Spybot & MVPS HOSTS file reminder

The MVPS HOSTS file for January is available now for download.

My usual routine, and today was no exception, is to start SPYBOT, update it, immunize, and run a full scan. I just did that, and was glad to see no problems found - again. FYI, I still run Spybot 1.6.2. I had some bad luck with the early version 2 and have simply stayed away from it and later updates to other version 2 releases. You can still get Spybot 1.6.2 at filehippo.com, a reliable, up-to-date and trustworthy site. I no longer recommend download.com, which I always did. It has gotten too commercial for me. Too many people have downloaded - inadvertently - fee-based products there.

After running Spybot I installed the HOSTS file.

These are just 2 pieces in the pie of my recommended security baseline suite. Revisit the baseline here: PC Doc's Security Baseline Suite. 

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure",  Benjamin Franklin.

Readers: I do not intend to do that, but am posting as an item of interest.

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid potential hacking attacks.

The recommendation came in an advisory issued late Thursday, following up on concerns raised by computer security experts.

Experts believe hackers have found a flaw in Java's coding that creates an opening for criminal activity and other high-tech mischief.

Java is a widely used technical language that allows computer programmers to write a wide variety of Internet applications and other software programs that can run on just about any computer's operating system.

Oracle Corp. bought Java as part of a $7.3 billion acquisition of the software's creator, Sun Microsystems, in 2010.

Oracle, which is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., had no immediate comment late Friday.

US government advises computer users to disable Java software

Outmaneuvered at Their Own Game, Antivirus Makers Struggle to Adapt

From the New York Times 1/1/2013

By NICOLE PERLROTH 

 "The antivirus industry has a dirty little secret: its products are often not very good at stopping viruses.

Consumers and businesses spend billions of dollars a year on antivirus software, but these programs rarely block freshly minted strains, because the malware creators move too fast."

Read the article here:  Outmaneuvered at Their Own Game, Antivirus Makers Struggle to Adapt

 

 

Merry Christmas

My best wishes to you all for a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy 2013.

Even a lower price now!

FYI, I have nothing to gain should you buy this product. I will just say that I use it on my 3 machines and wouldn't be without it. It is a very valuable tuning tool.




You can buy it here if you are interested: https://shop.tune-up.com/26/purl-2013u?coupon=6YF-HUX-EVX&usepricescale=false&language=en&currency=USD&x-source-name=nl_165aa_o_en-us&x-source-referral=nl_o_en-us&tracking=UA-en-US,EN-US400014566,&utm_campaign=tuu2013&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl165aa&utm_content=old-buyer&x-rest=

Friday, December 14, 2012

A very, very sad day for humankind.

RIP innocents, and may your families, somehow, find some strength to get them through to tomorrow.

U.S. banks warned of cyberattack on accounts

Ain't this just grand? What a wonderful state of affairs. Perhaps totally unrelated, very annoying nonetheless, my bank doesn't even allow special characters in account passwords. As I say, perhaps unrelated to the topic at hand, PLEASE do use the most complex password for your important accounts, like your bank and credit card accounts. Use a mixture of lower and upper case letters, numbers, AND special characters, and do it now.

Also, check your own security suite. If you are not well-protected, go ahead and review my recommendations, and whatever else you do, before running any anti-malware tool be sure it is updated to include all known malware. My recommendations can be found here: Security Baseline Revisited
  
So here's the subject story:

"The U.S. financial services industry has issued a warning that a Russian cyber-gangster is preparing to rob American banks and their customers of millions of dollars.

In addition, the computer security firm McAfee has reported that the cyber-criminal, who calls himself “Thief-in-Law,” already has infected the hundreds of computers of unwitting American customers in preparation to steal their bank account data."

You can read the whole story here

December Updates

I just downloaded and installed 12 Microsoft updates. That is not too bad for a once a month update, considering all of the software I have on this Windows 7 machine. I really love my new ZT (from Costco) desktop computer.

While downloading the 12 updates I noticed the 12th one was Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT or MRT as it is known).

