Windows Task Bar and Desktop Not Appearing Beceause of an Infection

Have you ever had an infection on your computer that stops Windows from fully loading? You get the past the Windows splash screen and all you see is either your fake program which will only let you click the “buy now” button, or if you have somehow been able to block of remove the infection, you just see your Windows background and mouse cursor. In both cases there is no Windows task bar so you can’t do anything in Windows.

Your infection is messing with Windows explorer which is what you need in order to navigate around your computer. You can easily get it running again by holding down the Windows key and pressing R. When the run command appears type explorer.exe and click OK.

This doesn’t solve the problem that explorer isn’t launching when you start your computer so you are going to have to go into the registry. Hold down the Windows key and press R. When the run command appears type regedit and click OK.

Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\Shell. You want shell to say explorer.exe so double click shell, type in explorer.exe and click OK. If the shell entry is not there, right click in right hand panel and click New > String Value. Call it shell. Double click shell, type in explorer.exe and click OK

While you are in the registry go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Run. Everything in here is designed to run before explorer.exe is loaded so look for anything with the name of your rogue program in it, select it and press delete.

Restart your computer and now you can now start removing the infection.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Fake E-Cards

Every so often on the net, I read about someone being infected by something they got on a fake e-card. It’s not surprising that there are fake e-cards, e-cards are very popular and my cheapo family love sending them on special occasions. Not that I can blame them, have you seen the prices of greeting cards lately?

My boss tells his clients never click the link on an e-card but delete the email instead. I think this a little extreme as most e-cards are legit and you don’t want pissed off rellies and friends wondering they haven’t received an e-card receipt.

scambusters.org have the following suggestions for detecting fake ecards.

- Spelling mistakes — e.g. congratulation! Or your name is misspelled.

- Errors in the message — e.g. it says you sent a card, not received one.

- The sender isn’t someone you know.

- The sender has a bogus name (Joe Cool, Agatha Tragonawar, Card Sender, Secret Admirer, etc.).

- A URL that appears odd — e.g. www.http:// rather than http://www. (If the link points to an exe, delete the email immediately)

If you are taken to an e-card website that asks you install something to view the e-card , DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT click install. I have had far too many clients fall for things like that.

Once again I highly recommend you use Spyware Doctor to protect your computer from fake e-cards and other nasties. If you open an exe that Spyware Doctor detects is trying to install malicious software on your computer, it will quarantine the exe before it has a chance to do anything. That’s just one of the reasons the company I work for try to put Spyware Doctor on every machine we get in.

For more information of fake e-cards, be sure to read Tips for sending and receiving ecards safely: Internet ScamBusters™ #152

Popularity: 4% [?]

Night of the Zombie Computer

ZDNet has written an interesting article about Zombie computers. These are not undead computers looking for brains, they are computers infected by a virus that causes them to be taken over by a “shadowy” figure and made to do things like send out Spam.

According to Microsoft, a Zombie virus “might cause your computer to slow down, display mysterious messages, or work in an unexpected manner.” Microsoft also lists five ways you can protect your computer from becoming a Zombie Computer.

If you would like more information on Zombie computers, be sure to read “How Zombie Computers Work”.

If you suspect your computer has become a Zombie, you can run free scan of
Spyware Doctor to see if it’s infected. If your computer is a zombie, either remove the infection or run to your nearest shopping mall for safety.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Rise in Cell Phone Viruses

Think you only have to worry about viruses getting on your computer? BBC News is warning about a rise in cell phone viruses, and that’s on top of a rise in cell phone spam. Lets not forget about that nasty little rash some cell phones can give you.

I’m glad I’m one of two people on the planet that don’t down a cell phone, annoying little things.

Unsurprisingly, there’s an antivirus program for cell phones called F-secure Mobile Security. Unfortunetly it’s the only cell phone AV I could find so it’s more expensive than your usual antivirus software. I’m sure the number of cell phones AV’s will rise in time bringing down the price but if you know of any other legitimate cell phone antivirus program, please leave a comment.

Popularity: 3% [?]

“Your Computer Is Infected” Popup

Getting an annoying message that appears near your Windows clock reading “Your computer is infected. Windows has detected spyware infection”? This is stage one of a fake anti-spyware infection, and soon your sanity’ll be pushed to the limits, as you’re bombarded with security alerts pushing fake anti-spyware.

You can manually remove this “Your Computer is Infected” popup, but I recommend that you use Spyware Doctor to automatically get rid of this “Your Computer is Infected” popup, and find any malicious programs that may have been downloaded in the background.

Popularity: 10% [?]

X97M.Teteon

< ?php the_title(); ?> is a damn virus that infects your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

When < ?php the_title(); ?> launches, < ?php the_title(); ?> infects any Excel files you have opened, adding a secret worksheet that reads “Tetenoz”. < ?php the_title(); ?> then changes this worksheet’s name to “!IamHere”, and popups up this message:

Stupid User Experienced

Yes, stupid indeed.
Read more

Popularity: 2% [?]