Comments

A reader commented on my 2/17 post re. MSE. Since yesterday I have had several more questions on MSE, so I thought I'd post the questions that were asked and my answers. Here are the questions followed by my answers:

Tom, I started installing MSE and stopped with these questions: 1) Should I really uninstall AVG before I install MSE? I can't find anyway to turn it off temporarily. 2) MSE says to remove antispyware programs, yet you still recommend Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware & SuperAntiSpyware. Is it OK to keep these programs and install MSE? 3) Will MSE change my current settings for Automatic Updates? I use "Notify me, don't automatically.....". 4) Will MSE program versions be automatically installed by Microsoft Updates? Thanks Joan.

 

Tom McGonegal said...

Answers: 1) Yes, uninstall AVG before installing MSE. 2) MSE is talking about realtime anitspyware monitoring programs, like Windows Defender. I doubt you have any other than WD.You don't have to remove WD. MSE will take care of disabling it for you without uninstalling it. Keep your "batch" antispyware programs. Neither is a realtime monitor. They detect and remove after the fact. 3)MSE will not change your Automatic Updates settings. 4) MSE updates, which are quite frequent, will be downloaded by MSE automatically and not Automatic Updates. After installing MSE meander through its settings. See the tabs in the image above? Check them out and select settings for your system.

MVPS HOSTS File Installation Process

There are 5 sequential blog posts that address the MVPS HOSTS file installation process, beginning with the first on January 27, 2009.

Click here to see the first and afterwards look at the other 4.

Please take heed and secure your system now!

 

I never have problems with viruses or malware or rogue programs. I use all FREE programs to secure all of my systems. These are the programs I use, and for faithful followers, please note that I am making some changes. 

1. Microsoft Security Essentials
2. Windows Firewall
3. MVPS HOSTS File
4. CCleaner
5. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
6. SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition
7. Spybot Search & Destroy

MSE replaces AVG Free Anti-virus. MSE replaces Windows Defender.
The MVPS HOSTS file is not a nicety. It is a MUST, and must be kept up to date - by you checking every couple of weeks or monthly for an updated HOSTS file. CCleaner should be run weekly, alternate running Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware weekly, run Spybot once a month, or when you see items found in either of the two above programs.

Boothbay Region For Rent By Owne (BRFRBO)

As many of you know, BRFRBO is a little project of mine. It started several years ago when a friend, who wanted to rent their summer cottage at Ocean Point, in East Boothbay, Maine, asked me if I could create a web site for them, which I did, and this soon grew over the years to the point where I think we have 20 or so homes, cottages, condos, and apartments listed for rent. Most of these are summertime rentals, but a few properties are year-round. If you have never been to the Boothbay Region of Maine, you owe yourself a look. We looked in 1969, I think it  was, back when we had 2 little boys, rented for a week in the summer, kept coming back, and the rest is history. Our 4 sons have lifelong friends at Ocean Point, and although our little cottage is too small to hold all of us anymore, they keep coming back, and we love having them.

It started as a summer vacation spot, and although we only go there in the summer, it is our real home, the place we all 6 of us have roots.I invite you to look over our listings, come for a week, and come back for a lifetime. You will not be disappointed.

BOOTHBAY REGION FOR RENT BY OWNER

MSE

I have several posts on this blog about Microsoft Security Essentials. (MSE). I use it on my Windows 7 laptop. (You can use the Search option on the right side of this blog's home page to view the other MSE posts.)

This machine is now my "home" computer, the one I use most, the one where I have all of my data (pictures, videos, music, documents, spreadsheets, etc.), and the one that has the latest bookmarks.

I have had MSE installed on this machine from the get go, as I recall. It's been a while, and I am very happy with the product. As a review, this replaced my AVG Free Anti-virus and Microsoft's Windows Defender. It is a very low overhead product, it would seem. I hardly even know it's installed. I have a full scan scheduled for 2 AM each day, so if the machine is powered on (it usually is) that scan is done. MSE is free, is totally a non-intrusive product. There are no marketing messages or pop-ups as there are with AVG Free. I have never noticed a slowdown on my machine due to MSE.

It is very easy to download and install, and it now has earned my blessing as a fine replacement for AVG Free and Windows Defender. I don't take recommending such a product lightly as you know, and feel I have tested it long enough to recommend it.

If  you are interested in trying it, you can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Oh, by the way, Windows 7 is an excellent product, and nothing to be afraid of.

