Cuil - The World's Biggest Search Engine: "Cuil
Search
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* Founders’ Note
[ Image: Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge. ]
Message|A note from the founders
Welcome to Cuil—the world’s biggest search engine. The Internet has grown. We think it’s time search did too.
The Internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but search engines have not kept up—until now. Cuil searches more pages on the Web than anyone else—three times as many as Google and ten times as many as Microsoft.
Rather than rely on superficial popularity metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance. When we find a page with your keywords, we stay on that page and analyze the rest of its content, its concepts, their inter-relationships and the page’s coherency.
Then we offer you helpful choices and suggestions until you find the page you want and that you know is out there. We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private.
Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge."
clik on piks to see them clearly
that day evening at 8 o clok sudhir came to my home ,i waz using ava find ,he asked me to try for ava find pro ,so nenu inka anni search chstunna cracks kosam,i saw a file named avafind pro crack[here crack means a file which automatically unlock the trail version of the software]I downlaoded that file and insatlled it after 2 min............................
i will say u an easy procedure and then another procedure for advanced users..
clik ok pictures to see them clearly
really messing virus yaar.if u want to remove this virus jus follow these steps :
1)first of all wen ever u see this screen u jus go to system restore [must go in 2 min afetr the virus attaked or else all ur restore points will be deleted after some time
2)ur prob will be solved and u hav to remember some of ur insatlled programs will be lost
but if u need all the programs and want to remove that virus u hav to follow thez steps
1)first go to start and resatrt ur computer
2)press f11 before ur computer starts [press continusly till u see some thing]
3)then select to satrt ur computer in safe mode
4)u can find some program like antivirus xp 2008 go to that process and end it and
also go to program files and remove a folder named rhc.... del that sucking folder
5) now u go and create a new user account as adminstrator
6)and logoff and log in with that account[the new account which u created ]
7)now change the account which u used before as limited account
8)and delete that account and keep files[means save the imporant files which are in documents and desktop]
9)now u restart the system in normal way all ur virus is banged out baby
10)all types of windows virus can be removed manually like this
*****if u hav any doubts clik here or mail to
vishnu_vardhan46@yahoo.com
if u want 50000 softwares for free clik here
The other side of the uncanny valley
We had a good laugh at this image (left, click to enlarge) from GraphJam, which sardonically illustrates how people's reactions to CGI in movies have changed over the last two decades (with the wow factor of the original Star Wars as a sort of control).The original image is titled the "CGI Effect Uncanny Valley", both in reference to the sharp dip over the last few years, and also as a nod to the real "uncanny valley" - the effect that makes robots or animated characters that are clearly not human acceptable to viewers, whereas those that appear almost real appear creepy.
I think most of us would agree with the graph: the entertainment value of CGI started to drop sharply just after it managed comprehensive realism. Both the Lord of the Rings and Matrix trilogies managed to achieve near-perfect realism in their diverse effects sequences, and their CGI was consistently pretty awesome (I'm ignoring all other aspects of the films).
Perhaps a lot of the entertainment value of '90s CGI was watching the progression of the technique as it expanded into new areas and pushed towards being 100% realistic; Terminator 2 was the first film to get a really good morphing effect, Jurassic Park had convincing animals, Monsters Inc had realistic fur, Lord of the Rings had crowd scenes, and so forth. As well as following the stories of the individual films, we were following the story of the technology.
So what now? CGI still struggles to do a really convincing human, as anyone who saw Beowulf will attest. CGI humans are fine so long as they're reasonably far away, but their faces don't yet convey emotion in the way real faces do. That can't be too far away - but you have to wonder why we as viewers should get hugely excited about it, given that we can see real faces anyway.
Surely the point of special effects is to show things that can't otherwise be filmed, and that's been the driving thrust behind all the big developments in stop-motion animation, blue-screen compositing and so forth. CGI now seems to be able to do everything these technologies did but better. The fight with the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts (1963), a tour de force of stop-motion at the time, could presumably be done more convincingly in CGI, for half the effort.
And that seems to be the problem. CGI has pretty much done everything. The robots in Transformers had more components than previous CGI creatures, but that was the only novelty - unfortunately leaving viewers with no choice but to notice the plot. I think the only way CGI is going to be able to make the graph go up again is if someone actually comes up with something genuinely new for it to show.
Perhaps readers will have some ideas about what that might be. We reported on one possibly route back up the upward curve to the wow factor in April - steps towards a real-life Matrix involving running gaming graphics on a supercomputer.
Nano-Computers: "Introduction
Nano-Computing
The history of computer technology has involved a sequence of changes from gears to relays to valves to transistors to integrated circuits and so on. Today's techniques can fit logic gates and wires a fraction of a micron wide onto a silicon chip. Soon the parts will become smaller and smaller until they are made up of only a handful of atoms. At this point the laws of classical physics break down and the rules of quantum mechanics take over, so the new quantum technology must replace and/or supplement what we presently have. It will support an entirely new kind of computation with new algorithms based on quantum principles.
Presently our digital computers rely on bits, which, when charged, represent on, true, or 1. When not charged they become off, false, or 0. A register of 3 bits can represent at a given moment in time one of eight numbers (000,001,010,...,111). In the quantum state, an atom (one bit) can be in two places at once according to the laws of quantum physics, so 3 atoms (quantum bits or qubits) can represent all eight numbers at any given time. So for x number of qubits, there can be 2x numbers stored. (I will not go into the logic of all this or this paper would turn into a book!). Parallel processing can take place on the 2x input numbers, performing the same task that a classical computer would have to repeat 2x times or use 2x processors working in parallel. In other words a quantum computer offers an enormous gain in the use of computational resources such as time and memory. This becomes mind boggling when you think of what 32 qubits can accomplish.
