Microsoft kills a fake antivirus tool from 994,061 computers!

According to Arstechnica and I'll quote:

[ad#ad2-left]Win32/FakeSecSen has gone by various names, including Micro Antivirus 2009, MS Antivirus, Spyware Preventer, Vista Antivirus 2008, Advanced Antivirus, System Antivirus 2008, Ultimate Antivirus 2008, Windows Antivirus, XPert Antivirus, Power Antivirus, and Ultra Antivirus 2009. Furthermore, it is skinnable, so each of these variants has a different GUI, although the basic functionality is the same: bother users with warnings of malware until they pay up.

The Microsoft Malware Protection Center recently released some data on how the removal tool performed this month: FakeSecSen was removed from 994,061 machines. That number isn't the highest Microsoft has recorded before, and the number of removals depends on which malware Microsoft adds each month and how widespread it is.

[via Arstechnica]

This seemed to of happened this month with the usual Windows update.  If you haven't updated your system just yet you should.   This troublesome fake virus seems to have been killed  from several systems.  This could effectively make it harder for these guys who ever designed this program to make money.  I hope microsoft does even more virus removals in next month.  If you still want to try to get rid of these viruses don't forget to check out my tips on Virus removal.

Get your Cricket Broadband to Activate Manually!

[ad#cricket-1]I recently bought a Cricket Broadband USB for 40$ a month. I tried to get the system to activate it automatically but that kept on failing. Finally called the tech support and found out this little tip. So here is how you manually activate it:



Once your are to the Quicklink Mobile Menu you will want to hit Control-D:

It will bring up this:



The Password to get into manually activate your Broadband USB card is six zeros no more no less!!

Once your enter the password your will get this screen:



[ad#cricket-1-1]Activation Code : Same from above Six Zero's

Phone Number : The Phone number that is your broadband card

The IMSI (Min) Code : You will find that in the Indirect Dealer Copy.  It will be the one telling you another number.   In mine it said this:

"In order to program your phone, you will also need the following number (###)###-#### (MIN)"

Enter that number in there without any special characters it would be ########## and then press enter.   Close out the Quicklink Mobile menu and reload it.   Then click Connect and you should be ready to go!!!

Looks like a scam to me : Personal Shopping Assistant!

[ad#ad2-left]

Good afternoon!


We found your resume at _________________ and we would like to propose you a
position of Personal Shopping Assistant.

Imagine having an exciting job with incredible salary (up to $100,000/year) that
lets you use your creativity while being paid to shop. Welcome to the world of
personal shopping!

As we know shopping is the world's favorite leisure activity, but in our busy
society an increasing number of people need to hire someone to do their
shopping. Thus personal shoppers are more in demand than ever before.

There are absolutely NO START-UP FEES and NO FEES for being employed at this
position. As long as you live in the USA, and you have a credit card or any
other line of credit, have 1 or 2 free hours during the day – you are eligible
for this job!

[ad#ad2-right]This is what you will have to do in short:
• Purchase the requested goods using your credit card.
• Send us receipts.
• Wait for us to issue a credit to your credit card in the amount of purchase
plus shipping fee plus your commission which comprises 10%.
• Ship out the goods.
• You are finished, come back for a new list of goods.

If you are interested in Personal Shopping Assistant position please fill in the
form below and send it to: Open2usa.job.dep@gmail.com
Our manager will contact you within two working days.

------------------------------------------------FORM-------------------------------------
Full name ______________________
Residence country _____________________
Age _____________________
Contact phone ______________________
Availability time _______________________
------------------------------------------------FORM-------------------------------------

This letter confirms your resume has been duly processed and your skills
completely meet our requirements for Personal Shopping Assistant Vacancy.

Thank You,
John Walker

[ad#ad2-left-1]I wanted to bring this up because of two things that I saw first off that made this look like a scam. One is they want to "CREDIT" your credit card and two they use a GMAIL account. I am going to say this is looking more and more like a scam. If anyone else has any other ideas about this just leave your comment.  I don't see how this can be real.   I am thinking once they have your credit card information, they'll start using it.

Peek Email tops Time Gadget of the Year!

[ad#ad2-right]I've not seen this yet, I will do my research on this Peek Email Device. This is fascinating that I didn't know that there was something I've never heard of.   Anyways, I can't beleive they don't have a netbook or the new Gaming Laptop.  Please, a WII fit, Now how did they get there too?   How did The T-Mobile G1 get number 5th in the list.  I'm surprised that the GameBoy Advanced wasn't one to be on there, After all they sold so many this year.   Why not the Xbox 360?  It seems people can still vote but don't expect anything to change.

