We all have experienced many online threats last year. And as year changes to 2010, the more online threats are changing too. Cybercriminals will be more eager to spread online threats and attack computers to benefit with any valuable information challenging users for security.

Here are some of the predictions that will challenge computer security this year:

1. Spam, Scams on Social Networking and Real-time Sites – A group of security researchers belonging from Websense, Breach Security, IBM Internet Security Systems‘ X-Force, and Symantec agreed that cybercriminals will focus their attacks on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, and on real-time social sites like Twitter. When it comes to real-time features, Google, especially Google Wave, as well as Bing will be their target. The attackers enjoy the fact it will take time for others to discover the existence of a malicious link or file. Users may recognize one but still one way or another, there will still be victims.

2. Crime Cloud – Security vendors specifically AVG, M86, and RSA predicted that criminals will be attacking and using use cloud services directly to control attacks. and using them to direct and control attacks. IBM researchers are anticipating to see attackers exploiting more services. Take Amazon AWS for example which already served as a host for a malware command and control server.

3. Malware Hijacking Trusted Sites – Breach Security observes continuous improvements when it comes to compromising trusted sites and infecting them with malware. Numerous incidents of SQL injection has been proven successful in attacking sites. No doubt, it will happen again. Cybercriminals prefer to have a third-party that will distribute their malware.

4. Macs Will Be Compromised – It’s been years now that security companies have been talking about Mac being targeted by attackers for malware. According to Websense, exploitation will happen affecting Safari under Mac OS X which will invite hackers to target the Mac platform. Symantec is worried that Mac users who are not spending money to buy antivirus software yearly will not be protected with such attack. Zscaler still believe that Apple can somehow oblige the company to strengthen its security to surpassed continuous attacks. Many think Macs will be widely affected because of Adobe Flash vulnerability.

5. Search Engine Poisoning and Malvertising – Cybercriminals will exert more efforts on exploiting trusted sites. For them to infect sites, they will make use of search engines and advertisements. They will continue to threaten and weaken search results and enjoy the attention breaking news and events. Google together with Microsoft will assure its users for a safe search and advertising. Of course, they wouldn’t want their users to not trust them.

6. Increasing Number of Bots – Why would cyber criminals waste their time with cloud-hosted malware when botnets can do the same thing? Botnets are better than cybercriminals. It can also be a source of income generating cash for criminals and hijacking other botnets for money. This will cause conflict preventing botnets to grow and attracting security experts and law enforcement. It’s botnets against other botnets. It’s like what happened to Zeus/Zbot being shut down by Bredolab botnet. Symantec claimed that botnets have become the foundation of cybercrime.

7. Piracy Gets Riskier – Microsoft has started making a move to lessen software piracy since last December. They received many complaints from users who buy the pirated version of Windows. IBM researchers are expecting that the continuous use of the pirated software will infection more users will malware.

8. Mobile Security Issue – Smartphones like iPhone and Android-based handsets are like miniature personal computers. They are being used for business purposes. In 2010, Websense predicted that smartphones will be targeted for attacks just like the computers. Nowadays, security vendors either have or are developing a mobile security product service. IBM thinks that mobile attacks will still be limited.

9. Major Insider Theft Scandal Will – It is expected next year that someone who has been in a large organization accessing company data will be caught to be working for or with a cybercrime group. The Identity Theft Resource expected that the number of insider cases will increase because of failure to follow basic workplace security protocols.

10. Clickjacking is Back – According to Zscaler, clickjacking will strike back. Clickjacking is a malicious technique that tricks users to reveal confidential information or take control of their computer while clicking the sites. Jeremiah Grossman of WhiteHat Security and Robert “RSnake” Hansen of SecTheory reveal about the technique in October 2008. Efforts have made to lessen the risk of clickjacking but it is still effective to use especially with a social engineering component.

How Can Techie Now Help?