This all sounds like another purely technological process. Classical computers can do the same computations as quantum computers, only needing more time and more memory. The catch is that they need exponentially more time and memory to match the power of a quantum computer. An exponential increase is really fast, and available time and memory run out very quickly.
Quantum computers can be programed in a qualitatively new way using new algorithms. For example, we can construct new algorithms for solving problems, some of which can turn difficult mathematical problems, such as factorization, into easy ones. The difficulty of factorization of large numbers is the basis for the security of many common methods of encryption. RSA, the most popular public key cryptosystem used to protect electronic bank accounts gets its security from the difficulty of factoring very large numbers. This was one of the first potential uses for a quantum computer.
"Experimental and theoretical research in quantum computation is accelerating world-wide. New technologies for realising quantum computers are being proposed, and new types of quantum computation with various advantages over classical computation are continually being discovered and analysed and we believe some of them will bear technological fruit. From a fundamental standpoint, however, it does not matter how useful quantum computation turns out to be, nor does it matter whether we build the first quantum computer tomorrow, next year or centuries from now. The quantum theory of computation must in any case be an integral part of the world view of anyone who seeks a fundamental understanding of the quantum theory and the processing of information." ( Center for Quantum Computation)
In 1995 there was a $100 bet made to create the impossible within 16 years, the world's first nanometer supercomputer. This resulted in the NanoComputer Dream Team, and utilizes the internet to gather talent from every scientific field and from all over the world, amateur and professional. Their deadline: November 1, 2011. Watch for it! Are you ready for a computer that is billions of times faster than our present PC's?
Virus Removal Instructions: "My Pages
Keeping Windows Clean
Virus Removal Instructions
Virus Prevention
Tools
Specific Fixes
Forums for HiJackThis Logs
My Forum
Keeping Windows Clean
My Blog
Keeping Windows Clean
To all those men and women who serve in uniform, I salute you!
You may want to download all tools and print out these instructions before you start.
1.Make sure your version of Windows is Up to date (note: If you are running XP and have not upgraded to Service Pack 2, follow the Virus Removal Instructions before installing SP2. Malware infections can cause install failures).
2.Using Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) go to Tools/Folder Options/View- check 'show hidden files and folders', 'display the full path' and uncheck 'hide file extensions for know file types'
3.Clean out all temp, cache, etc files. Do this in safe-mode. BootSafe is a tool to make booting into safe-mode simple-get it here and don't forget to read the instructions! CrapCleaner will help make cleaning easier.
4.Download David Lipman's Multi_AV here and save to disk. It is a self-extracting file. It will create a file C:\AV-CLS, use Start Menu to start M_AV. Run Multi_AV in normal mode so you can download the definition files for each of the scanners included in M_AV. There is a PDF manual (also included). You can"
Why current anti-virus techniques are doomed: "Why current anti-virus techniques are doomed
There are a variety of complementary anti-virus techniques in common usage [5, 6]. Activity monitors alert users to system activity that is commonly associated with viruses, but only rarely associated with the behavior of normal, legitimate programs. Integrity management systems warn the user of suspicious changes that have been made to files. These two methods are quite generic, and can be used to detect the presence of hitherto unknown viruses in the system. However, they are not often able to pinpoint the nature or even the location of the infecting agent, and they often flag or prevent legitimate activity, and so can disrupt normal work or lead the user to ignore their warnings altogether.
Virus scanners search files, boot records, memory, and other locations where executable code can be stored for characteristic byte patterns that occur in one or more known viruses. They tend to be substantially less prone to false positives than activity monitors and integrity management systems. Scanners are essential for establishing the identity and location of a virus. Armed with this very specific knowledge, repairers, which restore infected programs to their original uninfected state, can be brought into play. The drawback of scanning and repair mechanisms is that they can only be applie"
Virus scan/repair updates: "Virus scan/repair updates
Whenever a new virus is discovered, it is very quickly distributed among an informal, international group of virus collectors who exchange samples among themselves. Many such collectors are in the anti-virus software business, and they set out to obtain information about the virus which enables:
1. detection of the virus whenever it is present in a host program, and
2. restoration of an infected host program to its original uninfected state (which is usually possible.)
Typically, a human expert obtains this information by disassembling the virus and then analyzing the assembler code to determine the virus's behavior and the method that it uses to attach itself to host programs. Then, the expert selects a ``signature'' (a sequence of perhaps 16 to 32 bytes) that represents a sequence of instructions that is guaranteed to be found in each instance of the virus, and which (in the expert's estimation) is unlikely to be found in legitimate programs. This ``signature'' can then be encoded into the scanner, and the knowledge of the attachment method can be encoded into the repairer.
