Many, many people are coming to this blog site looking for a fix for the Hallmark card virus. So it’s not a hoax!!! There are e-mails going out purporting to be a link to Hallmark card (see this post), and if you click that link, you’ll get a direct download of a virus.

If you already have the Hallmark Card virus, there is a fix, or several of them. Usually, normal virus software will remove it. Here are some free anti-virus software that will do the trick. Make sure your software is updated first, after you install and run it. Without virus definitions, it’s impossible to catch anything.

AVG 8 Free for Personal Use
Avast!
Dr. Web CureIt

SuperAntiSpyware

Virus software is not enough. You’ll also need an excellent anti-spyware tool. The one that is the highest-rated in reviews all over the Internet is Spyware Doctor. It will save you a lot of grief, because spyware prevention is much easier than spyware removal, although Spyware Doctor does an excellent job of removal too.

The below is a secure link to the Spyware Doctor website. Call me at 403-483-0105, if you have any questions. (Please, not in the middle of the night in Canada, however!)

Purchase Spyware Doctor

If, after you’ve removed viruses or spyware, (especially after a bout of Windows XP Anti-Virus 2008 or 2009) you’re missing the Screensaver tab from the Display Properties of your computer’s Control Panel, then here is the fix. Download it here: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/reg…

Run it and when it asks if you want to add information to the registry click Yes.

Ms. Ducktoes now has eat her words, and take back what she said about Grisoft’s free AVG 8 in her last blog. AVG has proved to be a real trooper (a State Trooper even or an RCMP Mountie!) against the criminal and fraudulent Ad Agent BN.

This week the malware has been extremely difficutl to get rid of. Ad Agent BN has been one of the worst.

Ad Agent BN was on a client’s computer, along with several other related Trojans. The client, a friendly twenty-something young man named Matt, had somehow gotten this rogue anti-spyware on his computer. At first the rogue program ran fake warning pop-ups on his desktop saying the computer had spyware. But much worse it then locked up the Matt’s Control Panel, Start menu, and Windows Explorer. Also Run and Search were not accessible.

Matt, a student, needed to turn in his assignments. They were not backed up. The computer was going down fast along with Matt’s marks. I took out the hard drive of his computer and connected it to another computer and ran Spy Sweeper, Avira, and Avast! on the mounted disk. They found several viruses and trojan horses. I also ran regedit by mounting the hive of the harddrive and deleted some infected keys. However when I reconnected the hard drive to Matt’s computer, the spyware and viruses were still there. And they were active!!

Ms. Ducktoes, now in a tizzy about Matt’s marks, not to mention his photos and music, had to do something more. Ducktoes to the rescue!

This is what worked. You can do it too:

1. Boot into Safe Mode with Networking. To do this: Restart the computer. Tap the the F8 key several times while the computer boots up. When you get to the screen with several booting options select Safe Mode with Networking.

2. After Windows starts, then download PC Tools Spyware Doctor, purchase, update it, and run the scan.

3. Restart the computer, let it boot into regular mode several times, restart it after each scan as Spyware Doctor recommends.

4. Boot back into Safe Mode with Networking. Download AVG free. Download AVG 8 free for home users.

5. AVG doesn’t update in Safe Mode. So restart the computer into regular mode. Update AVG. Now run Spyware Doctor. While Spyware Doctor is running the Avg Shields will kick into effect and remove the processes. Using the two programs together will get rid of the Ad Agent BN.

I know that the programs during install tell you that it’s not good to have two anti-viruses running at the same time but it worked!!

So I’m now using free AVG 8 again for all my clients.

Let me know–click the Comments link below– if this works for you.

Ms. Ducktoes, like most other computer techs, has always loved AVG by Grisoft. Grisoft has given free anti-virus to home users and, unlike most other free anti-virus applications, AVG Free included an automated update and scan that was reliable, efficient, and effective. AVG was too good to be true. Or to last. Other techs and I happily uninstalled scores of the bloated Norton and McCaffee programs and switched our clients to the free AVG. Our clients, now with much faster computers, were ecstatic. Yet on May 31, AVG 7.5 breathed its last breaths. We all had to switch to 8.0.

But the new AVG 8 has a few kinks. One, it doesn’t update or run automatically, at least not reliably, and, two, seems to be trying to be all things to all people and uses up too many resources. It’s going the way of Norton. I don’t blame Grisoft. They see Norton–a fat lazy slob of an anti-virus program–getting most of the business, cornering the market, and so they abandon their market niche of small but effective to go after the big bucks. In their shoes, I might do the same. Free don’t pay the bills, honey.