Spam mail and rogue programs

I found this e-mail in the junk folder of one of my e-mail addresses. I include it unaltered except that I have removed the link where it says "get report". The link was for a site registered in South Korea. Most of these spam e-mails come from outside the US.

Many people follow these links, and this is just one of many, many examples of how you might get infected by one of the rogue programs I write about so often. I do this so often because I continue to get phone calls, nearly every week, from yet another customer who has been infected.

PLEASE, be careful out there!

It is unbelievable to me that anyone would follow such a link coming as it does within such a piece of trash.

• Note the e-mail comes from "Tax Comissar". WHAT????
• Look at the Message ID# at the bottom of the note!

Just amazing that anyone would fall for this, isn't it? By the way, our tax folks at the IRS will NEVER send you an e-mail like this:

-------Original Message-------
From: Tax Commissar
To: brfrbo@brfrbo.com
Subject: You are in a higher tax bracket
Sent: 13 Feb '10 01:21

Dear taxpayer,

The Federal income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that the more you earn, the higher your tax rate. Your tax rate depends not just upon your taxable income, but also upon your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.).

You're in a higher tax bracket because:
- your annual income for the last tax year has increased.

Please review your annual tax report immediately at:
get report


Message ID#QB9FO8SA3WENMRU6MMTBKG1H21CYLX3KEDW7QT0WY0R
ZJTFGWB8N38EDQ7Z52Z84ZELOCIJ

Rogue antivirus program comes with tech support

I include the entire article from computerworld.com because I think it is very important to my customer base. I have seen so many of you, with incomplete or outdated security suites, fall for such rogue programs. Most of these rogue programs have been rather difficult to eliminate from your systems. Please refer to my earlier posts on securing your systems and be very careful. Read this entire article as a refresher for those of you who have seen and been infected by a rogue, or for those of you who haven't been infected yet, a word to the wise.

 Rogue antivirus program comes with tech support 

 

"February 12, 2010 (IDG News Service) In an effort to boost sales, sellers of a fake antivirus product known as Live PC Care are offering their victims live technical support.


According to researchers at Symantec, once users have installed the program, they see a screen, falsely informing them that their PC is infected with several types of malware. That's typical of this type of program. What's unusual, however, is the fact that the free trial version of Live PC Care includes a big yellow "online support" button.


Clicking on the button connects the victim with an agent, who will answer questions about the product via instant message.


Symantec says the agent is no automated script, but in fact a live person. This lends an "air of legitimacy" to the program, said Marc Fossi, a manager of development with Symantec Security Response. "Obviously if they've got live tech support, it must be real," he joked.


The tech support doesn't help much, though. According to Symantec, the support staff simply try to convince victims to shell out between US$30 and $100 for the product.


This isn't the first time a fake security product has been spotted offering tech support. Another company called Innovative Marketing operated a call center to support its security products, including a program called WinFixer. According to security experts, Innovative Marketing's tech support technicians acted in the same way as Live PC Care's, trying to reassure victims that they were buying a legitimate product.


These so-called rogue antivirus products can sometimes lower security settings on a victim's computer. At best, they offer a false sense of security because the products never protect computers from the latest security threats.


Rogue antivirus has been a major headache for users over the past year. It is often installed via annoying pop-up ads that try to convince the victim that something is wrong with their PC. Symantec tracked 43 million rogue AV installation attempts between July 2008 and July 2009."

An ounce of prevention

What I do each month, as noted in prior posts, is download Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), and run a Full Scan. This may be redundant since Microsoft may already be doing this in the background after one downloads the latest updates, but until I know for sure I continue with this monthly run. As noted earlier, this takes a couple of hours or more, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and let it run.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx 

Happy Saint Valentine's Day all.

More Big Brother: Feds push for tracking cell phones

It's been a good week for Big Brother. We all should be aware of what is going on in Washington and its impact on our own privacy. There are big pluses for doing what the Feds want to do, as in the story in the article from cnet.com. There are also, of course, big negatives, as in invasion of our privacy.

Here is how the article starts out:

"Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.
FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually convicted the duo of multiple bank robbery and weapons charges.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls"

Read the entire article here

MVPS HOSTS file Update Available

If you have followed my advice and installed the MVPS HOSTS file on your system, you need to know that updates become available on a fairly regular basis, and that you have to go out and get the updated file and install it yourself. Once you understand the process, it shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes.

