Meet the Mac Flashback Trojan that some people confuse as a Mac Virus – most people might like to categorize the Flashback as a virus, although it’s really a Trojan horse and shouldn’t be able to hurt other computers directly but should be taken seriously, especially if you still consider your Mac computer untouchable. While Mac OS X is less of a target when compared to Windows software, it’s also becoming more popular, which means an increase in malware targeting Mac users.

How to check for Flashback Trojan on Mac and ways to remove the infection – some reports claim that over half a million Mac users have been infected by the Flashback Trojan (aka BackDoor.Flashback.39), and the good news is there are ways to check if you have it and also some good sources that show users how to remove the Trojan.

Our recommendation is to skip the tools and first click update within Mac OS X, which should give you an update titled “Java for OS X Lion 2012-002“, although this name would change depending on the software you have installed. Our update was 66MB in size for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 7, which is well worth an install and recommended by Apple (read an article on Apple’s support website), so install that as soon as possible and before looking for system checkers. If you still want to use a tool to check your computer for this Flashback Trojan, then you can do so on Dr Web.

Are you worried about an increase in malware on Mac OS X? You can also read a full guide on how to remove the Flashback malware from OS X here.

Windows Trojans Sleuth and Windows Trojans Inspector are both relatively easy to remove, all it takes is a little patience, mediocre computer skills and an understanding that all the worrying messages which these legit-looking programs throw your way are part of a scam put together to exploit your money. Below we have embedded a screenshot of Windows Trojans Sleath, it looks identical to what you’d see if you was infected with the Windows Trojans Inspector malware, in fact the only difference is the application’s name.

You can see the entire removal procedure here, we will summarize the process quickly for you in our article for the convenience of our more knowledgeable readers – but if you run into issues be sure to check out the link we added to the beginning of this paragraph.

Step 1: Boot your computer into ‘Safe Mode with Networking’. Step 2: Reset you computer’s connection settings by opening Internet Explorer, going into ‘Internet Options’, selecting the ‘Connections’ tab and then clicking on the ‘LAN Settings’ button. Now that’ you’re in LAN Settings tick the box next to ‘Use a proxy server for your LAN’ and then click OK, you’ll then have to click OK once more and this stage of the process is done.

Step 3: This non-essential stage in the removal process will significantly speed-up the removal procedure as the lengthy scans won’t have so many files to sift through – basically click on this link to download CCleaner and once you’ve downloaded the installer run it. Once installed open up CCleaner via the desktop shortcut and click ‘Yes’ is a message appears, once in hit ‘Run Cleaner’ and CCleaner will delete all the unnecessary files which have built up on your computer over time – this may take some time, but be patient.

Step 4: You must now download rKill from this page and run it on your computer (on Vista or Windows 7 you may have to right-click rKill.exe and select ‘Run as Administrator’) it will take a minute or so to stop malware-related background processes from running, but once complete you’re ready to go onto the next stage.

Step 5: Finally download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware from here and install it. Once installed open up the newly installed program and click on the ‘Update’ tab, hit check for updates to ensure that you will be scanning for the newest infections – once you’re sure you are up-to-date click on the ‘Scan’ tab and run a full system scan. The scan will take at least an hour (in most cases), but once complete all infected files will show up, hit ‘Remove Selected’ and then MBAM will clear the infection’s – you’ll have to restart your computer, but when it’s back up you will be infection free – see, how easy was that?

That should be the end of your Windows Trojans Sleuth / Inspector worries, but be sure to let us know if you run into difficulties in the comments section below and we’ll do our best to help you.

There is still cause for concern though, as the virus managed to infiltrate ground control systems, which are used to supple backup power, workstations and also environmental controls. However, NPR said that that’s not the worst of it; the common malware also studied user keystrokes to try and gather password details.

You may wonder what the virus has to do with the game mentioned above, well it seems as though it could originate from those who play the games like Mafia Wars. One would assume that these kinds of things could never happen, but when computer systems are involved anything can happen – no matter how tight you think that your firewall is.

The common malware in question is called Key Logger, and does what it says, logs a user’s keystrokes. If this kind of information were obtained by outside sources, then the consequences would be unimaginable, as they could even take control of a drone; just remember that many of these are armed and could cause a huge amount of devastation.

We expect that Air Force officials are now drilling those who were in control of these drones, and to ask why they had been playing games like Mafia Wars on the same system.

Currently the virus is dormant in these computers, but they are like the Imperial Storm Troopers from Star Wars, a drone army awaiting instruction to unleash havoc. Instead of bringing down the Republic Conficker will wage war against its digital enemy, such as power grids, communication systems etc – it’s the new way to attack your enemy.

Currently when you attack another county you go in with a plane and jam their communications, this way all someone will have to do is enter a command and there is no risk of pilots being shot down. It’s a horrible thought to know that someone or a group out there has this kind of power, but we have to accept that this could be how things will now be done – wonder if the Mayan’s knew about this all those years ago?

On a serious note, we have no idea who created it, all we know is that there are a bunch of experts working on a Conficker removal tool, but we have no idea as to how much progress has been made. We cannot understand why it is taking so long to come up with a solution to remove the virus; it’s like the stealth fighter of the computer world, as you never know that it is there.

You may wonder why we are discussing the Conficker virus, as it was expected to unleash its havoc to the world back in 2009, but nothing ever came of it? A Bloomberg reporter has explained on Business Week that the threat is far from over, and that it has spent the past three years building up its infrastructure readying itself for the big attack.

Could there still be a threat from Conficker, or is it just another scare tactic like the Millennium Bug was?

The most important thing to know is that all of the messages which the fake program sends your way are fake, so ignore any messages which tell you that your computer is suffering hard drive failure, or perhaps telling you that there system errors or critical errors. Below we have embedded an example of what this infection may bring to your computer’ display.

If you are able to access the internet on the infected PC you must first download a few tools – if not simple download these on a different PC and copy them to a USB storage device or CD. The tools you need are rKill, CCleaner and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (click on the apps to download them).

Once you have downloaded this tools restart the infected PC and repeatability press F8 whilst your computer is starting back up, you should be prompted with a boot selection menu, use your keyboard’s arrows to choose “Safe Mode with Networking” – your computer will then start up in Safe Mode with internet connectivity, if you struggled with this step check out this link.

When you are in Safe Mode double click on rKill.exe (you may have to right click on the .exe and “Run as Administrator”) , this will stop any dodgy processes which may be running in the background, now install CCleaner and start it up, click on “Run Cleaner” and the app will begin clearing all of the file build up which has built up over the years (or months) – this step may take a while but will speed up the latter stages of the removal process.

Now that you have ran rKill.exe has been ran and all of the unnecessary file build up has been cleared we can remove the infection(s). Install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (aka MBAM), once installed you will be asked if you want to try out the full version of the program, decline this offer and then click on the Update tab, here you will be able to “Check for Updates” and this will download the latest definition files. Once the update has been installed click on the Scanner tab and choose to run a full scan – this will take a while, but don’t worry it’s for a good cause.

Once the scan completes the a message box will tell you so and when you click “OK” you will see a long list of infected files – select “Remove Selected” and MBAM will now get rid off all of the infected files it found, chances are it will need to reboot the PC to finish the process, but upon restart you should notice that Data Recovery no longer shows up on your PC. Now ensure that you have all of the latest Windows updates installed and up-to-date antivirus software protecting you.

The above guide will work 95% of the time, if not check out this guide for more help.

We know by experience how many deals will be on offer the Monday after Thanksgiving, and it is so easy to fall into the trap of malware, but just try to not get caught in the online shopping frenzy trying to gab a bargain, and stay vigilant – as you do throughout the year.

Elinor Mills from Cent News picks up on a good point, when she says that it is not just your personal computers that will be open to attacks, Cyber Monday is not a state holiday, so most of you will be at work using their computers to do your shopping. In short, “you could be opening up the corporate network to malicious hackers.” I do not know about you, but I would not want to risk something like that.

With the amount of online retail outlets, it is a fact that there will be a few fake ones out there; these are set up just for the holiday shopping season. This is like a breading ground for attacks from email malware, Trojans and viruses

We all know how to stay safe online, and Lance Whitney has written a great piece offering general tips. It’s just funny how we still need reminding. A couple of tips is to always go directly to a store website, so typing in the URL in the address is very important. Also keep an eye on eCards; they are a breading ground for malware.

For a complete guide to stay safe visit Cnet News.

Have you ever been infected by a virus or Trojan during Cyber Monday?

This is certainly worrying, as an attack like this needs to be well-funded, and according to an article on PCMag, this looks to be the work of a nation-state; that’s what Ralph Langner from SCADA believes.

According to Symantec, Iran has come under attack from the Stuxnet worm much more than any other country, this could be because the Iranian nuclear plant uses older systems, which the worm finds much easier to hack into.

There are these fears that certain nations are to blame for the attack, this is something that we will not speculate on – we will let you draw your own conclusions.

Fox News writers Jeremy A. Kaplan & Jana Winter are reporting that the email virus was still in the top five Google searches as of last Friday. The Internet Storm Center reported that the initial app that started the cloud of spam had been taken down. No new reports of infected servers were reported on Friday morning, but the Storm Center warned that “New variants may well follow.”

To recap the virus was a simple Trojan Horse which arrives via email in your inbox, and has the subject line “here you have.” If you clink on the link in the message it launches the same virus out to everyone in your address book, crashing email servers.

Leading antivirus suppliers such as McAfee Labs and Symantec are working on the threat, and have updated their website to showcase security products which can help protect users. Have you been a victim of this email virus, or do you know someone who has?

Following on from the recent post about the Security Suite virus and how to remove it, we thought we would give our readers a quick round up of some free virus removal tools that are available to download from the best in security.

If you need a virus removal tool then we recommend you visit one of these options. First is McaFee, and their free virus tools that can remove certain viruses from your system, you can see the details and download links on their “Virus Removal Tools” page.

The Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool looks pretty good, they say that their utility can remove “all types of infections”, which seems a big claim. Full details and download link here.

AVG has created a section on their site that lists tools to remove popular infections and viruses from your computer, you can see more at avg.com/in-en/virus-removal. Symantec has a page similar to AVG, which lists tools developed by Symantec Security Response that can automatically carry out a removal, they also promote their fee-based service (see both here).

Have you used any of the above virus removal tools? Let us know more in the comments.

This is just the latest virus to attack us and what makes this one worse is the fact that it looks like a normal anti virus program. Do not try and use the program in any way, the best thing you should do is uninstall it.

You might be wondering how the virus came to infect your computer in the first place? This would have happened by visiting an infected website, which then passed on the virus and installed itself on to your computer. Just make certain that you have an up-to-date anti virus or Internet security program installed.

There are six steps in total to remove Antivir Solution Pro, the first step is to close the process down and then proceed to download and install iExplore.exe onto a different computer. For the complete process please visit Free PC Guides