Speed Up Windows 8 With Norton Internet Security

Symantec claims that its elite Antivirus software - Norton Internet Security - can outwit Microsoft's native security solution - Windows Defender - and in turn, provide a better, faster and securer computing experience.

Remember the good, old days back in 2008, when running Norton Security would quench your computer's performance? It was only 2009 when Symantec completely rewound the software and came up with a better and refined version of antivirus software. Since then, with every forthcoming version, it has just improved.

However, the irony is that so have its competitors. In recent times, security suites like BitDefender, AVG or Kaspersky have evolved to provide better user experience, faster performance and robust protection.

However, Symantec has been the catalyst in the transformation process, pushing the performance boundaries with every build. It realizes that performance would be a crucial factor not only for antivirus software but also for operating systems.

On the other hand, Microsoft claims that it has played all cards right this time with Windows 8. It won't slow down after few months unlike most Windows versions and promises an intuitive, easy-to-work-with interface as well.

Though the code for Windows 8 has not been out yet, Symantec couldn't resist itself from asserting that Windows 8 affiliated Norton Internet Security would provide the fastest computing experience. Moreover, it also went on to attest that as per their preliminary tests, Windows 8 PCs running with Norton Internet Security performed 52% faster when compared to the ones running with Windows Defender. These reports have been issued by TechRadar and the integrity of these reports thereby cannot be questioned.

Symantec would provide the functionality to update to newer versions without a need to reboot. Besides that, with an autonomous auto-update feature, you would stay up to date and always be protected from malicious attacks.

Though it is very much obvious that the paid versions of the software perform better than the freeware (Windows Defender is available as a FREE download), it would be fascinating to see how the contemporary software companies like Kaspersky, AVG or Kaspersky would respond to this.

There can also be the following implication: "Norton does not make Windows faster, Windows Defender makes it slower."

We would have to wait for the official release of Windows 8 in order to know what exactly the naked truth is. Having test the new Windows 8 platform, I would venture to say that it may not necessarily speed up the system, but it will certainly help keep it protected.

Jason Greenwell invites you to get the latest tech news, tips, and advice from his company My Tech Team - a leading provider of computer support - at http://www.mytechteam.net/blog

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The Metamorphosis of Computer Viruses

Have you ever heard the saying if someone can make it, someone can break it. Sure, this is a cliché usually reserved for prison escape movies, but it is also true of operating systems. Over the years the PC virus has metamorphosed into something far more complicated, the desire to turn your PC into a drone or bot allowing the virus controller to take control of your computer, sometimes targeting other sites in a distributed denial of service attack, or perhaps just waiting to intercept your Internet banking details.

Prior to broadband connections being widespread, creating large and sophisticated botnets of drone PCs was difficult due to the low speed of the dial-up analog modem. Faster broadband speeds have enabled ever increasingly sophisticated credit card fraud and DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

Today virus attacks can be broken into two categories. Destruction and Purpose. The first type of attack renders your system non functional and is the equivalent of cyber vandalism. The second type of attack is designed as a purpose, whether it is capturing your passwords, transforming your PC into a drone or installing some advertising malware into your browser toolbar, this type of attack is definitely the most dangerous.

Whatever the reason or motivation behind virus infections, what becomes clear is some operating systems are more vulnerable to these attacks than others. Windows based operating systems are definitely the most targeted, since the majority of people run the same operating system. A virus specifically designed to exploit a security loophole in the operating system will quickly spread throughout the infected users contacts and other files, generating infected emails or attaching malicious code with legitimate emails.

The easiest type of infection is with Javascript, which is embedded into almost every web page today. This is the main reason that html images are turned off by default in Outlook and other email clients, it just opens too many backdoor opportunities to hackers and viruses. So why is it that users of Linux and Mac seem to be relatively unscathed when it comes to viruses? The answer lies with the users permissions to execute code. By default users of these systems are not allowed to execute new code, users inherently don't have the ability to execute code as a service or change the runlevel of executable programs.

Coupled with the difficulty of creating and distributing the same virus compiled for different versions of Linux, such an undertaking becomes too much a daunting task for most intent on destruction. Windows makes a much softer target in this regard. Not that Linux servers are immune to such attacks, they all have similar exploits to Windows, however, security patching occurs much faster than with Windows since there are significant more individuals tracking and patching vulnerabilities before exploits are realized by the hacking community.

