injects code in running processes and hooks the following functions in ntdll.dll which transfers control to the virus every time any of these function calls are made.

First Impression of Windows 7 Beta!!

As of getting this beta from Windows Download server, and yet having to activate it. I’d thought I share some of my impressions of this Operating System. Although I must make sure you all know this isn’t the final version of Windows 7, and it will undoubtedly go through some major changes before it is over.

As you can see I’ve installed this onto an Intel System 2 core system 1.6ghz and 2 gigs of ram.  I must say that this was a really smooth transition from Vista to Windows 7.   I don’t think it has ever been this good with Vista.   Something that I noticed right off is that now I can have User Account Control Customized.   Yes you’ve heard it right some things you can do with Windows 7 is turn it all the way off(Do not Notify Me) to Always on (Always Notify Me).

With this one I can now not have it Dim all the time when It wants to warn me.  This is the best part of this UAC no longer will I get annoyed every time it warns me.   I’m liking the feature more and more.

Disaster preparation 101 — Data backup

In this one I will talk about Disaster, it happens to all of us from time to time. A fire, a earthquake, a stolen laptop or any number of ways. So what happens to your data, is it stored on the laptop? Is it important very sensitive data? Could you get fired if you lost that data?

These are all questions you must ask yourself when you have laptop. How do you backup your data or even do you have a backup? Having seen this with my own clients, I must wonder if there are people out there who just don’t care. I had a client the other day who gotten a virus and this was a really mean virus. Deleted some very important files when you tried to clean the virus out. She called me in a panic because she couldn’t load up windows? I asked if she had any backups, she said “what’s a backup” . So I sat there discussing this with the client for over 20 minutes. Finally she started to understand, she said she had the OEM Backup DVD but nothing else. She also said she needed help with getting data off the computer. I told her that I would be able to come the next day and I was lucky the virus didn’t do anything else to her data. We were able to retrieve the data from her system. That is where I start my rant , Why would anyone not have backup of there most important data?

What is a Virus and Why do I have one

After seeing more and more the updates coming from the net.  I wanted to talk about what a Computer Virus or Trojan is and how you get it.   So how did  you could of gotten a Virus in the first place.   So here are some information to consider:

The vulnerability of operating systems to viruses

So what does that mean to you?  Most of the times when you get a virus you have a vulnerability in some place in your Operating system and it is either something that has not be known by Microsoft, Apple, and Linux or is know as a Zero-day Exploit.

A zero-day (or zero-hour) attack or threat is a computer threat that tries to exploit unknown, undisclosed or patchfree computer application vulnerabilities. The term Zero Day is also used to describe unknown or Zero day viruses.

[Via Wikipedia]

This is one of the most used because if it is an unknown exploit by the Operating System creators then they have a longer to us the exploit.  Most of the time hackers like to use this because that means there is a possibility of finding even more vectors to infect other systems.  You see if they can get on one system they can then find ways to get on other systems.

WordPress 2.7 is available.

Having installed the latest update, I must say this new dashboard is quite good.  I love the new dashboard.  So lets take a quick look at what you can do:

Click Image to View it in full screen!!

After I installed it, this is what it was like.   I then decided to change it around to show you what it looks like now.  You have the option of changing the right row and also the windows to where you want.  Like this:

Click Image to view it full screen.

As you can see you can change so much stuff on the dashboard it is like having your own very wordpress operating system on your system.   You can customize what you want where you want.   I like this new look.   I’d thought I show you the Wordpress 2.7 Dashboard and show just how nice this looks.   I want to hear everyone  thoughts on this new dashboard do you like it or hate it?

Apple’s Immunity, Botnet sanctuary.

But is Apple projecting a false sense of security just to save face? Many experts repeatedly warn that all operating systems are susceptible to viruses, and as the Mac becomes more popular OS X will inevitably become a bigger target for malicious attacks.

[via Pcworld]

Having said that I feel the notion that Apple is trying to keep there reputation as a virus free system. I can only hope that they stay that way. Which as much as I know, Apple will most like start to be the main source for botnets, because of the lack of security.

According to reports on this blog, people are worried Apple stance on it being the safest and having so much immunity to viruses. Apple in the past has stated they have mislead people with there firewall. Yet Apple takes down that suggestion of having an Anti-virus(Quietly).

Everything I’ve seen suggest that virus writers and Malware writers will MOST likely start targeting the Mac OS X, they know Apple sense of security is Vulnerable to attack and they will exploit it more and more. So what does that mean for Apple, it just means that soon every hacker who has a botnet will want a piece of the Apple Pie and is right now.

How to disable autorun the easy way!!!

I read a report from Cnet about USB devices spreading Virus and I will quote:

The bad guys are intentionally developing new flavors of malware designed to propagate through USB devices,” said Gunter Ollmann, chief security strategist for IBM’s ISS security division. “They are today’s floppy drives.”