The important thing is that the updates will help you block the latest bad guys. I urge you to bookmark the HOSTS news web site, http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/default.aspx and to visit it once a week or so, looking out for the latest update. As we have seen and discussed herein, some of the bad guys just rename their programs, for example "2009 bad guy" is probably being renamed "2010 bad guy", and the updated HOSTS file will catch this.

There is an update available today. Go get it!

"PDF My URL"

This is a nice little web site. They perform a very unusual service. It's fast and it's free. I am not sure where you might want to use this, but I think it's a handy site to bookmark and have available for possible future use.

I recommend you go to the site, http://pdfmyurl.com/ and try it. Simply key in a url and click on the icon at the end of the line and presto, you'll get a pdf image of the web site.

FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited

Big Brother 2010! This article can be found in full at the link below.

"The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in investigations of child pornography and other serious crimes.

FBI Director Robert Mueller supports storing Internet users' "origin and destination information," a bureau attorney said at a federal task force meeting on Thursday.

As far back as a 2006 speech, Mueller had called for data retention on the part of Internet providers, and emphasized the point two years later when explicitly asking Congress to enact a law making it mandatory. But it had not been clear before that the FBI was asking companies to begin to keep logs of what Web sites are visited, which few if any currently do."

More.............

Office Software Alternatives

I am writing in response to a reader's request to discuss this topic. Specifically, the discussion revolves around Microsoft (MS) Office 2003, MS Office 2007, and Open Office (http://about.openoffice.org/). In this case, the writer has MS Office 2003. Most people, I find, have the Student and Home Edition of MS Office 2003. This is/was a fee product ans most users got it to have MS Word and MS Excel.

If I had MS Office 2003 and Windows XP in place, and I had no plans to go out and get a new computer, I would stick with 2003 and XP. Remember, Windows XP will be supported through 2014, and Office 2003 should work just as well until that time. There is no reason you need to upgrade or change. Chances are good that Word & Excel are working well now, are compatible with the new version of MS Office 2007, and there is a free program from Microsoft that will let you read MS Word 2007 documents (Exchanging files between previous releases of Microsoft Office and the 2007 Microsoft Office release).

If I did not have Office 2003 but needed an office package, I would recommend Open Office and, if necessary, the above referenced compatibility pack.

Your input

I am glad that so many of you are visiting this blog as often as you do. I believe I can make this a more valuable resource for you if I could get some input from you all. Please consider letting me know of any questions or issues that are important to you, and I would hope others, that you would like to see me address on this blog. Just below the Blog Archives on the right side of this screen there is a CONTACT THE PC DOC link. Or, please write me directly at pcdoc at brpcdoc dot com. In either case, please use the subject "Suggestion for blog". Thanks.

Writing a daily (weekdays) blog can be tough. I sometimes think I am being redundant since I have been at this for so long and my memory ain't what it used to be! :-)

Of course, you can always write a comment to any blog post just by clicking on COMMENTS below each post.

Moving your Outlook data files

Are you a Microsoft Outlook user? If you are, do you back up your mail folders regularly, so that if your hard drive failed or became corrupted you would still be able to recreate your e-mail environment without losing much?

For several years I did not even know how or where Outlook stored my mail files and address book, or contacts as Outlook likes to call them. Once I had figured all of this out, I got to thinking and realized tht even though I was backing up My Documents to an external hard drive, I had not taken any steps to ever back up my e-mail. I asked around, on online forums and such, and found out that the nearly hidden, very hard to find, location of my e-mail could be changed. Changed, in fact, to a location such as a folder of any name I chose within the My Documents folder if that is what I wanted. It turns out that this is exactly what I wanted to do. With all of my e-mail stored within My Documents in a separate e-mail folder (I call it My Outlook Mail Folders), it would then be backed up on a regular basis whenever I backed up My Documents and all of its contents. This is such an easy thing to do that I recommend it for all Outlook users.

You can read about it here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011124801033.aspx

Hands on with the Apple iPad

 

The Apple iPad was finally announced this week and the industry is all abuzz about it. I am providing a link below to a high level review of the iPad from a guy who got is hands on one on announcement day. I am sure we will get far more detailed reviews of it in time as we learn more about it, but I can't just ignore it at this point. There had been so much press in anticipation of the announcement.

