Tag: ANTI-VIRUS

A new backdoor Trojan virus that targets Mac OS X has emerged, Sophos reports. Interestingly, the new virus, which is called BlackHole RAT (or OSX/MusMinim-A in virus definition speak), is a variant of the 'legitimate' Windows Trojan DarkComet-RAT. Fortunately, the virus doesn't seem to be very malicious. It allows a remote controller to reboot or shutdown an infected computer, or pop up a ...

Word on the street has it that Microsoft is preparing to launch a free anti-virus application for Windows. That's not breaking news - we first reported the project back in November 2008, but Reuters is now reporting that a beta version of the software should be available for download "soon." Microsoft has reportedly been testing the product internally, and expects it to compete with similar ...

Keeping your Windows computer virus-free doesn't have to cost you a lot of money. Heck, it doesn't need to cost you any money. There are plenty of good options available for those of you on the hunt for free antivirus software. Wait - free? Don't companies like Norton make a good business out of selling antivirus protection? Why would someone give it away? Developers of free antivirus solutions ...

Some Windows applications are easier to uninstall than others. While some apps just hang out quietly in a Program Files folder and disappear entirely when you run the uninstaller, others write registry entries and hide files throughout your system. And when you run the uninstaller, some of those files and settings remain behind, bogging down your system. Some of the worst offenders are ...

A number of sites - including Life Rocks 2.0 - are reporting that McAfee is currently offering a free one year license for Virusscan Plus with firewall and anti-spyware protection. The suite is normally priced at $39.99 for a single pc, but entering the promotional code ****** will apply the discount. Licenses for up to four additional PCs can be added for an extra $10 each. The site is also ...

A few months ago, Grisoft updated its AVG anti-virus suite to version 8 and bundled linkscanning, anti-spyware, and anti-rootkit software to boot. Now Grisoft's popular freeware anti-virus application is getting some of the same features. AVG Free 8 is out, and not only does it protect your system from viruses, but you get spyware detection as well. AVG Free 8 doesn't have all of the features ...

If you're not sure whether or not it's safe to download that email attachment your nice new friend from Nigeria sent you, odds are you shouldn't. But if you want a second, third, and 14th opinion you might want to forward your email to VirusTotal. All you have to do is hit the forward button, and send your message to scan@virustotal.com. Change the subject line to SCAN and delete anything in the ...

digg_url = "http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2008/02/14/flipping-the-linux-switch-the-anti-virus-question/"; We were at a major electronics retailer a few days ago, gazing lovingly at the little ASUS Eee. We were not alone. There were three other people poking, prodding, and tapping the tiny machine. We watched as a couple approached the little machine with a salesman. They jiggled the keys. ...

We wouldn't be surprised if you only know AVG for its free anti-virus software. Along with Avast! Avira, and a few other companies that don't start with the letter A, AVG provides a full-fledged virus protection suite free of charge. But AVG also provides a "professional" version of its software that comes with some advanced features like extra scanning and scheduling options. For example, the ...

One of our biggest complaints with Windows Vista is that it takes far longer to boot up and shut down than Windows XP installed on an identical system. When Microsoft first announced the feature set for Vista, one of the things they claimed was that you would actually have shorter startup times, but we later discovered that what they meant was that there would be power saving features that would ...

PCLive Security is a full featured security suite for Windows. It helps protect you from viruses, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, and adware. Oh yeah, and it happens to be free. While there are several other free security applications out there, none come with quite so many features in one package. PCLive Security includes the ClamAV antivirus engine, a bi-directional firewall, and a pop-up and ...

ZoneAlarm has launched a public beta of a new security tool that basically puts your web browser into a sandbox. Visit sites you know are unsafe, check your bank statements on a computer that you know is infected with viruses and spyware. We caught up with ZoneAlarm Director of Consumer Product Management John Gable at ShowStoppers in New York, and he told us a bit about the new product. ...

There are a variety of great, free anti-virus programs out there, including ClamWin, Avast! and AVG Free. For the past year or so, this blog's parent company, AOL has also been offering a free anti-virus program, based on powerful Kaspersky software. For some reason, AOL has decided to stop offering the popular Kaspersky-powered Active Virus Shield, and has instead replaced it with McAfee Virus ...

The Washington Post's Brian Krebs is reporting that a recent update to Microsoft Anti-Spyware "flags [Norton Anti-Virus] as a password-stealing program and prompts users to remove it." If the user removes the files as instructed by Anti-Spyware, Norton Anti-Virus ceases to function and cannot be reinstalled without some dicey registry editing. Oops. Microsoft says it's working on a fix ...

Ars Technica is reporting that tomorrow Google will be announcing a new video service that will "allow users to buy video content for pre-determined prices," and they're also planning to announce partnerships with CBS and the NBA. Ars has lots of juicy speculation, including whether they'll be offering downloads or only streaming video, if they'll use Flash video as Google Video ...