The above security threats serves as a reminder for computer users to be careful over the web. You’ll never know what security threat you will be into. For now, the best protection is a reliable and updated antivirus software that will keep you and your computer in trouble. When it comes to your computer’s protection, Techie Now is the name you can trust. Techie Now offers PC support services: virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration and general repair.

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Internet security is very important when it comes to the computers and network in your home or office. Most of the time, viruses spread easily over a network connection. As soon as one computer in your office gets infected with a virus, it can spread to the other computers. This may result in data and time loss.

You must take it seriously when choosing and installing antivirus software in the office for your computer and company’s protection. Antivirus software provides numerous benefits. As soon as you install and use it, you will get immediate protection. It will prevent the infection going into your network. It is also capable of quarantining virus of an infected computer preventing it to sneak and spread to other computers.

Antivirus software not only prevents virus infection to computers but also protects the company from compliance violations, data loss, identity theft, lost productivity and network downtime. It should give a wide-ranging security in protecting all types of endpoints in your system. If it fails to do that, your entire network is in danger.

In addition, your antivirus should be updated constantly to protect your office network from new viruses that will arrive in the future. You are now living in a modern world where virus writers grows as fast as they could bring harm to everyone personal and business life. Remember that a weak Internet security is dangerous. It just proves one thing, that the antivirus that you are using provides ineffective and weak protection. You wouldn’t want to risk your company because it could bring down your entire system and left you with nothing.

How Can Techie Now Help?

If you need assistance with virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, software installation and configuration, and other PC general services, contact us. Techie Now is one PC support provider that you can trust with your computer. With Techie Now, you can be sure that your PC is protected.

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If you are looking for an online computer repair guide so you can get rid of viruses in your computer, then this article will surely be able to help you. But before we go ahead and get rid of that virus, let us first determine what they are.

Viruses are destructive executable programs which can infect your computer’s other programs. It spreads by simply replicating itself. The reason why it is harmful to your computer is because they have been created with a sole intention to damage your computer files. It may have gotten into your system through when you have downloaded a program which contains the virus which have been coded by the malicious programmers.

There are two aspects to every virus. The first is the finder. This virus looks for new uninfected files in your computer. The other aspect is a replicator virus which normally will target your new files and infect them by multiplying itself. Once a virus has attacked your files it will slow down your computer’s speed, cause it to frequently hang, and worse, will delete your files.

Even though the process of removing viruses is technical, there is a simple alternative you can do. This option will only require you to either buy or download a software called antivirus. Once you have the software, you will need to install it into your computer and frequently update the software with the recent virus definitions. This is because there are new viruses being created everyday. When you have done these, you can already do a complete scan on your system so that you can detect viruses.

But if you do not have access to download or buy an antivirus software, you can still install the free antivirus programs into your computer. Once you have installed it, you can start scanning your system so that any virus can be located. When you have located a virus, you can eliminate them by removing the virus or putting it into quarantine.

Always remember though, even if you have removed the virus from your system, you must still do a complete computer scan. By following this online computer repair tip, you can make sure that your computer is free from any virus which will harm your system.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Viruses is one of the enemies of the computers. People should be careful with it because it can be downloaded easily into the computer, infect and totally damage files and the machine itself. If you think your PC is infected with virus, contact Techie Now. You can trust us with any PC support problems like virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. With Techie Now, your computer will be fixed right away.

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Most people who say “I’ve got a slow computer” can get really frustrated with it. Well, who could blame them? With the fast paced world of today, everything needs to be done fast. There are now fast foods, fast ways to get money (ATM machines), and now, fast access to information: the internet. But eventually, after several years of frequently using your computer, it will slow down.

Saving documents, accessing your files and running programs will become a painful time consuming experience. And soon, if you do not do any precautions, your computer will stop operating. Aside from frustrating you, these problems will also need you to spend money in order to fix them. But fortunately, there are some things you can do on your own so that the computer’s performance can be sped up.

