Useful computer facts

BullGuard, specialists in user-friendly computer and mobile security solutions for consumers and small office users, is pleased to announce that its Internet Security 8.5 suite has been Microsoft certified as Windows 7 compatible.

The BullGuard development team has actively worked with Microsoft and the Windows 7 Beta to ensure that its Internet Security solution provides comprehensive security protection for all Windows 7 adopters.
“Windows 7 has been developed to simplify computing and promises to be a very popular solution for both home and business users,” said Claus Villumsen, Development Director at BullGuard.

“One of the key features of the new Windows 7 OS is an improved security foundation, nevertheless, Microsoft understands the importance of ensuring users always keep their computer protected against viruses and other online security threats with an expert 3rd party security solution. By working closely with security developers at the early stages of a new operating system development, Microsoft enables us to continue to provide our customers with the peace-of-mind we work hard to deliver," explained Claus Villumsen.

All active subscribers of BullGuard Internet Security have automatically received the Windows 7 compatibility update.

About BullGuard
BullGuard specializes in computer and mobile security solutions for home users and small businesses, emphasizing technical excellence, ease-of-use and customer care. BullGuard is committed to providing cost-effective, integrated security solutions that provide users with first-class protection from computer and mobile malware.

BullGuard has offices in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, Romania and Denmark.

Prefetch virus logmein123.com
Are you on a call with “tech support” while reading this?

DO NOT let them take control of your computer!!

UPDATE: From the comments below, it appears that logmein123.com is not the scam itself, but is being used by the scammers.

"I got a call on the 16th of January with an “out of area” (ie: overseas, not “uk withheld”) caller ID.

He had a thick strong accent and started off by saying:
“Hello Mr Marshall, this is the Windows XP service provider - we have had a report from your computer that it is infected”. Well, that’s not my name, but one I use on forms where I think spam might result.

At this point, I started recording the call - the only problem is that the recording is illegible! I’m trying to clean it up so will post as soon as I do - check back later!

HELP! Does anyone know how to “clean up” bad recordings? Here’s a snippet of what I recorded - I still have the “original” file in audacity, and have tried changing sample rates. Is this recording lost forever?

“p as in peter, r as in romeo, e as in echo, f as in foxtrot” - etc etc, to cut a long story short, he wanted me to type in

“prefetch virus” in the run prompt. As it happens, I know exactly what that would do - it simply opens the windows prefetch folder. The word “virus” is ignored

(For a bit more info on what this normal windows folder is, click here. As a rule, however, unless you know exactly what the result is going to be do not start following instructions random strangers tell you to do!)

“OK sir, can you please tell me how many files there are?”
I told him 30.
“Oh my gosh, this is a sign of very heavy infection. You must not touch these files. [about the only truthful part of the call]. Please now clear this box and type ‘temp’ and press enter”.

Again, “your computer has very heavy infection with so many files”. He then babbled some crap about how these file were your f-a-t32 system files and that “at any time these files could scratch your hard drive”. Riiiighhhht…..

Then came the money shot. “We will connect you now with an agent, please go to www.logmein123.com”
As I had full armoury on (google toolbar, avg, running Chrome etc), so I decided to check it out. It redirected to https://secure.logmeinrescue.com/Customer/Code.aspx

After some chitchat in which he confirmed my (incorrect, spamtrap) home address, he then said “I will now connect you to an agent - for this there is just a small one-time charge of £12″.
Before I let him take my details, I said I wanted to check what company it was. Again, he said it was “your Windows XP service provider” (whatever the hell that means).
To the answer “where are you based and what is your name”, bear in mind this man had a VERY thick/strong Indian accent and was calling from a scratchy overseas number.
“My name is Kevin Watts and we are based in Bradford”. Gold-dust! You couldn’t make it up! (Well, he obviously had).

I asked him to hold while I got my card. I put it on speakerphone and went down to make a cup of tea. I brewed up a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea, found a biscuit, did a bit of washing up, and went back upstairs. FIVE MINUTES later he was still going “Mr Marshall? Can you hear me?”. Nothing if not persistant! I then just decided to have a bit of fun and pretended he’d been put through to the UK police! Immediately, a supervisor (another strong Indian accent) came on the line sounding very surprised, and claimed that “Mr Marshall contacted us”!