Go Vote and lets make our voice heard!!

Largest Employer : University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is planning layoffs!!

Is this the beginning or the end of the recession?  After  seeing this today I wanted to talk about this development.  If they layoff a large number of people is this going to effect your chances of finding a job?  Here's what they had to say:

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has plans to reduce its 50,000 workforce by a small percentage. UPMC did not immediately release any specifics.

"As the economy deteriorates, we are proactively taking these steps to ensure that our growth in expenses is not outpacing our growth in revenues," a UPMC statement said.

[via WTAE.TV]

So now that they have said this, what's the percentages of the workforce are going to be laid off? I wanted to talk about how you could get ready for the imminent day of this. Here's some good links to consider:

• 5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.


• Are you asking to be scammed?

And here are some other companies who are planning layoffs or have laid off people:

• Mahalo Lay’s off around 10% of it’s workforce!!


• Merck Laid off 13% of it’s workforce

With all this that is going on in the world I thought it was something that needed to be said and let people know about these developments.

Mahalo Lay's off around 10% of it's workforce!!

[ad#ad2-left]In an email he sent to the readers of his publication, Jason Calicanis talks about having to lay off around 10% of people from Mahalo.  Here's the quote:

We've laid off a just under 10% of our full-time staff, cut our overhead by doing smart things like renting desks (we have six desks/offices available fyi), and reorganized our editorial department to focus on freelance positions over in-house editors. The net result
of the effort is we are giving Mahalo another year of "dry powder" (or runway) to complete our mission.

This is not to be unexpected after all the talk about the recession coming our way. It does however emphasizes the need for companies to consider there profit margins and accounting strategy.

Mahalo was launched in May 2007 as an Alpha test. That is to say only a select number of people were able to access the site and create feedback to the development of the site. As of January of 2008 it is in what we call the Beta test phase. Which means more people are testing it out and find out it's flaws to report back about where they need to improve.  Mahalo's directory employs human editors to review websites and search engine results.



[ad#ad2-right]Saying that Mahalo is in Beta still doesn't lessen the fact that they are worried about there revenue model and expect a drastic decrease in revenue over the next 2 years due to the Recession still hanging over our heads.  This is where it comes to pure talent and understanding that most people in the business has to worry being laid off for example Merck Laid off 13% of it's workforce. Most people know the dread and fear of having the possibility of a Layoff hanging over your head and it is bound to affect even the most stubborn person and independent person.   It is going to come at a time like Christmas or the first a year and you will have to scrounge around and try to find another job.   It's tough and I've got a list that will help you :5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.

With this list you will be able to get a better grip of the future and maybe create a better future in the process.

Mahalo is still in it's infancy and will still need time to grow and mature and with this recession looming over everyone's head they will have quite a time making heads or tails of the future.  So why try to create the future if you don't know what will happen?  That comes with the territory of blogging and website that are 2.0.  It's a hit or miss when it comes to people finding the best content and sometimes finds the worst content.  This is where you as a reader have to choice what to listen to and who to listen too.  I don't say that will be easy but it is essential in finding what you need at the time you need it.

If we don't do anything, this will be the last you will see of some of these big name sites.  We need to gather around them and show our support, by reading there content and providing feedback if there is something that needs to be change.  That is your power to help these websites become the best they can.  So go comment on your favorite website, tell them something you think they can do to better the content.  So why aren't you doing that now?

Apple reports there earnings for the quarter!

After all that happened today, Apple decides to talk about there earnings for today.  Some things to consider are:


Apple ships more than 2.6 million Macs and 6.9 Billion Iphones.   Now let's do the numbers on this 6.9 billion Iphones at an average over 500$ a piece would mean quite a earnings for Apple.  This according to Applewatch and I've got to think is this showing the real economy or is this all hype from Steve Jobs?

[ad]

According to M&G Business they are up 24 per cent this fiscal year.  Which means that they have gain ahead from the recent problems in the stock market.  Are they going to be able keep that going?

Last but final least saying of the day Gizmodo is stating : Steve is on the call, says that iPhone is now 39 percent of their business, Apple is now world's "third largest mobile phone supplier."

Now what about the Google Phone is that going to out sale the Iphone?  I would like to know the current status of how man Google phones they have estimation sold on pre-orders?  Are they going to be able to out do the Iphone or is it going to be even more of a problem when they release the final numbers on the G-phone!!

