trojan posts

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Windows x64

Microsoft Security Essentials rated best free antivirus for Windows

by Lee Mathews Oct 31st 2009

Thousands of downloads. Countless positive reviews on software blogs around the Internet. It's been quite a ride so far for Microsoft Security Essentials.

In AV Comparative's most recent report on malware removal, MSE was the only free antivirus rated Advanced+. That ranking placed it alongside big names like Norton, Kaspersky, and F-Secure. Security Essentials also beat out technician favorite ESET, which managed only an Advanced rating.

It's also worth noting that only three antivirus apps - Norton 2010, eScan, and Security Essentials - scored marks of good or better in removal of malware and removal of leftovers. So not only has MSE beaten free competitors like AVG (version 8.5 tested, not 9.0), Avira, and Avast, it also posted test scores equal to or better than a dozen antivirus programs you'd have to pay for.

Well done, Microsoft!

[via Ars Technica]

Tags: antivirus, malware, Microsoft Security Essentials, MicrosoftSecurityEssentials, morro, mse, trojan, virus

Filed under: Internet, Security, News

Web-based malware attacks growing at an astonishing rate

by Lee Mathews Oct 28th 2009

Dasient, the web security firm founded by ex-Google staffers that launched in June of this year, have published a blog post which shows just how dangerous a place the web is becoming.

If you do any computer service - either as a job or a favor to friends and family - you've no doubt seen the end result of these attacks. Fake antivirus applications continue to be the biggest source of business at my day job. That's all thanks to a web that has been slow to adapt to the presence of these threats.

According to the data Dasient has gathered to date, they estimate the number of compromised web sites to be about 640,000. Netcraft puts the total number of sites on the Internet at around 240 million - so compromised sites only amount to .26% of the whole. Still, those 640,000 sites are serving as many many as 5.8 million infected pages says Dasient, up sharply from the 3 million pages earlier this year reported by Microsoft.

Tags: dasient, drive-by, driveby, exploit, iframe, infection, javascript, malware, trojan, virus

Filed under: Security, Windows, Freeware, Beta, Windows x64

Panda Cloud AV beta 3 boasts faster scans, inches closer to RTM

by Lee Mathews Oct 27th 2009

When our list of six free antivirus apps for Windows 7 went live over the weekend, Panda's Cloud AV made the list. While it boasted the best detection rates of any of the available options, it's still in beta testing - so I can't really recommend it for use by the average user just yet.

Panda's plugging away though, and a full release could well be just around the corner. Beta 3 has just been made available for download and it fixes a number of bugs and performance issues. The latest release also boasts improved scanning performance (the biggest knock against previous versions) and lower resource utilization.

In addition to updating the app itself, Panda is also hard at work on a new web site. Sign up for a CloudAV account, and you'll have access to forums as well as "other free services which [Panda is] still building." I'll be talking with Panda Security CEO Juan Santana and Senior Research Advisor Pedro Bustamante next week to learn more about their plans.

An account is now required to use the app, but as Pedro informed one leery commenter "It's just a unique identifier that is tied to the Tech Support Forums to be able to provide better support. You can use a throw-away mailbox to activate it[...]"

Panda Cloud Antivirus beta 3 is available for download now at Cloudantivirus.com. If you're using it - or tried it out and switched - share your thoughts in the comments!

Tags: cloud antivirus, cloud av, CloudAntivirus, CloudAv, malware, panda, trojan, virus

Filed under: Security, Microsoft, Freeware

How to make Microsoft Security Essentials check for updates more often

by Lee Mathews Oct 26th 2009

I've had plenty of good things to say about Microsoft Security Essentials to this point. On my own systems, it's been a good, lightweight layer of protection.

However, the folks over at H-Online have noted a bit of a problem. There are what H-Online refers to as "certain circumstances" under which Security Essentials seems to be forgetting to 1) update definitions and 2) notify users that their definitions may be as out of date as yet another Kanye West interruption joke.

By default, MSE only checks for updates once per day - when it's working, of course. Fortunately, making it check more often is a fairly simple task.

If you're comfortable editing your registry, read on after the break. If not, it might be best to wait for Microsoft to release a fix.