Such an analysis is tedious and time-consuming, sometimes taking several hours or days, and even the best experts have been known to select poor signatures -- ones that cause the scan"
Viral influx and its consequences: "Viral influx and its consequences
One reason why current anti-virus techniques can be expected to fail within the next few years is the rapid, accelerating influx of new computer viruses. The number of different known DOS viruses over the last several years can be fit remarkably well by an exponential curve. gif Currently, it is approximately 2000, with two or three new ones appearing each day -- a rate which already taxes to the limit the ability of anti-virus vendors to develop detectors and cures for them. Were this trend to hold up (Fig. 1), there would be approximately 10 million different DOS viruses by January, 2000 -- about 100,000 new ones per day! Of course, curve extrapolation of a phenomenon that depends largely on human sociology and psychology should be regarded very skeptically, but it is not impossible that virus writers could be so prolific. To do so, they would have to automate both the writing and the distribution of viruses. Already, the beginnings of a trend towards automated virus-writing is evinced by the Virus Creation Laboratory, a menu-driven virus toolkit circulating among virus writers' bulletin boards. Even if the rate at which new viruses appear were to suddenly plateau at a level not much higher than what it is today, the number of different DOS viruses could easily reach the tens of thousands by"
Spyware is computer software that is installed surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent.
While the term spyware suggests software that secretly monitors the user's behavior, the functions of spyware extend well beyond simple monitoring. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habit, sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software, redirecting Web browser activity, accessing websites blindly that will cause more harmful viruses, or diverting advertising revenue to a third party. Spyware can even change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and loss of Internet or other programs. In an attempt to increase the understanding of spyware, a more formal classification of its included software types is captured under the term privacy-invasive software.
In response to the emergence of spyware, a small industry has sprung up dealing in anti-spyware software. Running anti-spyware software has become a widely recognized element of computer security best practices for Microsoft Windows desktop computers. A number of jurisdictions have passed anti-spyware laws, which usually target any software that is surreptitiously installed to control a user's computer.
Tracking software is software which notes and logs actions made at a computer.
For example, if a user checks his email, tracking software can make a record of the action. The same applies to chat, instant messages, Web sites visited, keystrokes typed, and so on.
Who uses tracking software?
There are four principal groups who use tracking software: parents, employers, governments, and illegal users. Parents who want to be certain their children are not involved with inappropriate web activity, and employers who decide to track activity on workstations owned or controlled by the business. Illegal tracking can be by criminals (acting on commission from other criminals, perhaps) or businesses wishing to collect usage patterns for marketing departments. Government use of tracking software or hardware is, as far as is known, largely confined to criminal investigations. In some countries, including the US, 'criminal activity' has been redefined to include surveillance of any citizen for terrorist connections or activities. Given the width of this redefinition, this is probably the largest and most comprehensive tracking activity in existence.
Other users include schools and suspicious spouses.
Cookies
A HTTP Cookie is a World Wide Web browser mechanism to preserve machine state, or interaction history, in Web interactions, since the core HTTP protocol was deliberately designed to be stateless. There is no restriction on the content of cookies stored on the HTTP client by a browser and so, if configured to do so, cookies may store tracking information for later retrieval by a server computer or by tracking software. In this sense then, cookies can be used to facilitate tracking of user activities. Cookies are used by essentially all Internet merchants (eg, for cart tracking), and by most Web sites requiring registration or membership. In addition, they are used by most of the advertising click tracking companies such as DoubleClick.
Controversy
Tracking software has been a source of controversy. While companies claim that their programs are used to protect children and enforce computer policies at workplaces, there has been strong criticism that this invades users' privacy, if for no other reason than that there is often no way to distinguish between one user of a computer and other users of the same machine. Some operating systems make no internal distinction between users, and others make such distinctions difficult for most user programs, including tracking software, to follow. Much tracking software doesn't even bother to try. Other critics say that these software programs, especially if they have keylogging capabilities, can be used for malicious or criminal purposes, such as identity theft and unauthorized access to other systems.
Often, one side of a company's operations sells tracking software, while another side considers tracking software to be spyware and offer programs designed to detect or remove them. There are hundreds of vendors of computer monitoring software such as Retina-X Studios, who explicitly forbid the use of monitoring software as spyware. Many companies also support detection of tracking software by providing anti-spyware programs.
To aid the fight against viruses and other malware many security advisory organizations and developers of anti-virus software compile and publish lists of viruses. A single comprehensive list would make sense, but no definitive list currently exists.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Naming
One fundamental fact that makes the compilation of a unified list of viruses difficult is naming. When a new virus appears, the rush begins to identify and understand it as well as develop appropriate counter-measures to stop its propagation. Along the way, a name is attached to the virus. As the developers of anti-virus software compete partly based on how quickly they react to the new threat, they usually study and name the viruses independently. By the time the virus is identified, many names denote the same virus, and these different names have been used enough to stay around.
Another source of ambiguity in names is that sometimes a virus initially identified as a completely new virus is found to be a variation of an earlier known virus, in which cases, it is often renamed. For example, the second variation of the Sobig worm was initially called "Palyh" but later renamed "Sobig.b" . Again, depending on how quickly this happens, the old name may persist.
[edit] Scope
In terms of scope, there are two major variants: the list of "in-the-wild" viruses, which list viruses in active circulation, and lists of all known viruses, which also contain viruses believed not be in active circulation (also called "zoo viruses"). The sizes are vastly different, in-the-wild lists contain a few hundred viruses but full lists contain tens of thousands.
Since Trojan horses have a variety of forms, there is no single method to delete them. The simplest responses involve clearing the temporary internet files file and deleting it manually ( safe mode is recommended ). Normally, anti-virus software is able to detect and remove the trojan automatically. If the antivirus cannot find it, booting the computer from alternate media(cd) may allow an antivirus program to find a trojan and delete it. Updated anti-spyware programs are also very efficient against this threat.