Hands on with the Apple iPad  

Reliability & Service: Technology's Most Reliable Brands

From this article at pcworld

Reliability and Service rankings for Desktops, Laptops, and Printers. Click on any image below to see a larger version. Also included in the article, but not here: Cameras and HDTVs.

  

 

Rogue Programs

Rogue programs continue their relentless attack on our systems. Read this note (which I edited for the sake of brevity) that I received yesterday from a customer, and then read my comments below it:

Hi Tom:

A new attack on PC's has arrived.

Late in the day I received a notice that an update was available from Windows and that my machine had many high risk viruses. I was then prompted to scan which supposedly revealed the files that were infected. Again, this appeared to be a Windows program and offering. When I queried about removal, a message said that for $49.95 I could receive the software upgrade. Been there, done that, not twice fooled.

The name of the software is Internet Security 2010.

AVG obviously missed this, but perhaps the fee-based version would not have. I proceeded to use CCleaner and then Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. The latter picked up a lot of problems.

I also ran SuperAntiSpyware and picked up an additional virus (Trojan.Agenct/Gen-InternetSecurity[Fake]. Process).

All of my previously reported issues have been corrected and the machine is working close to optimal.

I hope this helps others.

I am very grateful that this customer sent me this note. You should note, and can probably tell, that this man is a very technically competent PC user, and managed  (1) to avoid falling for the scheme and did not pay any money, and (2) recognized it for what it is - a scam - and immediately took corrective actions to rid his system of the rogue.

Security is an ongoing process. In my case I choose to use free programs to protect my systems. These are all well documented in this blog. Start out with my blog post of December 21, 2009, which can be found here: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/securing-your-pc-revisited.htmlhttp://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/securing-your-pc-revisited.html

One of the most valuable tools I recommend is the MVPS HOSTS file. In January 2009 I wrote a series of 5 (I think it was) posts on the HOSTS file. The first can be found here: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/hosts-file-post-1.html

If you do not make use of the HOSTS file, you should. Even if you do, remember that you are responsible for updating it. Frequent updates are available for this. Check out this site for the latest news on the HOSTS file: http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/ and visit it once a month or so and then download and install the latest update. Don't forget to disable the DNS Client service as instructed.

As you can see from the customer's note above, there are constantly new bad guys coming after us, so it is important to keep up to date, and it is YOUR responsibility to do so if you want to run a clean system free of problems.

Interesting list presented at Yahoo Finance. 

10 Things Not to Buy in 2010

Kim Komando Tip: Dump Internet Explorer for Firefox

The following comes from the Kim Komando web site. I like to check out Kim's site every day, and find the Tip of the Day to be the part I like best. The following was Kim's Tip of the Day on 1/23. Those of you who follow my blog know that I am a Firefox user, and have been for a long time. Firefox is free and virtually fully-compatible with Internet Explorer. My favorite download site these days is FileHippo.com, and you can download Firefox there.

"Internet Explorer is the default Windows browser. It’s also the most popular browser in the world. In fact, you may be using it right now.

But it’s plagued with security problems. And as recent news from China makes clear, they’re dangerous.
The Chinese found a flaw in Internet Explorer. They used it to wriggle into Google’s system and grab dissidents’ e-mail.

Microsoft quickly patched the flaw. But it is only the latest in a long list. Germany, France and Australia have recommended that citizens switch browsers. I second that.

My favorite is Firefox. You can get it right off my site. This switch is easy. You can keep your stuff—bookmarks, history and stored passwords.

When you first launch Firefox, it will automatically run the Import Wizard. Under “Import Options, Bookmarks, History, Passwords and other data from:” select Microsoft Internet Explorer. Click Next.
Decide whether to import your home page. You have two options. The first, labeled “Firefox Start, a fast home page with built-in search,” is the default home page. The second is “Import your home page from Internet Explorer.” Choose one, and click Next>>Finish.

You’re probably most worried about importing your bookmarks. All are transferred. But some may be in different places. Bookmarks stored in the Favorites Bar will not be moved to Firefox’s Bookmarks Toolbar. You’ll find them under Bookmarks>>Links.

The Import Wizard might not appear automatically. No problemo. Launch it manually. Click File>>Import.
The first window is the same as above. Under “Import Options, Bookmarks, History, Passwords and other data from:” select Microsoft Internet Explorer. Then, click Next.

You’ll get a list of items that can be imported from IE—Internet Options, Cookies, Browsing History and Favorites. Check the box next to each one you want. Click Next>>Finish."