Malware Mucks Up Business

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Each year, businesses are hit with malware infections. Malicious software may damage computers, enable corporate thieves to steal proprietary data or simply slow the network to a crawl. Regardless of the motivation behind malware attacks and infections, large corporations are not the only targets of malicious software. Smaller companies are also affected every year.

Malware Affects Big and Small Businesses Alike

Though 50 percent of all companies affected by malware employ 2500 or more individuals, smaller companies must deal with the problems caused by malicious software, as well. Eighteen percent of companies that are affected by malware employ fewer than 250 people. No matter the size of the company, malware is always a concern.

Malicious software may pose a security threat to companies. Not only are trade secrets and proprietary information at risk, but individuals may also have their identities stolen though malware infected computers. Over 187 million people have had their identities stolen as the result of hacking attacks.

Malware Threatens Productivity Levels

At the very least, loss of productivity may occur due to infected computers rendered inoperable or slow at the workplace. No matter the size of the business, training employees about the cost of malware, as well as how to avoid malware infection, is important. When training employees about mitigating risk of malware infections, it is important to discuss that malware is spread through infected websites that install the malicious software on the computer through the web browser.

Although most malware is spread through webpages, a computer could also be infected via email attachments. During training, be sure to cover that an estimated 1 in 239 emails contain malware in attachments. Train employees to avoid websites that are not work related while on the job. In addition, train employees to never open email attachments unless they know and trust the sender.

Security Awareness Training Can Help Stop a Growing Problem

Malware is a growing problem. Between 2010 and 2011, the incidence of malware increased by nearly 41 percent. Training employees and ensuring that the latest anti-virus sofware is installed on all company machines will help to mitigate the risk of malicious software infecting the company network.

Malware is Everywhere infographic brought to you by Inspired eLearning. Visit their site to learn about security awareness training and more tips for avoiding malware.

ANTIVIRUS SYSTEM PRO “SPYWARE ALERT”?

The following popup:

“Spyware Alert! Vulnerabilities found. Your computer is infected by spyware – 34 serious threats have been found while scanning your files and registry. It is strongly recommended that you disinfect your computer and activate Real time secure protection against future instructions.”

The above may seem like a genuine spyware alert by a legitimate antivirus program, but it is actually a misleading advertisement displayed by the rogue anti-spyware Antivirus System Pro. This is done in order to trick users into thinking that their computer is infected, so that hopefully they would purchase the “full version” of this scare ware program. 

Can an antivirus be a virus? 

Yes and it is actually virus disguised as an antivirus software that opens a backdoor and downloads other virus into user’s computer system. The best thing to be made is download a legitimate antivirus that will fully take all viruses out of the computer. A legitimate antivirus never ruins the user’s computer. In no way will this legitimate antivirus ruin the user’s computer browser and no pop-ups usage. 

Symptoms of PC that has been infected by Antivirus System Pro

Slow PC Performance. Most Adware is not optimized and coded very poorly which causes the computer system to become unstable, slow and unreliable. This kind of adware is constantly running in the computer background.

Numerous undesirable and annoying pop-ups. A typical adware parasite keeps track of your internet browsing habits, sending your browsing history data to remote servers. This adware is owned by third party companies that use this information to advertise their products via numerous pop-ups, toolbars, hijacked homepages and spam letters. All these undesirable advertising methods are used for the victims of this Antivirus System Pro.

Slow internet connection. Antivirus System Pro is constantly using the user’s internet to send the user’s private information to remote server as well as receive ads ad pop-ups from the third party servers. This adware causes much slower internet connection speed and stability. 

Is Antivirus System Pro a SCAM?

Definitely it is a scam. Antivirus System Pro is a successor of some famous malware like System Guard 2009 and Spyware Protect 2009. It is installed through backdoor Trojans and rogue websites. Therefore users must not trust this application that might suggest the users to acquire this program. If Antivirus System Pro sneaks into the computer automatically it slows down the computer system, performs loads of systems scans and tries to scare the user with numerous false security warnings.  It is highly suggested that users must buy a licensed version of antivirus that will eliminate these “threats” and to avoid this scheme. 

Image by chrisdigo via Flickr

Beware that this Antivirus System Pro does not work as a security program. But instead, it’s a malicious software which is not able to provide any kind of fog system protection of the computer. The best thing to be done is remove the Antivirus System Pro as soon as it is detected. 

Another tip! Antivirus System Pro is an identical twin of recent Antivir System Pro malware.

Written by Frederic Lewmann a freelance writer who covers antivirus topics, pc tools antivirus social medias, android apps, registry cleaner review and other reviews.

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10 Ways a Computer Virus is Like the Flu

This Article is a guest post from Ms. Coleen of  Phonetvinternet.com and here is the link from the original article located at 10 Ways a Computer Virus is Like the Flu

I was noticing, a while back, that my computer and I have some things in common. In particular, we are seriously similar in how we act when we get sick. Here are 10 ways that a computer virus is like the flu, or, if you like, 10 ways my computer with a virus is like me with the flu.

         Almost Functional. When I’m sick, I always feel as though I should still be able to function. I get up   to do something. I try hard to remember what I was going to do after I get up, I say to heck with it, and lie down again. My computer does the same thing. It boots up. It tries hard to remember what it was going to do, and then it displays an error message and gives up.

        Whiney Messages. My computer acquired a virus and began sending out urgent messages to everyone in my address book. That’s just like me, too. I get the flu, and immediately start calling and text messaging everyone in my mobile phone contacts to whine about how rotten I feel.