The Anti Microsoft Sentiment

This is probably the single biggest reason why Windows users are targeted. Hackers feel Microsoft is anticompetitive. Indeed, this is also the motivation behind organizations like Oracle that sponsored open source initiatives such as VirtualBox and Openoffice, which helps even out the playing field, as far as global dominance of office automation products are concerned. As a result of this sentiment, Windows PC's are the targets of more malware, phishing, virus than any other operating systems and as a result keeps virus detection and defense companies gainfully employed.

Firewalls and IPS

As the attacks become more sophisticated, security vendors are tuning their products to help combat the spread of infection. Simple firewall packet inspection rules are not enough on their own to stop a DDOS attack. In fact, the firewall itself may be the intended victim of such an attack. Today, most firewall solutions are coupled with Intrusion Detection and Protection, which allows firewall appliance to drop packets that exceed a certain threshold, such as the number of malformed http request from a particular host, a clear signal that a specific type of attack is being conducted on a web server for example. The firewall security appliance is critical for corporations, however, beyond the remit for most home users, who must rely on software based solution running on their PC.

Virus Defence Companies

Until 2009 protecting your Windows PC required a subscription to a anti-virus solution, virus defence companies sprung up everywhere and increased their services to include packet filtering software based firewalling. However Microsoft decided to provide a free security defence solution called Microsoft Security Essentials, in a attempt to stem the tide of virus attacks across it's products, (yes there are still folks out there who don't have any antivirus solution installed). In fact the upcoming release of Windows 8 will include the solution with the operating system. Can the competing virus solution companies differentiate themselves and hold on to market share? only time will tell.

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In-The-Field Analysis of "Trojan Horse Patched_c LYT" Virus

A long term client, having difficulties with pc problems, recently contacted us. She identified her computer signs and symptoms as follows:

"After Googling something and clicking a link I am hijacked off to a arbitrary website or pop-up".

I carried on by importing the vital analysis and restoration tools to the infected laptop via usb drive - packages included AVG, ComboFix, OTL, and MalwareBytes.

My primary phase comprises performing an AVG diagnostic scan. The outcome of the test pointed out an issue in c: \Windows\System32\services. exe caused by the computer virus "Trojan horse Patched_c. LYT". AVG offers you minimal support against a computer virus aimed towards services. exe - so eradication of the malware by using an anti-virus software program will not be a solution.

The next measure consists of executing a comboFix scan. Keep in mind, I rename ComboFix before upload to the corrupted laptop - because a number of spyware and adware specify combofix. exe explicitly.

Some added points concerning combofix. exe include:

1. Shut down every open web browsers before executing
2. Close and disable any anti-virus or anti-malware
3. Clicking on combofix while it executes may perhaps result in a stall
4. Combofix may interrupt internet connection if terminated prematurely. A system reboot clears this issue.
5. Combofix may dump the error "Illegal operation attempted on a registery key that has been marked for deletion". In this instance, a system restart fixes this issue.

The comboFix log indicates a problem in c: \Windows\System32\services. exe. We need to find a clean version of services. exe to restore the corrupted file located in the System32 folder. I begin an OTL session and scan the laptop for an authentic version. I also take this occasion to locate a clean copy of smss. exe.

/md5start
services. *
/md5stop

Now that we currently have the location of the original systems files we may continue to overwrite the contaminated system files. We could replace a systems executable in various ways- I opt for either a manual restore with software such as ComboFix or use of the System File Check utility. In this instance I fire up ComboFix and manually copy the clean executables:

FCopy::
C: \Windows\winsxs\[location of your services folder]\services. exe | C: \Windows\System32\services. exe
C: \Windows\winsxs\[location of your smss folder]\smss. exe | C: \Windows\System32\smss.exe

This appears to have eliminated the problem. The contaminated computer is now executing splendidly.

At this time I prefer to tie up loose ends by running MalwareBytes. A couple of details pertaining to MBAM:

1. Check for updates before running this application.
2. Quick scan will do in most situations
3. Look at the outcomes of the scan and be certain to select all items, then eliminate all chosen objects.
4. In the case MBAM encounters a difficult file you will be prompted with a couple of dialog boxes. Permit MBAM to complete the procedure and restart the system.

In this circumstance the MBAM diagnostic comes back clean.