Tags: definitions, fail, free antivirus, FreeAntivirus, malware, seucirty-essentials, trojan, virus

Filed under: Security, Windows, Freeware

Six free antivirus programs made for your Windows 7 system

by Lee Mathews Oct 24th 2009

Yesterday, I showed you a pain-free way to get rid of excess software that comes bundled on new systems and replace it with high-quality free programs. Those of you who want a bit more choice than what Ninite offers will probably do your installs manually -- so let's take a look at some antivirus options for your Windows 7 system.

There are plenty of pay-for programs you probably already about, like Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky and Trend Micro. I'm going to focus on the free options -- of which there are many!

Hey, you just paid for an OS or a whole new computer -- why not save a few bucks if you can?

Tags: antivirus, avast, avg, avira, comodo, free, malware, MSE, security essentials, SecurityEssentials, trojan, virus

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Remove Fake Antivirus cleans up Personal Antivirus, Antivirus 360, and other rogues

by Lee Mathews Oct 19th 2009

Rogue antivirus programs are extremely annoying. Yes, they keep me both busy and paid all week at my day job as a computer technician, but I'd love it if my customers could stay out of trouble for a little while.

If they can't, at least I've found a new tool that makes cleaning up after this kind of infection a bit easier. Remove Fake Antivirus is a free app that carries on in the fine tradition of programs like SmitFraudFix.

It's a no-nonsense app which requires very little interaction. Click the start button and then answer yes to the prompt you see above, and that's about it. Just sit back and watch RFA work. It can uproot many of the rogues I confront on a daily basis, including:

Personal Antivirus
Antivirus 2009 and 2010
Antivirus 360
MS Antispyware 2009
Malware Doctor
Antivirus BEST

...and several others. You can download Remove Fake Antivirus from Softpedia. It's on the developers site as well, but the AdSense blocks may be a bit misleading to some users - since they're pushing other antivirus apps.

[via Raymond.cc]

Tags: antivirus 360, Antivirus360, malware, personal antivirus, PersonalAntivirus, rogue, trojan

Filed under: Security, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Windows x64

Microsoft Security Essentials enjoys warm reception in first week

by Lee Mathews Oct 18th 2009

I'm a huge fan of Security Essentials (and Windows 7, and a number of other MS products, but I digress). It's quickly become my recommended free antivirus app of choice and protects all three of the laptops in my house. And I've got plenty of company.

The Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog has posted some interesting numbers. After its first week, Security Essentials has already been installed more than 1.5 million times. From the approximately 535,000 machines reporting statistics, MSE has logged over 4 million detections.

44% of MSE users are already running Windows 7 with XP following at 33% and the remaining 23% on Vista. The number of detections per OS is also interesting. 52% of the 4 million reported were found on Windows XP systems compared to only 32% on Vista.

Windows 7 users fared even better. Though they represent the largest group of MSE users, only 16% of detections came from systems running Microsoft's latest OS. The post also reports 1/3 of these machines are using the 64-bit version, which "is even more resistant to malware than 32-bit due to PatchGuard," states Microsoft's Joe Faulhaber.

Security Essentials is a free download, and is available directly from Microsoft.

Tags: antivirus, live-onecare, malware, morro, mse, security essentials, SecurityEssentials, trojan, virus, windows-defender

Filed under: Security, Windows, Op-Ed

Lark Antispyware is free, but sometimes getting what you pay for is a bad thing

by Lee Mathews Oct 8th 2009

Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for free applications that help us keep our systems malware-free, provided that they actually work as advertised. Lark Antispyware...not so much.

When I see something new and potentially interesting show up on Softpedia, I'll download it to see if it's worth sharing. Most of the time an app is postable because it's useful. Sometimes it's postable because people should probably stay away. You can see where I'm going here.

If you looked at the screenshot above, a couple things probably struck you. It's riddled with false positives and the "trojans" seem to be randomly named. There's no "more information" button to offer any kind of clarification, and you certainly won't turn up any info on Google if you search for that alphanumeric jibberish.

As you can see, Lark is happy to try removing these "infections" for me, but I'm pretty sure I don't want it messing with msconfig, winload, isoburn, or my TeamViewer executables. I was also put off by the option of running a "Cunstom Scan" from the system tray icon.

Call me crazy, but I like my security-related apps to have a bit more polish than that.

Pro tip: stick with Malwarebytes for now --it's free, and it's awesome. If something better comes along, you'll read about it here.

