We have been talking about automating our computer work on Technibble a fair bit lately and I have recently been introduced to a tool called “Reimage”. Reimage is designed to automate the repair of severly damaged Windows installs.

Through the Reimage website via an ActiveX control, they scan the system files, folders, registry keys and drivers looking for something missing or something that shouldnt be there. This can be anything from missing critical system files to an adware infection of your computer. Once they find the problem, the website fixes it.
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As a computer technician, my clients frequently ask me “Why do people create computer viruses?”, especially after I have been called out to remove a virus from their computer. This is what I tell them.
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Did you know there was a way to test anti-virus/anti-malware applications to make sure they are working correctly? Well, there is. “Eicar” is a string of code which most antivirus applications detect as a virus, typically with an obvious name like EICAR-AV-Test. In the past, each antivirus vendor had their own test code to set off their product. However in recent years the Eicar test file has become somewhat of an industry standard and most major antivirus software will spot it. In this article, we’ll tell you what it can test and show you how to make a test file.
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Most experienced computer users know how adware and spyware is spread. Typically free programs that are designed for a certain purpose such as KaZaA (for downloading music) are bundled with other applications which contain adware or spyware. A new threat on the scene is called “Rogueware”, Rogueware are meaningful files which in reality can be quite malicious. The most common type of Rogueware are fake anti virus/adware/spyware progams that once installed, say you have lots of viruses/malware installed and in order for the program to remove them you must pay for the full version. In the past, these programs typically spread by advertising on other sites with banners saying things like “1023 Viruses detected on your computer! Click here to fix it now!”.

Recently, one of our Technibble forum members, Buzz; spotted a pattern in posts across a few forums he visited and reported it to us. It appears to be another method of spreading rogueware.
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In this article we will show you how to create a Windows XP Virtual Machine. What is a virtual machine you may ask?
One of our guest writers explains it in great detail in one of our previous articles titled Virtualization and its Uses in the Tech World:

A Virtual Machine is a piece of software which emulates (pretends), to be machine (computer) to do an abnormal task such as running Windows on a Macintosh computer for example, to occur via the trapping of computer instructions. It is quite literally a computer running ON a computer. One of the by-products of this is that the two systems can be entirely separated from each other, which allows a level of security that just can’t be matched.

Now, lets make your own XP Virtual Machine.
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Winstall.exe is part of a program called SpySheriff which is a fake anti-spyware program that is designed to fool users into paying for a full version of the program in order to remove a supposed infection which the ‘free version’ put there in the first place. Here are the removal instructions for SpySherrif / Winstall.exe.

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This MSN virus is a new virus which spreads via MSN Messenger. Once a computer is infected it will send copies of itself to every online contact on the infected users contact list.
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Some users, especially those who aren’t running Windows XP Service Pack 2 occasionally receive messages to their computers with the title “Messenger Service”. This is not to be confused with “MSN Messenger”. These messages commonly say you have viruses, adware, Spyware or other nasties on your system and you can fix them by going to their site and buying their software.
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Written by Guest Writer: Luke Shillabeer; Virtualisation is a term that’s been floating around the computer world since its start in the 1950’s. Recently however, due to increases in computer processing power and storage space it has become somewhat of a hot topic as it gives simple, powerful solutions to some of the biggest computer issues; security, privacy, compatibility and portability.

I know, I know, it sounds like a horrible buzz-word from the dot-com era that a marketing guru would have used to drum up some investment capital, but fortunately there’s quite a bit more to virtualisation than the flashiness of its name!
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The internet is not a safe place. I hope the sentence got your attention, because it’s completely and undeniably true. Although the Internet is a place to search for information and download just about anything, you can never just assume whoever is letting you download is friendly and helpful. Sometimes, whatever you download has an invisible, but potentially problematic component.
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