[ad]

Has the Mac ads been helping fueling the Iphone sales or have they been Hindering?  People are assuming they are helping the notebook sales and possibly helping the iphone sales?  What do you think?

Is Hulu the "salad course"?

As I've been watching Hulu the last few months.  I've come to think that Hulu isn't offering us the viewers the chance of a full course meals.  They seem to like to stop after the first 2-3 seasons on most of the shows.    I recently contacted Hulu about the Naruto episodes and here's what they had to say about it:

Thanks for the email. On background, sometime in the coming weeks, Hulu
will get the remaining episodes of Naruto Season 1, and we'll also get
episodes from Season 2-3 in the future as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Brandon Boone

[ad]

So why does Hulu do this? I have a theory and this is one that most people will agree on. My theory is that the distributors are trying to entice us into buying the rest of the seasons from someplace, like Amazon or Itunes. Now I am going to have to say this is really stupid way of business and will sooner or later create even more of a demand to download these shows illegally. In the past people have always looked for the cheap way to watch there favorite shows.

Increasingly people are using BitTorrent to download their favorite TV-shows. The rise of unauthorized downloading of TV-shows is a signal that customers want something that is not available through other channels. It’s more about availability than the fact that it’s free and should be viewed as an opportunity, not a threat.
[Via Torrentfreak]

It is one thing to offer free content and get revenue from the free content. It is another to offer free shows and encourage people to download the rest of the show illegally.

Why do they want to buy the rest of the episodes, it is simple math.  They are wanting to get the money for each DVD you buy.  In today's economy there seems to be less and less Blue ray sales.

[ad]

Published: September 23, 2008 - 08:18PM CT

The numbers show that Blu-ray's market share dropped 13.39 percent from the previous week, and that DVD's numbers actually went up by 0.15 percent. Netflix CEO Barry McCarthy recently told Home Media Magazine that he didn't expect Blu-ray to have much of an impact on the company's DVD business in 2008 at all. Citing high player prices, he said that only a fraction of Netflix subscribers currently rent Blu-ray disks.

[via Arstechnica]

Although, this is a couple weeks old article from arstechnica, I thought it was more relevant than most. It talks about how people can't afford to buy a player and the BD Dvd's due to the high prices and charge more than they should. So why do it in the first place? I don't know but all this is showing people are having to choice cheaper and cheaper ways to watch what they want because of the US economy slinding further into recession.

[ad]

What is your most favorite show or movie?  Are you willing to pay a lot for the movie?  These are questions,  that we have to challenge Hulu and other shows on why they only have 2 or 3 seasons of a particluar series.  Is it right to have lure us into the episode and not offer more episodes later on?

Scam ALERT: NATIONWIDE MARKETING!!

*Update* Seems to be that they've went and changed to another name.  They are now using  Excel Marketing, and I plan on keeping people updated.   Read the comments to find out about what people have said!!!

Hi all,

[ad] Just got this nice little letter from Nationwide Marketing.  This was sent snail mail, or Postal mail.   I came home today to find I got mail from 30 Centurian Drive/Markham, ON L3R 8B9 Canada.   I opened it up and find a check from Nationwide Marketing.   it's the old routine, they want you to cash the check send them $3,500 and you keep the rest.  The fake check that I know is faked, I call the bank in question.   It says you have to do a 2 hour evaluation training and get paid training for 200$ per Hour.   The fake check was for $3,990.00 and $3,500 was supposed to be sent through a Wal-mart Money Gram.   The so called position was Customer Service Evaluator (Rep ID#: KB0C0608).     I am supposed to call 1-905-598-1519 I received this assignment to validate the enclosed payment.Thank goodness I did a little searching and found out this was a scam.

A little more information about this so called fake check is:

Nationwide Marketing

PO BOX 91

Minneapolis, MN 55440

Keybank of UTAH in Price, UT

Check Date 10/06/2008 Vendor ID 6280748  31-0300/1243

Routing number is : 124303007   Bank: KEY BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Peter Goldman Is the So called Co-ordinator.

Along with the letter and check there was a Customer Satisfaction Evaluation Tool (CSET), I'm assuming this is a way for them to get the important information of the money gram.   We are supposed to fax that after the completion of the assignment.

I did posted this to get the word about this scam.  I encourage all of you leave comments about this and warn people of all the variety of this scam.  Thank goodness I did research or I could of been a victim too, thanks Google!!!

