Free Republic

UPDATE .BIN error information... Aug 16th 2008Posted by: rdsok - Moderator (IP Logged) Date: August 17, 2008 12:07AM Currently the update for AVG Free v8 is corrupted... you will have to wait for AVG Technologies to address the issue with the update. Reporting the issue again by other users here will not do any good until it is resolved. The updates that your AVG currently have will still provide the protection it is setup to detect. In otherwords, not being able to get this update will not make your AVG Free ineffective and as soon as AVG Tech resolves the...

Exclusive AVG has rejiggered the fake traffic it's spewing across the internet, causing new headaches for the world's webmasters. In late February, AVG paired its updated anti-virus engine with a real-time malware scanner that vets search engine results before you click on them. If you search Google, for instance, this LinkScanner automatically visits each address that turns up on Google's results page. According to the company, more than 20 million people have downloaded the new AVG 8, and this has caused a huge up-tick in traffic on sites across the web, including The Register. Because the scanner attempts to disguise...

Ex-CEO charged in fake anti-virus software scheme March 01, 2008 The former CEO of a Korean anti-virus software company was indicted yesterday on charges of distributing a fake virus-detection program to 1.26 million Internet users. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday that Lee Shin-ja, the 41-year-old former head of Media Port, was indicted for cyber fraud. Two other computer programmers were also charged for participating in the development of the software. The businesswoman earned more than 9.2 billion won ($9.8 million) by cheating Internet users since 2005, the prosecution said. Lee told reporters she had already left the...

An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games - and its designers might have larger targets in mind. "It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence," said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse. The virus, which Computer Associates calls Mocmex, recognizes and blocks antivirus protection from more than 100 security vendors, as well as the security and firewall built into Microsoft Windows. It downloads files from...

I currently have Norton as a firewall and the subscription runs out in 3 days. I will not be renewing it. I have downloaded a program called Comodo Firewall Pro but have not run the install yet. Comodo is a free and completely functional version of the product. I will also want to install the free version of AVG. I also run Spybot Search & Destroy regularly. My OS is Win XP. I have a couple of questions: 1. Can I run AVG with a firewall that also includes virus protection? 2. How do I completely delete the Norton product?...

vanity post (McAfee)

The Mozilla Foundation has released security updates to fix multiple flaws that could result in system hijacking in its open-source Firefox browser, Thunderbird e-mail client and SeaMonkey Internet applications suite. The bugs, deemed critical, are detailed in Mozilla's Security Advisory 2007-12. They include multiple vulnerabilities in Mozilla's Layout Engine and in its JavaScript engine that can result in memory corruption and lead to system takeover or DoS (denial of service). The function of a layout engine is to handle content such as HTML, XML, image files and applets as well as formatting information including CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and presentational...

I run Windows 98 (I hate change), and I've had AVG from Grisoft since 1998 ... a free anti virus that is no longer supported for Win98.Is there another freeware antivirus program anyone will recommend?Thanx.Yes, I'm logged in and I'm watching my sister and a moose eat cheeze in the shower ... stuning!

My computer used to be really zippy. 1 1/4 gig Ram, fast processor, etc. But then I installed symantic and that slowed it somewhat. Then all the Windows updates. Now it's actually pretty slow, sometimes. Anyone else have this problem?

"When you have a few minutes," my father asked me on the phone last night, "could you help me with my antivirus stuff?" The trial version of Norton AntiVirus 2006 on his three-month-old Lenovo laptop was expiring, and he was bit confused by the upgrade warning, so he wanted me to help him through the transition. One of the options was to upgrade to Norton AntiVirus 2007, for $39 (after the $10 promotional coupon he got in e-mail). Sounded good to me. "Sure," I said. "It should only take a few minutes." I took control of his computer via LogMeIn...

Pardon the Vanity, but I thought it might be good to post for not only myself but for others that did the same thing. Last night, when the link was posted on this forum, I went to see what Ahmadinejad's blog looks like. Only after I clicked on the thing and let it load did I happen to think -- wait a minute, I just clicked on a terrorist's website. What's to keep him from being a cyber terrorist. Then, today, I see this from Little Green Footballs http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=22093_Ahmadinejads_Blog_is_Dangerous&only Last night, after I clicked, I deleted all cookies, offline content,...

A faulty definition update from Symantec left vicars in a quandary after it identified a popular ecclesiastical application as spyware. An 8 July update to Norton Anti-Virus identified a key component of Visual Liturgy - a component called vlutils.dll - as a piece of malware called SniferSpy. Visual Liturgy is a legitimate application used by Church of England vicars to plan and deliver church services. Symantec said a subsequent update to Norton Anti-Virus fixed the SNAFU. However, Church House Publishing, the publishers of Visual Liturgy, said they have received no such assurances. Church House has advised users to ignore warnings...