Also malware is getting bad–the spyware especially. Some really pernicious bugs are being downloaded from e-mail, so adding anti-spyware and an e-mail scanner might be considered a good idea. Yet still, a little education about e-mail and a separate anti-spyware, AVG’s anti-spy is not the best, and you’ll have to have another one anyway. I recommend Spyware Doctor, e-mail me to buy it) makes more sense than the toll AVG takes on speed. However, I do understand where they’re coming from.

Yet, even though I sympathize with Grisoft, many clients are calling me to fix their AVG. Somewhere in the updating process from 7.5 to 8.0, the clients get lost. The free version is hard to find, and they are worried it doesn’t give them enough protection. So I install it for them. But even so, it doesn’t seem to work well. My husband, who is conscientious computer user in that he habitually updates and runs all his anti-virus and anti-spyware, doesn’t have a problem. He just runs AVG manually. But many of my clients can’t seem to manage it. In fact, I’ve gotten several new clients from the switch to AVG 8.0.

Also the new AVG uses up a lot of resources. On my teenage son’s computer, the AVG processes use up more than 100,030 . That’s more than any other running process. AVG’s become a resource hog, just like Norton or McCaffee. On newer, more powerful computers, this may be fine, but on a lot of older, slower computers, it’s too much. So now I find myself uninstalling AVG and looking around for something else.

What I wish for is a free AVG that was like the old one, just anti-virus with a scheduler and automatic updater. But in the meantime I’m researching.

But use AVG 8.0 if you can. AVG’s not a problem for newer, larger computers, and it’s too risky to go without protection for the sake of speed.

At Ducktoes we try to get rid of spyware without reformatting your hard drive. But once in awhile a reformat is the only thing that will work–it’s not nearly as often as many techies will have you think–but occasionally it’s the only solution. A reformat is so much easier and cheaper if you have your installation and recovery disks. That is what they’re for. It’s much more difficult to go on-line and search for all the drivers, a process that can take hours, depending on the make and brand of your computer. So protect your investment and save your disks. Keep them in their original sleeves, since sometimes the product key is printed on the sleeve. You may end repurchasing the operating system software without the disks, or spending more than necessary on a reformat.

Also keep your disks for your printer, scanner, video card, or any new devices you buy for your computer. Keep them all in one place and remember where they are.

If you live in Calgary, use Ducktoes for all your computer repair and services. Ducktoes to the rescue!!

I have received three of these phoney, dangerous e-mails. One told me a friend had sent me a Hallmark card that linked to a nasty download of binary code (trojan). I already wrote a blog about that one. Read it here.

Another, my cousin Jack warned his friends and family about, a postcard e-mail that links to a virus download. Here is his e-mail:

Please be careful of the upcoming virus.

COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS. REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT
TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US. “

While the e-mail is incorrect that the virus will burn a hole in your hard drive, it may cause you to have to get your hard drive reformatted, which will indeed burn all your data, which is essentially the same thing. Also it lets the attackers take control your computer. The trojan is very difficult to remove. The e-mail is confusing a few viruses and hoaxes but is a good warning nevertheless, since it lets everyone know not to open the postcard e-mails. I did receive one this week so it’s definitely making the rounds.

The third one I received–today–was supposedly from Paypal. It said my account had been limited. But the link to fix the account limitation problem was—again, you guessed it—a link to a download of nasty virus code.

So the Phishers and Hackers have stepped up their attacks with a new method. Instead of just getting your passwords and account numbers and credit card numbers as they do in regular phish e-mails and websites, now they give you an immediate download of binary code.

To protect yourself click the below link. It will connect you to PC Tools Spyware Doctor which will protect you from these e-mail viruses.

Also read my guide to preventing spyware. Or the Self-Help tutorials here.

There’s no way a tech can remove and clean up all the spyware on a badly infected machine in just a couple of hours. So, if you remove the spyware on-site, you end up having to charge a lot to remove a little. It’s better to take the machine “to the lab,” and run and apply all your removal and clean up strategies. Since then you can also do other things, like write your blog, or change out someone’s video card, while you are running everything, you can afford to charge for just a couple of hours of labor, while you work on the computer for 12 or 15 or more. Also the client doesn’t end up paying a huge amount to have spyware removed. Once you have the computer “at the lab”, do your magic. If you want suggestions on what to do follow my anti-spyware guide and then speed up your client’s computer while you’re at it, by following the suggestions here on the Ducktoes Tutorial.