Tags: malware, malwarebytes, spyware, trojan

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows

AVG releases version 9 - Free version to drop on October 15th

by Lee Mathews Oct 5th 2009

AVG 9 is finally here -- and like other 2009/2010 antivirus suites the emphasis in the new version is on speed, performance, and minimizing the impact on system resources.

Even the install process has been streamlined, with developers reducing the number of tedious, finger-numbing mouse clicks from 22 to 11. Thank you, AVG, for doing this. It's a little thing, but no techy enjoys tapping "next" nearly two dozen times.

Grisoft says scanning speeds have been increased by as much as 50% and that version 9 also reduces Windows boot lag by 10 to 15%. The firewall is more intuitive and has been made less intrusive -- another small but welcome change.

The paid versions are available now through the AVG web site, and we've been told that the much-loved free version will be good to go in ten days.

If you're a believer in free antivirus, your preferred version will be up for grabs on October 15th. Keep your browser tuned to free.avg.com -- that's where the download will appear when it goes live. Of course, you'll also be able to read about the release here at Download Squad.

Tags: antimalware, antivirus, avg, protection, secutiry, trojan

Filed under: Security, Google, Yahoo!

Google and Yahoo banner ads delivering trojans

by Jay Hathaway Sep 28th 2009

Users who clicked on booby-trapped banner ads served by Google's DoubleClick and a Yahoo-owned service called Right Media ended up having their machines infected by a trojan, according to a report from The Register. The sneaky ads showed up on the Drudge Report, Lyrics.com, slacker.com and horoscope.com. Google says that publishers who use DoubleClick have to approve the banner ads that show up on their sites, implying that these four sites are at fault for the attack on their users.

The trojan itself was installed via an infected PDF file that opened and closed when a user clicked an ad. It's called Win32/Alureon, and it opens backdoor access to infected machines. This is serious business, and it's hardly the first time we've seen "malvertising," but who's to blame when it happens? Should site owners who buy ads have to scan them first, or should the big ad networks be responsible?

Tags: advertising, doubleclick, google, malware, security, trojan, yahoo

Filed under: Security, Windows, Commercial

Sunbelt offering a lifetime of Vipre antivirus for $99

by Lee Mathews Sep 25th 2009

Sunbelt's Vipre might not be as well known as Norton or McAfee, but it's definitely a solid choice in desktop malware and virus protection.

Now, thanks to the fine people at HSN who also bring you products like Tony Little fitness gear and Carol Alt's line of cosmetics you can score Vipre's protection until you're stone dead for a mere $99.90. Plus $6.95 shipping and handling, of course.

For added craziness, you can even cover the tab in three equal installments of $33.30.

Let's put this into perspective: a three-year sub for Norton Internet Security will run you $164.99. At that price, you'd be able to buy Vipre for this entire lifetime and 65% of any additional existence you luck into afterward. That's pretty sweet. A little new age, perhaps, but still an excellent deal.

[via Sunbelt Blog]

Tags: antimalware, antivirus, AV, budget, deal, lifetime, malware, norton, sunbelt, trojan, vipre

Peripheral maker Razer ships trojan with software updates

by Paul O'Brien Sep 22nd 2009

If you are looking for a good reason to have antivirus software on your machine even though you 'don't do anything dodgy on the internet', then here it is!

Infected files drivers hosted at peripheral manufacturer Razer USA's website have been found by researchers at antivirus company Trend Micro after investigating reports received from concerned customers. Trend Micro confirmed that at least 8 drivers were infected, all of which were immediately removed by Razer upon discovery of the problem.

Although the Trojan in question, WORM.ASPXOR.AB, is classified at the highest possible severity level by threat analysis site ThreatExpert, it appears detection is quite difficult - Trend Micro state that in their testing 'only 7 out of 41 vendors offered generic detection'.

Razer certainly aren't the first company to ship infected software to their customers - Apple previously shipped a virus to customers on their iPod Video units, Seagate sold virus infected hard drives to customers and Creative also bundled that little extra something with a model of their MP3 players.

Razer currently have the above statement on their support site, which has been taken offline temporarily.

It is not known at this site whether the support site itself was hacked or lax internal policies allowed drivers to be packaged up with the trojan.

