Silver_2000
10-24-2008, 02:35 PM
from an email I sent to family and customers
Microsoft released a security update yesterday that was very serious.
They rarely release “out of band” ( unscheduled ) security updates. This one was serious enough to force them to immediately release the patch.
Hopefully al of you have your Windows PCs set to automatically update if so then your PC should have updated and rebooted last night, if Auto Updates was on.
If not click on Start then click All Programs, up near the top of the list you will see Windows Update. That will open internet explorer and take you to a page that will walk you through updating your PC.
Follow the instructions and install all Critical Updates. You will need to reboot after its done.
Here are the details of the update specifically if you are interested
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958644
and still more detail here
http://blog.threatexpert.com/2008/10/gimmiva-exploits-zero-day-vulnerability.html
Finally another problem has been making the rounds of PCs – It’s Called various names:
Antivirus 2008,
Antivirus 2009,
Vista Antivirus 2008,
Windows Antivirus 2008,
Antivirus 2008 Pro,
XP Antivirus 2008,
Antivirus XP 2008,
XP Antivirus 2009,
XPAntiVirus, or any other Antivirus-named program variation that you did not consensually agree to download on your PC.
It’s a scam trying to get your Credit card number to “buy” the solution to the fabricated Viruses. DON’T Give them your Credit Card Number.
These Trojans have infected 30 million PCs so far- They cause the following symptoms
· “VIRUS ALERT!” appears in the system tray (lower right hand corner of your desktop).
· Changes your desktop background to a red hazard alert or a blue background with a yellow alert in the center.
· Screensaver changes to either the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ or the “Bugs” crawling on the screen.
· Start Menu does not list ‘Programs’, ‘My Documents’, ‘My Computer’, ‘My Recent Documents’, ‘Search’, ‘Help’,'Control Panel’ or ‘Run’.
· Pop ups of random rogue anti-spyware programs. The pop-ups displayed are for rogue anti-spyware programs like Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, Antivirus XP 2009, XP Antivirus Protection, Spy-Shredder, WinSpywareProtect, and others.
· Windows explorer closes by itself or displays an “Illegal Operation of System” page.
· Computer performs sluggish or it ultimately crashes.
The reason Im boring you with all these tech details is that there is a free relatively easy fix for these infections.
The solution that has worked on dozens of cases that I have seen is called Malware Bytes
You can get it from http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
I don’t work for malware bytes.
Microsoft released a security update yesterday that was very serious.
They rarely release “out of band” ( unscheduled ) security updates. This one was serious enough to force them to immediately release the patch.
Hopefully al of you have your Windows PCs set to automatically update if so then your PC should have updated and rebooted last night, if Auto Updates was on.
If not click on Start then click All Programs, up near the top of the list you will see Windows Update. That will open internet explorer and take you to a page that will walk you through updating your PC.
Follow the instructions and install all Critical Updates. You will need to reboot after its done.
Here are the details of the update specifically if you are interested
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958644
and still more detail here
http://blog.threatexpert.com/2008/10/gimmiva-exploits-zero-day-vulnerability.html
Finally another problem has been making the rounds of PCs – It’s Called various names:
Antivirus 2008,
Antivirus 2009,
Vista Antivirus 2008,
Windows Antivirus 2008,
Antivirus 2008 Pro,
XP Antivirus 2008,
Antivirus XP 2008,
XP Antivirus 2009,
XPAntiVirus, or any other Antivirus-named program variation that you did not consensually agree to download on your PC.
It’s a scam trying to get your Credit card number to “buy” the solution to the fabricated Viruses. DON’T Give them your Credit Card Number.
These Trojans have infected 30 million PCs so far- They cause the following symptoms
· “VIRUS ALERT!” appears in the system tray (lower right hand corner of your desktop).
· Changes your desktop background to a red hazard alert or a blue background with a yellow alert in the center.
· Screensaver changes to either the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ or the “Bugs” crawling on the screen.
· Start Menu does not list ‘Programs’, ‘My Documents’, ‘My Computer’, ‘My Recent Documents’, ‘Search’, ‘Help’,'Control Panel’ or ‘Run’.
· Pop ups of random rogue anti-spyware programs. The pop-ups displayed are for rogue anti-spyware programs like Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, Antivirus XP 2009, XP Antivirus Protection, Spy-Shredder, WinSpywareProtect, and others.
· Windows explorer closes by itself or displays an “Illegal Operation of System” page.
· Computer performs sluggish or it ultimately crashes.
The reason Im boring you with all these tech details is that there is a free relatively easy fix for these infections.
The solution that has worked on dozens of cases that I have seen is called Malware Bytes
You can get it from http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
I don’t work for malware bytes.