        Feverish. When my computer has a virus, it tends to run a bit hotter than is normal, very much like me when I get feverish from the flu. Neither of us functions well at all, with a fever.

        Delirium. When I become feverish, I begin to have strange walking-around dreams while half-asleep, talking to people that aren’t there and ignoring people that are. My computer appears to have some of the same issues, as it ignores me and responds to the voices in its mother board.

        Wheezy Respiration. Because it runs hot when it has a virus, the computer hard drive and fan sound as if they are laboring to breathe. A rasping and cyclical series of wheezes and sighs issues forth with every click of the mouse. I’ve been told that I make similar noises when ill with the flu.

        Stubborn. My computer becomes very stubborn when it has a virus. It tries to work when it shouldn’t, if refuses to do what it should do, and is generally very uncooperative. Now, you may be as skeptical about this as I am, but my wife insists that this is another characteristic that the computer and I share, when ill with a virus. I include this on the list only in order to allow her to feel as if she’s helped with this article.

        Crashes. Yes, both of us do this, after an exhausting bout of trying to accomplish something while ill. I tend to crash and spill while preparing chicken soup. The computer tends to crash and delete while preparing important documents.

        Annoying Doctors. Both the computer and I, when sick enough, go to doctors that that have tendencies toward nagging. My doctor goes on about healthy living and flu shots. The computer’s doctor goes on about healthy web-surfing and anti-virus programs.

        Overnight Hospital Stays. There have been times when the flu has caused an overnight hospital stay, hooked up to monitors and saline drips. It’s the same for my computer. The last time it had a virus I had to leave it in a cold and uninviting room overnight, hooked up to a machine. The only thing missing at the computer hospital was a nurse to wake it up and poke at it every few hours.

        Infectious. Yep, the last time I was sick with the flu, I began showing symptoms after I was already at work, and managed to pass it along to several coworkers. The same thing happened with my computer, and I know of several friends’ computers that had to spend overnight time at a computer hospital, afterward. One even had to go in for an emergency hard drive transplant.

So, there you have it; 10 ways that a virus makes my computer act the same as I do when I have the flu, though I’m still not certain that number 6 really belongs on the list. 

This Article is a guest post from Ms. Coleen of  Phonetvinternet.com and here is the link from the original article located at 10 Ways a Computer Virus is Like the Flu

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Computer 101: Keeping your Computer Safe from Viruses and Other Threats.

People get sick, the most common sickness is the common cold and it’s relative running noise, flu and head-ache. We get sick because we caught the virus that causes this sickness from other people in our home, work and other places where there are sick people. But this sickness is not life threatening except maybe for a few who has complication from this sickness. But this common sickness can be treated by much home based medicine or at least get our body to use its natural ability to fight off this viruses. Some just need to rest and drink a lot of water to let the body heal itself. Still others buy medicine for this type of sickness especially if the young one or children is sick. These viruses spread themselves thru air or sharing of things with the sick person.  Well there is another kind of virus that is not dangerous to people but is very deadly to the things people use like the computer and its entire relative.

Ever since the computer was invented and created, viruses have been one of the main threat to its healthy and useful existence. Just like the original organic virus to which it was pattern by its early creator, this viruses has already change from just being annoying to become a real threat to all computer devices. It has already metamorphosis to several different kinds to Trojan Horses, Malware, Adware, Spyware and other type which attack different type of files in our computer. I don’t need to get into the detail of what they do inside your computer. Where going to focus on the basic of keeping your computer devices free of these dangerous programs. Well how does a computer get infected by these viruses? Well first of all there’s the internet, it one of the main source of computer infection and chances are your computer is online for most of the time, then the percentage of getting infected by these virus and its cousin is very high. In this age and time, people can no longer afford not to use the internet so the viruses have become very abundant.

Okay now how do you protect your computer from being infected by this malicious and dangerous program from the internet? Well the common ways of protecting yourself is to use an anti-virus. This anti-virus is a program that detects the virus before it can infect or spread itself inside your computer. There are free type and paid type of anti-virus out here. Use any one of them or better yet use two if you know how to configure each so that they will both work in harmony not getting in the way of another. The most common way is installing one of these programs to keep an eye on your computer while you work. Now that’s done you have an anti-virus installed in my computer, my computer is safe now. I can surf to all of my heart content. Woo hold on there, your computer not totally secure yet from viruses and its cousin. You just can go to any website or location on the internet because even if you have anti-virus chances are it will not be enough to combat viruses if you keep going to the those site which has a lot of viruses or contain viruses and other deadly program whose intentions is just to destroy your files and computer. Yes folks this site is really and they don’t offer anything but virus and its cousin. So need to practice safe browsing and downloading habit to help make your computer safe from all type of viruses.

I still remember the experiment that i did way back then. The experiment was i used a computer where only the Operating system and anti-virus programs is installed only. I updated the virus definition of the anti-virus and make sure every thing is working as they should be. Then after this i connect that computer to the internet and surf away. I jump from site to another click on all kinds of links that lead from site to another and then when i thought that it was okay and my computer is still working and the anti-virus is doing its job from getting my computer infected, WHAMMM i run onto a brick wall or website that is full of viruses that the moment my computer made contact, they overwhelm my anti-virus and the computer has stop working. It has been paralyzed by the viruses that attack it. The good news is this is just an experiment. Well i quickly reformatted my hard drive not once but twice and have it scanned by an antivirus software just to make nothing is left from my previous encounter. The result of my experiment clearly shows that even with an anti-virus installed on your computer. You still need to practice safe browsing technique while connected to the internet. More on my next post.