[edit] Disguises
Most varieties of Trojan horses are hidden on the computer without the user's awareness. Trojan horses sometimes use the Registry, adding entries that cause programs to run every time the computer boots up. Trojan horses may also work by combining with legitimate files on the computer. When the legitimate file is opened, the Trojan horse opens as well.
[edit] How Trojans work
Trojans usually consist of two parts, a Client and a Server. The server is run on the victim's machine and listens for connections from a Client which is used by the attacker.
When the server is run on a machine it will listen on a specific port or multiple ports for connections from a Client. In order for an attacker to connect to the server they must have the IP Address of the computer where the server is being run. Some trojans have the IP Address of the computer they are running on sent to the attacker via email or another form of communication.
Once a connection is made to the server, the client can then send commands to the server; the server will then execute these commands on the victim's machine.
Today, with NAT infrastructure being very common, most computers cannot be reached by their external ip address. Therefore many trojans now connect to the computer of the attacker, which has been set up to take the connections, instead of the attacker connecting to his or her victim. This is called a 'reverse-connect' trojan. Many trojans nowadays also bypass many personal firewall installed on the victims computer. (eg. Poison-Ivy)
Trojans are extremely simple to create in many programming languages. A simple Trojan in Visual Basic or C# using Visual Studio can be achieved in 10 lines of code or under.
- Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
- Bandook
- Beast Trojan
- Bifrost
- Downloader.Zlob
- Generic8.LDI
- Graybird (Backdoor Graybird, Backdoor Graybird P)
- Insurrection
- Infostealer.lineage
- LeoSrv
- Look2Me
- Micro Bill Systems (MicroBillSys, MBS or Microbillsystems)
- Nuclear RAT (NR, NucRat)
- Optix Pro
- Pigeon AXLM
- Posion Ivy
- Trojan.Qoologic - Key Logger
- Trojan Luder - B
- Trojan horse dropper.Exebing.U
- Shaft
- sharK
- SHeur.BWOH
- SHeur.ZSQ
- Storm Trojan
- ProRat
- Trojan.Bytesize?
- Trojan.Jakposh
- Trojan.wavBfly
- Trojan.wavVerify
- Trojan.Wimad
- Trojan.Vundo
- Obfuscated.en
- Zlob trojan
- Trojan Metamorf.C
- Trojan virtumonde
- TrojanDownloader.xs
- Trojan.Zonebac
Trojan horse payloads are almost always designed to do various harmful things, but can also be harmless. They are broken down in classification based on how they breach and damage systems. The six main types of Trojan horse payloads are:
- Remote Access
- Data Destruction
- Down loader
- Server Trojan(Proxy, FTP , IRC, Email, HTTP/HTTPS, etc.)
- Security software disabler
- Denial-of-service attack (DoS)
Some examples of damage are:
- Erasing or overwriting data on a computer
- Trojan Horse repeatedy keeps returning no matter what on the victim's computer
- Encrypting files in a cryptoviral extortion attack
- Corrupting files in a subtle way
- Upload and download files
- Copying fake links, which lead to false websites, chats, or other account based websites, showing any local account name on the computer falsely engaging in untrue context
- Showing fake downloads of software movies, games, porn videos and porn websites, that you did not download nor go on.
- Allowing remote access to the victim's computer. This is called a RAT (remote access trojan)
- Spreading other malware, such as viruses: this type of Trojan horse is called a 'dropper' or 'vector'
- Setting up networks of zombie computers in order to launch DDoS attacks or send spam.
- Spying on the user of a computer and covertly reporting data like browsing habits to other people (see the article on spyware)
- Making screenshots
- Logging keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers
- Phishing for bank or other account details, which can be used for criminal activities
- Installing a backdoor on a computer system
- Opening and closing CD-ROM tray
- Playing sounds, videos or displaying images.
- Calling using the modem to expensive numbers, thus causing massive phone bills.
- Harvesting e-mail addresses and using them for spam
- Restarting the computer whenever the infected program is started
- Deactivating or interfering with anti-virus and firewall programs
- Deactivating or interfering with other competing forms of malware
- Randomly shutting off the computer
- A virus
[fetched content:Vishnu]
Disclaimer: The following procedure is to be used at your own risk!
Wilders Security Forums assumes no responsibility for any problems that may result from your use of the steps or tools described within this procedure. Once a system has been infected, attempts to clean the infection can result in further damage, data loss or additional problems.
If the steps below do NOT fix your problem
You will have to post a “HijackThis Log” at one of the security forums that provide spyware cleaning services.
Wilders Security does NOT provide Spyware Cleaning Services!
For the most part what I have suggested fixes the greater majority of problems out there...however, it does NOT fix everything.
Please PRINT out the following Instructions and read them FULLY before proceeding.
After this follow each step in order, and ONE step at a time.
Do NOT go onto a further step until you have completed the one you are on.
Also make sure you have the very latest version of each product mentioned and they are fully up-to-date.
If you use Forum specific software, such as NOD32, you may want to place a new thread in one of these forums regarding your problem, as there are Moderators and experienced people involved in each. They will be able to help you further with these programs. You still may be directed back to this thread to follow the instructions below.
Step 1. Update your Anti-virus program. If you do not have an Anti-virus software program, please download a free version from here and update it. Do NOT run this YET.
NOTE: do NOT install an additional Anti-virus or Anti-Trojan software program if you currently have one, as this may cause further problems.
Step 2. Download Winsock XP Fix available here. Do NOT run this YET.
