Support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 Ends

Microsoft is ending support for Windows Service Pack 2 (SP2) on July 13, 2010, a date that was originally set when Windows XP Service pack 3 (SP3) was released on April 21, 2008. After the July 13, 2010 cutoff computers running Windows XP SP2 will no longer be able to receive downloaded security patches and device drivers via Windows Update.

If you are running Windows XP and are not running Service Pack 3 (SP3) you will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update to protect your PC from viruses, spyware and other malware, as well as updates that improve Windows reliability, including new drivers for hardware. Without Service Pack 3 the next vulnerability in Windows XP that gets identified and fixed won’t get patched on your computer; potentially leaving you open to various forms of malicious software.

Windows XP SP3 Is A Wise Move

Users with a computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) should seriously consider upgrading to Service Pack 3 (SP3) at their earliest opportunity. Paid support and security updates for SP2 will also no longer be available, although Microsoft has stated that Windows XP SP2 users will still be allowed to access Microsoft online Knowledge Base articles, FAQs and troubleshooting tools.

Windows XP SP2 users can download the SP3 software package from Microsoft’s support site if they want to continue receiving security updates – Microsoft Windows XP Sp3 .

Windows XP 64-Bit

Microsoft also produces a 64-bit version of Windows XP although it is not very widely used. There is no Service Pack 3 for the 64-bit version of Windows XP. Users running the 64-bit version of Windows XP with Service Pack 2, are on the latest service pack and will continue to be eligible for support and receive updates until April 8, 2014.

XP SP3 – Just Do It

For the average user, there are really very few reasons not to upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3 if you have not done so already. It is well worth the effort.

Source :-www.htstechtips.com

Fake Antivirus, A great Risk

Fake antivirus or more precise - fake antimalware, or rogue security programs - is a generic description for all types of malware that pretend to be protection software against virus, spyware, Trojans and other types of malware. In reality however, fake antimalware is malicious software. The most used spreading mechanism is drive-by infections from visiting web sites.

One popular technique is to manipulate search engines to display search engine results using search words that are "hot" to display web sites that are infected by fake antimalware. Such words are f.ex. big media events and other issues that people usually search for. Another technique is propagation through malicious advertisements.

The idea behind Fake Antivirus is to trick infected users into purchasing the fake antivirus product by displaying information that the computer is infected even if it is not. Some of the rogue security programs may display product names or logos in an apparently unlawful attempt to impersonate legitimate product. Some versions also disable legitimate antivirus programs, and block Internet access to security sites. The fake antimalware products often download other malware components, which in turn may download other and update themselves with new/updated modules. The result is that the malware is difficult to remove and may be quite persistent in its attempts to convince the users to buy the product.

Removal: Norman's antivirus products are in general able to remove all malicious software that is detected. Some malware, however, uses techniques that the general product does not remove sufficiently. Therefore, the free product Norman Malware Cleaner is most widely used.

“Here you have” Email Virus - W32/VBMania@MM

A new version of "I love you" virus/worm called "Here you have" Virus came ou. All it does when ran is distribute itself using your addressbook. Many big corporations were hit, and antivirus software had to release an emergency updates.

Clean “Here you have” Email Virus

US-CERT have issued alerts of a worm spreading through email with the subject "Here you have" and being identified as the W32/VBMania@mm or “VBMania” worm. The virus has been spreading primarily via email, asking recipients to click on a link masked as a PDF file that actually links to malware being hosted on an external server. In a sample, an emailed contained a link to “PDF_Document21_025542010_pdf.scr’” which directed users to malware hosted on the domain “members.multimania.co.uk”. The virus had been spreading rapidly but researchers are saying that volume has dropped significantly once the site hosting the malware was shut down. When a user clicks on the link, their computer instantly downloads and launches the malware.

The worm also attempts to spread from computer to computer over local networks. So, disable network sharing and/or disconnect infected computers from the local network and Internet and block outbound traffic to the domains/ IP addresses contained in the malicious e-mail to prevent users connecting to distribution sites to download.

Stinger utility is used to detect and remove this threat. Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system.

How to Improve Facebook Page

There are more applications available that do not require a lot of programming. While most of these programs offer very limited customization, they still offer a degree of enhancement that can help to bring you out of the default Facebook Page channel.