I have been a big user of Norton Utilities & Anti-Virus in the past. Nowadays I don't use NAV anymore as I use AVG Free Edition. I also don't use Norton Internet Protection as I use ZoneAlarm. I want to finally drop NU but I don't know of a suitable replacement. I am dropping all Norton products because they want to take over the entire system. I also get these crazy messages that keep telling me that AVG isn't compatible with their programming and that I need to run Norton Clean-Up and turn on my Automatic Updates so it downloads...

WASHINGTON -- Symantec Corp.'s leading antivirus software, which protects some of the world's largest corporations and U.S. government agencies, suffers from a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious programs, researchers said Thursday.

In another example of "ransomware," a new Trojan horse threatens to delete files unless the victim pays up, security experts have warned. When activated, the Trojan horse, dubbed Ransom-A by antivirus company Sophos, displays some explicit images. It then shows an expletive message that demands a US$10.99 payment, or it will delete one file every 30 minutes, security experts at SophosLabs said in a statement published late last week.

Seeking FReeper opinions on best Computers,and Antivirus software...Please Help!

What does this mean? When my AVG did a quick scan, a warning came up saying that the Windows system32 Shell32.dll size had changed. Is this of major significance?

London - Collateral damage? Virus slayer McAfee admitted on Friday that an error in its definition file meant its security tools had flagged a few harmless good eggs along with its usual horde of saboteurs as it policed the cyber-streets. Antivirus software detected Microsoft Office components--Excel.exe and Graph.exe--and Adobe Systems' (nasdaq: ADBE - news - people ) AdobeUpdateManager.exe--an application installed alongside Adobe products that deals with software updates, as a virus called W95/CTX. According to a media report, W95/CTX is an obscure Windows 95 virus that McAfee first identified in 2004. A malicious flag was even applied to updaterui.exe, McAfee's...

Microsoft's Anti-Spyware program is causing troubles for people who also use Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus software; apparently, a recent update to Microsoft's anti-spyware application flags Norton as a password-stealing program and prompts users to remove it. According to several different support threads over at Microsoft's user groups forum, the latest definitions file from Microsoft "(version 5805, 5807) detects Symantec Antivirus files as PWS.Bancos.A (Password Stealer)." When Microsoft Anti-Spyware users remove the flagged Norton file as prompted, Symantec's product gets corrupted and no longer protects the user's machine. The Norton user then has to go through the Windows registry and delete multiple...

Users running Windows will be charged almost $50 each year for having their PCs protected by Microsoft against attacks from hackers. Microsoft's Windows OneCare Live program will be launched in June and made available online and via retailers for an annual fee of $49.95 on up to three machines. Customers who beta test Windows OneCare Live between April 1 and April 30 get to take advantage of a special $19.95 promotional price.Microsoft's pricing means Windows OneCare subscribers are likely to pay less up front than if they bought traditional anti-virus software like Symantec, for example, whose Norton AntiVirus 2006 protection...

Microsoft will omit anti-virus protection in Vista, the next version of Windows, which it plans to ship late this year. As with previous versions of Windows dating back to Windows 2000 at least, Redmond is promoting Vista as a landmark improvement in Windows security. Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's platform products and services division, told reseller magazineCRN that safety and security, improved user experience, and mobility features will be key additions in Vista. But there will be no anti-virus software, the Windows development supremo said during a questions and answers session with CRN. For unspecified business (not technical) reasons, Microsoft...

Sony BMG has struck a deal with the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit over copy-restriction software it used in music CDs, according to a settlement document filed at a New York court Wednesday. The record label has agreed to compensate buyers of CDs that contained the XCP and MediaMax DRM programs and to provide software utilities to allow consumers to uninstall both types of software from their computer. The furor over Sony's DRM software began at the end of October when a U.S. programmer discovered that XCP software on a Sony music CD had installed copy-restriction software on his...

A critical software bug has been discovered in several of the most widely used anti-virus programs. It could be exploited to take control of a computer or to steal information, according to an analysis produced by the independent security analyst who made the discovery. The glitch affects 39 different Symantec products - including both home and enterprise versions of its anti-virus software. It resides within the Symantec anti-virus library, which is used by all of the packages. The analyst, Alex Wheeler, discovered that a critical error occurs when the Symantec anti-virus library decompresses files from "RAR" format for analysis Symantec...

When the news first broke in the mainstream press that Windows expert and blogger Mark Russinovich (he wrote a book about Windows for Microsoft) had found that Sony's anti-piracy efforts had gone too far and that Sony's DRM was installing an undetectable rootkit on customers' computers which they couldn't safely remove, the first reaction from Microsoft was guarded. They were concerned, they said, and were evaluating what, if anything, to do: Microsoft, which also ships an anti-spyware program, recently renamed "Windows Defender," hasn't yet decided whether it will also flag the Sony DRM software as malicious code, the spokesperson said....

