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Since Grisoft, the company that makes the popular free anti-virus software AVG, stopped supporting updates for version 7 of their software, I made the plunge and downloaded the upgrade to version 8 a few days ago. I hadn’t really noticed any differences in the new version (one of the best things about AVG is that you never really notice it’s there, unless it’s updating), but today I started wondering about what I initially thought was a new feature in Google: some weird green stars that appeared next to my search results:

After a while, I got curious and moused-over one of them. Turns out they’re a feature of AVG’s software, not Google’s site, called LinkChecker. It basically analyzes sites for potential mal- or spy-ware content, then rates them as either a red X, yellow !, or green star. Since I’d only seen green stars so far, I did a quick search for ