Ducktoes Spyware Blog

I don’t know if you noticed but this blog has been hacked. Instead of relevant Google adsense ads about spyware and viruses and computer-related services, unwanted prescription drug, credit, ringtone ads were being displayed. They still are if you go to some of my individual posts. So someone has interfered with the ads and redirected them to their own. For their own mercenary gain, obviously. I don’t know why they don’t write their own blog and put prescription ads on it, instead of on mine. To fix it, I asked for Google’s help and also Wordpress forum support. I also tried to upgrade the Wordpress blog to 2.5, which is more secure, but made a mess of and had to backtrack and use a backup. I learned how to input the backup text into the MyPhp server, which was interesting once I figured it out. Anyway the comment feed and other feeds don’t work yet, so I may have to hire a php specialist to help me. Maybe Google did do something because last Friday night the bad ads were replaced with the normal ads, and now are only hiding out on a back page or two.

Polly is one of my favorite clients. Whenever I go to her house or office she serves the tastiest gourmet coffee and chocolates. And she is appreciative, worrying aloud that I’ll be snapped up by an offer I can’t refuse, as her last computer tech was, and no longer be available to fix her computers. No computer dummy herself, she’s a whiz at databases and spreadsheets. She made a spreadsheet that tells how many days until her nieces’, nephews’ and friends’ birthdays. Her gardening database lists all her favorite seeds, where to buy them, and when and where in her yard to plant them.

This week I showed her the Task Manager and she became excited. Pleased at her interest, I showed her how to hold down the ctrl-alt-del keys simultaneously and after Task Manager came up what was available on each tab. “On the applications tab,” I told her, “all the software programs that are running, such as Word or Internet Explorer are listed. On the Processes tab, the processes running in the background are displayed.”

Polly sniffed. “I was hoping for a program that makes a to do list,” she said.

“This is better than a to do list,” I said. “If your Word program freezes you can force Word to quit, so you don’t have to turn off the whole computer. You just press ctrl-alt- del and select the program and voila, Word quits.”

Polly raised an eyebrow. She went into the kitchen and came back with the coffee pot. She poured more into my cup. “That’s why I hire you,” she said. “You really like the stupid, boring stuff that makes computers work.”

The next week when I went to her office to install a new computer, she showed me her new To Do List spreadsheet she’d made. But when her old computer froze she pressed ctrl-alt-del and forced quit Internet Explorer. “I do learn from you,” she said. “But all that stuff still bores me silly.”

As far as spyware is concerned, sometimes you have to go into Task Manager processes and stop a few of the bad processes to allow the anti-spyware and anti-virus software to work effectively. To learn what processes are legitimate and what are caused by spyware, go to this website. Or else restart the computer and go into Safe Mode and run the anti-spyware from there.

And I don’t mean music, although operatic music is wonderful too. I mean Opera, the browser. A reader of this blog (Italian, I think) said it was the safest browser out there. So I’m going to check it out. You can too. Click here to download it.

I still love Firefox. And highly recommend it. It may not be as safe as Opera but it is safer than Internet Explorer.

Are you still using Internet Explorer? Then Ms. Ducktoes will have to be severe with you!! You are courting disaster. Switch to a safer browser. NOW!!

Download Firefox below today!!!

Zlob is a trojan horse. Trojan horses sneak into your computer disguised as something else. The Trojan horse Zlob masquerades as a codec, an application that decompresses videos and songs when you download them from the Internet. Without a codec, Windows Media Player can’t play the video or song.

Your computer gets infected when you try to download a video, but instead receive a notice that tells you that in order to play the video, you have to download a special codec.

You download the “special codec” in reality a Zlob Trojan horse–which immediately displays dire warnings usually from the right corner of the screen, where legitimate Windows update warnings typically are displayed. The Zlob warnings say in exaggerated language that your computer is infested with hundreds of spyware and malware and that the best remedy is an anti-spyware available for immediate purchase. This is really a rogue anti-spyware. If you are unfortunate enough to actually buy the rogue anti-spyware, it���ll fill your computer with a lot more adware. spyware, and malware.

Never buy an anti-spyware as a result of warnings that appear out of nowhere on your desktop!

To find out to get rid of your spyware click here.

To learn how to speed up your computer click here.

If you live in Calgary. Ducktoes can come to your business or residence to help remove Zlob. We do anti-spy without the data fry!! Call 403-483-0105.

Also to prevent most spyware use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.
Download here.

Six people have come to this site in the last two days looking for help with Win32 Bho.je. Another reader told me that Spybot cured the same malware on his computer after Spybot’s March 26 update which included the “browser helper object” in its definitions. I’d love to hear what the specific symptoms of this trojan are like on your computer. It would be great if you’d tell me about your experience. Thanks so much. And try downloading Spy bot and see if it gets rid of your Win32 BHO.je. We need to find something that works for people. I got rid of it on an infected computer but used several anti-spyware and am not sure of which one finally did it.