Privacy, Spamming and viruses

[Ian]

This is worth reading, as it warns about the dangers of posting mobile phone pics on the internet,  Page 2 is especially interesting...



http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3239522

[DaveR]

My spam trap has collected quite a few of this particular email today, needless to say it is fake and should be deleted and reported as Spam. (I have removed the links):


Subject: News Releases : Upgrade New Adobe Acrobat Reader 2011 For PC And Mac

INTRODUCING UPGRADED ADOBE ACROBAT 2011
 
Dear Customers,
 
Adobe is pleased to announce new version upgrades for Adobe Acrobat 2011.

http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Advanced features include:

- Collaborate across borders
- Create rich, polished PDF files from any application that prints
- Ensure visual fidelity
- Encrypt and share PDF files more securely
- Use the standard for document archival and exchange
 
To upgrade and enhance your work productivity today, go to:

http://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
To leave comments, please contact us at: comments@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Best regards,
Andy Tailor
 
Copy rights © Adobe Acrobat 2010 - All Rights Reserved
1028 Parkway,Seatle,CA,10283, USA
Website: http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you no longer wish to receive similar emails, please send a REPLY with UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line.

[Fester]

This week, my PC was invaded by some kind of hijacking ''virus'' which demanded money, or my systems would be destroyed... and my online banking details compromised etc..etc..
If I didn't buy this anti-spyware It spelled the end of my world and my business...apparently.

The genius that is Dave R, took less than10 minutes to sort this out for me... (the cost so far only a couple of pints in the Deganwy Quay hotel bar)

However, see here..  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13973805

Indestructible viruses, sounds very scary.

Why do these people have so much time on thier hands to cause such mischief?

[DaveR]

Why do these people have so much time on thier hands to cause such mischief?

$$$$$$$$$$$

[Yorkie]

I am running Microsoft Security Essentials on one of my PC's and (touch wood) I have had no problems so far.  The program runs in the background and from what I can tell examines everything that goes on.   I run the Full Scan option occasionally and on the first occasion it pulled out a few oddments of Trojans etc but since then I have had nothing from the scans.   Apart from Very serious threats which I opt to destroy automatically when found I have anything else it comes across sent to quarantine so that I can actually see what it is catching.

As this does not operate well with other security software on the same PC this is all I use.

[Fester]

When my PC went haywire, the so called ''virus'', which turned out to be a scam, kept telling me I had Trojans all over the place.

I have no idea what they are, (and can't be bothered to look it up) ...but all I could imagine was lots of little sandal-wearing buggers with togas and minute ancient swords, running around and hacking away at my hard drive.

Its funny what the mind conjures up.

[Blodyn]

When my PC went haywire, the so called ''virus'', which turned out to be a scam, kept telling me I had Trojans all over the place.

I have no idea what they are, (and can't be bothered to look it up) ...but all I could imagine was lots of little sandal-wearing buggers with togas and minute ancient swords, running around and hacking away at my hard drive.

Its funny what the mind conjures up.

Trojan, what were you doing in Fester's PC?

[Trojan]

When my PC went haywire, the so called ''virus'', which turned out to be a scam, kept telling me I had Trojans all over the place.

I have no idea what they are, (and can't be bothered to look it up) ...but all I could imagine was lots of little sandal-wearing buggers with togas and minute ancient swords, running around and hacking away at my hard drive.

Its funny what the mind conjures up.

Trojan, what were you doing in Fester's PC?

 

[DaveR]

When my PC went haywire, the so called ''virus'', which turned out to be a scam, kept telling me I had Trojans all over the place.

I have no idea what they are, (and can't be bothered to look it up) ...but all I could imagine was lots of little sandal-wearing buggers with togas and minute ancient swords, running around and hacking away at my hard drive.

Its funny what the mind conjures up.

Trojan, what were you doing in Fester's PC?

 

...always the prime suspect! 

[Trojan]

When my PC went haywire, the so called ''virus'', which turned out to be a scam, kept telling me I had Trojans all over the place.

I have no idea what they are, (and can't be bothered to look it up) ...but all I could imagine was lots of little sandal-wearing buggers with togas and minute ancient swords, running around and hacking away at my hard drive.

Its funny what the mind conjures up.

Trojan, what were you doing in Fester's PC?

 

...always the prime suspect! 

 

[Yorkie]

I have had my main PV and Notebook hit in the past week by a virus called Exploit.  My Microsoft Security Essentials detected and got rid of it automatically.  For what it is worth this is what is said about it.

What is Exploit Virus problem?

Once installed and running, Exploit Virus will scan your computer, list a variety of infections, and constantly annoy you with nagging screens and fake security alerts about problems on your computer. What's more, Exploit Virus may also display a window labeled Exploit Virus Protection Center which impersonates the legitimate Windows Security Center. This protection center states that your computer has no protection and recommends that you purchase Exploit Virus. All the despicable actions of Exploit Virus are actually in the attempts to promote users to purchase its useless full version.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/what-is-exploit-virus-problem-and-how-to-remove-exploit-virus-with-best-antispyware-tool-2195437.html#ixzz1QyLaKNdJ

[DaveR]

That's a similar one to the problem that Fester had. It's worth mentioning that if viruses are able to install themselves on any PC on a regular basis, then the security needs to be beefed up. I'd recommend anyone using FireFox also installs the free NoScript addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/

[Fester]

Yes Dave and Yorkie, that is a very similar scam virus.

It impersonated Windows Security, and me being me, I fell for it... clicked on it,  and that was it ... it disrupted everything.

Dave thinks its nothing to sort these things out, to me its worth a small fortune...(or at least a couple of pints  L0L  L0L) ... which in the Deganwy Quay amounts to the same thing really!

 

[Ian]

This one is real...or slightly so:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/250296/the_truth_about_the_march_8_internet_doomsday.html

It doesn't affect Macs, of course...  D)

[Hugo]

I had an e-mail the other day and it was from a friend we hadn't heard from for a while.  When I opened it, in bold letters it said my Christian name followed by "show video now view here"  so I clicked on it and it just said that Internet Explorer could not find the web page.
I e-mailed my friend back and she said that she had never sent me an e-mail and asked if it could be a virus!
I carried out a scan and there were 4 exploit/java items and one Trojandownloader listed in the history that have now been removed.
By coincidence or not all the addresses in my address book have gone, all 200 plus and I don't know how or if I can recover them so someone is coming along next week to help me sort things out.
Has anyone had a similar problem?