So after rebooing I did a START/RUN/MRT OK and chose the full scan, as I do every month. It is running now as I write this. I don't think MRT has ever found a problem on any of my machines, but I still run it every month.

An ounce of prevention, I guess.

Enjoy this Christmas season as best as one can under the circumstances of our national condition.

December MVPS HOSTS file now available

December's MVPS HOSTS file is now available for downloading. Be sure to get yours!

"winhelp2002 has made a new post at Hosts News

MVPS HOSTS File Update December-07-2012



The MVPS HOSTS file was recently updated [December-07-2012]
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

Download: hosts.zip (143 kb)
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.zip

How To: Download and Extract the HOSTS file
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts2.htm

HOSTS File - Frequently Asked Questions
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hostsfaq.htm
Note: the "text" version makes a great resource for determining
 possible unwanted connections ...

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.txt (584 kb)

Get notified when the MVPS HOSTS file is updatedhttp://winhelp2002.mvps.org/updates.htm"

For PC Virus Victims, Pay or Else

Here is yet another new word for us. It's "ransomware". We have been haunted by fake viruses that are, for the most part, harmless, but which have attempted to extort money from us. The ploy with "scareware" that we have become accustomed to is that a fake anti-virus program will run on your machine, tell you that your machine is infected with lots of viruses, and demand a rather small payment to buy an anti-virus program purported to be able to fix your machine. These rogue scareware attacks were mostly rather harmless, and usually could be removed with good anti-malware utility programs. Perhaps some of you reading this hired me to do just that, clean up your machine after you had been attacked by one of these rogue programs.

But now the game has changed. The newer ransomware programs will lock up your machine demanding a rather stiff fine be paid to unlock your machine. However, even if one pays the exorbitant ransom fee, this NY Times article says the thieves rarely will unlock your machine.

It's all rather scary. I have not yet seen one of these attacks "in the wild", and I hope that YOU are not the first one I hear from with a plea for help. Refer to my recommended baseline security suite of programs and be careful out there.

From the NY Times article:

"Kidnappers used to make ransom notes with letters cut out of magazines. Now, notes simply pop up on your computer screen, except the hostage is your PC.

In the past year, hundreds of thousands of people across the world have switched on their computers to find distressing messages alerting them that they no longer have access to their PCs or any of the files on them.

The messages claim to be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, some 20 other law enforcement agencies across the globe or, most recently, Anonymous, a shadowy group of hackers. The computer users are told that the only way to get their machines back is to pay a steep fine.

And, curiously, it’s working. The scheme is making more than $5 million a year, according to computer security experts who are tracking them."

The whole article can be found here

Laptop Buyers Should Pay Some Attention to the Chromebook

From David Pogue of the NYT, this enlightening article is well worth reading. When I first heard of the concept of the Chromebook I was very excited and thought I would like it. That was a few years ago and I guess something, maybe the original model's price, turned me off. Now there are two new models, one at $250 & the other at $199 made, respectively, by Samsung and Acer.

I have lots of experience with Acer, I am typing this now on my Acer laptop. However, after reading David's article, I think I would spend $50 more for the Samsung.

If you are thinking laptop or tablet, take a look at these machines after reading David's article.

Be sure to read it twice before deciding. Note that there is no hard drive, but that's okay (maybe even better) because of the cloud space Google includes in the offering price.

Laptop Buyers Should Pay Some Attention to the Chromebook

Microsoft: 40M Windows 8 licenses 'in line' with early Win 7 sales

This is mind-boggling to me. I realize this number must include all new PCs, but still, do the PC sellers really believe they will sell 40 million PCs over the Christmas season or shortly thereafter? I guess the answer must be "yes, they do".