There was another form of this starting up and I wanted to let people know:

Well, guess what . . . I just got a "Customer Service Evaluator" letter, check and survey sheet in my mail! The post mark is from Canada, and the check is from The State Bank of Faribault, Minnesota and the survey company letterhead says that they are located in New York. The phone number I am supposed to call is 1-416-831-1673 to let them know that I have gotten the check. Then I keep $100 and wire the rest back using Money Gram.

I did a google search on the name of the company, and they have a scam alert on their site telling people that the letters that they are getting in the mail are NOT from them.

http://www.surveyclub.com/e/ScamAlert.aspx
They should really check WHO they are sending these letters and checks to before they drop them in the mail!

[From Shawn Mosch]

This came from the scam victims site and wanted to inform people of this scam too!

[gsom-optin]

Google Ups the Anti!!

As part of our effort to protect the accounts of AdSense publishers, we have mailed a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to the payment address entered in your account. This PIN must be entered on the PIN Information page before any payments can be issued to you. In the meantime, your account remains active, and you may continue to show ads and accrue earnings.

[ad]

Well that came unexpectedly, Google actually is trying to protect our accounts now from getting phished and or/taken over by some malicious person. This is called two factor verification**, Something you know and something you have.  You can also get verify through your Cell Phone.  Here is what they said in my Email:

Hi,

In an effort to protect the accounts of Google AdSense publishers,
we've starting using automated telephone number verification to
ensure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. As a result,
you should see a Required Action on your Payment History Page to
'Please verify your phone number' after you log in to your account.
To initiate this process, lick the 'Please verify your phone number'
link and follow the instructions.

Keep in mind that you have 6 months to enter the verification code.
If you have not entered your verification code within 4 months, we'll
start displaying Public Service Ads (PSAs) on your web pages. If you
have not entered your verification code within 6 months, your account
will be disabled and any unpaid earnings will be refunded to the
appropriate advertisers. You can learn more about our phone number
verification process at
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=32055.

For additional questions about getting paid, please visit
http://www.google.com/adsense/payments.
If you prefer a video presentation of this information, we encourage you to watch our Payment
demo (currently available in English only), located at http://www.google.com/adsensedemo4 .

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

[ad]

So here's my take, you don't have to verify both of them just one or the other. It is going to be rather difficult that people get paid. I don't think this will be a big problem for most people, but I am sure some are going to get annoyed having to enter their* pin every time they want to get paid.  So what do you think?  Is this a good upgrade or a bad upgrade you decide and leave your comments.  I want to hear them.

(*) Thanks to the Diggers to showing me I had a mistake.

(**)Someone ask why I capitalise the two in so I changed it!

(The Google Letter) That text is from my email no changes have been made except line breaks, so if there is an error it comes from Google.

Taking back Program Controls : For the Beginners!

Image via Wikipedia

So, let's face it, this is one of the most annoying problems there are with programs.   Programs that you think are shut down but are actually still active in the Taskmanager.  So I figured I'd talk about some of the most common fixes for these problems.    Now as you know there can be any number of programs or glitches as they say, causing the problems.  So let's talk about the why, shall we.

Most of the time programs don't quit because they are waiting for some kind of response from the system or the System is waiting for the program to close by itself.  It could also be a problem with a Virus or Root kit?  How do you fix it?

Fixing the problem is somewhat just trial and Error.  It isn't always the hardest thing to do but sometimes people overlook the easiest solutions.   So here are some easy ones:

• Check to see if one of the Microsoft updates are causing the problem --  Sometimes you might not realize it, but having installed an update can cause problems like KB951748.  That one caused a major Headache for Zonealarm.  So it is wise to check each months updates when you start seeing problems, sometimes it could of been happening for a while but it can sometimes cause troubles.


• Do a Hijackthis scan -- Just in case it is virus this will tell you what programs might be the virus.  You will need to go Analyze the logs so go HijackThis Log Analysis Site 1 and HijackThis Log Analysis Site 2. Check the logs to see what viruses might be on your system.   Just Remember that if you delete something important to your system you will have to install the Operating System.


• Boot into Safe Mode and Clean out your Prefetch Directory -- Yes that is right, if you boot into Safe Mode and clean the cache you sometimes help fix problems.  You see most programs loaded in cache sometimes get corrupt and might cause problems.


• Uninstall any programs that you think might problem --  This one is easily overlook because most people don't realize that a program is loading up with your knowledge and might cause a variety of problems.  You can also check the Msconfig for that programs that might not need to be loaded up when you start windows.

