Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 21, 2007 by CyberNet.

I feel pretty bad for those people running the Chinese version of Windows XP SP2 along with Norton Antivirus. It appears that last Friday around 1:00AM Beijing time Symantec updated Norton’s antivirus definitions which flagged two system files, netapi32.dll and lsasrv.dll, as “Backdoor.Haxdoor” trojans.

If the user restarted the computer after receiving the update they are going to have a fun time recovering those two files. After the computer restarts users will be prompted with a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), and trying to boot into safe mode won’t do them any good. Symantec has posted instructions (translated to English) on using the Windows XP recovery console to restore those two files from the installation CD.

Those people who didn’t restart their computers after the updated definitions are much more fortunate. Symantec released a corrected version of their definitions that same day at 2:30PM Beijing time, and if you update the definitions to the latest version it should counteract the effects.

The number of computers affected has been reported to be between 7,000 and several hundred thousand. It has caused that much damage, and yet Symantec has nothing posted on their front page about the event. The only article they have regarding the situation is for the instructions (posted above) and is only in Chinese.

There is another sticky situation to be talked about now, and that is what people will do who are running pirated copies of Windows XP. They probably don’t have the installation CD anymore, which means they will look for the files online to download them. This could be extremely bad because they may end up downloading files that contain viruses themselves, which would just result in an even larger mess.

Symantec definitely took the wrong approach on this. In my opinion they should have done many things differently:

• Updated their virus definitions sooner than 13–hours later after the destructive update was released.
• Have a nice big link on their homepage so that people looking to solve the problem can easily locate the solution.
• Finally, they should offer some sort of downloadable patch that users can put on a floppy disc or CD. Then they could boot-up the utility on their computer, press a button, and it will automatically copy the two needed files over to the proper location. That way Symantec can verify that the two files being used are legitimate, and that the proper steps are being taken to correct the issue.

All I can say is…what a mess!

Source: ComputerWorld

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on July 02, 2008 by CyberNet.

A few months ago we were racking our brains trying to figure out what a reasonable price would be for a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007. In the end I estimated that Microsoft would charge at least $5 per month, but probably not more than $10 per month. The software suite itself retails for about $150, but with a little shopping around you can find it for about $110.

Good news. Today Microsoft announced that in the middle of July 2008 over 700 Circuit City stores around the United States will be selling their subscription-based product dubbed Microsoft Equipt. With it you get full access to Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 in addition to the Windows Live OneCare antivirus software. The price? It will be $69 per year, which works out to just $5.75 per month. Not too bad considering you’ll always get the latest version of Office and OneCare as part of the subscription.

Here are some screenshots of what the service will look like:

(Click to Enlarge)

Naturally I began crunching some numbers to see whether this was as good of a deal as you might think it is. As I mentioned earlier you can go buy Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for $110, and OneCare is already a subscription based program that will cost about $30 per year (MSRP is $50 a year). So the real value depends on how long you’ll have Office 2007 for. Here’s a breakdown for you:

If you have Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for [insert number of years] before upgrading it will cost…

• [1 year] = $30 + $110 = $140 per year
• [2 years] = $30 + $110/2 = $85 per year
• [3 years] = $30 + $110/3 = $67 per year
• [4 years] = $30 + $110/4 = $58 per year

What does this all mean? If Microsoft releases a new version of Office at least every three years (and you always upgrade right away) the subscription package is actually a reasonable deal.

Don’t forget the fact that both Office Home & Student and OneCare come with licenses that are good for up to three computers, and the same goes for your Microsoft Equipt subscription. If you have three computers that you would use the software the price-per-PC actually isn’t all that bad.

The interesting thing is that Microsoft hasn’t said anything about this being offered in other countries besides the United States, and for that matter it appears that only Circuit City will be selling it. I’m not quite sure why Microsoft wouldn’t offer something like this for download online?

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on April 06, 2007 by CyberNet.

Eset is very well known for its NOD32 antivirus protection which is considered to be the most advanced and secure protection for your PC. Eset Smart Security (ESS) is going to be the next big release by Eset and it will not only cover antivirus protection, but it will also include a built-in firewall for the first time. The final form of the security suite is not expected until later this year, but Eset is now seeking testers through a public Beta program.

To get involved yourself you either need to visit the Eset Smart Security 3 Public Beta 1 Homepage or use this link to download the Beta (Download Mirror). I recommend registering for the Beta program because maybe they’ll give you a free year of virus protection or something when the final version is released. 😉

ESS Public Beta 1 requires Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP (x86), Windows Server 2003 (x86), or Windows Vista (x86). Once installed this is what you’ll have full access to:

• The next version of ESET’s anti-malware engine (NOD32 v3.0)
• A personal firewall with port stealthing and advanced filtering features
• Antispam filtering with Bayesian filter, whitelisting and blacklisting.

