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!

Child pornography refers to images or films involving and showing sexually explicit activities of a child. It is a multi-billion dollar industry which is the fastest growing criminal segments on the Internet. People accused of child pornography can ruin their reputation, face vast legal bills and be put in prison if proven guilty. Recently, the Associated Press outlined a case raised regarding computer viruses being an instrument to gather child pornography on people’s computers.

Associated Press reported about Michel Fiola’s case. He is a former Massachusetts state employee with a state-owned work computer containing illegal pornography images. After that, he was fired and charged with possession of child pornography.

Children’s sexually explicit images that are being used for exploitation are now protected by the First Amendment. Why is that so? It is because these images invite sexual crimes against the defenseless and innocent children. Although Fiola was not convicted, he has suffered humiliation, death threats and abandonment from his friends. He and his wife also spent $250,000 to pay for legal fees.

Fiola’s defense proved that his computer was infected by a virus. The said virus is programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute. Of course, it will be difficult for a human to do that even if he tried. AP also reported that Fiola’s is not using updated antivirus software for his computer that’s why it was not protected from malware.

This could happen to anyone. If viruses can easily put illegal content to computers just like that, all PC users are at risk of being arrested for a serious crime that they don’t really do. According to Symantec, it is definitely possible for malware to plant child pornography or any other type of file on any innocent person’s computer but forensics can detect intention. One of the motives of the malware author is to use someone else’s computer to store child porn and hide it if ever your PC is being seized or searched. You must protect your PC against intrusions for your security. Always make sure that your operating system and software are updated. Be careful on spam and don’t download unknown attachments. Never click on links and don’t provide information to unknown sites.

How Can Techie Now Help?

In these days, viruses can really affect your personal and business life. Like what happened to Michel Fiola, it can also happen to anyone. Viruses can be dangerous. Protect your PC now, don’t let these malware infect your PC or harm you. Contact Techie Now right away! Techie Now’s services offers virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. With Techie, we offer you better services at better price. Techie Now will keep you and your PC clean and protected.

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Twitter is being used by many people worldwide in these days. It’s a free social networking and micro-blogging service enabling its users to read and send messages. Because of its increasing popularity, Twitter has exerted its effort to stop attacks which includes spam, worms such as Mikeyy, and phishing. Twitter confirmed that the site was hacked last May where some individual account information were also leaked.

In regards to this, Kaspersky revealed a new tool named “Krab Krawler”. It will analyze million of tweets posted on Twitter every day and will block any Malware associated with them.

Krab Krawler will:

• looks at every public post as it appears in on Twitter
• extracts any URLs in them and analyzes the web page they go to
• expands any URLs that have been shortened

Twitter scans almost 500,000 new unique URLs every day where there are about 100 to 1,000 Malware attacks happen. Koobface virus has targeted Twitter by posting malicious links from infected users’ accounts. Twenty-six (26) percent of the total Twitter posts contain URLs redirecting to spam sites which are marketing products or services and not considered Malware. Thousands of accounts post spam links created by bots. Most of the URLs redirect to online dating sites.

Kaspersky’s regular antivirus software can detect and block ninety-five (95) percent of the Malware Twitter users are afraid of. Some antivirus companies focus protecting e-mail-borne viruses but also give more attention to social-media sites now. For now, Finjan offers SecureTweets to Twitter users. SecureTweets is a  free browser plug-in that warns the users as they come upon a malicious URL in Twitter, also includes Blogger, Gmail, Google search, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo and more sites.

Attackers are fond of hitting social-media sites because there are many people using them and trusting messages in there with their friends more than they do in e-mails. According to Kaspersky, Trojan-Clicker.HTMLIFrame is the most common piece of Malware associated with Twitter. It is a malicious Javascript that can be transferred to computer when you visit a compromised web site.

How Can Techie Now Help?

If your PC gets infected while using Twitter and you need help, feel free to contact Techie Now. Our virus removal services will be the solution you are looking for. We offer better services at a lower price. With Techie Now, your PC is at good hands.

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The New York Times had problems created by an unauthorized advertisement. Its website contains a rogue ad displayed in their banner ad spaces.

What is a rogue ad? A rogue ad is a type of advertisement online which will convince you purchase, download or install an application into your computer. That application can bring problems to your PC. It alerts the readers that their computer may be infected with a virus redirecting to a site that offers antivirus software. It’s like a Trojan horse which will tell you to click something to make your computer faster or warn you that you have to fix your Windows problems. You may think that this ad is beneficial for you only to know that it is just displaying ads on your computer or redirecting you other sites. Visitors who clicked on these ads, experienced abnormal operations on their computers such as popup ads or hijacked internet connections.

So how did the New York Times website get the rogue ad? New York Times is a victim of a social engineering bait-and-switch at the human level. They were approached by a person buying an internet ad space on their website. At first, the ad seems to have no problem but it was exchanged for a suspicious ad a few days later. The attacker of this rogue ad did this for monetary gain to get money or to steal credit card numbers. The ad will offer you a download to fix problems that you are unaware of. They will ask you to enter your credit card enter to buy some software. You will also be redirected to other websites where you can buy things from them.