Step 3. If you don't have a firewall package, download and install a free one such as Zone Alarm – a firewall with visual outgoing alerts to see what is trying to access the internet, available here. A list of other free firewalls can be found here.
Step 4. Download Stinger (free) – Offline Virus removal tool, available here. Do NOT run this YET.
Step 5. Download one of these Anti-Trojan packages: TrojanHunter (eval) or Ewido (free/ 'plus' version eval). Install and update it. Do NOT run this YET.
Step 6. Install and update Spybot Search and Destroy (free) – Spyware removal and protection, with registry monitor, available here or here. Install and update it. Do NOT run this YET.
Step 7. Download “Ad-Aware” (free) – Spyware removal. What Spybot Search and Destroy doesn’t pick up, this will, and vice versa. Ad-Aware is available here or here. Install and update it. Do NOT run this YET.
Step 8. Download “CWShredder” (free) – Specific Spyware removal tool, available here. Install and update it. Do NOT run this YET.
Step 9. Download “VX2 Cleaner” (free) – Specific Spyware removal tool, available here. Do NOT run this YET.
NOTE: Make sure you choose the correct version for your Windows operating system.
Step 10. MAKE SURE YOUR ANTI-VIRUS IS FULLY UP TO DATE with the latest virus signatures, BEFORE continuing.
Step 11. Turn OFF “System Restore”, this applies only to Windows ME and Windows XP:
WARNING: Turning OFF System Restore means you will NOT be able to ROLL BACK your computer to the current state it is in.
Windows XP Instructions (reference with screen images)
1. Right click on the “My Computer” icon on the Windows desktop.
2. Click “Properties”.
3. Click on the “System Restore”.
4. Place a tick in “Turn off System Restore on all Drives”.
5. Click OK.
6. Close and RESTART your system.
OR
Windows ME Instructions (reference with screen images)
1. Right click on the “My Computer” icon on the Windows desktop.
2. Click “Properties”.
3. Click on “Performance”.
4. Click “File system”.
5. Click “Troubleshooting”.
6. Check “Disable system restore”.
7. Click on OK.
8. Close and RESTART your system.
Step 12. Restart your system again in “SAFE MODE” by pressing/tapping F8 while booting up your computer.
Further instructions of placing your system into “SAFE MODE” can be found here as pressing/tapping the F8 key does not always work with some computers.
Step 13. Delete your TEMP files by doing the following:
Open up Internet Explorer.
Click on Tools.
Internet Options.
General TAB.
Temporary Internet Files.
Delete Files.
Delete All Offline Content.
While in “SAFE MODE” do ALL of the following and REMAIN in SAFE MODE until Step 21:
Step 14. Run a scan with your “Anti-virus Program” or the program you downloaded above.
NOTE: If your Anti-virus has a Quarantine feature – USE IT when asked/offered to do so.
Step 15. Run a scan with “Stinger” the program you downloaded above.
Step 16. Run a scan with the Anti-Trojan program you use or downloaded above.
Step 17. Run a scan with “Spybot Search and Destroy” the program you downloaded above.
Step 18. Run a scan with “AdAware” the program you downloaded above.
Step 19. Run a scan with “CWShredder” the program you downloaded above.
Step 20. Run a scan with “VX2 Cleaner” the program you downloaded above.
Step 21. Reboot your system into NORMAL MODE.
Step 22. Run the ONLINE virus scan found here, or run one from the list found here.
Step 23. Make sure your Windows is FULLY up-to-date (NO EXCUSES) by doing the following:
While on the Internet, Click on Internet Explorer (the Blue “e”)
Click on Tools (on the bar at the top of your screen in Internet Explorer)
Click on Windows Update.
This will take you to the Microsoft Windows Update page where you need to follow the on screen prompts, starting with “EXPRESS INSTALL”. Install ALL “Critical Updates” and “Service Packs”.
REPEAT STEPS 12 to 22, THREE TIMES, as some Viruses, Trojans and Spyware can be very elusive.
If all the above steps do NOT fix your problem please download and run "HijackThis" found here and post your log at a security forum that provides spyware cleaning services.
Keep in mind the following quote:
| Originally Posted by LowWaterMark There are many other good spyware cleaning sites out there, but we don't maintain a comprehensive site list ourselves. Three of the sites we've often recommended in many replies here are: SpywareInfo, CastleCops and TomCoyote, though certainly there are others we could include. |
If after or during the above cleaning process you find that your internet connection has been broken, please run the Winsock XP Fix application that you downloaded in Step 1 at the beginning of this post.
OR
Proceed with the following to delete the corrupted registry keys, and then reinstall the TCP/IP protocol.
Step 1. Delete the corrupted registry keys
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, locate the following keys, right-click each key, and then click Delete:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2
4. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
NOTE: Restart the computer after you delete the Winsock keys. Doing so causes the Windows XP operating system to create new shell entries for those two keys. If you do not restart the computer after you delete the Winsock keys, the next step does not work correctly.
Step 2. Install TCP/IP
1. Right-click the network connection, and then click Properties.
2. Click Install.
3. Click Protocol, and then click Add.
4. Click Have Disk.
5. Type C:\Windows\inf, and then click OK.
6. On the list of available protocols, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click OK.
7. Restart the computer.
You can change Windows XP's performance by selecting to keep the Windows XP core system in memory and not paged to disk (advisable only if you have 512MB RAM or greater). You also can optimize the CPU and memory usage for programs, system cache or background services.
Use the TweakXP.com Tweaking Utility to add "unremovable" Windows components (such as Microsoft Messenger) to "Add or Remove Programs" and uninstall these components after all.
