Friday, April 17, 2009

Microsoft Tech support likes Malwarebytes’ antispyware

I saw this article on Windows Secrets. I am quite happy with this because as those of you who are regular readers know, I am a big fan of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. It really is a wonderful product that does a great job of getting rid of the really bad guys, commonly known as rogue programs, as well as the less dangerous junk.

Don't be fooled into thinking, however, that one program like this is all you need. At the same level as this one product is SuperAntispyware. My experience has shown me that both are needed when fighting the rogue programs that have infected so many of your computers.

Please be sure to review my blog post of March 9 (below) titled Securing Your PC.

By the way, I see no need to buy the fee version of Anti-Malware.

Tech support likes Malwarebytes' antispyware


Recommendations continue to pour in from readers in response to Ryan Russell's March 26 Top Story on programs that should be considered for the WS Security Baseline. A letter from an anonymous Microsoft tech-support staffer caught our attention:


  • "I read your newsletter and was disappointed by the offered antispyware listed. Spybot Search & Destroy was good back in the day, and so was Ad-Aware, but they aren't what they used to be. They're no longer effective, as the infection definition isn't being worked on as passionately as they had been.

    "I work for Microsoft technical support, and 90% of the calls are due to spyware infections, so we ask customers to download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. They have a totally free version. It's the one we use for clients. It's so effective, I feel confident the PC you're using to read this has infections. Are you surprised? Even if it's just minor adware, it's an infection still.

    "If it weren't for Malwarebytes.org, I'd be spending more time per call and asking customers to reload Windows more often, because finding one infection could take forever. ... The application is painless to install, isn't too bulky, and requires no reboot after install. The application is a winner all around.

    "The Internet is full of scams. It's shocking to see it day in and day out."


Ryan's story never discussed Ad-Aware and mentioned Spybot Search & Destroy only because readers nominated it as one of the few options that will run on creaky old Windows 95 systems. But it's good to be reminded that some programs that were once highly rated are no longer up to par.

The free version of Anti-Malware, the program the MS staffer recommends, allows you to perform manual scans for spyware on your system. For U.S. $24.95, you can unlock the program's real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating. For more info, see Malwarebytes' download page.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Future of Windows XP

Most all of you readers run Windows XP on your machines. There are two related articles on the ComputerWorld web site on XP that should be of interest to us all.

While the title of the first article may sound scary, fear not. As I have always indicated on this blog, if my hardware doesn't fail, I will most likely be using XP until 2014. The second article explains how we can continue to use it even past that year and into 2016.

The only thing that will change my mind is a really good new operating system from Microsoft. Vista is not that, and from what I have seen so far, Windows 7 is not going to be the one to change my mind either.

Microsoft moving XP into reduced-support phase on Tuesday


How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years


IT pros prefer old XP over new Windows 7, survey says

Monday, April 13, 2009

Virus Infects Vt. State Computers




Hard for me to believe. This is from WCAX.com. Why haven't they been reading my blog?!

Montpelier, Vermont - April 13, 2009

An outbreak of a computer virus forced the Vt. Agency of Human Services to shut down its computer systems. State computer experts are working on the problem to get departments back online.

They've been working on the problem all weekend and were still at it Monday night.

Because technicians cut the Agency's computers off from the rest of state government, it appears the virus was contained.

"This was a new virus previously not identified," said Rob Hofmann, the secretary of the Vt. Agency of Human Services.

The unnamed computer virus was designed to disrupt operations in large organizations, like corporations or state governments.

The virus was detected on Friday on a handful of computers within the Agency of Human Services. AHS includes a variety of departments handling everything from prisons to public health.

But it does not appear any personal information was lost or accessed. The virus instead confuses and slows computers and shuts down anti-virus software.

"We voluntarily brought down the system to prevent one computer from infecting another computer," Hofmann explained.

The servers were shut down over the weekend while a computer security company developed a cure for the virus.

"We know the servers are clean. The virus eradicated and we're working with the couple of thousand computers to make sure each is brought online," Hofmann said.

2,500 computers-- brought online one by one.

The immediate shutdown appears to have prevented the virus from attacking computers in other parts of state government. Technicians are closely monitoring computer systems to be certain. And Hofmann says other organizations should do so too.

"One area of concern is our nonprofit partners with whom we work no reports of problems but advise them to make sure anti-virus software up to date," Hofmann said.

Hofmann says services under his agency continue-- perhaps a bit more slowly while this is going on. He says instead of using the agency's computer network it's back to pen and paper, faxes and phone calls for now to make sure clients are still served. The agency is hopeful that all 2,500 computers will be back online by Tuesday night.

At first the virus that hit looked a lot like the computer worm Conficker that we've heard about. But computer experts now say it is not. It's a new virus. And again, security companies already have a way to get rid of it.