ENV PC – PC Repair

With the increase in popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, comes the increase in viral activity.

Koobface (anagram of facebook) is the most common, and potentially dangerous you’re likely to see.  The ultimate goal of Koobface is to hijack your account, potentially gather information and proliferate itself to your friends list. Luckily, Koobface is easy to spot, and easy to avoid.

Here is how it works.

1. A friend messages to you from your friends list claiming a “funny video” or “Video of you” is posted on the web and attached is a link.

2. Clicking on the link (at this point, don’t click the link) would take you to a 3rd party site that “looks” like a video hosting site.

3. When you get to the bogus site, you are prompted to “download a codec” or update “adobe flash player”.

That last one should be the final red flag.  If you did download the file (in this case, the Trojan holding the virus) it would then plant it self in your system and send itself to your friends list when you returned to your account. Shortly after your friends will no doubt let you know in full force you’ve got a problem. The always do don’t they?

If you happen to get this file, all is not lost! It’s a routine removal and we can have you back socializing, farming, chatting and whatever else you’d like!

Wikipedia Entry

One final note, only Windows based computers are open to this particular attack.

One of the more common virus’ we’ve seen lately is the “rogue spyware” type of intrusion.  In a nutshell, you pick up a trojan that delivers a payload, in this case a fake spyware application that quickly forces your antivirus software to turn a blind eye to it’s existance.  While it looks like a legit program, it’s definitely not.  This rogue spyware then starts showing you shocking scans and dire warnings of doom and destruction! Problem is, the program isn’t doing anything at all. It will recommend you upgrade to the full version to remove these unwanted viruses. That full version costs anywhere from 50 to 80 dollars. The full version doesn’t do anything either, and your cash is long gone.  Below is a sample screen shot of one of these rogue spyware applications in action.  There are many variants of this, here are some other names to look for.  System Antivirus 2008, Ultimate Antivirus 2008, Vista Antivirus 2008, XP Antivirus 2008 etc.  If you suspect you have this type of virus on your computer, don’t wait to remedy the situation! The longer you wait, the worse things can get.

You’ve started your PC and something just isn’t right… Perhaps it’s obvious, your desktop has been hijacked, it’s flashing warnings of a virus infecting your computer. May be it’s more subtle…When you connect to the internet you can hear your hard drive thrashing away, your connection is grinding to a halt.  You suspect something is wrong, and you’re probably right!  If you use your computer every day, nobody knows it better than you.  Now it’s time to get professional help, it just so happens…that’s us.