The past ten days I have been getting ad windows while my hard drive spins up and I can only see the ad when I exit. I downloaded and paid for Spyware Doctor after it told me that I had 166 "infections" and set the "on guard" function assuming it would remove the infections. They are still there and every time I try to find a removal tool it only gives me the option of scanning. Have I been had?

Here is where I am. Running XP Home. Was surfing a sports board. Got a BSOD. And since then cannot boot at all. lsass.exe system error invalid parameter Did enough searching to convince me I got the Sasser worm or some variation thereof. Booted from CD; tried repair console. No success. So I am ready to hopefully reinstall. I want to save my programs. Data I need is backed up on a second hard drive. So when I get to the point of selecting which drive to install on. I get the message that I will lose data, apps, etc....

Kaspersky Lab is expanding further into the American market with the U.S. debut of its antivirus software for Linux and Unix e-mail servers, file servers and workstations. Moscow-based Kaspersky announced Monday that it has launched the corporate products in the United States. It has sold them in Europe for the past six years. "Linux products are much more prevalent in Europe. But as Linux comes more and more online in the United States, there is a greater need for protection against malicious code," said Randy Drawas, a Kaspersky Lab spokesman. Treasure hunt sees Net gain Web video set to get...

Microsoft is readying a new consumer security product that offers virus and spyware protection, a new firewall and several tune-up tools for Windows PCs, a move that pits the software giant squarely against traditional security software vendors. The product, dubbed Windows OneCare, will be tested internally at Microsoft starting this week. A public test, or beta, version is scheduled to be available by year's end, Microsoft said in a statement this week. The final product will be offered as a subscription service, the Redmond, Washington, software maker says. OneCare marks Microsoft's long-anticipated entry into the antivirus space, until now the...

It uses a new technique to avoid virus software scans The longevity of the current Sober worm may be largely due to a new technique it uses to evade virus scans, according to antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab Ltd. The worm, variously labeled Sober.P, Sober.S, Sober.O and Sober.V by different companies, continues to circulate in large numbers; it made up 84% of all virus traffic as of Monday, according to Lynnfield, Mass.-based virus lab Sophos PLC. While researchers have attributed its success to the fact that it circulates in both English and German, and to its use of free World Cup...

Computer local area networks at East Japan Railway Co. and some media organizations were inaccessible Saturday morning, apparently due to a bug in antivirus software made by Trend Micro Inc. "A bug was detected in a file (designed to detect viruses), and it is highly likely that computer networks that were updated (with the file) encountered a system failure," the software company said. Trend Micro said its virus analysis and support center in Manila released the file worldwide at around 7:30 a.m. Saturday as part of an update for its Virus Buster software. It said the file was replaced by...

For the benefit of myself and others with the same problem, do any of you know of a good, free virus protection program I can download from the internet?

Symantec has reported glitches in its antivirus software that could allow hackers to launch denial-of-service attacks on computers running the applications. In a notice posted on its Web site this week, Symantec detailed two similar vulnerabilities found in its Norton AntiVirus software, which is sold on its own or bundled in Norton Internet Security and Norton System Works. The flaws, which could lead to computers crashing or slowing severely if attacked, are limited to versions of the software released for 2004 and 2005. The Information-Technology Promotion Agency of Japan, a government-affiliated tech watchdog group, identified the first instance of the...

A major wave of Bagle-like Trojan horses hit users worldwide Tuesday with numerous variations that aim to overwhelm anti-virus defenses by morphing faster than research labs can release new signatures. The attack, which began about midnight EST, was launched in a large-scale spamming campaign, said virus researchers, and although the new threat doesn't spread on its own -- these are Trojans with Bagle characteristics, not true worms -- many security vendors have bumped up warnings to get out the word. It's unclear how many variations are at loose. Some vendors, such as Symantec, had reported only two as of mid-morning...

I'm giving one of my old computers to my sister, but I don't have an antivirus program to install on it. Is there a cheap or free antivirus program out there that I can use on a WIN2K box? I run NIS 2005 on my own machine, but that's $70. NAV 2005 is $50. Is it worth it to cheap out, or should I spend the money?

If Microsoft Corp. doesn't do more to stem Internet attacks, the company risks further alienating customers unhappy with the multitude of threats already facing its ubiquitous software. Sell its own security products, on the other hand, and Microsoft faces a potential backlash from some of its allies _ the companies that now provide an extra layer of security for its Windows operating system, Internet Explorer browser and other products. With a powerhouse like Microsoft becoming a direct competitor, they could get squeezed out. What a quandary. Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates confirmed plans to sell antivirus products to both...

For the last two days my AVG 7.0 anti-virus program has been prompting me to download the latest update, but when I try, nothing happens for 10 - 15 seconds and then a pop-up tells me my internet connection (DSL) has failed. Obviously, it hasn't. Anyone else having the same problem or have any advice? AVG's technical support for the free version is only a list of FAQ's and I didn't find anything there.