Now you do have to remember that this is a Beta application, and that some things may not go as expected. Here is the heads up that Eset provided over in the forum.

ESS is the first, brand-new version of security software to be released by ESET in several years. NOD32 v2.70, v2.51 and earlier releases were version upgrades, all based on the 2.x codebase which dates back to 2003.

ESS is not production code, but beta code. Unlike previous beta test cycles which tested updates to a mature codebase, ESS represents a brand-new codebase and some of the experiences you have with it will mirror those which occurred with NOD32 v1.0 and v2.0 beta-test cycles.

The Public Beta 1 drop of ESS is going to contain some rough edges, such as unfinished screens, missing online help sections and so forth. It is also going to contain bugs (errors in the program, not viruses).

I will be installing this sometime this weekend to test out the stability and features, but in the meantime here are a bunch of screenshots that Brian posted in the Wilders Security Forum (click on any to enlarge them):

The new interface is definitely refreshing compared to the stripped down appearance that the old version had. I’m sure such a drastic change will upset some people, but this is something that was definitely necessary to keep up with the other more modern looking software. I think this will be a really great piece of software once it reaches its final form…now if only they would follow the lead of other security suite distributors who are now letting users install the software on 3 PC’s for each license they purchase. 😉

Eset Smart Security 3 Public Beta 1 Homepage (Download Mirror)

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on May 11, 2007 by CyberNet.

One of the most popular articles on CyberNet is in regards to the best antivirus software. More than 160,000 people have read that article, and so I thought it is a good time to write a follow-up on it.

The latest test from virus.gr includes 52 different antivirus applications. They were rigorously tested using 174,770 virus samples, and the settings of each application were tweaked to ensure that they all caught maximum number of viruses (despite increasing the possibility that the the software would be more likely to return a false positive).

So let’s take a look at the condensed list that I put together. On it I list the top 20 antivirus applications followed by some of the other well-known solutions. If you look closely you might also notice that the top 5 options on the list are all powered by Kaspersky!

Note: I have hyperlinked all of the antivirus solutions to their respective websites. None of the links contain a referral code.

1. Kaspersky version 7.0.0.43 beta – 99.23%

 
2. Kaspersky version 6.0.2.614 – 99.13%
3. Active Virus Shield by AOL version 6.0.0.308 – 99.13%
4. ZoneAlarm with KAV Antivirus version 7.0.337.000 – 99.13%
5. F-Secure 2007 version 7.01.128 – 98.56%
6. BitDefender Professional version 10 – 97.70%
7. BullGuard version 7.0.0.23 – 96.59%
8. Ashampoo version 1.30 – 95.80%
9. eScan version 8.0.671.1 – 94.43%
10. Nod32 version 2.70.32 – 94.00%

 
11. CyberScrub version 1.0 – 93.27%
12. Avast Professional version 4.7.986 – 92.82%
13. AVG Anti-Malware version 7.5.465 – 92.14%
14. F-Prot version 6.0.6.4 – 91.35%
15. McAfee Enterprise version 8.5.0i+AntiSpyware module – 90.65%
16. Panda 2007 version 2.01.00 – 90.06%
17. Norman version 5.90.37 – 88.47%
18. ArcaVir 2007 – 88.24%
19. McAfee version 11.0.213 – 86.13%
20. Norton Professional 2007 – 86.08%
…
23. PC-Cillin 2007 version 15.00.1450 – 84.96%
…
27. Sophos Sweep version 6.5.1 – 69.79%
…
33. Comodo version 2.0.12.47 beta – 53.94%
34. Comodo version 1.1.0.3 – 53.39%
35. A-Squared Anti-Malware version 2.1 – 52.69%
…
38. ClamWin version 0.90.1 – 47.95%
…
52. Abacre version 1.4 – 0.00%

There aren’t many free antivirus solutions that made the list, or were even tested for that matter. Active Virus Shield, at number 3, is not only one of the highest-ranked antivirus solutions on the list, but it is also completely free. Both AVG and Avast have a free version that they offer, but their paid solutions were tested instead.

So if you’re just looking for an antivirus application that gets the job done well, Active Virus Shield is probably the route you want to go. Of course the software is provided by AOL which is probably what holds most people back from immediately downloading it, but in my opinion it is a great application. After all, the software itself is created by Kaspersky and the only thing AOL did was put their logo on it. For right now I’m using Avast, but when Active Virus Shield becomes compatible with Vista I’ll probably be switching over.

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

John McAfee is one weird guy, and this video only serves to bolster that reputation. Uploaded to YouTube last night, it’s a hilarious—and entirely NSFW—video which sees the man himself teach you how to uninstall McAfee Antivirus.

Read more…