Well, dear readers, it looks like your old PC Doc will be falling behind. I jumped right on the Windows 7 bandwagon in its infancy, but I will not be one of those who can't wait to get his hands on Windows 8. My brand new ZT desktop PC came with W7 but also with an option to buy Windows 8 for around $15. I am not ready, however, to take a chance on messing up my new machine, and I am 99% certain my sole surviving laptop, running XP, won't be able to run Windows 8. Besides, it's a matter of pride with me to make my Windows XP installation and machine last to at least April 2014, the month when XP support is withdrawn by Microsoft.

The title of this post is of an article on computerworld.com today, but I won't bother to include a link to it. It's self-explanatory. It's also unbelievable to me!

Windows XP countdown clock ticks under 500 days

Windows XP is still going strong on my Acer TravelMate 4220 laptop. It is so reliable and fast, it's just amazing. So here we go into the final countdown to April 2014. The 11-year-old operating system will exit support April 8, 2014, when Microsoft serves users with their final security updates. That does not mean that XP will up and die on or soon after that date, it means just what that last sentence said, there will be no more security updates after that date.

For me, and probably also for many of you, the real issue is whether or not this old laptop will make it to then or after. I recently had to replace my IBM ThinkCenter (or a name something like that - how quickly we forget!) with a wonderful ZT machine (see costco.com if unfamiliar with that name). The new machine has Windows 7 and I admit that the newer operating sytem is doing just fine. Of course it is running on a very fast and well-configured brand new PC. (See 10 reasons why the desktop PC will live forever).

So the subject article appears today on computerworld.com. Let it serve as a reminder to all of us that the end is getting closer!

Windows XP countdown clock ticks under 500 day

MIT Online Classes For Free

From worldstart.com:

"How much do you think a typical four-year education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT for short) would cost you? $228,040 (and that doesn’t even count books or Mt. Dew money!)

But how would you feel if I told you that you can take online courses from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology free of charge?

This amazing program is called MIT OpenCourseWare, and contains courses feature video lessons, power point presentations assignments, reading material and related course work. The project was announced in 2001 and has developed into a catalog of over 2,100 courses, covering nearly all subjects taught at the prestigious school. These are not brief overviews or simple summaries, but the actual course material and information taught to MIT students."

Read more here

PC Matic by PC Pitstop

Have you seen the PC Matic ads on TV? Bottom line is they suggest they will tune and clean your machine, even removing viruses. They pitch a FREE DOWNLOAD of PC Matic. They never mention a charge of any kind, leading, I would guess, many people to think that they could get a free tuning and cleanup with this free tool.

Well, the download of their program is free, but then who would ever charge one for a download? The charge comes after the free download for any program, but the catch is the program won't work until/unless you pay up front.

And so it is with PC Matic. To me it's a scam. Fortunately, at least in my experience, it is a clean scam in the sense that yes, you have to pay to get it to fix any of the many problems it finds, but once you realize that you have to pay you can quit the program and uninstall it through the control panel and by deleting one folder under Program Files.

I was curious enough to download and run it on both of my computers. After the download and execution of the program you will get a screen that looks like this (click to enlarge):

I ran this on my very clean and new desktop which has Windows 7. You can see that PC Matic found 20 problems that needed fixing and it came up with 2 advice items.

Notice in the lower right hand corner the tab that says "FIX ALL". On both systems on which I ran this I got variations of the above screen, and on both systems I clicked on "FIX ALL".

When I clicked on Fix All, the screen below popped up (click to enlarge):

Uh-oh! The free download of PC Matic has turned into a $49.99 ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION! That's right. If you pay the money you will be asked to pay it again after a year, and I don't have a clue about the quality of the product once you pay. This is very similar in appearance to the many rogue programs that plague us PC users these days. With the rogue programs they take your money, leave your system all messed up, and don't fix a darn thing.

I am guessing PC Matic may actually be a good product, but I don't know that since it did nothing for me.

So much for all the excitement about PC Matic as is displayed by the pretty young girl in the TV ads.

I was able to uninstall it on both machines (one XP and the other a W7) easily through the Control Panel. After doing that I found they left a folder under Program Files named Pitstop (that is the company name). I got rid of the folder with a simple delete.

