Tag: TROJAN

Microsoft has pushed an update to Security Essentials 2, which is currently in beta testing. While there aren't a vast number of forward-facing changes, there is one important one: the re-introduction of context menu scanning. Once again, you can right-click any file on your system to quickly check it for infection with MSE. When Security Essentials 2 is finally released, it will include ...

There was a time when Mac users enjoyed "security by obscurity." Because of the much smaller number of Mac users in the world, malware authors didn't bother targeting Apple desktops and laptops. Those days are long gone, however, and new threats that put Mac users at risk are appearing all the time. Fortunately, there are now plenty of good antivirus options for Mac users to combat the rising ...

Bad news for Mac users -- a cross-platform Trojan that can infect the OS is currently being tracked, masquerading as a video. Boonana, official designation 'trojan.osx.boonana.a,' or 'OSX/Koobface.A' depending on who you want to go with, is being spread across Facebook and other social networks with the old 'Is this you in this video?' ploy. Appearing on people's Facebook pages, the link launches ...

We're big fans of Microsoft Security Essentials -- it's lightweight, free, and offers malware protection that's every bit as good as (if not better than) more recognized names like Norton and McAfee (quit giggling, DS regulars...). Today, Microsoft has begun offering Security Essentials as an optional install via Windows Update. Like Live Essentials and the Windows 7 Language Packs, users can ...

Panda launched their lightweight Cloud Antivirus app just under a year ago, and it's already received a number of significant updates and improvements. Today, they're announcing the release of Cloud Antivirus 1.3 -- and a few more cool feature additions. Probably the most significant addition is Cloud AV's ability to filter malicious URLs and websites -- regardless of which browser you're ...

Facebook's immense popularity has made it a prime target for cybercriminals. Malicious (or 'poisoned') links, spam, and malvertising are all too common -- and it's far too easy for an unsuspecting Facebook user to be taken in. Hey, if one of your friends sends you a link to what seems like a hilarious picture, there's a decent chance you'll click through, right? ... And that's how the bad guys ...

It's a bit hard to believe, but it's only been one short year since Microsoft introduced Security Essentials to the world. So, how do you celebrate the first birthday of an anti-malware app that is loved by tens of millions of users? With a cake and a couple of blog posts, of course! Over at the Windows Team Blog, they're focused on numbers -- here are few key ones: 30 million users in 74 ...

Is it just me, or are Adobe Acrobat and Reader about as secure as the contents of President Skroob's suitcase? Remember that new zero-day exploit which they announced yesterday? Well, if yesterday was day zero it's now day one, and that exploit is being targeted by the bad guys. Trend Micro reports that a trojan is spreading which drops a downloader -- which then drops another downloader. From ...

Using a well-documented and easily-replicated flaw in the USB specification, a bunch of plucky Canadians have managed to turn innocuous peripherals like keyboards into a hardware trojan horse. The team produced a modified keyboard that was capable of transmitting data in Morse code, using an LED -- but that was just a proof of concept! There's nothing to prevent a keyboard from sending data ...

If you're constantly being called on by friends and family to provide tech support, troubleshooting, and computer advice, you've probably had to install security applications on other people's computers more than once. Heck, you may do it just about every day. If so, you might want to grab SSDownloader -- an open source app which makes downloading current versions of popular antivirus, ...

NoVirusThanks has offered an excellent Web-based malware scanning tool for quite some time. They've also had a desktop uploader you can use to submit files for analysis. Somewhat more recently, they added another tool to their offerings: the NoVirusThanks Malware Remover. It's a desktop program which is designed to find and remove all kinds of nasties like rogue antivirus apps, spyware, ...

Due in no small part to the popularity of Windows 7, 64-bit desktop computing is finally starting to take off. Some developers were quick to get on board, but we're still a long way away from seeing the disappearance of the 32-bit compatibility layer (if it ever disappears). Mozilla recently started making x64 builds of Firefox available to Windows users, and now the popular anti-malware tool ...

I spend a lot of time during the work week removing malware from customers' computers. So whenever I happen upon a new malware cleanup app, I make it a point to put it through the paces. Better tools make my job easier, after all. Today I'm checking out Norton Power Eraser -- a free, portable malware cleanup tool from the folks at Symantec. I had tried to test earlier beta versions of NPE, but ...

Drive-by browser attacks are pretty common. Many of you have probably seen the suspicious-looking 'you've got errors on your PC!' or 'holy hell, you're full of viruses!' pop-up alerts malware peddlers hope you'll click on. But here's a new one: someone is now trying to fool Google Chrome users into installing an 'extension' -- which is, of course, actually malware. I've got to admit, I'm a ...

I figured the big day was nearly at hand when checking Google Pack for the switch to Avast - the spherical 'a' logo was orange instead of the blue which accompanied version 4. It's now official: Avast 5.0 is now available for download. As with previous versions of Avast, there are both free and pro versions - as well as a a full internet security suite. It's Alwil's first suite, and a relative ...