Use the TweakXP.com Tweaking Utility to change the time interval of the Internet time synchronization feature.
When you are logged into a Windows XP administrator account, the TweakXP.com Tweaking Utility can adjust settings for all users on the local machine without logging into each user account separately. Just select which user profile you want to change the settings for and off you go!
The TweakXP.com Tweaking Utility has hundreds of tweaks for your computer. Download a free copy today!
For most users, computer virus is synonym of the worst nightmares that can happen on their system. Yet some famous researchers keep insisting that it is possible to use the replication mechanism of the viral programs for some useful and beneficial purposes. This mechanism does not specify explicitly that it is malicious. Intuitively, computer viruses are just a kind of technology. As with any other kind of technology, they are ethically neutral – they are neither bad nor good – it is the purposes that people use them for can be bad or good. So far they have been used mostly for bad purposes. It is therefore natural to ask the question whether it is possible to use this kind of technology for good purposes. Indeed, Fred Cohen (Cohn 1994, p.15), one of the most active proponents of the idea has attempted to implement the idea.
The File Compressor Virus is one of the oldest ideas for good viruses of Cohn. The idea consists of creating a self-replicating program, which will compress the files it inflects, before attaching itself to them. Such a program is easy to implement and it has already been done. There is a family of MS-DOS viruses which appends itself to the executable files, then compress the infected file, and then deposits a small decompressor that would decompress the file in memory at runtime.
Some people have had the idea to develop an “anti virus” virus – a virus that would be able to locate other malicious ones and remove them, Such a self-replicating anti-virus program would have the benefits to spread very fast and update itself automatically. Several viruses have been constructed along these ideas. Some of them locate a few known viruses and removed them from the infected files, others attach themselves to the clean files and issue an error message if another piece of code becomes attached after the unwanted virus.
It appears that all these good viruses are far from successful as they have too many undesirable or even destructive properties so that the existence of good virus is highly questionable.
Bibliography
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Cohn, Frederick B. A Short Course on Computer Viruses. 2d ed. New York: John Wily, 1994.
Davis, Robert W. K., and Scott C. Hutchison. Computer Crime in Canada. Toronto: Carswell Thomson Professional Publishing, 1997.
Feudo, Christopher V. The Computer Virus Desk Reference. 1992 ed. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1992.
Georgia State University, IS&T Help Centre Services. <http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwhcs/DOCS/virus/intro_virus.htm>
(November 29, 2001).
Kaspersky, Eugene. Computer Viruses. 2001.
<http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslistbooks.asp> (December 01, 2001).
McAfee, John and Colin Haynes. Computer Viruses, Worms,
Data Diddlers, Killer Program and Other Threats to Your System. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
Skardhamar, Rune. Virus Detection and Elimination and Elimination. Chestnut Hill, MA: AP Professional, 1996.
Virus Information Center. <http://www3.ca.com/virus/> (November 30, 2001).
Virus Tutorial. <http://www.cknow.com/vtutor/index.htm> (November 30, 2001).
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(November 28, 2001).
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<http://www.library.jcu.edu.au/InfoHelp/Guides/virus/> (November 28, 2001).
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Absolute Background Textures Archive
<http://www.grsites.com/textures/> (December 1,2001).
Animation City
<http://www.animationcity.net/animcity.htm> (December 1,2001).
Cody’s Animation Station
<http://webclipart.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fcody.des
ignerweb.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fani%2FimageFolio.cgi> (November28, 2001).
Design Gallery Live, Microsoft
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Flaming Text Buttons, Logos
<http://www.flamingtext.com/> (November 27,2001).
McAfee Virus Map
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Virus Crime
Any deliberate distribution of virus-infected files, with the intent of infecting other people's computer, is unlawful. In Canada, section 430(1.1) of the Criminal Code (Davis and Hutchison 1997, p.112) prohibits intentional use of viruses to cause damage. Part of it is as follows;
Every one commits mischief who willfully
(a) destroys or alters data;
(b) renders data meaningless, useless or ineffective;
(c) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use of data; or
(d) obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use of data or denies access to data to any person who is entitled to access thereto.
.........
(8) In this section, “data” has the same meaning as in section 342.1.
Scotland Yard announced that, in co-operation with the FBI, it arrested a British man in South London on July 23, 2001 on suspicion of breaking the Computer Misuse Act. If found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison.
The 24 year old, who has not been named, has been bailed to appear again at a London police station on September 24. Police authorities had kept the man's arrest secret until now to allow further international investigations.
The Leaves worm first appeared in late June 2001, with some variants posing as a Microsoft security bulletin warning about a dangerous new virus. Users who download the patch will enable a backdoor into their home computers, making them vulnerable to hackers.
Viruses do not recognize national boundaries; a computer in Vancouver could be taken down by a virus written by a youth in a London back bedroom! It is encouraging to see the US and UK authorities working together to help stamp out the virus threat.
The Melissa virus, written by a 31 year old computer programmer, David L Smith, was one of the first viruses to use mass-emailing techniques to spread itself around the world. Since then, many viruses have used similar techniques. Smith pleaded guilty in December 1999 to causing over $80 million dollars worth of damage. He is facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a possible fine of $400,000. However, he has not yet been sentenced.
The above cases are very clear messages to virus writers. Spreading viruses can result in substantial financial damage. The authorities are prepared to investigate people deliberately spreading viruses and bring them to justice. It's time for people to grow up and start acting as responsible members of the electronic community.
