Dell Extends Windows XP

Reports are emerging that Dell will extend its Windows XP installation to 2010. This would allow, all according to InformationWeek.com, a user to skip Vista and upgrade new Microsoft's next OS call Windows 7.

The new operating system will supposedly be ready by then. Customers for the next 20 months will be shipped a "bonus" Vista machine that can be downgraded to the XP version by contacting Microsoft where the user would be given an activation code.

Did not Microsoft have a longer than expected roll out of XP? The track knowledge of Microsoft's rolling out new OS has not been the greatest in the past years.

US Air Force Readies for Cyber Attacks

PCVD's Dallas Computer Repair has long warned the civilian population about cyber attacks against individuals and citizens in the United States. The U.S. Air Force is taking measures that not only will protect the internet infrastructure but will be able to deliver attacks to foes that attempt to disrupt individuals, businesses, corporations and the U.S. military installations.

Rogue Anti-Spyware Continually Predominant

PCVD's Dallas Computer Repair still receives personal computers of all sizes that have one or more rogue anti-spyware installed (please see the "rogue anti-spyware list" published by one site). The 'pest applications' are nothing but trojan downloaders that user's download unknowing that this is a huge piece of fully functionable malware generally occompanied by other independent, heavily stealth mode and hard to remove trojans.

There are a number of attributes that lend to this behavior; [1] the User, [2] those entities that publish their bogus goods. The User is not trained to spot such surreptitious software heaped upon the masses. The entities promoting the products may well not understand that they are contributing to the promotion of not only fake products but harmful products.

There are many possible ramifications that may come about. Some search engines are refusing to post known rogue software as results in their queries. Users need to become trained to question software and training materials must be presented through public education avenues or private avenues.

The key is to be aware of fake anti-malware programs.

Anti-spyware Company Accused of Deception

InformationWeek reports that a Harvard professor accuses C-NetMedia of using deceptive marketing and an inefficient product to dupe users into buying its product. The professor, Ben Edelman, says the company name is very similar to CNET Networks and also has similarities to other companies that make it seem as if it is part of other companies, including Spybot S&D.

Edelman anticipates that C-NetMedia will place blame on affiliates that market its products although the professor says that the company also has logos that assimilate an association with Windows through design similarities.

Dallas computer repair has seen a big increase in the amount of either deceptive anti-spyware on customer's computers or anti-spyware that is just not worth taking the time to install such useless malware programs.

Dallas Laptop Repair

PCVD's Dallas laptop repair has seen an increase in bogus attempts to install anti-malware in PC systems that are just illegitimate pieces of software designed for hacking, trojan activity, popups, etc. Malware removal is never more challenging than ever as the malware authors design the program to remain stealth while trying to be removed.

Some of the latest, virus/trojans/malware can take hours and days to resolve as worldwide solutions are awaiting the latest variation in malwares. The solutions are hard to achieve quickly as the largest anti-virus companies remain behind PC Virus Doctors in resolving malware issues. PC Virus Doctors struggle often and long to resolve the very latest of malware downloaded by our customers due to the "Contemporary/New" state the written malware is presently in.

Many times the computer/laptop hard drive must be removed, scanned with anti-virus/malware removers such as ad removers and popup removers, then scanned again when rebooted in the original Laptop/PC case. The process has become laborous and PC Virus Doctors have made external drives that are more current with e-sata speeds.

The results with dual-core technology and quicker drive access speed dramatically increaseses service delivery overall that is needed for quality control checks and time taken.

Median for Identity Theft at $31,356

Utica College with the help of the Secret Service has determined that the median cost to victims for identity theft is $31,356.00. Although Secret Service data has not been previously used it is also noteworthy that the Secret Service does not get involved with minor schemes. The report also notes that unlike previously thought it is not white males that are the majority of offenders but many other minority races are responsible for ID theft.

US Government to Curb Chinese Hacking

ABC News Tonight reported that US officials admit the Chinese broke into Pentagon computers successfully. Dallas Computer Repair has seen a dramatic increase in trojans as the war wages on from cyber attacks. The last computer scanned produced and initial 153 trojans and a reboot scan pulled up another 91 trojans. The spyware and adware on the computer was numbered at 253 pieces. The whole attack ended up destroying the boot record that could not be repaired without reinstalling the full system.

The computer contained client data with credit cards, names and addresses. The client was informed that such data was critical to being protected at the fullest extent. I don't think the client understood or refused to understand the need to go out of the way and spend the necessary time and resources to secure the data. That will be in the report/invoice that will be sent to the client without doubt.

New Worm Targeting Skype

Skype users should be aware that a new worm is targeting the software by using the chat function to send a message to users about a link to a .jpg that is ready for downloading. The user will then see a dialog box that will ask to 'save or run' a .scr file that should be ignored, according to an article on InformationWeek.

The worm is said to be spreading globally in an alarming rate.

Hacked by the Chinese Again

Reports are coming about again how the Chinese are attempting to infiltrate our infrastructure in the United States. They have been recently caught in June trying to gain access to the Pentagon, according to FinancialTimes.com and also have been unofficially caught attempting to gain access to our Naval Intelligence in Alabama as we reported several weeks ago.

Our own website, Dallas Computer Repair, was infiltrated and attempts to cause confusion and duplication within the search engine Google was attempted. The hackers attempted to drop executable files that were noticed and immediately deleted. We are always on the lookout for devious attempts at hijacks within our site and will remain vigilent.

Storm Worm Takes 13 Hour Break Then Reheats

Storm Worm took a 13 hour break over the Labor Day Holiday just to restart with new twists. The new worm campaign began with emails sent to accounts that had a link to a 'Happy Labor Day' greeting card that was a link to a malicious site, according to Dallas Computer Service. There scripts were executed that took advantage of exploits in Microsoft products, QuickTime and WinZip.

Another twist was that emails were sent that proclaimed particular musical artists had released a new video on YouTube that even MTV had not received yet.

Solution: Do Not open emails from unknown senders.