NYTimes solved the problem right away and removed the ads. According to security site GeekPolice.net, best-antivirus03.com is the hijacker using fraudulent to promote fake security software. For now, be careful in browsing sites that are promising so many good things, like free music or movie downloads. Keep away from those sites and don’t even click those ads.

Here are the steps to protect you against rogue ads:

1. Stay away from websites or ads telling you have computer problems (ads cannot diagnose your PC).
2. Always keep your antivirus running and updated.
3. Allow parental controls to prevent unauthorized downloads.
4. Avoid clicking the “cancel” button to make these windows disappear. Try clicking the little red “X” in the upper right hand corner instead.
5. Never input your credit card number into websites unless you are definitely sure with the product you are buying.
6. Turn off your computer quickly if you suspect that there’s something wrong. The longer you stay online, the worse infection you can get from it.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Attackers have been targeting big sites like New York Times, to get money or steal credit card numbers from computer users. For now, you should be careful in browsing websites and clicking ads to keep you and your PC secured. Do you want to keep your computer clean and protected? Contact Techie Now for PC support services including virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. With Techie Now, we give the caring support you need.

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Gizmodo, a popular US gadget, asked for apology to its reader after being fooled by malware pretending to be an advertisement. The said malware is running on the site in ad boxes on Suzuki ads.

According to Gizmodo, their ad sales team has been fooled through an elaborate scam. The said situation has been taken care of and has affected only a few people. Gizmodo has advised the readers to use an antivirus to make sure that their system is clean.

Recently, New York Times was victimized with a similar attack. A pop-up box appears and redirected to a site offering antivirus software, the site is the virus itself. It’s like having a Web browser hijacked because it’s pretending to be a site that runs a scan for viruses.

Dasient, a Web security firm, stated that there are more than 640,000 websites infected with malware. They have identified more than 52,000 malware infections over the web this year. The attackers are focusing more on legitimate websites using them to spread malware.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Our computers are not safe from the danger of browsing the Web. The moment you use your PC and surf the Internet, you and your PC is already at risk. Even Gizmodo, the popular US gadget, was victimized with a virus. Contact Techie Now to keep your PC protected. Techie Now offers services concerning virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general services of your PC. We offer quality services at your convenience 24/7.

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Free antivirus... which one?

Protecting your PC can be challenging and expensive. Some people spend a lot of money every year buying antivirus software, antispyware products and personal firewalls. Nowadays, you should give a lot of importance to the virus protection of your PC to prevent people from stealing your personal information and identity, and secure your PC. But, what if you don’t have money to pay for your computer security? There’s no need to worry. You don’t need to spend money when you can get high quality antivirus softwares for free. Why not take advantage of it?

The best 3 free antivirus softwares

• Avast Home Edition Free Antivirus – It is said to be the best FREE antivirus protection available in the market. It is for non-commercial and home use only. According to AV-Test.org, it is excellent when it comes to virus and spyware detection. It has a simple, customizable and functional user interface with complete features. It has a strong self-protection and automatic updates which also includes anti-spyware and anti-rootkit protection. Since it’s made as simple as possible, it’s very easy to operate. It is tried and tested in Windows security which supports more Windows versions than any other anti-Malware products.

• AVG Antivirus Free Edition – If you are after an award winning protection that will satisfy your basic security needs, this free antivirus is suitable for you. AVG has been providing the right to have computers secured for no charge. Many users claimed that AVG gives their PC protection from viruses, spyware and others. You will not get or spread viruses. Also give credits to the consistent high-speed PC performance, fast scanning and automatic updates. You will not be bothered if you download or exchange files online. Your PC will definitely be safe from harmful sites.

• Microsoft Security Essentials – A new free antivirus, and our favourite, from Microsoft which protects your PC from viruses, spyware and other malicious software. It is easy to install and use. You can use your PC and do other things while the automatic update is happening. It comes in small package with low resource usage and clean interface. All your files are being scanned to prevent a malicious file from harming your PC. This user-friendly software is created for consumers which assure your PC Malware protection.

These free antivirus softwares are different in many ways. Avast also has light resources and high rate of false positives. Like Avast, Avira has light resources but outstanding detection rate of Malware but the updates is having problems or very slow. AVG Free Antivirus has grown in size and resource usage but slow scan speed. It has also Microsoft Security Essentials has a good detection rate, light resources but slow scan speed and long amount of time to quarantine Malware.

Fortunately, some of the best antivirus software also comes with their free versions that can be used in your PC at home. Some of these softwares are as good as the quality of any antivirus that you purchase online. For now, try using these free antivirus softwares and see for yourself what software suits and works the best for your PC.

How Techie Now Can Help?

Securing your PC is not as easy as you know. You have to protect your PC from viruses and other Malwares. If you don’t have enough money to buy expensive antivirus softwares, you can use some free antivirus available in the web for your computer protection. And if you can’t do that on your own, Techie Now is willing to assist you. Contact us now, we will wipe away those Malwares dragging your PC down. With Techie Now’s virus removal services, protecting and repairing your PC is as easy as 1-2-3.

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