BULLGUARD GAMERS SECURITY 8.5 January 16th 2009

BullGuard Teams Up with SteelSeries to Introduce Advanced Security for Gamers

BullGuard Gamer's Edition provides all-round PC security without compromising game play; Survey reveals one-fifth of gamers use no security at all

BullGuard, specialists in user-friendly PC and mobile security solutions for consumers, today released Gamer's Edition, the world's most advanced dedicated security solution for gamers. Gamer's Edition was developed with SteelSeries, a leading global manufacturer of innovative professional gaming peripherals and an active supporter of the professional gaming community.

With the introduction of BullGuard Gamer's Edition, gaming and security are no longer at odds. With more and more gamers playing online, there is a need for robust and discreet gaming security. Typical frustrations for gamers are endless firewall messages, heavy resource consumption resulting in deteriorated game play and update processes that are initiated during the game.

In a recent survey conducted by BullGuard and SteelSeries among 2,000 gamers, 20 percent admitted to not using any kind of protection while gaming. Almost half of the remaining 80 percent complained about their security software interfering with their gaming experience.

BullGuard Gamer's Edition enables gamers to focus on their skill sets and most importantly, winning. When a supported game is launched, the application automatically switches to an optimized game profile. Game profiles essentially consist of a number of firewall and anti-virus settings which are preconfigured and adjusted to every individual game. The game profiles ensure that messaging will be halted for the duration of the game. No updates will be initiated and only a minimal amount of resources will be taken up.

Theis Søndergaard, BullGuard's CTO and co-founder said: “The game profiles enable gamers to remain protected while allowing them to enjoy their game to the fullest. We currently support 80 of the most popular games in the world, including World of Warcraft and Age of Conan, and this number will increase as new games are released to the market. BullGuard makes profiles for all major game releases and pushes those out to our Gamer's Edition users, ensuring that their application will always be reliable and up-to-date.”

Users have the option to edit existing game profiles and they can easily create additional game profiles themselves. The Gamer's Edition also comes with a general game mode, which consists of general settings that will suit most games currently on the market.

Bruce Hawver, CEO of SteelSeries, added: “We are thrilled to be a part of this project. With the Gamer's Edition, the gaming community finally gets a security solution which is tailored to our specific needs. SteelSeries has been closely involved in the development of this product and we hope our customers see the added benefits.”

Gamer's Edition is designed to help protect gamers' hardware and data while not compromising on performance. When users are not gaming, BullGuard Gamer's Edition still provides complete PC protection with full Antivirus, Antispyware and Firewall functionality. On top of that, the Gamer's Edition comes with a Spamfilter and a backup component which allows users to perform backups to local media or the 1 Gigabyte Online Drive included in the subscription. To top it all off, users can get in touch with BullGuard Support 24/7 directly from the application.

About BullGuard
BullGuard specialises in PC & mobile security solutions for home-users and small-businesses, emphasising technical excellence, ease-of-use and customer-care. BullGuard is committed to providing cost-effective, integrated security solutions that provide users with first-class protection from PC and mobile malware.

About SteelSeries
SteelSeries is a leading manufacturer of gaming peripherals and accessories, including headsets, keyboards, mice, software and gaming surfaces, available in more than 75 countries. SteelSeries, whose motto is “winning is everything,” has been on the forefront of professional gaming gear since its inception in 2001. The company has set a new benchmark for gaming accessories around the world thanks to continued innovation and product development in cooperation with leading professional gamers, the world's most demanding IT consumers, who actually make a living based on the quality of SteelSeries products. SteelSeries' development strategy is simple: Only products that take performance to the next level will be introduced. This ensures optimum performance and durability across a variety of gaming and other demanding applications. For more information, please visit http://www.steelseries.com/ .

BullGuard Releases BullGuard Internet Security 8.5
Security, Usability and Performance Remain Key for BullGuard

BullGuard, specialists in user-friendly PC and Mobile security solutions for consumers, today released BullGuard Internet Security 8.5, the latest version of its flagship product.

BullGuard Internet Security 8.5 incorporates advanced Antivirus, Antispyware, Firewall, Spamfilter and Backup functionalities and provides home users with an understandable all-in-one security solution.

