Seventy-five million downloads can't be wrong, right? Phenomenally popular security program AVG Free has upgraded to Version 8, and Editor Seth Rosenblatt takes a first look at the revamp.
New features include a blessing of a new interface that's clean and easy to use, LinkScanner to minimize the risk of clicking on dangerous links during searches, and more.
If you're into freeware antivirus and antimalware apps, chances are you're running either AVG Free, Avira Antivir, or Avast. Avast Home Edition guards your PC and the network with multiple shields that scan executables and files. You can select parameters for scanning, and even choose wildcards to exclude specific file types. You can adjust the sensitivity level for the program's detectors when it comes to scanning downloaded files, instant messages, e-mails, and a host of P2Ps. Its efficient interface opens up window after window to tweak its settings to your liking, for novice to advanced-level protection.
Though … Read more
PC World reported yesterday about the latest malicious attack on innocent websites (see Web Attack Worm Infecting Hapless Sites by Erik Larken). While this particular story is news, the concept is old - there is no safe neighborhood on the Internet.
The websites that have been infected with this particular brand of malicious software are, very likely, innocent bystanders. Their crime is simply being hosted in an environment with buggy or mis-configured software.
If you have your own website, EriK Larkin has an excellent suggestion, run a Google search on the entire site to look for this malware infection. Specifically, … Read more
Comcast mulling metered access, 250GB monthly bandwidth caps http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080507-comcast-mulling-metered-access-250gb-monthly-bandwidth-caps.html… Read more
Consumers are being warned that they may get an ad instead of a music or video file on several file-sharing sites in what security firm McAfee says is the most significant malware outbreak in three years.
McAfee Avert Labs reported on Tuesday that more than 500,000 detections of a Trojan horse masquerading as a media file have been found on computers since Friday on services like Limewire and eDonkey.
Instead of playing an adult video, the Lion King in Portuguese, or the Girls Aloud theme from the St Trinnians soundtrack, for example, hundreds of rigged MP3 and MPEG files … Read more
Submitted by Peter; Cordoba, Argentina
I'm a writer, currently living in Argentina. My native (and working) language is English. Obviously, word processing software is a vital tool for me. I bought my last computer, a beefed-up HP 2200, in Cordoba, Argentina. Unfortunately, I had to accept the Windows XP Pro OS, in Spanish, that the vendors supplied it with. I specified that MS Office should be included and it was; alas, in Spanish. When I contacted the MS people in Redmond, Wash., about a download in English--there are complicated restrictions about getting CDs through the local customs--I was informed … Read more
No matter how good your pop-up blocker is, every so often one of these suckers slips through. No big deal, right? You just click on the 'X' to close it, right? WRONG!
Here's a quick tip for how to close pop-ups safely.
You don't want to click on that 'X' because some nasty pop-ups may deliver malicious software to your computer no matter where you click, even clicking the 'X' to close the pop-up window.
We know this because of the horror stories sent by users to Jessica Dolcourt at … Read more
In security in the real world, companies screen the people who enter their building and admit only those who are authorized to be there, such as employees with badges and approved guests--a sort of white list for physical security.
But when it comes to distributing applications on their computer networks, corporations do the opposite and use blacklists that block some known malware but let everything else in. Because antivirus and other security software doesn't detect every malicious app out there, a lot of bad stuff ends up on employees' machines.
About 65 percent of the applications released to the … Read more
On Thursday, MessageLabs reported in its April Intelligence Report a marked decrease in the number of malware links connected to the Storm botnet. "It's not too often that a security company says that things are getting better," said Mark Sunner, Chief Security Analyst.
At its peak, Sunner said, the Storm botnet resided upon one million computers worldwide. That number has since come down to between 85,000 IP addresses at the end of April. He said that over the last eighteen months Storm has been constant, and never decreased according to MessageLabs research. "Other security companies … Read more
XP SP3 is out today! (oh wait… never mind)
iPhone coming to Canada http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9931208-7.html
Psystar in the wild http://gizmodo.com/384526/exclusive-video-psystar-in-the-wild
OQO hacked to run Leopard, now world’… Read more
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