Category: Windows OS

How Cryptolocker (Ransomware) gets installed and how to remove it!

Paul

Cryptolocker Virus!

I have been watching what has been going on in the past few days and thought it was high time I tell you about this nasty little worm or virus! It has been many months since I have talked about this and I wanted to help you understand how you might of been infected. If you have been infected and want to remove it, you can easily remove it by using Malwarebytes Pro, Which is a sponsor of my blog. The Malwarebytes Blog has some interesting stuff about what this bug really does to your files and what it encrypts!

Drive by download

Some would say it is coming from emails but I suspect it will get much worse before it gets better. If they are making money they will probably start advertising that you have a virus and when you click on the image you will be taken over to actually have the virus or worm as some would call it. It all started when scammers started infecting systems and doing the defederpageblock and others like that. They found they could actually make money by scaring people into paying. I even tried to help people by offering some great Antivirus And Antimalware tools to help fight off this types of infections.

So how are some ways to get infected? The basic ways are simple opening email links if you don’t know the sender. This is the most common approach by any scammer or spammer because you can’t really see where that link is going or even if they are trying to use a script.

Social Media is the next biggest way that you might get infected by clicking links in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and sites like that. You have to be careful but most of the time you can expand the URL by using a service like LongURL. I sometimes use this to find out where a shortened bitly link or twitter link is going to take me.

Googling or Searching is the next way an attacker would install this type of software on your system. They would just use scripts, known vulnerabilities, to force install or silent install this type of software in your system and if you were using something like NoScript you would be much safer than if you didn’t!

Installing untrusted software can lead to you getting infected by this virus and others if you think you have to have a piece of software for something then please do not use your Windows Admin account to install this on. You should try to see what others are saying about a particular software or application. It isn’t always going to be fool proof but it will at least slow it down.

Now these are a few ways you could get infected if you were trying to get infected with this nasty virus. Which case you would be paying 300 US dollars or 2 bitcoins which is how they want to keep getting paid. So if you don’t want to find your pictures, and important data encrypted, please put them on a recordable dvd and put them up! This would be one step to help fight this little problem.

I havent’ heard if it has infected any Apple, Android, or Linux Operating systems it looks to be primarily Windows Systems. I can assure you it will happen to these other OS in the coming months so don’t think you aren’t immune to this and other malwares or viruses. With Android having exploits in the wild you can bet they will targeted soon to encrypted your contact list and your pictures. This would be my next bet!

Turn Aero OFF at will!!

Paul

Turn Aero ON/OFF at Will

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A site talk about this really cool Regedit. To Do this you will need to do some things.   Check out the full article at  PC Heaven for the Reg Hack.  I did the hack and it worked.  I know have a way to turn off and on Aero when I’m on the road.  I don’t have to worry about battery life for my Vista laptop.  This should increase my battery life and extend my time on the system without slowing me down!!

Microsoft Can’t you get anything Right?

Paul

I sit here listening to “Windows Weekly 61, Windows 7” and I wanted to talk about what he said and I quote:

Windows Vista was a major release, and Microsoft is positioning Windows 7 as a major release as well. However, the language Microsoft uses to describe the technical underpinnings of the Windows 7 suggest that this product will in fact be a minor release.
[Via Winsupersite]

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So My one questions is Windows going to be in fact a new whole system or just an update to Vista!! Here is some other quotes that I’ve found on the web:

Microsoft clearly are trying to launch Windows 7 as soon as possible, even though many users are only just getting around to upgrading to Windows Vista. I wonder if Windows 7 will be one upgrade too many for some customers?
[Via Windows7.cc]

So let’s start talking about this news. Will they be doing the final RC for Windows soon or are they going to wait till next year. It appears that they are going to do something soon but not sure what. They’ve been tight lipped from the start of windows Vista and have not been releasing anything big about Windows 7, Is this the attempt to hide there disgrace about Vista and how hard they are having to work for Windows 7?

First, there’ll be some new, unspecified integration with the Internet “cloud.” Windows 7 will have built-in connections with something like Microsoft’s “Live Mesh,” a Web-based system for sharing and synchronizing folders, learning the online status of friends and family, and syncing mobile devices with your desktop system.

Next, you’ll find automated backup, Microsoft’s catch-up answer to Apple’s Time Machine. This seems obvious from a leaked screen shot of the new Windows Health Center control panel applet in Windows 7.

[Via PcMagazine]

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So let’s Start talking about what Pc Magazine is talking about “cloud” computing. What they mean by cloud computing is like how you have google mail on your laptop but also on there website to be able to access it anywhere you have internet access. You can have it come in more than one ways and has the ability to keep your notes in Sync with other systems. Now they also are talking about the Apple’s Time Machine like backup for Windows 7, I am quite curious how they are going to do that also, they seem to be copying Apple and making it seem like they come up with even more features. Some other points I’d like to make are “Is Windows 7 a threat to Vista or a Complete replacement to Vista?”

PDC 2008 is slated for October 27 to 30 in Los Angeles. (I wonder if it will be right before/after/during the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, also slated for some time next fall, and possibly in Los Angeles.)
[Via Zdnet]

Now here’s my thinking on this one that they will have to start developing programs and talk when and what will be involved in Windows 7. They serious can’t be thinking it’s all about Vista, I haven’t seen a shred of evidence to think this Professional Developers Conference is going to be anything but talk about the next Windows 7. I just want to ask Microsoft to get this right this time. I don’t want to see another system that has to many bugs for corporate to use. Is Vista a doomed O/S and if so why?

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Reality check: what we know (and don’t) about Windows 7

Paul

Separating the wheat from the chaff

Would you buy a new operating system from this man?

One thing we all know about Windows 7 is the management team that will be leading the project. Jim Allchin—the veteran who led the Windows XP and Vista teams—is gone, and in his place is Steven Sinofsky, who previously headed up the Office 2007 project. This has raised all sorts of speculation that the Windows user interface will be getting a similar sort of “face lift” as the venerable Office suite did in its last release. Some have even gone so far as to say it would be “Ribbon-based.”

Windows 7 will get a facelift, but the extent of the UI changes are not yet known at Microsoft: current Windows 7 builds, which we have seen in person, use the Vista interface. Final designs for the UI have not yet been decided, and likely will not be for several months. If someone shows you any leaked screenshots of Windows 7, you can tell them that they have almost certainly been duped by enthusiastic fakers with a copy of Photoshop. Humans are visual creatures, and for most people the user interface is the only way to know that something has changed with a new release of the operating system. Unfortunately, the UI is typically the last thing to be finalized. Those of you who have watched the development of previous versions of Windows know what even once you start seeing concept UIs, nothing is set in stone.

[Via Arstechnica]

This is very interesting article on what might be called a small prediction on the part of what will come out in the next Windows OS!! Go check out the full article and enjoy!!