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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on Five pieces of scamware to watch out for ]]></title>
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    <language>en-us</language>
    <lastBuildDate>2013-05-20T10:20:37-07:00</lastBuildDate>
             

    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[virus removal]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3655233]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[There are many tools you can use, but it is going to be easier/quicker to backup your documents,pics and such and go ahead and reinstall windows. Also a good idea to scan your backed up files with malware bytes from a external drive before moving them back to your reinstalled system to make sure you dont bring the virus right back when you restore the files. (sometimes even in a best case scenario without viruses- windows needs to be reinstalled to restore a system to its original speedy self)Personally  i like to get windows installed, all updates done, a few basic programs like office, flash and java etc. Then make a image of it. So if you have issues like this it is easy to bring it back and you only have to reinstall whatever games,settings and other programs you are currently using.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3655233]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[brocksamson2011]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:00:58 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Savings?, Yeah right!]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3654984]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[My wife feel victim to this crappy toolbar.  A day after she loaded up the coupon toolbar and my mother-in-law loaded up a Google toolbar our hoe computer was running running very slow.  My wife then blammed me because a week prior loaded up virus software, MalwareBytes, Reg cleaner and ZoneAlarm, which said was the cause of the problem.  Upon investigation I saw the two toolbars loaded and questioned her about it and she said that she loaded them up so she coupon print out coupons that  would save us money.  I proceded to delete the crappy toolbars and cleaned things up a bit and got the computer running back to about 85% (or so) of the way it use to run.  I think there still may be some crap remaining of the computer that I just can't get rid of.  Does anyone have any suggestions of good reputable software that might get my XP machine running the way it use to?   Thank You!]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3654984]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ken Ga]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:10:18 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Fake AV]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3654991]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[It amazes me how many of my users install an AV from a pop up on their work computer when it already has anti-virus on it. I have seen it several places.Um, did you install LibereOffice because you saw an ad? No. Did you order Viagra from a pop up? No. Did you cry when I couldn't save your work after you trashed your work computer? A little.One person told me Oprah said the coupon thing was ok. Oprah, you owe me some money for taking that crap off.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3654991]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[a.portman@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:57:32 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[good to know!]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3638285]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[thx!]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3638285]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[julieboston]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:02:00 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Yep... It's absolutely true.]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3631154]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[...Any fully-authorized system-administrator, actually, physically, sitting at the keyboard, of -any- computer that allows the actual owner to install software... really can, intentionally, install software.Imagine that.Oh... and this just in... Macs, Windows-PCs, and even Linux-boxes, are also vulnerable to sledge-hammer-wielding-users... too!Truly frightening.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3631154]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Raife_1]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:54:27 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Thoughts]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3631004]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Regarding Mac Defender - good luck in getting any help from Apple's support. they'll just tell you to download an app from their AppStore(TM). That's what they did initially with Mac Guardian. So Apple takes 30% of the price of the app as a bonus.There are plenty of critters on the Windows side to cause problems. After all, Windows still has a big chunk othe market.That said, there are plenty of malware more dangerous than what's listed. such as the malware that encrypts your data and youb can't get it back unless you pay.I've always said that once you get a heavy duty malware on your system, your computer is never the same. Better off just reformatting and start from scratch. Even if the malware was &quot;light&quot;, don't do any online banking or online shopping.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3631004]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Gisabun]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:32:04 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Line scaning]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620756]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[These programs could even be government line scanning.They're being attacked right during government line scanning.They destroyed they country with a war and now they're hacking.I see hackers as even using big engines to hack.I suspect that broadcast analog television was hacked using a similar method.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620756]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[BALTHOR]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:46:27 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Scamware or Malware]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620707]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Some of these programs are really deep and maybe the only lead we have to rid our systems of virus.The way that you get these programs is they pop up on you is true.They get stuck in your computer.A reboot to safe mode and  a delete is a fix.I suspect that they were legitimate and are now hacked.If a virus scanner got out a thousand virus an hour it would still take a long time to rid your computer of virus.Hackers are criminals and they're not just a little bit criminal either.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620707]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[BALTHOR]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:36:53 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Wow]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620206]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Wow, one million viruses? What a nightmare. And why is that software still available? and...&quot;The average user will not back-up till they lose all their data&quot;Very true. I lost all my data on a HD not once, but twice. It was some years ago (when solutions weren't as easy and cheap as they are now). Now I have a backup service that has been working great (Carbonite) and I have my data when I need it.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620206]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[suegmune]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:45:01 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Not Everytime, but Sometimes ...]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620095]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I've run into instances where some of my clients have also had these nuisances installed on their PC.  They block the legitimate virus software from accessing the web and from cleaning it from the PC, and it also disables the user's ability to perform a system restore.  However, I have had some instances where I've been able to perform a system restore from Safe Mode with the Command Prompt.  However, as Jack mentioned, education goes a long way.  Even if I am able to restore the PC to a point prior to when the malware was installed, once I am able to rescue the user's data, I always wipe the drive and reinstall everything - just as an added precaution - and I run a virus scan on the user's files as well.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3620095]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[mbrello@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:22:17 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Try to tell that to a mac user.]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3619421]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[The only OS that they can't kill is ubunto running from a cd-r on a disk-less work station.  My bad you could still get a bios infection.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3619421]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[d13thdragon]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:49:01 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Windows Defender XP]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3619411]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[It looks just like the real McCoy.  It fooled my ex-boss and he installed it.  The next day the computer was useless.  He lost 10 years of data.  Not just any data but all the designs to every product ever built there, along with the programs to run them.  He only learned one lesson of the two here.  Don???t install a program because you think you know what it is and what it does.  But as for back-ups he???s always going to get around to it.  After Avast ran a boot-time scan it found 1,013,592 viruses and the OS and data was unrecoverable.  I made an image of the drive and wiped it clean with 10 passes.  It took me  4 days to do the reinstall of the os and programs after wards.  I made an image of that too but since I no longer work there I deleted both of the image files off my hard disk, need the room for more important things.  He won???t care he has never done a back-up on anything. What is so hard about setting up auto back-ups to a NAS box?  They???re cheap, easy, and offer a central location for document copies.The average user will not back-up till they lose all there data.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3619411]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[d13thdragon]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:46:02 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Yup, they do...]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3619398]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[...and I just cleaned out a vigilant client's computer with ClamAV. She suspected a bad email, accidently opened which she quickly consigned to the trash.  Clam revealed several buggy messages. The myth of the iron-clad Mac is false and dangerous.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3619398]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jacobus57]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:32:24 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[#3]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3618345]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Really Wallen? Macs can (and do) get infected just like any computer connected to the internet with users browsing the web. Macs aren't invincible.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3618345]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jfuller05]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:31:34 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Real 'time-wasters']]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3618321]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I've had to work on PCs infected with the 'fake' virus scanners like the ones mentioned in points 1 and 2.  I haven't had them do anything malicious, as in, stealing credit card numbers, etc., but in some cases, they did hijack the browser, so that you couldn't even get the tools needed to remove them.  Had to load removal tools onto a USB thumb drive from another computer, then run them on the infected machine.  All in all, takes a few hours to remove them.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-382374-3618321]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[bssplayr]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:13:03 -0800</pubDate>
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