So, net is no harm done, and no money spent, and no "problems" fixed.

If you want to keep your system clean and trouble-free, check out my recommended Security Baseline. It consists of programs that are really free!

If your system has problems and needs personal attention, call or write me for a fee-based, remote, online complete tuning and cleaning. As many of you know, I also make housecalls. PC Doctor contact information can be found here.

TuneUp Utilities 2013

I believe in this product. I use it on my 3 home computers. I recommend it.

What Is a 4G Network?

From David Pogue of the New York Times.

" November 7, 2012, 6:01 pm 9 Comments

From today’s mailbag:
Dear Mr. Pogue,
What is the difference between 4G and 4G LTE?
And my reply:
Well, 4G is supposed to mean 4G LTE.
But AT&T has come up with a network type that’s halfway in between 3G and LTE — something it calls 4G. It’s faster than 3G, but nowhere near as good as LTE. So all the other companies, like Verizon, use the term “4G LTE” to emphasize that they have real 4G — the super fast type. This explains why AT&T can advertise “the biggest 4G network” — because none of its competitors even count 4G area! For them, and for you, LTE is the really desirable network type."

How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away

This has always been a pet peeve of mine ever since I was IS Security Manager at a local hospital, I was amazed when I ran a password cracking program and saw the results. Many of you would probably not be surprised.

This comes from the New York Times.

"Not long after I began writing about cybersecurity, I became a paranoid caricature of my former self. It’s hard to maintain peace of mind when hackers remind me every day, all day, just how easy it is to steal my personal data.

Within weeks, I set up unique, complex passwords for every Web site, enabled two-step authentication for my e-mail accounts, and even covered up my computer’s Web camera with a piece of masking tape — a precaution that invited ridicule from friends and co-workers who suggested it was time to get my head checked."

Read more.....

Down the Shore

I spent many of my pre-teen & teen summer vacations "down the shore:", in the little town of Lavallette, NJ. Today Lavallette, like so many other places along the Northeast Atlantic coast,  lies devastated by hurricane Sandy.

This poem helps me think back to some of my earlier years and the wonderful memories of those halcyon days. I spent many, many hours at the Cozy Nooke. You see they had a pinball machine there!

"LAVALLETTE"
by Arthur J. Maglionico

I remember as a child the beaches soft, the ocean wild,
Friends who shared a dream back then, per chance that we would meet again.
I recall each suntanned face, each pretty girl, each hiding place,
The new Hellos, the sad Goodbyes,
The soft wind, and the starlit skies.
The families huddled in the sand, their hearts were warm, their spirit grand,
Stretching out beneath the sun, barefoot and with hair undone.
I can hear the ocean roar as waves caress the sunny shore,
With fishermen waiting patiently for a gift surrendered by the sea.
I remember distant sails, skimming over the salty trails,
I'd watch them slowly disappear, toward the open sea somewhere.
The Main Street always thrilled me so, with its Cozy Nooke and Movie Show,
And folks would drive from all around to gaze at this enchanted town.
Nowhere can there ever be a place like this one by the sea.
I'm much older now, and yet, my dreams are there Dear Lavallette.
May God's grace ever shine on you,
May your skies be clear and ocean blue,
Let it remain as soft and mild as I remember as a child.

Apple iPad mini first impressions

First time I have posted something from the Boy Genius Report web site, http://bgr.com. This new product has been given some rave reviews lately, and while it is still my position that I would like to have one, I am still not willing to spend money on yet another "computer". I do admit it would be a fun device to own, and if money were not a concern I'd probably buy one.


"Almost from the beginning, Apple (AAPL) has been rumored to have been looking at manufacturing a smaller iPad. While the company delivered in form factor, finish, materials, and quality, there has been one thing most industry watchers have wanted… a smaller price. Well, too bad. I have been wanting a smaller iPad for a long time, especially since the 3rd-generation iPad was thicker and heavier instead of thinner and lighter. It’s taken me a while to figure out Apple’s strategy here, but it’s actually quite simple."

Read the article here