Techs-on-Call Computer Blog

This is a problem I have seen a lot of the past few days. It has affected Windows Vista and Windows XP; however, with Windows Vista it is able to repair itself with the built-in startup repair tool. Windows XP users have to call somebody like me to fix it. The security update is labeled as MS10-015 and listed under the Microsoft knowledge base article 977165. To repair it, you'll need a Windows CD or DVD.

If you happen to have a Windows XP CD, follow these instructions:

• Boot from the CD.
• When prompted to set up Windows XP, press R to start the repair command prompt. After a few seconds, choose one of the Windows installations listed, ideally the one which is on the hard drive of your Windows XP installation which is usually C:\Windows. Enter your Administrator password which, for most people, is blank.
• Type "CD $ntuninstallkb977165$" (it does not matter if you use upper-case or lower-case).
• Type "CD spuninst".
• Type "batch spuninst.txt"
• Type "exit" to reboot and that should fix you up.

If you happen to have a Windows Vista or Windows 7 DVD and want to repair Windows XP, follow these instructions.

• Boot from the DVD.
• When prompted to set up Windows, click on the recovery tools listed at the bottom on the window. Follow the on-screen prompts until you see a window with several options, the last being a Command Prompt. You want to click on the Command Prompt option.
• Type the hard drive letter with the Windows XP installation on it and press enter. It is probably C: but it may be any letter at all. If in doubt, keep trying successive letters from C:
• Type "CD \Windows".
• Type "CD $ntuninstallkb977165$".
• Type "CD spuninst".
• Type "copy spuninst.txt spuninst.bat".
• Type "spuninst.bat".
• And reboot your computer.

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7, just use the built-in startup repair to fix this problem.

Google just announced that they are going to run fiber optic cables to people's homes and offer internet service. The plan is 1 gigabits per second internet, which is much faster than what most internet providers can offer. For examples, most high speed internet connections range from 1.5 megabits per sercond to 15 megabits per second. Even Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse, which both deliver cable TV over the internet, isn't that fast. Neither is the city of Wilson's Greenlight internet. Google's internet is 1 gigabit, or 1000 megabits, per second.

Is this a good idea? In my opinion, no. First, those who do everything do nothing well. Google is branching out too far from its roots, and as result they cannot focus. I still use Google for my search because I can always find what I need faster on Google. Which is related to me my second objection: Google isn't doing this to help America. The official blog post may sound like they are, but Google is a for-profit company. And Google profits off data-mining, which tracking what people do on the internet. Do you really want to give a company whose main source of income is data mining control on how you access the internet? I don't. You would be naive to think Google will not find some way to monitor the behavoir of the people who use their service and sell it to advertisers. I would rather have a slower internet than a monitored internet.

A company called Surfright has just released a study from users who visit their website to remove malicous software, or malware. Even up to date antivirus definitions. One quote from the study from cyvelliance.com says that "Even the most popular AV solutions detect less than half of the latest malware threats." VB100, a company that tests antivirus products, says "A few renowned anti virus programs do not pass the VB100 test."

All this confirmed what I already knew: Your antivirus program won't protect you from the biggest threat today, malware. From personal experience, the malware I see the most is fake antivirus programs. I see this a lot because it is profitable. Of course, fake antivirus programs are easy to remove. The idea behind fake antivirus programs is to make as much money as you can as fast you can; burying itself deep is too much work. Also from my experience, malware in Windows Vista is more likely to be confined to a specific user. What this means is that if a computer has more than one sign in name, it is more than likely to be limited to one of those users with the other user unaffected. Windows XP is more likely to have every user affected.

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This is from McAfee labs about a new technique computer viruses are using. This one embeds itself in a help file. I've seen viruses in executable files (.exe) and in library files (.dll). Now viruses have another place to hide: help files.

A computer virus is a bit of code that is embedded into a file and when that file is executed, the virus executes some code and often spreads itself. In this case, once the infected help file is viewed, the virus installs some malicious program. The malicious program is just an encoded file with a file extension of .hlp to make it look like a help file. The purpose of this is to foil anti-malware programs.

All of this just illustrates the point that malicious software will always change tactics to stay two steps ahead of the cleanup programs. Fortunately for you, the motivation behind most malware is profit. This means that most malware is not this complex because that is too much work. These cyber-criminals want as much as they can as fast as they can. Complex malware like this take a long time. Still, never assume you are safe. I've said it before in other blog posts, not even Macs are safe. About 80% of the malware I see is a simple scam, the fake antivirus stuff. And that is relatively easy (for me anyway) to remove. Just always be alert. Being alert can foil most of the cyber attacks.

If you like more information on this new virus tactic, McAfee has a blog entry about it: Be careful on help file.

Every year, Apple comes out with a new product in which they desperate, but unsuccessfully, try to keep under wraps so that Steve Jobs can make a public announcement. (Yes, Apple does have some employees whose sole purpose is to find people who leak unreleased products.) Sometimes the announcement is an upgrade to an existing line. This year, it is the iPad.

What is the iPad? Nothing more than an overglorified iPod Touch. At least the 1st generation of the iPad is. It uses the same operating system as the iPhone and iPod Touch, meaning it supports the same apps as these do. What a nice way to sell an app twice! It has built-in Wi-Fi and supports the new 802.11n standard. For an extra fee, you can get one that supports AT&T or T-Mobile 3G cellular internet with AT&T selling them in the stores at a subsidized price if you subscribe to an AT&T data plan. This brings up an interesting point.

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