These are just a few ways to fix the problem and I think if you do this most of your problems will go away.  There are of course other solutions depending on your system configuration.   As with any changes to your system, please talk to your computer care specialist if you have any questions.

Related articles

• Manual Removal of Malware Using HijackThis (brighthub.com)


• Remove Viruses and Spyware for Free | Portable Antivirus (portableantivirus.org)


• Virus Or Spyware Attack? Do This! (site-press.com)


• Get The Best Anti Spyware Removal Removal To Make Your Pc Far From ... (best-antivirus-software.org)


• ZoneAlarm caught using fake antivirus scare tactics (arstechnica.com)

Bandwidth Tools For Monitoring your bandwidth

<<See Previous Post


So I've done some looking around for bandwidth programs.  So here's what I found so far.  The programs I've got listed are not test and are therefore your responsible for any and all use of the programs.

[ad]

• 
  

  FreeMeter Bandwidth Monitor For Windows - Monitor network bandwidth (C#.NET 2k/XP+). Desktop and Systray graph. Configurable connection speed, update interval, color, transparency. Monitor any or all network interfaces. Ping/Trace/UPnP utilities. Email notifier (POP/IMAP). Requires .NET 2.0.

  
  


• 
  

  Pipelog - Windows Bandwidth Meter -- Pipelog is a Windows bandwidth meter that gives live statistics of accumulated bandwidth usage. It is written in C# and runs on the .NET Framework.

  
  


• 
  

  Windows Service Monitor -- Monitor and automatically restart Windows Services with this small Win32 command line utility. Windows Service Monitor (WinSMon) can monitor several services, restart services that stop/fail and limit the number of restart times.

  
  


• 
  

  iptotal -- iptotal is an IP traffic monitor. It listens to a network interface in non-promiscuous mode, and measures IP bandwidth usage. After the specified number of seconds, the average throughput is printed at total, input and output usage.

  
  


• 
  

  Bandwidth Vista 1.0.0.8 -- Bandwidth Vista is modern, informative and intuitive to use. Whether you are looking for network problems or simply want to check the speed of your Internet connection Bandwidth Vista is for you. Bandwidth Vista monitors all your connected interfaces at once and holds a history of transfers, which can be viewed down to the minute. This dynamic application also indicates the countries of remote computers con.

  
  


• 
  

  Bandwidth Monitor 2 -- An ideal tool for the bandwidth conscious, Bandwidth Monitor enables you to keep a close eye on the amount of bandwidth accumulated over the current hour, day, week, month, or even year! Advanced logging tools make it easy to view your bandwidth usage and make alterations to bandwidth logs. Clean up old data at the touch of a button, and import your bandwidth data from our predecessor Bandwidth Monitor 1.0. Version 2 adds Vista compatibility.

  
  


• 
  

  Axence NetTools 3.2 -- NetWatch - network monitoring with e-mail alerting, real-time & historical charts of response time & packet lost. WinTools lists exhaustive system information from Windows computers: running processes & services, registry, event log, disk, memory & CPU information. Port scanner checks for all open ports and running services.

  
  


• 
  

  BitMeter 3.5.7 -- BitMeter 2 is a bandwidth meter, it allows you to visually monitor your Internet connection by displaying a scrolling graph that shows your upload and download speed over time. Features include: Graphical and numerical displays of historical data, Web interface, alerts, stopwatch, calculator, transparent/float/click-through modes, 36-page help file, audio notifications, configurable color-schemes and many other options. Version 3.5.7 offers minor fixes and feature enhancements.

  
  

[ad]

These are just a few that I could find to better keep track of your bandwidth.  These haven't been tested but should get your started in the right directions.  If you have any good suggestions by all means let me know!!

Hot, sexy bot sweet-talks personal data out of chatters

[ad#ad2-left]

Security software company PC Tools warns that the bot can easily be used for malicious purposes. The company said that the program's ability to mimic human behavior to dupe chatters is worrisome, and could readily be used to collect all manner of information. "As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering," said PC Tools senior malware analyst Sergei Shevchenko in a statement. "CyberLover has been designed as a bot [robot] that lures victims automatically, without human intervention. If it's spawned in multiple instances on multiple servers, the number of potential victims could be very substantial."
[Via Arstechnica]

This is really a security issue here. Never give out your personal information online. I just want to post this to remind people not everything online is safe.