Theis Søndergaard, BullGuard's CTO and co-founder said: “Unlike most of our competitors, we are 100% consumer focused. This means that we put all our efforts into developing a product that is best suited for home users. Product development for our Internet Security therefore has the following three guiding principles: to enhance security, to improve usability and to increase performance . In the 8.5 version, we have again managed to do all three.”

New features in BullGuard Internet Security 8.5 include:

A new Firewall for improved protection and more system speed
A new Spamfilter for optimised performance and comprehensive phishing protection
Increased rootkit detection capabilities
Web filtering for proactive website scanning
2-hour security updates

BullGuard Internet Security 8.5 continues to include popular features like BullGuard's advanced Backup functionality with a free 5 GigaByte secure online drive and easy 24/7 access to BullGuard's highly trained support team. One product license can be used on up to three PCs.

Existing BullGuard Internet Security users will receive a free and automated upgrade to the 8.5 version. BullGuard Internet Security 8.5 will be sold through BullGuard's channel partners and is also available at www.bournemouth-computer-sales.co.uk. Our price is an unbeatable £13.50 for a 3 license one-year subscription.

SECURITY HOLES JUNE 6th 2008

Security holes are constantly discovered in all sorts of software and to plug the holes software vendors issue patches, also called "fixes" or just plainly "security updates", to offer an immediate solution for the problem and/or a general enhancement of the software.

Flaws in Microsoft's software seem to be the most popular to exploit, so the American software giant releases a lot of patches. But other common desktop applications like Firefox, QuickTime, RealPlayer, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, and Sun Java Runtime Environment also often need to be patched to fix security issues.

In 2003, Microsoft introduced Patch Tuesday to simplify patch management. Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month, when Microsoft releases the newest fixes for Windows and related software applications like Internet Explorer, the Office suite, and Windows Media Player.

Microsoft's patches are distributed via Automatic Updates and the company's Microsoft Update downloads Web site.

Unfortunately, releasing patches also means that cybercriminals are able to analyze the patch code and exploit the vulnerabilities that the patches were intended to deal with. Therefore a lot of exploits are seen shortly after the release of a patch and the term "Exploit Wednesday" was coined for the day following Patch Tuesday. Malware authors also know that if they start exploiting a vulnerability not known to Microsoft right after Patch Tuesday, it will normally be an entire month before Microsoft releases a patch to fix it. In 2006 Microsoft only broke its patch cycle twice to release very critical fixes.

Today cybercriminals are very fast at creating exploit code. When Microsoft issues patches, exploit code for the publicly disclosed vulnerabilities will usually appear the same or the next day. Hackers are able to do that through reverse engineering.

In April 2008, a group of computer researchers urged Microsoft to redesign the way it distributes patches, after they created a technique that automatically produces attack code by comparing the vulnerable and repaired versions of a program.

Using an automated tool, an exploit could be created in a few minutes or less after looking at the patch, according to the researchers. This means it is theoretically possible for hackers to start trying to exploit machines a short time after the attackers have received the patch, putting more PCs at risk of becoming infected with malicious software.
In order to protect your PC from these exploits, it is important to keep your software updated at all times.

H2O Networks' high speed fibre is the answer to the UK's next generation broadband and connectivity issues

H2O Networks Ltd, the pioneer of providing fibre connectivity via the UK's 360,000 miles of sewers, has today announced that the UK's first Fibrecity will be Bournemouth. Work will begin on the deployment of the fibre within the next six months, bringing next generation broadband and connectivity to all homes and businesses in the town.

This will be the largest Fibrecity project in Europe and the company will be funding and providing the network at a cost of around £30 million. The majority of the fibre will be put in the sewers using H2O Networks' patented FS (Fibre Optical Cable Underground Sewer) System. The fibre will provide ultra high bandwidth to all Bournemouth's businesses and more than 88,000 homes at speeds far exceeding current DSL or cable modem speeds, typically by tens or even hundreds of Mbps.
Bournemouth Borough Council was keen to see the town become the first Fibrecity as, not only is it renowned as a tourist destination, it is also a regional centre of education and business. Some of the benefits Fibrecity will bring include:

Video conferencing will help social workers to protect and keep the vulnerable safe
Real time monitoring of traffic using CCTV will enable urban traffic control
Faster broadband speeds will improve the use of ICT in schools which is an essential part of education
Businesses will be able to transfer files and documents between offices with no time delays
Greater bandwidth will enable people to work from home more easily, allowing flexible working
Households can benefit from faster broadband, up to 100 Mbps, and so can have access to much higher quality services such as telephone calls over the Internet, video streaming and IPTV.

