infected

Infopackets Reader Ken C. writes: " Dear Dennis, After a virus recently infected my PC, I was forced (once again) to format my hard drive and do a clean installation of Windows. I'm getting better and better at this. My PC is now protected by ... McAfee, supplied by AT&T U-Verse Wireless High-Speed. Aside from an erratic mouse, my PC is operating satisfactory. My question is this: is it possible for a virus to infect memory modules (RAM) of my PC? I ask because a couple of years ago something went amiss, and one of the Dell techies (over the phone) advised me to unplug and then re- ... (view more)

In a recent annual security report posted on the web site of China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT), it was reported that almost 7 million Internet Protocol (IP) addresses were infected with the "Conficker B" ... worm at the end of 2009. While the number of infections fluctuated on a week-to-week basis, all but one week had at least 5 million IP infections in the country. Statistically, China represents 28 per cent of the total number of compromised computers infected with the Conficker B worm, the largest percentage world-wide. (Source: pcworld.com ) ... (view more)

Having a rootkit (virus) installed on your PC is a bad thing. That's because by definition, rootkits are specialized malware programs that are stealthy in nature and are near-impossible to detect and remove. In searching for a solution, however, ... it's understandable that infected PC owners would look to a software company like Microsoft to fix a problem affecting its operating system -- in this case, Windows XP. Unfortunately, that's not the case for many users with PCs suffering from the Alureon rootkit virus. Microsoft Update Causes Infected PCs to Crash Alureon, or Win32/Alureon.A, infects ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed it will indeed have a fix for a critical Internet Explorer bug in next week's monthly update. The security loophole means XP users who don't have the latest edition of the browser could be infected even by visiting a ... theoretically safe website. The bug, which Microsoft describes as "browse and get owned," involves the Active X (Direct Show) system used for displaying online videos. The specific function it affects is no longer used, which may be how the hackers found the loophole. The bug affects users of Windows XP, as well as anyone running Windows Server 2003 that ... (view more)

A new malware worm that targets Google fans and uses Javascript to attack computers through vulnerabilities in Adobe PDF reader and Flash player is on the loose. According to SophosLabs, the virus known as JSRedir-R blows all other web-based malware ... out of the water. JSRedir-R accounted for 42 per cent of all malicious infections found on websites in a one week period. The malware, also known as 'Gumblar,' infected a new page every 4.5 seconds. (Source: sophos.com ) Infected Redirected via Google Result Pages Google users are redirected to other sites that download more malware onto the user' ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Mule63' writes: " Dear Dennis, I would like to know how to get rid of Tracking Cookies. They seem to be using my email to send inappropriate messages to people and my Internet Service Provider (ISP) has threatened to cut my ... Internet service. Could this cause the computer to go slower? Thank you for any information you can give me. " My response: The short and sweet answer is that tracking cookies probably aren't the issue here. The more likely answer is that your computer is infected with Spyware, is part of a botnet, and is being used to proliferate spam. Allow me to ... (view more)

A new type of worm has been reported to infect 55 different home-based routers and DSL/cable modems has been discovered. Originating in Australia, Psyb0t, is the first worm capable of infecting residential routers and modems, including common brands ... like Linksys and Netgear. A blog post from DroneBL researchers says that Psyb0t (also known as Bluepill) is suspected of infecting at least 100,000 hosts. (Source: dronebl.org ) Check Your Vulnerability According to DroneBL, you're only vulnerable if: Your network device is a mipsel device Your device allows telnet , SSH or web-based interfaces ... (view more)

According to security researchers, the Conficker worm virus -- which has infected millions of machines since its discovery in October 2008 -- is set to wreak havoc next Wednesday, April 1st. The problem is that nobody is sure exactly what the worm ... will do. At the moment the virus, which exists in at least three different 'strains' , does not actually do anything other than attempt to spread further across the webosphere. Secret Methods of Communication All that's known at the moment is that on April 1st, PCs already infected with Conficker will contact a random website for instructions on ... (view more)

The frightening Conficker worm is just getting bigger and meaner all the time. W32.Downadup.C, a third variant of the Conficker/Downadup worm , is reportedly being pushed out to systems that are already infected. Analysis of the third variant of the ... worm by Symantec is still in the early stages, but their initial research found a couple of new attributes -- one of which includes targeting antivirus software and security tools with the intention of disabling them. (Source: symantec.com ) New Variant Protects itself from AntiVirus Software The Conficker/Downadup authors moved from a 250-a-day ... (view more)

A new variant of the Conficker/Downadup worm has been detected. The worm opens a backdoor on an infected machine and allows hackers remote control of infected PCs. Dubbed Conficker B++ (and not to be confused with Conficker B), the new variant of ... the worm opens a backdoor with auto-update functionality, allowing a hacker to distribute malware to infected machines. It's difficult to know exactly how long Conficker B++ has been circulating, but researchers first noticed it on February 6 of this year. (Source: pcadvisor.co.uk ) 10.5 Million Computers Infected Machines infected by the Conficker/ ... (view more)