On this tech forum ( or click the link above )-- EXTREME Overclocking Forums > Software Discussion > Antivirus / Spyware...I ran across an apt animation with advice for all:How to post on a forum

Hey Freepers, you gotta keep those computers healthy, so I thought I'd post these links together for those of you without good spyware protection on your computer. These programs will clean your system out and get rid of a bunch of nasty little programs that have installed themselves on your PC over the years without your knowledge. This is a great combination of products (100% FREE!) that can deal a knockout blow to spyware and bad computer viruses. To eliminate spyware, use these. Ad-Aware 6.0: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10319876.html?tag=lst-0-2 and Spybot Search and Destroy: http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10289035.html?tag=lst-0-2 If you don't have a good Antivirus program...

Symantec has labelled a program that enables Chinese surfers to view blocked websites as a Trojan Horse. Upshot? Users of Norton Anti-Virus cannot access Freegate, a popular program which circumvents government blocks, the FT reports. Freegate has 200,000 users, Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT), its developer, estimates. It lets users view sites banned by the Chinese government by taking advantage of a range of proxy servers assigned to changeable internet addresses. But a recent update to Symantec's AV definition files means the latest version of Freegate is treated as malware and removed from systems protected by Norton. Short of disabling Norton...

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SPARTANBURG, SC (Talon News) -- A threatening new e-mail virus debuted last Friday and is quickly circulating worldwide across the Internet, affecting computers of countless numbers of individuals, government officials, and media. In a message entitled "{Spam?} {Virus?} {Spam?} Check this out kid!!!," the e-mail simply states, "Send me back bro, when you'll be done...(if you know what i mean...) See ya, ..." Worse yet, the attachment to this e-mail, "jennifer the wild girl xxx07.jpg.pif," is a virus that has severely infected computers internationally. The virus, known as Worm.Zafi.B, sends as many as 100 or more e-mail messages daily with...

I have a wireless network (D-Link router and NICs) consisting of 3 computers, all running Windows XP, sharing cable internet. What's the best way to protect my network from viruses, worms and spyware? Two of the computers are extremely slow with lots of popups showing up when we go online(some are really disgusting). My son takes online classes that use popups. Is there a way to keep those and stop all the others from showing up? I'm hoping to buy something less than $100. Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

WASHINGTON : Presidential hopeful and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry today announced he has offered Johnny Depp first refusal of the coveted VP spot in his Democratic bid for the White House. I first saw Johnny in that scissors movie, Kerry told reporters, and I’ve wanted to run with him ever since. A source close to the Kerry campaign stated that Kerry believes Depp’s charm, charisma and intense global popularity is just the thing needed to sway voter support of post-teen females, twenty-something housewives, every woman in middle-aged America and that ‘certain section of guys’ towards the Democratic ticket in November....

I sat dont at my station over an hour ago and responded to an Explorer upgrade option without thinking. This ISN'T a normal option, it was simply a pop-up. Without thinking I responded to upgrade and downloaded a nightmare. I have yet to break this. It consists of an additional bar which creates a new home page, http://find.intelius.com with files I've deleted in addition to wwd.ieplugin[1] - and proceeds to iniate infinite pop-ups of EVERY type out of http://www.n-case.com. ANYTHING internet related will be tattooed with the new bar. View - Toolbars - Intelligent Explorer" will eliminate the bar from...

Blaster, Slammer, Sobig, Lovsan - if these words are familiar to you, you might have been one of this year's victims of various and vicious PC security attacks. Just Friday, appropriately enough on Halloween, yet another monster reared its ugly head as computer security experts warned of a potentially troublesome new e-mail worm, Mimail.C, slowly spreading among both corporate and home e-mail users. This latest threat is a variant of the W32.Mimail worm that surfaced in August and comes as an e-mail message with "our private photos" in the subject line and an attached .zip archive file called "photos.zip." Infection...

<p>It's a great time to be in the antivirus business. In August, two separate bugs laid low millions of PCs around the world, causing an estimated $2 billion in damage. Both exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system. And on Sept. 10, Microsoft warned of yet another security hole in Windows that could lead to a new bout of bugs. All that has sent sales of antivirus software soaring. So which company stands to benefit the most from the surging demand for security software? That's right: Microsoft.</p>

I have Norton Anti-virus and it seems to have died... Any sugestions about a free anti-virus program on the internet?

<p>It's official. Klez is the most virulent e-mail virus of all time.</p> <p>For close to a year, SirCam was the virus most likely to turn up in your e-mail box. But representatives from a half-dozen antivirus firms now believe that "Klez.H" is the most pervasive e-mail virus in cyberhistory, estimating that it has infected hundreds of thousands of computers within hours of first being spotted in mid-April.</p>