Dallas DC Jack Laptop Repair

PC Virus Doctors' Dallas Laptop Repair is once again repairing DC Jack repairs on laptops. All brands are being serviced including Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Alienware, IBM, Apple, Emachines, Hewlett Packard, NEC, Gateway, Sony and others.

Symptons of a bad dc laptop jack include:

• No led lights showing
• Battery appears dead
• Battery will not charge
• The dc connector on the laptop is loose

Turnaround for the dc jack repair is usually 24 to 72 hours depending on customer load.

New AntiMalware & AntiVirus USB Device Coming

PC Virus Doctors' is compiling a USB Device/stick/flash drive that can cripple bogus software, disabling internet connections [that we repair] and the abililty to update malware removal programs, Microsoft updates and other important updates. Please realize this is a daunting task.

We are in works and will have the USB Antivirus device available within months.

Conficker Starts Updating Variant C to Conficker E

Conficker C, an internet worm, has been known to start its update on April 1st, 2009 but delayed to everyone's dismay but it started Wednesday night, April 8. The download appears to be updating the C variant into the newly named Conficker E. The newer variant utilizes the Microsoft MS08-67 exploit that was abandoned by Conficker C.

The "E" version instructs itself to be removed/uninstalled on May 3 while directing itself to a new list of websites apparently awaiting further instruction. The worm utilizes P2P, Peer to Peer, to update and it may be several days to see the actual changes and propogation it will use.

There is some good news as the internet worm is decreasing in numbers from around 9 million in January to around 1 million Conficker infected machines worldwide currently in April '09. The U.S. Computer Emergency Response, CERT, has developed software to indentify the Conficker worm, according to Homeland Security, and the extent of damage/infiltration to systems. The tools are available for federal and state governments, organizations, critical infrastructure owners and commercial vendors.

ALL Computer User's Should Have These Tools Handy:

• >All Microsoft Operating Systems should be updated with the MS08-67 Patch HERE< to help keep the intrusive Conficker from entering and executing.
• W32.Downup Removal tool is available from Symantec.
• Advisory and link to the W32.Conficker removal tool from McAfee (McAfee removed page).

U.S. Electric Grid Hacked?

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the power grids in the United States have been penetrated and that potentially software could have been left behind that lets hackers control the power grid. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke to reporters after the Wall Street Journal article that the government had known about the vulnerability but declined to comment on whether software has been left behind by the cyberspies. The successful hacking attempts appear to have originated in China and Russia although their embassies here in the states deny any involvement.

The Chinese have been known for years to penetrate U.S. Universities and Government websites so the Journal reports, according to a U.S. security official on the condition of anonymity, it is no surprise that the power grid has been target. Some report the hackers may wait to damage the system when the right time comes, perhaps during conflicts. President Barak Obama has ordered a top to bottom review of the cyber infrastructure in the U.S. because of his concern over vulnerabilities in the system.

The Department of Homeland Security works with industries to develop strategic plans to address external and internal threats to the infrastructure. Tom Donahue, a CIA analyst, spoke to a power-industry conference last year about regions outside the U.S. that had been penetrated and then extortion attempts were levied against them.

Keep your computers as secure as possible:

1. Keep antivirus applications updated, automatically is the preferred setting.
2. Install and update spyware and adware applications.
3. Keep a firewall up and running and keep it updated if applicable.
4. Do not visit unknown or suspicious websites.
5. Do not open unknown emails or much more dangerous, visit the links in emails.
   

Conficker Stalls But Not Over

OK, the Conficker scare has subsided but let's stay aware that anything is possible as this downloading trojan waits for executable instruction(s). The programmers controlling this malware or either intimidated or have other future plans it appears. The authors of the malware are so ingenious that they have yet to be dismantled after years of operations overseas. They continue to financially hurt companies instantly in many fashions to cripling finances, technical operations, etc. bringing an online or physical mortar store to a grinding halt where no longer transactions could be made due to online monetary transaction problems, lack of ability to order items due to online downtime and many other disastrous scenarios.

Conficker's Fool's Day Threat

Conficker worm is awaiting instructions on what to execute on today's April Fool's Day date. So far, at about 4:25 CST, so far the threat appears to be benign but once again the malware is awaiting instruction and that could come anytime after today's date so the 12 million computers it is estimated to have infected are like soldiers awaiting orders to begin battle or go to war.

Intro:
The internet worm was discovered in October, 2008 and has been downloaded via email or tainted websites that have been hacked and malware scripts installed in the background. Some computer users have downloaded Conficker unintentionally while actually trying to find anti-malware removers to legitimately eraticate the worm. Users should be very cautious following links on websites as many are becoming infected searching for information about Conficker and surfing the internet to websites that are intentionally or unintentionally installing the malware to users' computers.

Dallas computer virus removal has seen numerous laptops and desktops infected with Conficker and its many mutations. Often times the drives must be removed from the machines and slaved to a working computer system with the latest virus, trojan, adware, spyware and malware signatures to root out the worm as it mutates many times daily. The worm is very difficult to remove and often times the only way to repair the machines are to reload the operating system after several scans of malware removal that will not remove all malware components.

History and Problems:
The problem partly lies with hacker kids in Russia and two mafia groups, one in Eastern Europe and the other in Russia. These two groups know of each other and compete with each other to attempt to put bogus virus removers on laptops and desktops. Once the malware is installed the two different pieces of malware can conflict with each other as each one tries to dominate the machine.

There are three versions of Conficker, Conficker A which came out around October, Conficker B that came out in January of this year and Conficker C that is waiting for instruction on April 1, 2009. All three versions of Conficker contain a list of 50,000 websites that give commands to the worm at the instructions of the malware authors. Microsoft has issued a $250,000 reward for the capture and conviction of the Conficker authors.

Conficker displays a splash screen upon startup of PC's that often interferes with the normal startup files causing conflict and diffeculty of removal because often the machines will not fully boot to the desktop where further work would allow full removal. Without the ability to fully boot and after slaving the infected drive to another working machine and removing all malware possible then the only way to repair the machine is to fully reinstall the operating system. Interesting, as only Windows is the only target of the worm with Linux and Mac systems immune from Conficker attacks.

How to Tell if Infected:

1. Users that cannot update their antivirus or other malware tools can assume that Conficker is installed deeply in the system and not allowing any updates or downloads from legitimate antivirus and malware vendors.
2. Users cannot boot into safe mode.

Recommendations:
The Computer Emergency Response Team suggests that computer users:

1. Install all security patches updates for your PC. The instructions for Microsoft's updates are here.
2. Install and update all anti-virus, spyware and adware programs that users have onhand.
3. Make sure the firewall is turned on.
4. If infected you may call Dallas Virus Removal for help.
5. Read the CERT advisory on Windows AutoRun feature.