An infected computer can spread a virus to a clean USB thumb drive that is inserted. That USB drive will then be spreading the virus onto other computers if the operating system on those machines has an AutoRun-type feature enabled. The AutoRun function in Windows launches installers and other programs automatically when a flash drive or CD is inserted. The Mac has an equivalent function, according to Ollmann.

[Via Cnet]

In order to disable “autorun“, which in Vista is called Autoplay. In order to disable Autoplay from starting when you insert media into your computer here is how you do it:

You will need to be Logged in as Administrator before this can be done:

Next click start and type “Autoplay” without quotes. It will bring up a screen but all you have to worry about is this:

Fake Wordpress update 2.6.4 steals data!

The hacked version of the file pluggable appears to be stealing the content of cookies on larger installations of WordPress. Sophos are now detecting this file as Troj/WPHack-A.

[Via Sopho's]

Apparently this little update is a rogue update.  According to Sopho’s and Craig Murphy’s blog, it is said to steal your data and send it to another site.  This hacked version of Wordpress is coming from wordpresz.org so if you happen to stumble onto this fake update, just delete it and go on with your blogging.   Craig talked about how when he logged it this fake update popped up.  So sometimes it is safer to do some digging before you apply an update especially to your Operating system.  Thanks to Sopho’s for telling people about this fake and dangerous problem.

Windows update is getting a revision!

According to Computer World, dated Oct 31, 2008 and I’ll quote:

“Over the next couple of months, we’ll be rolling out another infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client code),” said an unidentified Microsoft employee on the Windows Update team’s official blog. “This update makes it possible for users to install more than 80 updates at the same time.”

[via Computer World]

Now if your like me and have several computers who need to be updated at a given schedule, you sometimes worry about these updates that come along that might just break your system. I have been using a program call Offline Updater, which does what Autopatcher does really nicely. So why is Microsoft sending out this patch? Two reasons, one they want you to be able to update your operating System without hurting your system integrity.

Now lets talk about the integrity of having to reboot your system. You see, every time you reboot the system, it causes the system hardware some strain.  It is something like having starting up a car, sooner or later you will have the starter go out, because of to much start up.

Time to Change your clocks.

Time to change those clocks of ours

Having been looking at one of my old clocks that would automatically change for Daylight Savings Time, I’ve had to keep reminding myself that it is an hour off. Starting tonight at 2 PM, it will be right. So I thought I would help people keep there computer clocks up to date by suggesting some good programs to us to keep your system having the right time.  So people know what dates are being affected according to the Greenwichmeantime they say  this:

Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and the schedule for the states of the United States that adopt daylight saving time will be:

2 a.m. on the Second Sunday in March
to
2 a.m. on the First Sunday of November.

So that saying goes it “Fall back, Spring Forward“  So now here are some great programs to better help you get your computer clock up to snuff:

Worldtimeclock Atomic Clock Sync Program – It is a free program for you to use with your Windows.  Although you have to make sure your selected the right timezone once it is installed all you will need in an internet connection to sync your windows time with the atomic clock.

Some bloggers are Hyping Windows 7 operating System.

After looking around the blogosphere, I’ve come to the realization that people are starting to get hyped up over Windows 7.   In one blog post from it.toolbox.com:

Windows 7 is due to hit beta and release in 2009, and odds are likely that if the pundits, all of us on the blogosphere and other places like PC World, Cnet, and others all agree that this works the way a computer was supposed to work will help drive sales. What is also interesting is that Microsoft is really pushing to get this puppy out. Along with the bloat are gone the five years of development.

[Via It.Toolbox.com]

I totally agree with what he is saying on the possibility to have an operating system actually do what it is told. Some things people have been looking for in there Searches in regards to Windows Vista are:

• Vista Shutdown Problems
• User Account Control
• Vista SuperFetch
• Vista and Battery Life
• What Microsoft Doesn’t want you to know!!

Taking back Program Controls : For the Beginners!

So, let’s face it, this is one of the most annoying problems there are with programs.   Programs that you think are shut down but are actually still active in the Taskmanager.  So I figured I’d talk about some of the most common fixes for these problems.    Now as you know there can be any number of programs or glitches as they say, causing the problems.  So let’s talk about the why, shall we.

Most of the time programs don’t quit because they are waiting for some kind of response from the system or the System is waiting for the program to close by itself.  It could also be a problem with a Virus or Root kit?  How do you fix it?

Fixing the problem is somewhat just trial and Error.  It isn’t always the hardest thing to do but sometimes people overlook the easiest solutions.   So here are some easy ones:

• Check to see if one of the Microsoft updates are causing the problem –  Sometimes you might not realize it, but having installed an update can cause problems like KB951748.  That one caused a major Headache for Zonealarm.  So it is wise to check each months updates when you start seeing problems, sometimes it could of been happening for a while but it can sometimes cause troubles.