Here are 10 steps to enhance Facebook Page:
1. Constant Contact: This popular email newsletter builder has a ready-made app to add a “Join My List” tab to your Page, complete with a subscription form.
2. Docs: Share documents with fans, add a Docs profile tab to your Page, even collaborate on docs with other Page administrators for your Page.
3. Tumblr: You can syndicate your Tumblr posts to your Page’s feed.
4. Posterous. Because you can post anything to your Posterous using email — photos, video, music, documents or files — you can use the same functionality to post to your Page via Posterous attached to your Page’s feed.
5. Networked Blogs: With this app, you can promote your blog on Facebook and syndicate your feeds to your profile Wall and Fan Pages.
6. Signup Form: Use this form to collect data or get fans to sign up for something via your Page.
7. Easy Schedule: Add your schedule to your Page.
8. TalkShoe: Create or join live group calls aka Community Calls with Facebook friends. Participants can join via landline, mobile phone, Skype or VoIP. You can record calls and make them into podcasts.
9. My Etsy: Have an Etsy shop? Add a tab to your Facebook Page.
10. FanAppz: A suite of Fan Page tools including a Top5 application, where fans can select their five favorite things in your branded content or FanAppz content, polls, quizzes, promotions, coupons and more.

Google acts to fix YouTube flaw exploited by hackers

YouTube has been enforced to fix a flaws that allows hackers to bombard its users with fake pop-up add and alerts and redirect them to retricted sites. Hackers use to place code in the comments section, and when some plays that video the script automatically runs. In some cases, a pop-up screen appears, showing some latest news (Fake most of the time).

Google, which owns YouTube, asked it to fix problem at the arlest, "about two hours" after it was discovered. YouTube spokeperson said that, "We took swift action to fix a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on youtube.com,"

Hackers hide those comments within in an hour as soon as they get this news.

Hackers use Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities, they are relatively easy attacks that allows them to place code into website pages. In this YouTube incident, hackers use JavaScript and HTML code, both commonly used on web pages.

Internet Security experts claims that although in most these attacks code was relatively not much dangerous, it has been used for more malicious purposes. "It could be used to show a message like “update your password”, this further could link to a malicious website.

How to Uninstall Antivirus 7

About Antivirus 7
Antivirus 7 is a fake rogue security application that can be installed through the use of a Trojan horse parasite. Usually Trojans that install programs such as Antivirus 7 come from other malicious applications that are downloaded from P2P networks or warezprogram pirating web sites.

What Antivirus 7 do?
After the installation of Antivirus 7, a computer user is prompted with virtually endless amounts of popup alerts that falsely warn them of parasite infections. This software will also attempt to scan the system that it is installed on to reveal several fabricated parasite results. These tactics are carried out as part of a scare tactic to force users into purchasing the full Antivirus 7 application.

Removal of Antivirus 7
Getting rid of a software application like this may require an expert computer user if performed manually. Manual removal of Antivirus 7 can be performed but it could put the system at risk of deleting an essential system file needed for Windows to load. Removing registry entries associated with a harmful application can also seriously affect the way the system operates and could render certain functions useless if the wrong entry is deleted.

Spyware Adware Malware-A Real Problem

Most computer users have heard about adware, malware, and spyware. However, many are not sure how these can affect their computers, and here is where the problem lies. If your home is being threatened by potential thieves, would you not do all you can to protect your property and your family?

In a very similar way your computer is vulnerable because of the growing number of victims of identity theft and botnet. These threats can also cause your system to crash, and that can cost a pretty penny.

Spyware has the distinct advantage of being able to worm its way into your PC through downloads, emails, or internet surfing. Once inside your computer, it can track down your computer use, internet activities, disrupt your PC use with pop-ups, and steal personal and financial information like your credit card numbers.

With botnet a computer spyware program, it can turn your PC into part of its network which sends out spam without you knowing it and so you end up infecting and spamming your relatives, business associates and friends, without even knowing it.

You need to beef up your security, and one of the best ways to do it is with an anti-spyware that will not just protect you once, but continuously through automatic updates and scans.

Facebook's New Privacy for Users

From long time, Facebook has had a pretty consistent modus operandi that It breaks stuff, catches flack for it, and then-eventually-backpedals or otherwise responds to the criticism. The tradition continues with CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg's new blog post. After a few weeks of intense unhappiness over the company's recent new features and related changes to privacy policies, it's redoing its privacy settings in a major way.

