Tom Mercado

SpywareStrike is the latest rogue anti-spyware application to hit the 'net. As early as last week, users began reporting popups, homepage redirects, and annoying taskbar popup security warnings indicating that there was "an intrusion" on their PC. ... SunbeltBlog reports that infected machines are being redirected to fake "online security" websites, including (among others): securitycaution.com, dnserror404.com, todaywarnings.com, updatesystempage.com, and yoursecuritysystem.com. [Sample screenshot here]. All of these sites are designed to dupe unsuspecting users into ... (view more)

SpywareStrike is the latest rogue anti-spyware application to hit the 'net. As early as last week, users began reporting popups, homepage redirects, and annoying taskbar popup security warnings indicating that there was "an intrusion" on their PC. ... SunbeltBlog reports that infected machines are being redirected to fake "online security" websites, including (among others): securitycaution.com, dnserror404.com, todaywarnings.com, updatesystempage.com, and yoursecuritysystem.com. [Sample screenshot here]. All of these sites are designed to dupe unsuspecting users into ... (view more)

Many security forums and security blogs are buzzing around the 'net with much talk about SpyAxe. Fact: Computer Associates Security Advisor page suggests that SpyAxe gets onto susceptible Windows machines through a vulnerability in Internet ... Explorer. Web sites with the hidden 'Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob' pass on SpyAxe as its "payload." Fact: Anti-virus firm F-Secure reports that up to twenty-five hundred (2500!) new machines per hour are infected with SpyAxe. Fact: Lavasoft quickly discovered as many as five new SpyAxe variants per week are installed onto users' machines. (A ... (view more)

Imagine this: news spreads on countless websites that a new form of Spyware is threatening computers on a global scale. Fearful that your system may have been recently compromised, you hop on over to Google and do a search for anti-spyware tools. ... You find one that looks promising, click the link to download the anti-spyware program, and... POW! You're immediately hammered with a big red popup claiming that your machine has been infected and you must buy an application to fix it. Welcome to the world of anti-spyware scams. With the latest variant of this scam, Spyaxe, for which Nick recently ... (view more)

Malware programmers frequently strap their rogue software (Spyware) into key sections of the Windows boot process. By doing so, the writers ensure they can keep their software running in hopes of maintaining control of your system. An excellent way ... to prevent these types of attacks from bypassing your security layers is to install a startup manager. Startup managers monitor specific sections of your system for anything newly installed, or that might pose as something out of the ordinary. When something tries to insert itself into your system, an alert will be triggered to ask if you want to ... (view more)

Some users feel a little is not enough when it comes to Spyware prevention. And to a certain degree they are correct. That being said: enforcing the perimeter of your Operating System (OS) can be achieved with the following tools I recommend. The ... Host File Defense Strategy I have briefly discussed the Hosts file when it comes to malware infection [with respect to browser hijacking]; however, when managed properly, the Hosts file can also be used to fight against potential infections. Let me explain. The Hosts file is like an address book. When you type an address like www.yahoo.com into a web ... (view more)

There are so many different types of anti-spyware tools out there, that it's a daunting task trying to figure out which will work best. Is anti-spyware protection best with real-time registry monitoring tools (as with Spy Sweeper) -- or not? You may ... recall that, whenever a program is installed on (or removed from) your computer, changes are typically made in the System Registry simultaneously. By definition, a registry monitor tool will watch for changes made to your registry as a result of adding or removing, and will prompt you to either accept or deny those changes. This is a good way to ... (view more)

Below you will find some of the most common indicators of malware infection. Should you be experiencing any of these symptoms, I strongly suggest you run your anti-virus scanner, along with your anti-spyware scanners. A combination of more than 2-3 ... of any of these symptoms could mean a major clean up is in order. -The homepage of your browser is changed suddenly, and you have no clue as to how it happened. This is commonly called a browser hijack , and one of the most notorious of these infections is CoolWebSearch. -You suddenly notice an 'extra' toolbar on IE and once again you didn't ... (view more)

You've just come home with your new computer. How delightful! Now you're ready to surf the web and download some music -- legally of course -- and send out a few emails to family and friends. As you're about to plug in the networking cable you ... remember something the sales associate mentioned. "Be sure and get some anti-spyware and security stuff". "Bah," you figure. The guy is just trying to sell you more that you don't want or need, right? Onward you go, dismissing the comment and salivating as Google pulls up page after page of amazing information about things you never knew ... (view more)

Let me introduce myself for those of you that do not know who I am; my name is Tom Mercado (Aka 'TeMerc') and for the most part, the forums I visit are part of the Alliance of Security Analysis Professionals, (also known as ASAP). For over a year ... and a half now I have been directly involved in helping users remove and eliminate various forms of Spyware issues (malwares). With all of the choices out there it is often hard to narrow things down; however that said I personally recommend using HijackThis!, in conjunction with a variety of other internet security applications and tools. Since my ... (view more)