Councillor Nick King, the Council's Cabinet Member for Communications, said: "Bournemouth is incredibly privileged to have been chosen as the UK's first Fibrecity. This decision is a giant leap forward and gives us a real competitive advantage. Bournemouth really needs to embrace the many advantages that being a Fibrecity will bring and I am sure it will bring massive rewards to all homes and businesses that sign up to the services that this network will enable.

The Council has already installed H2O Networks' high speed fibre to its offices and the Bournemouth International Centre and Pavilion Theatre, so we are aware of the difference this type of connectivity can make."

Elfed Thomas, CEO of H2O Networks said: "This is just the start of bringing next generation connectivity to the UK. We will be announcing more towns and cities which will benefit from Fibrecity over the coming months, and plan to have a nationwide network deployed over the next few years.

"Many households and broadband customers in the UK have insufficient connectivity bandwidths because they are attached to legacy networks deployed in the 20th Century that just can't cope with demand. Our solution brings us right into the 21st Century and beyond, with speeds in excess of 100Mbps."

Fibrecity deployments are far kinder to the environment than traditional methods of fibre deployment, as the sewer is a ready-made duct which means the expensive and environmentally unfriendly method of digging up the roads is unnecessary and disruption to the road infrastructure is kept to a minimum. In addition, the system is at least 80 per cent faster than traditional methods.

Where the sewers are not viable, H2O Networks will install the cable using its patented BMD (Blown Mini Duct) system. With this method, a small, 20 millimetres wide slot is channelled into the road in order to lay the cable. This is not a civil dig and will cause minimal disruption to the local area.

SOMETHING VISHY IS HAPPENING: APRIL 28th 2008

Internet scammers are turning to the phone to craft more convincing phishing attacks in order to trick Web users who have learned not to click on links in unsolicited emails.

Vishing (Voice phISHING) is the voice counterpart to phishing. Whereas phishing attacks try to lead you to counterfeit Web pages to trick you into submitting personal information, vishing attacks attempt to deceive you into revealing that same sensitive information, like your credit card details, bank account details, or social security number, over the phone.

Identity thieves typically ask potential victims to call a phone number attached to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) account. Using VoIP technology scammers can establish a number with a local area code while running their scam oceans away. In the past few years, inexpensive VoIP technology and open source callcenter software has made it cheap for scammers set up their own call centers, often employing staff who may be unaware that they are working for a criminal gang.

A scam might work like this: You get a message urging you to call your bank to reactivate your credit card or you will not be able to use it. Upon calling the phony telephone number, you are greeted with 'Welcome to the bank of...' and led through a series of voice-prompted menus that ask for account numbers, passwords, and other critical information.

You might get the initial message by email, like a traditional phishing scam, or you could be contacted over the phone. The call could either be a "live" person or a recorded message directing you to take action to protect your credit card or other financial affairs. Sometimes the criminal already has some personal information on you, creating a false sense of security. Another twist on vishing attacks involves sending the initial message as a text messages to your cell phone.

Security experts fear that vishing in the time to come could prove more effective than traditional phishing because the voice-based attacks have not yet been as widely publicized, although the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned of an "alarming" rise in the number of vishing attacks in January 2008.

Vishing is difficult for authorities to trace, as scammers can mask the number they are calling from. And in some cases, the VoIP number belongs to a legitimate subscriber whose service is being hacked. Furthermore, vishing scams are often outsourced to other countries, which may render sovereign law enforcement powerless.
To protect yourself from vishing scams, don't reveal any personal information if someone purporting to be your credit card provider or your bank calls you up unsolicited. Hang up and contact the financial institution directly, using phone numbers included in statements or telephone books.

Also, never call a telephone number provided in an email or a text message. Call the number on the back of your credit card or on your bank statement instead.

ATTACK OF THE ZOMBIE PC: APRIL 22nd, 2008

A zombie PC is one that has been infected with malware that allows a cybercriminal to take control of the machine from afar.
It can be remotely controlled by the creators of the malware that drives it, hence the name.

Once a computer has been infected, it waits for orders from the cybercriminal, who typically turn the zombie computers into massive bot networks.