Zuckerberg says that the new features will take a few weeks to reach every Facebook user. I don't see them yet. But here's a recap of what he says is new:
• Rather than having to wade through gazillions of granular settings, it'll be easy to tell Facebook you want anything you post to be visible to friends only, friends of friends, or everybody. These rules will apply to future Facebook functionality that doesn't exist yet.
• You'll be able to make your Friends and Pages lists completely private.
• It'll be easier to block apps on Facebook from getting at your information.
• It'll be easier to block external sites such as Pandora which use Facebook's new "Instant Personalization" from getting at your information. (Currently there's no single place to go to do this, nor any way to block all sites with one click).
• If users find these changes satisfactory, Facebook intends to avoid major changes to privacy policies "for a long time”.

Adobe warns over unpatched PDF peril

Hackers are making use of critical, unpatched vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, Acrobat and Flash Player.

These vulnerabilities are platform independent and can affect users of Adobe products regardless of whether they run Windows, Mac or Linux systems, Adobe warns.

The software developer reckons that Adobe Reader and Acrobat version 8.x are not vulnerable, but users of the newer version 9.0 of the software are at risk. Adobe has published a workaround involving the deletion of a library file connected with processing Flash content in PDF files pending the development of a more comprehensive fix.

Adobe is yet to publish a timetable of when patches will become available. Adobe Flash Player 10.0.45.2 and earlier versions are vulnerable to the bug. Users of Flash Player 10.1 Release Candidate may be in the clear but that's uncertain, as an advisory from Adobe explains.

The bugs are the latest in a series of security pratfalls to befall Adobe software, joint favorite with Microsoft's browser and programs as the main targets of hacker attacks. The latest flaw can be blamed on the support of exotic files and formats within PDF files, a problem that has cropped up in the past.

Removing Anti Virus Armor Rogue Anti-Spyware

Anti Virus Armor also known as Anti-Virus Armor 2010 is a rogue anti-spyware application designed to pilfer money from computer users. Once active on the infected computer, Anti Virus Armor pretends to scan your system and display some imaginary threats.

Steps to remove Anti Virus Armor Rogue Anti-Spyware:

1. Restart your computer and keep pressing F8 Key before Windows launches. Use the arrow keys to select the “Safe Mode with Networking” option, and then hit ENTER Key to continue.
2. Download Spyware Cease install it and update its database to the latest. After that, restart your computer so as to make Spyware Cease fully functional. Repeat Step 1 into Safe Mode and run an Online Scan of your computer so that Spyware Cease can detect all potential malware in your system.
3. After the Online Scan finishes, click “Details” for the malware detected to make sure that your important data are not infected and removed. Ignore or select the scan result and click “Remove” to remove the threats. Reboot your computer and let Spyware Cease delete all detected virus.
4. Download and install RegTweaker to repair your corrupted registry.

To make your computer run as perfectly as before or much faster than before:

1. Download and install RegTweaker.
2. Run a full scan of your registry.
3. Click “Repair Problems” and repair all errors detected.

McAfee Patch file Error

If you are one of those Windows XP users who has downloaded latest McAfee security patch file on 21st April 10, then you might face some trouble. However if you are working on Windows Vista or Windows 7, then you need not worry as this patch is working perfectly fine on these MS Operating Systems.

Following issues are faced after instating above patch files:
• Automatic system shutdown
• Slow Internet connection
• Poor Computer performance

Solution for Automatic system shutdown

Step 1: Open a command prompt: Start menu, Run, then type cmd and hit Enter
Step 2: Type shutdown -a, which will prevent the shutdown from occurring

Once Slow Internet connection
Step 1: Click Start, Programs, McAfee, and then VirusScan Console
Step 2: Right-click “Access Protection”
Step 3: Select “Disable”

Poor Computer performance

Step 1: Download EXTRA.ZIP, from the McAfee site and unzip to get EXTRA.DAT
Step 2: Click Start, Run, then type services.msc and click “OK”
Step 3: Right-click the McAfee McShield service and select “Stop”
Step 4: Copy EXTRA.DAT to “\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee\Engine”
Step 5: Then restart the McAfee McShield service by right-clicking on it and choosing “Start” from the context menu
Step 6: Re-enable access protection by going back to the VirusScan Console
Step 7: Right-click “Access Protection”
Step 8: Select “Enable”
Step 9: In the VirusScan Console, go to the Quarantine Manager Policy
Step 10: Click the Manager tab
Step 11: Right-click on each file in the Quarantine and choose “Restore”

Once you have completed all these steps, your computer will function as it was before. All that we have done is these steps is disabled the erroneous patch and enabled the correct patch.