Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon
Join Dr. Bill as he examines the wild and wacky world of the web, computers, and all things geeky! Hot Tech Tips, Tech News, and Geek Culture are examined… with plenty of good humor as well!
Well, it looks like the rumor that Dell has been installing Firefox on U.K. systems it sells is TRUE!
All right! (I reported this last week in the Blog, and talked about it on the last Podcast.)
More computer makers need to stand up to Microsoft and protect their customers! Way to go, Dell!
An Instant Messaging (IM) worm is attacking AOL, MSN, Windows Messenger, ICQ and Yahoo instant messaging networks. The worm installs a rootkit as it’s “payload.”
“The worm, identified as IM.GiftCom.All, was discovered by researchers at IMLogic Inc.’s Threat Center spreading via IM and attempting to trick users into clicking on a malicious URL.
The link lures the target into visiting a harmless Santa Claus Web site, but actually installs a rootkit payload to the victim’s machine, IMLogic said in an advisory.
‘The rootkit payload is often named gift.com and when executed hides itself on the user’s system, attempts to shutdown desktop anti-virus software and starts collecting the infected user’s information for broadcast over the Internet,’ the company explained.”
The Spyware evilness is getting worse! There is a new spike in Spyware activity, especially among infections that lead to pop-ups that say, “You are infected with Spyware… click here to have your system cleaned!” DON’T DO IT! You will then receive a boatload of additional Spyware! These guys should be shot!
May the Great Bird of the Galaxy come to nest in their nose!
First, a disclaimer, I have never cared for Norton Anti-Virus. In fact, it stinks! We use it where I work, but I don’t trust it. I have seen it fail too many times, I have seen it compromised too many times, in short, it is just slightly better than nothing at all. That said, it is now worse! A flaw has been found in Symantec Norton Anti-Virus that allows it to be compromised.
Symantec Norton Anti-Virus Flaw
What would the Doctor do? Switch to AVG or Avast! FREE anti-virus immediately! They are both excellent and free! Gotta love that! Links below:
There are rumors that the StarTrek.com website may go offline on December 31st. This would be a shame! I admit, I mainly go there only for the great Star Trek desktop backgrounds, but still, this would be history being lost!
I hope that the additional rumor that Gene Roddenberry’s son, Rod, will try to take over the site to keep it alive, is true. Rod is already involved in an IPTV version of Star Trek, called “New Voyages” (see the link under my Cool Links section.)
Wow! Talk about your big purchases at Christmas! Seagate is buying competitor Maxtor!
Seagate is the biggest hard drive manufacturer followed by Western Digital, with Maxtor in third place. The market shrinks… let’s hope drive prices don’t go up!