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Viruses are not the only ones that are harmful to our computers. In fact, there are other malicious programs out there waiting to destroy (Feudo 1922, pp.2-6). Although they are definitely harmful, they are not the same as viruses by nature in spite of lots of confusion among the public. In fact, both Trojan horse and worm programs cannot add or delete the infected program files while viruses can definitely do so.
Trojan Horse
This name derived from Greek Legend in which a large wooden horse was sent into the city of Troy as a present .As a result, it turned out that soldiers were stored inside the horse for counter attack and to save the beautiful Helen. Thus, Trojan Horse programs appear to work in one useful way but with other hidden functions which are mostly detrimental, such as reformatting the hard drive. Trojans are not viruses since they do not replicate, but they can be just as destructive. They are sometimes used as hacker tools to gain access to unauthorized information.
Thus they are programs that neither replicate nor copy themselves, but do damage or compromise the security of the computer. Typically they rely on someone emailing them to you, they do not email themselves, and they may arrive in the form of a joke program or software of some sort.
Worms
It can be defined as a program replicating itself as much as possible, which uses up computers’ memory. Unlike computer virus, a host is not essential to their spreading. It makes copies of itself, for example from one disk drive to another, or by copying itself using email or some other transport mechanism. It may do damage and compromise the security of the computer. It may arrive in the form of a joke program or software of some sort.
Logic Bomb
The logic bomb is similar to the Trojan Horse in its programming and ability to damage data, but has a built-in timing device so that it will go off at a particular moment. Viruses may carry logic bombs to activate destructions when a certain condition is met. The delay of the bomb allows the virus to spread unnoticed, and show its side-effect after it has reproduced extensively. Also, the timing of the big bang is to do maximum damage at the most opportune moment, so that the logic bomb is a favored device for revenge and for random demands by someone.
Virus Hoaxes
Virus hoaxes are not viruses but fake warning messages about something nuisance that distribute around the network all over the world Although it is not destuctive in itself, it did bring along similar harmful results. In general, it is nothing more than a psychological trap and its aim is to spread to as many people as possible. Yet, there have been cases that real viruses are embedded inside the hoax messages so it’s always better be cautious about anything received from unreliable sources. After all, it is better be paranoid than sorry afterwards. If you receive something suspicious, just delete them and don’t even be tempted to open it! They are just total craps and you simply don’t want to help them to propagate, right?
Hoaxes are fabricated tales that have nevertheless caused concern among those unfamiliar with them. Scares are reports, which may have some truth behind them, but which often become greatly exaggerated Virus hoaxes are false reports about non-existent viruses, often claiming to do impossible things. Unfortunately some recipients occasionally believe a hoax to be a true virus warning and may take drastic action such as shutting down their network.
Typically, hoaxes are emails, which describe a dangerous new undetectable virus, usually using bogus technical terms. Hoaxes often ask you to avoid reading or downloading emails that have a particular subject.
Although no official research has been done on the subject, it is estimated that hoaxes can cost you even more than a genuine virus incident. After all, no anti-virus will detect hoaxes because they aren't viruses. Some companies panic when they receive a hoax virus warning and assume the worst - making the situation much worse.
The best way to reduce the cost of virus hoaxes is to keep yourself informed by visiting the appropriate websites for current updates, e.g. Virus Information Center
Viruses are not biological entities, but in fact, they are just computer programs. However, they do have certain similarities. Firstly, they both rely on a host to survive and duplicate while attaching to them. We usually consider them as small programs invading and destroying the information of the host computers. Here, the hosts are the infected programs or files. While many have the misconception that viruses may be accidental bugs, but in the fact some programmers purposely write them. On the other hand, not every virus is intentionally evil. Nevertheless, in the past ten years, intentionally or non intentionally destructive viruses have cause a large amount of damages, mostly due to loss of time, money, and resources in erasing them (Kaspersky 2001, 1.3) Kaspersky lab.
To be a bit more precise, we define a computer virus as a self-replicating program that can infect other programs by modifying them or their surrounding such that a call to an infected program implies a call to a functionally similar copy of the virus.
In fact, there are literally thousands of viruses that can get on your system. They can come from anywhere, shut down your system, and destroy your data. The symptoms of an infected system include:
· Unusual items appearing on the display, including graphics, odd messages, or system error messages.
· Corrupted or inaccessible program files, hard disks, or diskettes.
· Programs taking longer to start up, running more slowly than usual, or not running at all.
· Unexplained decreases in the amount of available system memory.
Beware of any “abnormal” symptoms on your computer.
All these might indicate your machine is another victim under the spell of viruses. Yet, but bear in mind that some “troubles” are just signs showing you that there are too many programs being executable at the same time!!
There are literally thousands different viruses. They generally fall in one of the three major groups: the boot sector viruses (BSV), the program viruses and the macro-viruses(Skardhamar 1966, pp13-27).
1. Boot sector viruses are most predominant viruses until the mid-90s.They infects boot sectors on diskettes and hard disks. On diskettes, the boot sector normally contains code to load the operating system files. The BSV replaces the original boot sector with itself and stores the original boot sector somewhere else on the diskette or simply replaces it totally. When a computer is then later booted from this diskette, the virus takes control and hides in RAM. It will then load and execute the original boot sector, and from then on everything will be as usual. Except, of course, that every diskette inserted in the computer will be infected with the virus, unless it is write-protected.
