China's Olympic coordinators trying, to stun the audience with images displayed on the walls and roof of "the bird's nest" at the Olympics [.link], stunned themselves when one of their advanced Lenovo PCs hooked up to a projector to display these images, blue screened [.link]
Also see: slashdot.org, sydney morning herald, power apple (chinese).
Note: there is some debate as to the truth of these images, but with the sheer volume of photographs showing up, it is gaining acceptance.
8/11/08
Windows Antivirus 2008 Woes
With the many antivirus notifications users receive, it has become second nature to click on them and start scanning or cleaning their computer. Some even now have the ability to receive a notice in the program about the subscription expiring and be sent to a web site (for example, Symantec Anti -Virus) where the end user just puts in his or her credit card info and then receives a special code or is emailed a file.
The big problem with this... Modern spyware/malware is taking advantage of this. Anti-Virus 2007/2008/2009 (ad nauseam) is a perfect example of this. This program displays false pop-ups (usually though IE 6 and other older browsers) that look incredibly like a pop-up from one's own Anti-Virus software.
However, once the user clicks on the request to thoroughly scan the system (or whatever sly message they are displaying for the day) the software then installs itself in a more malicious way into the system, ensuring that pop-up messages invade the system followed by notices that purchasing the software is highly recommended.
I have recently seen infections like this propagating though corporate networks. Unfortunately, after a brief stay on the system, the software can cause such damage to the OS that it is nearly impossible to get the system back up and running in a timely fashion. Reloading the PC and reinstalling the necessary applications is the only resolution I have come up with.
Needless to say, fighting malware is becoming an increasing problem in the IT industry, especially when that malware is labeled as being a solution to the problem itself.
Now comes the new title: Grey-Ware. Half on the dark side, half on the light.
~sigh.
The big problem with this... Modern spyware/malware is taking advantage of this. Anti-Virus 2007/2008/2009 (ad nauseam) is a perfect example of this. This program displays false pop-ups (usually though IE 6 and other older browsers) that look incredibly like a pop-up from one's own Anti-Virus software.
However, once the user clicks on the request to thoroughly scan the system (or whatever sly message they are displaying for the day) the software then installs itself in a more malicious way into the system, ensuring that pop-up messages invade the system followed by notices that purchasing the software is highly recommended.
I have recently seen infections like this propagating though corporate networks. Unfortunately, after a brief stay on the system, the software can cause such damage to the OS that it is nearly impossible to get the system back up and running in a timely fashion. Reloading the PC and reinstalling the necessary applications is the only resolution I have come up with.
Needless to say, fighting malware is becoming an increasing problem in the IT industry, especially when that malware is labeled as being a solution to the problem itself.
Now comes the new title: Grey-Ware. Half on the dark side, half on the light.
~sigh.
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