Taylor Jacobson writes about actual experiences from our computer repair shop in Encino, CA. For more information regarding these types of computer viruses checkout: Encino Computer Repair Field Docs. If you require assistance repairing your computer we offer free online diagnostics: EncinoComputerRepair.com

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How the VPN Works, and Why Should I Care?

Mostly everyone in the world surfs the Internet, because of that fact; you should know how theVPN works. Before going into more details on how the VPN works let's see what is creating the need for a VPN. In today's society, it is rare when someone does not spend time each day online. Yet many Internet users are unaware that there is no privacy online, and that it takes little effort for hackers to steal their identity. In the last few years, identity theft has risen to an alarming rate, it is estimated that an identity is stolen every six seconds in the United States alone. Hackers have found it easy to buy a part from a local computer store and then go to sites online that teach them how to use the part and hack into websites. Criminals no longer have to buy a gun and rob you that way. They can just sit at a coffee shop and hack wireless users sitting around them. They have discovered that the Internet can be an information gold mine that can pay them big dividends without taking too many risks. It is safer, to steal someone information, than going rob a bank.

The thing is that almost every device can be hacked. It can be a laptop, smart phones, and even tablets. When you are online, someone can steal your information from anywhere in the world if you are not protected. We are facing a real global problem. Due to this major global problem, it is important for you understand how the VPN works, and how you can benefit from its use. We can say that the VPN can be the solution to a global problem.

Well, it's now time to go into the details of how the VPN works. A VPN is a program that offers privacy while on the Internet. For those who are not familiar with a VPN, it stands for a Virtual Private Network. It takes the regular internet, a public domain with numerous inherent security problems, and turns it into your own personal, private internet. A VPN uses software called tunneling protocol to burrow through the unsecure public internet, which hides all of your sensitive data in a 1024-bit encrypted tunnel along with a dynamic IP (Internet Protocol) address. This might sound too technical, but what this really means is that all of your online activity is hidden from prying eyes including your ISP (Internet Service Provider), hackers, neighbors and anyone else who wants to see, manipulate or steal your important data.

That is how the VPN works, the software protects your data and your online privacy. Large corporations often get VPNs established through giant technology companies, which supplies the hardware and software, but that is too costly for typical small businesses, medium-sized organizations, and home users. There are affordable and user-friendly Virtually Private Network alternatives that keep sensitive information of business and home computer users secure.

Wilfredo Orama is a Certfied Information Security Advisor with a vast of experience on how the VPN works, and to find the most affordable and complete VPN solution. For more information please visit:

http://surfsafevpn.com/wp-content/themes/NewSurfSafeVPN/photoshield.php

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Getting Rid of a Trojan Virus - What to Do If Your Computer Is Infected

Removing a Trojan is just like removing any other computer infection, most modern day antivirus programs will rid a computer of Trojans, worms, viruses, spyware plus other threats with ease. People that I have talked to have a misconception that a Trojan is far more serious and dangerous than a virus or spyware, this however is not the case.

The main difference between Trojans and other infections is that a Trojan is much stealthier, it will usually be in the background completing a task, stealing information or presenting itself as something useful, whereas a virus just usually takes over your computer and destroys as much as possible or makes it unusable.

So how do we remove a Trojan? It is fairly simple, if you have ever removed any virus or other infection using a program such as AVG, Avast, Malwarebytes, Combofix etc then you will already be able to remove a Trojan. Two of the best programs available to remove pretty much any infection are Malwarebytes and Combofix, both are free and available to download with a simple Google search.

Firstly you need to download both of the packages mentioned above, install each program in the usual way. Once the software has been downloaded and installed, it is just a case of opening each of them, ensuring that both are updated and then running a full scan. The software will then pick up any infections and provide you with any necessary action that needs to be taken, usually in the form of quarantine or deletion.

To be extra safe, be sure to have a real time antivirus running at all times. There are a number of free ones available that have great detection rates and are just as good as paid versions. Most Trojans, viruses or any infections can be stopped before they even enter your computer, simply by having this protection. It is a must for any machine and with plenty of free software out there there is no excuse (AVG Free, Avast Free, Avira Free, Bitdefender Free).

It is also important to change any bad browsing habits you may have had to contract this infection in the first place. If you enjoy clicking every link you come across and just have to download that illegal movie or click the attachment in every email then its time to re-assess your behavior and start acting better for the sake of your computer safety!

There you have it, a bit of information about Trojans, what you can use to get rid of them and a few extra tips to keep you safe from future infection. Enjoy the web.

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