A botnet is a network of thousands or millions of zombie computers and they are used to launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and spew out all sorts of spam, phishing and virus attacks. Botnets have emerged as the number one source of spam and experts reckon that up to 90 percent of all spam is relayed from zombie computers.

During the second half of 2006, researchers observed an average of 21,707 new active bot-infected computers per day in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. More than 2.3 million bot-infected computers in the region were identified as being active at any one time, a 130 percent increase from the 1 million seen during the first half of 2006.

At the end of 2006 Microsoft named botnets as the world's main cyberthreat. At that time China accounted for 26 percent of the world's bot-infected computers, a higher density than any other nation. Beijing was the city with the most bot-infected computers in the world, accounting for just over five percent of the worldwide total.

In June 2007, the FBI notified more than a million US computer users that their PCs had been hijacked by criminals.

During 2007 botnets helped keep spam output at consistently high levels and global spam reached rates as high as 96 percent of all e-mail traffic. According to experts, the global spam rate averaged around 80 percent of all e-mail traffic throughout the year. The most disruptive botnet in 2007 was the Storm worm botnet, which researchers estimated contained more than one million infected machines.

In February 2008, researchers found that six botnets were responsible for 85 percent of all worldwide spam. The Srizbi botnet was believed to be the largest single source of spam, accounting for 39 percent of junk mail messages. The Rustock botnet came in second, responsible for 21 percent. The US continued to pump out the most spam, being the source of 15 percent of all spam.
Also in February 2008, a US teenager pleaded guilty to running a botnet of computers that included US military computers. Later that same month, Canadian police arrested 17 people suspected of running a botnet of up to one million zombie PCs, spanning 100 countries around the globe.

It's not easy to tell if your PC has been zombified. Cybercriminals try to keep it invisible to you that your machine is infected and it's uncommon for a zombie PC to display many obvious sign of trouble. Furthermore, a botnet normally doesn't deploy any single zombified computer constantly, making it even harder to pinpoint a troubled machine. And even though the usual malware warning signs like computer slowdowns and odd behaviour also apply to zombies, they could just as easily be signs of lesser problems.

But if e-mail bounces back to you with a message that you've been blocked, it is very likely a result of your PC having become a zombie PC. E-mail bounces back if your e-mail address is included on one of the spam blacklists that some ISPs use to block the IP addresses of known spammers. More than 100 such blacklists exist, and if you're on one or two such lists, most of your mail will get through, but some will not.

You can minimize the risk of having your computer turned into a zombie by using updated antivirus and firewall software at all times and avoid opening suspicious files. Also, always keep Windows and other software up to date and watch your firewall software for strange outgoing traffic.

If you have purchased a machine with Windows Vista installed or you have upgraded your machine to Windows Vista then please take a moment to read the following.

Microsoft has admitted that Windows Vista service pack one (SP1) renders useless a number of well-known third party security products.

Redmond said in a knowledge base article yesterday that due to "reliability" issues with Vista SP1, it has been forced to prevent some security products from running after the service pack is installed.

So, customers who currently have versions of Jiangmin KV Antivirus or Trend Micro's Internet Security on their Vista computers will no longer be able to use the software, which are suppose to safeguard their machines against hackers and malware, after SP1 is installed.

The two other security products deemed by Microsoft to make Vista SP1 "unreliable" are versions of BitDefender AV and Zone Alarm Security Suite.

It added that it has put a block on Fujitsu's Shock Sensor utility, which protects laptop hard-drives against sudden shocks.

Microsoft also pinpointed a number of products that simply won't work after the service pack, which is expected to be available for download to everyone by the middle of next month, has been installed.

Versions of Iron Speed Designer, Xheo Licensing, and Free Allegiance software are on that particular blacklist.

Meanwhile, Novell's ZCM Agent and the New York Times reader software are among the products listed as having severely reduced functionality post Vista-SP1.

Microsoft said in the article: "A program may experience a loss of functionality after you install Windows Vista SP1. However, most programs will continue to work as expected after you install Windows Vista SP1."

This latest embarrassing cock-up comes just days after Microsoft snatched back a key pre-requisite update for Vista SP1 from its Windows Update website.

It was forced to suspend distribution of its servicing stack KB937287 update after customers complained that their PCs wouldn't boot up properly once it had been applied. ®

Useful computer facts