A BSV will usually hide at the top of memory, reducing the amount of memory that the DOS sees. Most BSVs are also able to infect hard disks, where the process is similar to that described above, although they usually infect the master boot
record instead of the DOS boot record.
2. Program viruses, the second type of computer viruses, infect executable programs, usually .COM and .EXE files, but they sometimes also infect overlay files, device drivers or even object files.
An infected program will contain a copy of the virus, usually at the end,in some cases at the beginning of the original program, and in a few cases the virus is inserted in the middle of the original program.
When an infected program is run, the virus may stay resident in memory and infect every program run. Viruses using this method to spread the infection are called "Resident Viruses".
Other viruses may search for a new file to infect, when an infected program is executed. The virus then transfers control to the original program. Viruses using this method to spread the infection recalled "Direct Action Viruses". It is possible for a virus to use both methods of infection.
Most viruses try to recognize existing infections, so they do not infect what has already been infected. This makes it possible to inoculate against specific viruses, by making the "victim" appear to be infected. However, this method is useless as a general defence, as it is not possible to inoculate the same program against multiple viruses.
3. The third type of viruses is Macro- viruses, which do not infect normal programs, but instead spread as "macros" in various types of files. This type of viruses can easily spread through E-mail, when users unknowingly exchange infected documents.
They are in fact programs written in macro-languages, built into some data-processing systems (text editor, electronic spreadsheet, etc.). To propagate, such viruses use the capabilities of macro-languages and with their help; transfer themselves from one infected file to another. Macro-viruses for Microsoft Word, Excel and Office 97 are the most common. There also exist macro-viruses infecting Ami Pro documents and Microsoft Access databases.
In these systems viruses take control when an infected file is being opened or closed; they intercept standard file functions and then infect files to which there is any kinds of call. The macro-viruses are memory resident, as in MS-DOS case: they are active not only when a file is open or closed, but during the entire runtime of the editor software. Then they replace or define other system macro, and hook the file accessing functions in such a way. When any hooked function is executed , the viruses obtain control and perform different branches of their code, including the infection routine.
While infecting a document, the virus converts it to the Template format, and copies all virus macro, including the Auto-macro, into the document. Being converted to Template format, the document cannot be converted in any other format. The presence of the Auto-macros allows the virus to infect other computers while reading just an infected document.
It is difficult to tell when the first computer virus came to exist. In 1959, the concept of a self-replicating program had found its first trial in a game played by a group of programmers at Bell Laboratories. The idea spread to other leading computer research facilities such as the artificial intelligence laboratory at MIT. Most of these games were played under controlled conditions on standalone mainframe computers. When networks became along, Experiments showed that a self-replicating program created in fun had the ability to propagate rapidly and to create great danger when released into a network of interconnected computers.
Because of the potential for abuse, programmers who knew about self-replicating programs avoided revealing details to the public. Ken Thompson, author of the UNIX, was the first to publish his talk about self-replicating programs. Others soon followed suit.
Probably the first true virus was demonstrated at a seminar on computer security in 1983. Fred Cohen introduced a virus program into a VAX system. In a controlled experiment, five attacks were performed to demonstrate that the virus could gain all system rights within 30 minutes. Cohen, using mathematics, laid the groundwork for formal study of computer viruses(Cohn 1994, pp.40-55).
In April 1980 all the IBM 4341 computers already delivered to customers abruptly stopped. Reportedly, a disgruntled IBM employee had placed a logic bomb in the master clock in manufacturing the unit.
In January 1986, two brothers running a computer shop in Pakistan designed a virus, the so-called Pakistani Brain. They inserted this into many copies of pirated software, which they then sold. The first infections were reported in the USA soon afterwards, and by the end of 1988 at least 20000 computers been infected worldwide. That same year the first PC-based Trojan was released in the form of the popular shareware program PC-Write.
The first file virus started to appear in 1987. Most concentrated on COM files. At this time other work was done to create the first EXE infector. This virus evolved into the Jerusalem virus.
MacMag, the first Macintosh virus and the Scores virus was the source of the first major Macintosh outbreak. The Internet Worm causes the first Internet crisis and down many computers in in1988.
The Trojan of 1989 is famous for holding data hostage. The Trojan was sent out under the guise of an AIDS information program. When run it encrypted the user’s hard drive and demanded payment for the decryption key.
It is not easy to establish the authors of viruses. A number of groups have been identified as potential creators of them. To my mind the reason pushing people to do such senseless work is still the same: an inferiority complex, sometimes combined with mental instability.
Hackers: Hackers (McAfee and Haynes. p.38) are people analogous to drug addicts. They seek novelty and new experiences in producing viruses.
Freaks: This is an irresponsible subgroup of hackers. They have serious social adjustment problems and often have a general grudge against society. There are several reasons why they write viruses: Some do it for fun, others for money. Some of them may be mentally distressed, sick of their life and want to hit out.
Students: The technical ability necessary to write a virus within the reach of a computer science student, who may see such a project as an intellectual challenge
Disgruntled Employees: It is possible that virus attacks may come from disgruntled employees. Their motives are often vindictiveness, revenge, or extortion. These may accompany a strong sense of moral duty making disgruntled employee, in his own eyes, a freedom fighter.
Computer Clubs: Some clubs have been very active in providing their members with information on how to write viruses.
Terrorists: Terrorists (McAfee and Haynes, 1989, p.11) are fanatics, for whom nothing else matters. They may have been indoctrinated from an early age and are loyal to a group, which holds them in very high regard. They are, in their own eyes, modern-day martyrs.