I was reading some Survivor news and then all of a sudden a window popped up to tell me that there was a virus on my computer and that I needed to install some program to get rid of it. My BS detector immediately went hot. I never remembered installing any anti-virus (probably not a good idea) and how come all of a sudden there was all this crap on my computer?
I did a Google search of "XP Security Tool 2010 Firewall Alert" and it confirmed my suspicions that this was scareware!
How to Get Rid of It
Trend Micro Housecall and WinClam did not work for me. I went to XP Security Tool 2010 Analysis and Removal at MalwareHelp.org and followed the instructions. I ran their registry file and then installed MalwareBytes’s Anti-Malware. After this program detected the scareware I removed them, turned System Restore off and then on, and then restarted the computer. The problem seemed to go away.
To prevent future problems, I installed Avast Free Antivirus, which I hope will protect my computer.
Conclusion
It's always a dilemma when you have a rogue security software on your computer because you have to get rid of it with another security software and you never know if the software you use to get rid of the rogue software is not a rogue software itself! It's therefore necessary that you trust someone because trusting no one makes you worse off. It is like the Survivor castaways who do not know who to trust but must trust someone if they want to end up further in the game.
What I found was that there were certain organizations that I do trust, e.g. Google and CNET. Google especially allows me to see what others think about an issue so I can get multiple perspectives.
Showing posts with label security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label security. Show all posts
25 April 2010
09 January 2010
Used Armoured Cars
At work I spoke to a young friend about the housing affordability crisis (HAC) in Australia. He lamented that buying a house now would cost about $500,000. My young friend is absolutely crazy because there are plenty of houses much cheaper than $500,000. For example, you can buy a house in Melton for about $250,000. However, he then said that he didn't want to buy a cheap house because "it's poor for a reason." He claimed that cheap houses were normally in bad neighbourhoods where there is a lot of crime.
I don't actually know what the crime rate is in Melton, but assuming that high-crime suburbs have lower price, I started wondering if it is worth it paying a vey high premium in house prices (or rent) just so you can the chances of being a victim of crime when there are other perhaps cheaper ways of reducing your chances of being a victim of crime. For example, perhaps it would be cheaper overall to buy a house in a cheap suburb but then protect yourself by putting a concrete wall around your house to keep you safe. To protect yourself when you go in and out of the house you will need a strong automatic garage door as well as an armoured car.
My friend scoffed at the idea, saying that an armoured car is extremely expensive. I didn't know whether this was true or not, but I checked the internet and have found a site (in America) that sells used armoured cars, and there are some used armoured cars there for only US$25,000, so that is pretty cheap.
For me, safety comes first, so I think maybe it might be a good idea to buy an armoured car. Many people tell me that if I live in a good neighbourhood then I will be fine, but I think that crime doesn't disappear just because the net worth of the people around you rises. It's better to be safe. There's no harm in being prepared.
I don't actually know what the crime rate is in Melton, but assuming that high-crime suburbs have lower price, I started wondering if it is worth it paying a vey high premium in house prices (or rent) just so you can the chances of being a victim of crime when there are other perhaps cheaper ways of reducing your chances of being a victim of crime. For example, perhaps it would be cheaper overall to buy a house in a cheap suburb but then protect yourself by putting a concrete wall around your house to keep you safe. To protect yourself when you go in and out of the house you will need a strong automatic garage door as well as an armoured car.
My friend scoffed at the idea, saying that an armoured car is extremely expensive. I didn't know whether this was true or not, but I checked the internet and have found a site (in America) that sells used armoured cars, and there are some used armoured cars there for only US$25,000, so that is pretty cheap.
For me, safety comes first, so I think maybe it might be a good idea to buy an armoured car. Many people tell me that if I live in a good neighbourhood then I will be fine, but I think that crime doesn't disappear just because the net worth of the people around you rises. It's better to be safe. There's no harm in being prepared.
15 September 2007
Is 7-Zip Encryption Safe?
Instead of using Winzip, which costs money, I use 7-zip, which is free and better. 7-Zip can create and open zip files but its own 7z file format gets better compression and is faster as well. Plus during encryption it uses AES256, which is safe enough for the United States Defense Agencies.
Over at Computer Forensics World, someone is trying to break a 7-Zip file because he suspects that there might be child pornography inside. Unfortunately for him but fortunately for the reliability of 7-zip encryption, he doesn't seem too successful.
Over at Computer Forensics World, someone is trying to break a 7-Zip file because he suspects that there might be child pornography inside. Unfortunately for him but fortunately for the reliability of 7-zip encryption, he doesn't seem too successful.
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