[Via: Trend Micro blog]

Tags: razer, trojan, virus, worm

Filed under: Security, News

New rogue antivirus app has a hate-on for Malwarebytes

by Lee Mathews Sep 2nd 2009

If there's one anti-malware application that we (and you) hold near and dear, it's Malwarebytes.

How do you know when your crapware-fighting application has really made it big? When it starts being targeted by rogue antivirus software, of course.

Protection System -- which sounds about as real as The Christopher Guest School for Mixed Martial Arts -- detects MBAM during its bogus scan procedure and declares it malicious. It then offers to remove the threat for the poor sap who doesn't realize what's happening. After clicking ok, the uninstall routine is run and the user is left without what is likely the best tool for removing this pest.

This isn't a new tactic by any means. It's pretty common for engineered nasties to disable and damage antivirus and antimalware programs and mess with your hosts file so you can't update definitions or re-download.

Keep your filthy paws off MBAM, you damn, dirty rogue.

[via Sunbelt Blog]

Tags: fraudo, malware, malwarebytes, rogue antivirus, RogueAntivirus, smitfraud, spyware, trojan, virus

Filed under: Security, News, Windows, Beta

Trend Micro provides better web-based virus cleanup with Housecall v7

by Lee Mathews Aug 20th 2009

It's already been a big week for Windows antivirus, with the rollout of Immunet's new cloud based product and the first beta release of Avast! 5.0. Trend Micro also has an update for us -- a new version of their popular web-based scanner, Housecall.

Housecall v7 adds several new features and enhancements, including improved scanning speed and scanning history and restore functionality. On my test system, the full scan took just under three minutes. Not bad at all for a web-based tool.

Perhaps the most important change is that Housecall is now browser-independent, a change that is sure to be welcomed by non-IE users.

Remember, Housecall does not provide realtime detection. It's designed to complement your existing security software or to give you a fast, easy way to scan and clean infected machines that didn't have antivirus software installed.

It's also totally free to use, which is (almost always) a good thing when it comes to virus detection and removal.

Tags: antivirus, housecall, malware, security, trend-micro, trojan, virus, web-based

Filed under: Security, News, Windows, Freeware, Beta

Immunet releases free cloud-powered antivirus for Windows

by Lee Mathews Aug 19th 2009

They're not the first company to push out a cloud-based Windows antivirus product, but Immunet is hoping to make a splash with their newly-released beta of Immunet Protect.

"People are still getting viruses at alarming rates and traditional Anti-Virus software catches less than 50% of todays new threats," said Oliver Friedrichs (Immunet's Founder and CEO) in a press release. While I'm not sure I've seen numbers that support that statement I'm still always on the lookout for better free antivirus protection for my customers.

The key advantages of Immunet? They're pretty well the same as those touted by Panda: less bloat, no massive, frequent pattern updates to download, and an added splash of community collaboration to thwart malicious software. It's also light on system resources, barely impacting CPU usage and sitting just under 32Mb of memory during a system scan.

It's worth noting that only application installs are monitored in realtime by default. To activate application launch protection, open the program's main window and head to the settings screen.

As is also the case with Panda Cloud AV, Immunet doesn't want you to install it on Windows 7. It's only XP and Vista compatible for now. It does, however, install and perform just fine on Windows 7 if you run the installer in compatibility mode for Vista. It won't, however, be recognized by the Action Center's security monitoring.

To test the software, head on over to the Immunet website and download the beta. Don't mind the Facebook connect form - it's not required to get the download.

We've also added Immunet to our popular list of free antivirus software for Windows.

[via VentureBeat]

Tags: cloud-antivirus, immunet, malware, panda, security, trojan, virus

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures

Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party

Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

Download Squad bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Jay Hathaway	109	5
2	Lee Mathews	73	33
3	Sebastian Anthony	45	152
4	Brad Linder	36	7
5	Jason Clarke	32	0
6	Grant Robertson	8	10
7	Dolores Parker	7	2
8	Victor Agreda, Jr.	7	1
9	Nik Fletcher	4	0
10	Matt Heerema	3	3
11	Paul O'Brien	2	0
12	John Burke	1	0
13	Download Squad Staff	1	0

More Tech Coverage

Control Shift It's all about the experience
Somewhat Frank Perspectives on tech as it fuses in everyday life
Switched Gadgets, web news and commentary
Urlesque Exposing bits of the web

Download Squad