Does Your Computer Really Getting Patches Updates?

Today’s malwares can actually disable Windows automatic update features.  Hence,  you will need to check periodically that Windows automatic updates is still enabled.  Recently, Microsoft just released 34 security patches which all MS users should have already have these patches in their computers.  You better check whether you get all of them.  Other than MS Windows, Adobe Reader and Acrobat, Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime and Sun Java also have vulnerabilities which are easy target for malwares.

To check whether your Windows automatic update feature is enabled, just go to:

1)  Click Start

2)  Select Control Panel

3)  Select Performance and Maintenance

4)  Select System

5)  Click Automatic Updates tab

6)  Choose your updates preferences and time interval desired 

7)  Click Apply then click OK

Just in case that you do not have all the latest MS Windows patches, visit Microsoft Update website to download all the updates you need.

If you want to check your whole system for security vulnerabilities, you can visit Secunia Online Software Inspector and start scanning your computer.  You do not have to download it.  Just click Start Scan, your will get your report in a short while.  When you see a red x in your report, it means that particular software needs updates.  The website also provide links for updates which can save you plenty of times searching for the correct website to updates.

Source:  Mary Landesman articles (About.com)

Another New Virus – Win32/Induc.A

Yikes! No, no, no, no!  I don’t want new virus to attack my PC now; since AH1N1 has not stop spreading. 

This new virus named Win32/Induc.A is stated by Antivirus vendor BitDefender “spreads by infecting systems that have the Delphi compiler (versions up to 7.0) installed. Any programs which are subsequently compiled using the compromised compiler contain the virus code.”

Although the virus did not do any malicious action other than just self-reproduce, but concern is rising that it might be used to steal important information in the future.

Hence, how to locate the virus and  how to remove it from your PC?

1)  Check compilers’ Lib folder for a file named SysConst.bak

2)  Rename it to SysConst.dcu

3)  If you are not the owner of software , you could download a Win32/Induc.A fix tool and get it fixed in no time.

P/S:  Computer viruses + Bio viruses =?  What can you think of?

Michael Jackson Will Always Live In My Heart

The news of MJ’s death really hits me like Tsunami.  I can’t belive my favorite pop star has gone!  I love MJ’s songs since I was in secondary school.  He’s the best singer and dancer that no one else can replace.   

The link below is mtv featuring my favorite song: Man In The Mirror. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zpTQCQEFhg&feature=related

Beware Of Swine Flu Spam!

Swine Flu has been causing panic in the public.  Almost everyone wants to get hold of this sickness most updated news.  But keep in mind that phishers and spammers might take this chance to trick you. 

As mentioned by Tony Bradley in About.com, domain names related to “Swine Flu” are being snatched up.  Hackers and phishers might use this to host malware, or phishing attacks.

In this case, it’s always useful to BE SCEPTICAL, and AVOID e-mails related to “Swine Flu”

Phisher: I Know Which Sites You’ve Visited!

All browsers have the basic function to improve user experience ie., faster web page downloading speed.  Everybody wants light speed download rate, but there is a drawback to this function.  Phishers can get your personal information using this function! 

So, how does phishers get them?  Three ways for them to get hold of your PIN and which banking sites you use.

1)  Browser History Sniffing.  Phishers check for link color change in your browsing history file and compare with their master list.  A mismatch of colors let them know that the site have been visited by you.  If you don’t want to clear cookies and set brower history to zero, then you will need to change how IE and Firefox handle visited link color.  

2)  Cache Timer Attacks.  Cache helps to speed up performance but this loading time can give information to trackers as whether you load it from your computer or from the original site.  If the loading time indicates that you are loading from your cache, then they know you have visited the site before.

3)  Through Adobe Flash Cookies.  Adobe Flash Cookies partner with sites such as Microsoft, eWeek, PayPal, Flickr and many other sites.  So, even if you clear all cookies everyday, having Adobe Flash installed is just wasting your effort to clear cookies.   What you can do is to change the Website Privacy Setting in Adobe Flash Player setting manager.

Preventing phishers from sniffing into your computer can helps reducing your risk to scams.

For more details, read Mary Landesman’s article

Comparison of The Best Free Anti-Virus Softwares

I’d read from Mary Landesman’ article in About.com regarding the Best Free Antivirus Software for Windows and Mac Users today and thought it is very useful for computer users to know the differences between the best known antivirus softwares: Avira, Avast, AVG, PC Tools iAntivirus and ClamXav.  Take a look at the article and then decide on which one will give you the best protection.

Click the link below for details:

Best Free Antivirus Software for Windows and Mac Users

Steps To Disable Firefox/Google Prefetch

When you use Firefox browser in conjuction with Google search engine, Google will prefetch the first page of the results.  This means the first result page and the cookies associated will be downloaded to your computer even though you never click the link.   If you do not want prefetch function, you can disable it by:

 1)  Open the Firefox browser

2)  Type about:config in the address bar and press Enter

3)  Scroll down the resulting preference list to network.prefetch-next

4)  Double click network.prefetch-next so the value is set to false.

5)  Close Firefox and restart it to enable the change.

 

Source:  About.com article by Mary Landesman

How To Prevent Redirect Function In Firefox

This is important for Firefox users to know how to disable the refresh or redirect function.  It is by default that Firefox will download executable file specified in the HTTP header without active scripting, even if you have the NoScript addon installed.  Since there are so many malicious programs spreading in the internet, it’s better to disable this function to prevent your PC from the invasion of nasty worms.  Bear in mind that only version 3 of Firefox has this disabling function.  Thus, previous version users should upgrade in order to have this function available.

Follow the instruction below to disable the redirect function:

1. Open the Firefox browser
2. Click Tools | Options | Advanced
3. Select the General tab
4. Under Accessibility, select: Warn me when web sites try to redirect or reload the page
5. Click OK

Source:  About.com article by Mary Landesman

Will Flutter Do Better Than Twitter?

Wow! I thought Twitter is the end in microblogging world, check out the Flutter!  What will happen if Flutter really exist? 

In the video, Flutter is also like Twitter but with text limit of only 26 characters allowed!  It’s great that you don’t have to read 140 characters from each of your followers’ tweet and will eventually speed up the time you spend in reading tweets.  

Personally, if Flutter were to exist, I still prefer to use Twitter as my microbloging tool, to post my Plinky answers and update my followers of my latest blog post. 

I wonder what will come up after tinyurl has definitely do a good job in shrinking long url for twitter users.  Nanourl?  Yeap, definitely!

Check out the video for more detail of what Flutter is (just imaginary).

The Truth Of Conficker Virus

1 April 2009 is the date which every computer users fear of, the day the Conficker Virus deployed into the web and which expected to affect millions of computers around the world.  Saying that it will steal your secured data from your computer, everybody is in fear of catching this virus.

But how true is this statement, we don’t know yet for sure.  I have got a newsletter from About.Com that clarify the myths of Conficker Virus.  Please click on the link to read the newsletter.

http://antivirus.about.com/od/virusdescriptions/a/60minconficker.htm