1. Remove Viruses and Spyware. Computers which are running slow can sometimes be because of a spyware or virus. Because of this, it is important to have a reliable anti virus software program. In addition, you must make sure that such programs are regularly updated so that your PC is protected from the new versions of these troublemakers.
2. Clean your Registry. If your registry files get corrupted, you will experience a slow start up and shutdown of your computer. In order to fix this problem, you will need to use a registry cleaner.
3. Defragment the PC. From time to time, make sure that you have defragmented your hard drive. This will repair malfunctions to the performance of your computer.
4. Free the Space of Your Main Drive. Remove the files and programs which you do not need on your C drive. This is because this drive stores every program which is important to the operation of your computer. You can choose to transfer games and the other software programs into the other drive.
5. Remove the Computer’s Temporary Files. Every time the computer is being used, it keeps storing temporary files in the hard drive. And once the hard drive gets too crowded, the quickness of your computer will be affected. This action can be done using the program called Disk Cleanup which you can quickly access in your Start menu.

By following the above mentioned tips, you will no longer cry out “I’ve got a slow computer.”

How Can Techie Now Help?

Many people enjoy using their computers but after using them for several years, they slow down for some reasons. Of course, we prefer using a fast computer. If you want your slow computer to be fixed, contact Techie Now. Techie Now provides PC support services at your convenience: virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. Techie Now will do it quick and safe, and your PC will work like it’s brand new.

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The British police arrested a couple from Manchester, aged 20, for purportedly using a sophisticated and malicious virus to infect thousands of computers and steal millions of pounds worth of personal information.

The said virus is known to be the notorious ZeuS or Zbot Trojan which bypasses security safeguards to record online bank account details, passwords and credit card numbers. It also copies passwords for social networking sites and let the hackers control the computer by forwarding the data to the servers. The said virus appears in different guises, which includes false Facebook page encouraging users to download a software update. It can steal passwords or sends your personal information hackers. It also hijacks computers pressing them into the services of botnets which can be used to send spam e-mails, distribute more malware and do other malicious things. All the taken information is worth millions of pounds making the criminals sell or use it themselves.

According to Detective Superintendent Charlie McMurdie, the couple was the first in Europe to be arrested in connection with the scam. Zeus or Zbot Trojan is a known malware which can be used for infecting or accessing personal information. It has affected 10,000 computers worldwide. The couple gathered millions of lines of data from infected computers. The scam uses the taken data of users and quickly harms them financially. Cyber criminals use Zeus because it threatens the people from using the Internet globally.

Zeus viruses is the biggest and most sophisticated “banking trojan” in the world. It targets the online banking accounts of millions of people. As it first came out in 2007, Zeus had grown more flexible and complicated after a few months that it was able to adjust and look for more ways to prevent from being detected by anti-virus software. Symantec’s analyst, Orla Cox said that ZeuS spreads fast because there’s an available toolkit online which allowed the cybercriminals to customize and create their own versions. The toolkit makes it easy for people to steal from online accounts. Since it’s easy to find on the web, it’s a useful kit for those who wants to be an Internet crime lord. Ghost is one of the best know open source toolkit. In the past year, more than 90,000 variations of Zeus virus have infected computers.

The couple was suspected of offenses against the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the 2006 Fraud Act on November 3. Unfortunately, they have been released on bail. Reports showed that many businesses and individuals have experienced the online attack worldwide where money are stolen from their accounts and transferred to the criminals through complex banking networks. The accounts of willing “money mules” receive the money and withdraw it.

How Can Techie Now Help?

With the virus like Zeus, online bank accounts are not safe from the cyber criminals. It can steal your passwords or send your personal information, only to find out that your all your money is being stolen under your nose. It’s good to know that cyber criminals like this couple from Manchester was arrested for committing the crime. To protect your money from being stolen in your bank account online, always use updated anti-virus software. If you need assistance with this and other PC support services (virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair), contact Techie Now. Techie Now will keep your computer running and protected all the time!