The only difficulty is with clients who don’t want you to remove their infected computer. Then you have to do the best job you can within a short amount of time. I recommend installing Spyware Doctor and run it. Click the below ad.

Yesterday I received an e-mail purportedly from Hallmark cards telling me a friend had sent me an e-card. I immediately knew it was fake but was surprised that it led not directly to a phish (phoney) website but to a trojan download. So don’t click the link; it’s not from a friend but a cyber-criminal.

I cut and pasted the e-mail here in italics. (Notice the error in the subject line, “send” instead of “sent.”. Often fraudulent e-mails have misspellings or display poor English.)

From: “Hallmark Cards” Subject: You have a card send from a friend!
Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 03:18:53 +1000
Hello ,
A friend has sent you a Hallmark Ecard
Click here to view your Ecard .
If you would like to return an Ecard to him simply go to http://ecards.msn.co.uk/
MSN
in association with
Hallmark Cards
Your privacy is our priority. Click the “Privacy and Security” link at the bottom of any page on http://ecards.msn.co.uk/ to see our privacy policy.

The link to view the e-card immediately initiated a download of the malware trojan horse . So beware an e-card from a unspecified or generic friend. I suspected something was amiss because the misspelling of “send” instead of “sent,” an unlikely error for a major retailer like Hallmark. Also it didn’t say which friend had sent it, which e-card e-mails usually do.

Click here to see what Hallmark says about these fraudulent e-cards.

I knew it was a phish (fraudulent) and wanted to report it to Phishtank so that is why I clicked the the link. However, instead of taking me to a phoney website, it started downloading the spyware immediately. To click the link, I deliberately used a Mac as a precaution. Macs are not susceptible to most spyware. Afterward, I ran my Mac virus software anyway. But I thought I would warn you. I still don’t know how to report it to Phishtank. I wrote to them but they didn’t write back. Sigh. Another unrequited relationship for Ms. Ducktoes.

Zapchast Trojan is the trojan. It is the most dangerous kind. It allows the criminal to take control of your computer. Click here for removal instructions. They are difficult, I warn you.

Now Ms. Ducktoes wants you to be a get all your ducks in a row and make sure your anti-virus software is working, or if you’re too much of a newbie to understand or know what you’re doing yet, get a friend or co-worker to help you. And to train you. Or hire a techie to check it and train. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to computers.

1. Make sure your anti-virus is downloading updates regularly and running scans automatically and that if it is a paid subscription, that you have paid on time. Don’t be without working anti-virus software for one nano-second. It is like tossing your computer out a second story window. The result’s not pretty. If you are fond of your computer or what is on it, take charge.

Also a reader of this blog who really knows his stuff has recommended Avira for an excellent anti-virus software. Here’s the link. I used it on a client’s computer and it worked well. It found and removed viruses and didn’t use up all the computer’s resources. That’s called having a small footprint. And it’s free for personal, home use. Don’t put it off. Here’s a link to his comments (you’ll have to scroll down).

2. Also use a different browser besides Internet Explorer. Use Firefox or Opera.

3. And after you have done all that, get anti-spyware too. Click here to see how to do that.

Anti-virus, anti-spyware, Firefox or Opera, and you’ve protected your computer, your wallet, your identity.

For more information click here.

For you techies among my readers, always make sure the client has working and up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware. Do this check as part of your routine. Tell them where they are amiss and install both if necessary. I recommend both manual anti-spyware such as Spybot and Ad-aware SE and one that runs in real time. The best are Spyware Doctor or Spy Sweeper but Windows Defender is better than nothing. Read the next post on this blog for more hints for techies.

As always Ducktoes to the rescue!! If you live in the Calgary area give us a shout or even if you don’t.

Ta ta for now.

These days everyone has spyware and viruses on their computers. It’s become the “in” thing. In your computer, that is. So if you keep running your computer without anti-spyware, you’ll be like all your neighbors. You’ll be keeping up with the Joneses! They won’t know it, they’ll be watching their oh, so, slow computers trying to check their e-mail. Or calling every tech under “computer repair” in their town or city.

Unfortunately the above is true. The costs of maintaining computers are skyrocketing because of malware trouble and slow computers. We seem to be losing the war. People are having to reformat their computer every year or more because it won’t work properly with so much spyware on it. Or they just buy a new computer since they’ve lost their install disks too and it’s hard to find drivers and even more expensive to reformat if the tech has to go on the internet to search for them. If you are good with computers, then you need to become a Ducktoes hero and get rid of spyware on your friends and neighbors’ computers. Use this guide. It does work.

If we work together, maybe we can discourage spyware authors.

Then you can be our hero!!!