Hello everyone,

In this March post I told you about three great programs that will show you all of your computers third party program vulnerabilities, and then download and install the latest vulnerability fixes. Great stuff!

Speaking of vulnerabilities, here is a chart of the non-MS patches that affected Windows platforms in the past month of December 2013. Get updated asap!

Best wishes,

Randy The Tech Professor

Hello everyone,

A while back in this post I wrote about the plague of malicious toolbars, browser hijackers, browser add-ons, and browser extensions. One of the most prominent of these insidious, unwanted programs is a little gem called Conduit.

Conduit is a browser hijacker, which is promoted via other free downloads, and once installed will add the Conduit Toolbar which will change your browser homepage and default search engine to search.conduit.com.

Conduit Search will display advertisements and sponsored links in your search results, and may collect search terms from your search queries. The Conduit infection is used to boost advertising revenue, as in the use of blackhat SEO, to inflate a site’s page ranking in search results.

Conduit it’s technically not a virus, but it does exhibit plenty of malicious traits, such as rootkit capabilities to hook deep into the operating system, browser hijacking, and in general just interfering with the user experience. The industry generally refers to it as a “PUP,” or potentially unwanted program.

Many times after I remove Conduit, I get the following RunDLL “Error loading…” message on boot up:

c:\users\ed\appData\local\conduit\backgroundcontainer\background container.dll

This is because a Conduit orphaned registry entry still remains (even after removal), and is telling Windows to load the file upon boot up.

Here is the fix:

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools.
2. Open Task Scheduler and click on Task Scheduler Library.
3. Look through the list for an entry related to BackgroundContainer.
4. If found, right-click on it and select Delete.
5. Exit all programs and reboot the computer when done.

Professor Randy says: Be extra cautious when downloading third-party browser add-ons, extensions, plugins, toolbars, browser helper objects, and generally most software. Conduit may “come along for the ride”.

Hello everyone,

In this March post I told you about three great programs that will show you all of your computers third party program vulnerabilities, and then download and install the latest vulnerability fixes. Great stuff!

Speaking of vulnerabilities, here is a chart of the non-MS patches that affected Windows platforms in the present month of November 2013. Get updated asap!

Hello everyone,

CryptoLocker is an awful virus that an alarming amount of people are falling victim to. It presents itself in the form of an email message that will look familiar and authentic (it will apper as from legitimate businesses and as fake FedEx, DHL, and UPS tracking notifications). This could also be something from a bank or paypal, prompting you to click a link. It may look like a .PDF file, but in reality it’s an executable file that launches the virus.

Once it’s opened, it encrypts all of the documents in your personal “Documents” folder, and can even reach out to files on thumb drives and networks. It uses strong encryption that truly no one can decrypt, and the only way you would be able to get the data back is by paying $300 for the key. If you don’t pay within 72 hours, the virus authors delete the key and the data is gone forever. To make matters worse, law enforcement has been shutting down servers that contain keys. So even if you were to pay within 72 hours, there’s still no guarantee you will be able to get to your data.

CryptoLocker has also managed to get past AntiVirus programs, although there is a free tool that will supposedly prevent its infection. The problem is, if it gets traction, the CryptoLocker virus authors can easily circumvent it making that tool ineffective. It’s very important to be careful when clicking links that are sent to you.

This means backup is more important than ever. However, you have to be careful how you’re backing up also. If you’re backing up to shared network attached storage for example, that may not be enough. If CryptoLocker can see the files, it will encrypt those also. Furthermore, if you don’t catch it right away, you may end up backing up the encrypted files over top of the unencrypted files. It’s important to have a backup system that supports versioning, or something that allows you to roll back to a prior version of your files.

Professor Randy says: The CryptoLocker virus is really nasty! Protect yourself by backing up all data, and by not clicking on e-mail links unless you’re absoleutely sure where they came from!

Hello everyone,

In this March post I told you about a great program that will show you all of your computers third party program vulnerabilities, and then download and install the latest vulnerability fixes. Great stuff!

Speaking of vulnerabilities, here is a chart of the non-MS patches that affected Windows platforms in the past month of October. Get updated asap!

Best wishes,
Randy The Tech Professor

Hello everyone,

Note: Part 2 of this post can be found here

In just the past month I have witnessed a veritable plague in my area of computer repair work. Unwanted items are almost secretly installing themselves to the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers. Many of my great clients are seniors and they are being “suckered” into installing these unwanted programs.

These malicious items cause annoying pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, and coupons. They change Windows start-up settings and Internet browser settings. They change the homepage, redirect browser searches, and generally make  Internet browsing experience hell! Ultimately they will ruin the computers functionality!

These vicious little programs primarily bundle with third party software, most often freeware and shareware. Once in a while the user may be given the opportunity to decline the offer to install the “piggyback” item, but many times the offer is presented in a manner that attempts to trick the user. Often these malicious programs will install even if declined!

Here is a list of what I’ve eliminated from ten or so machines in the past month (no particular order):

1) Shop At Home Toolbar

2) Inbox Toolbar

3) Ask Toolbar

4) MapsGalaxy Toolbar

5) CouponBar

6) Babylon Toolbar

7) VAFMusic4 Toolbar

8) Snap.do

9) WebCake

10) Blekko Search Bar

11) Yontoo

12) WebSearch Toolbar

13) Default Tab

14) SaltarSmart

15) Win32/AddLyrics

16) Delta-homes.com (redirect)

In my next post I will explain how to rid your computer of these “plagues”.

Professor Randy says: Certain unfriendly entities want to enter your computer without your knowledge. First, be aware or who/what they are, and second, learn how to protect yourself from them!

Hello everyone,

In this March post I told you about a great program that will show you all of your computers third party program vulnerabilities, and then download and install the latest vulnerability fixes. Great stuff!

Speaking of vulnerabilities, here is a chart of the non-MS patches that affect Windows platforms in the present month of September. Get updated asap!

Best wishes,

Randy The Tech Professor

Hello everyone,

In this March post I told you about a great program that will show you all of your computers third party program vulnerabilities, and then download and install the latest vulnerability fixes. Great stuff!

Speaking of vulnerabilities, here is a chart of the non-MS patches that affect Windows platforms in the present month of August. Get updated asap!

Hello everyone,

The other day a client gave me her Windows Vista laptop that was in very bad shape. After a quick diagnosis it was apparent that the machine needed a new hard drive. I popped in a nice new 2.5″ Western Digital drive, inserted my Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade disc (into the CD/DVD ROM drive), rebooted the computer, and we were “off to the races”. This installation was going to be a “snap”.

Not quite!!

After the first two initial screens came up (1: selections for language, time, currency format, and keyboard layout  2: repair a previous installation or “Install Now”), I got the following message:

A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now.

When I saw this message this is what I did:

1) I hooked up an external USB CD/DVD ROM (like this one) to one of the USB ports,

2) Removed the Vista installation disc from the computers CD/DVD ROM drive,

3) Inserted the Vista installation disc into the external DVD drive ( didn’t have to reboot),

4) Sat back and watched the Vista installation proceed without a hitch! Great stuff!

I’m sure that this same procedure will work with Windows 7 also.

Professor Randy says: Don’t get “bent out of shape” when you see the “A required CD/DVD drive device is missing….” message. Choose the easy way out and continue the installation by inserting the disc into a portable USB external DVD drive.

Hello everyone,

In this March post I told you about a great program that will show you all of your computers third party program vulnerabilities, and then download and install the latest vulnerability fixes. Great stuff!

Speaking of vulnerabilities, here is a chart of the non-MS patches that affect Windows platforms in the present month of July. Get updated asap!

 July 2013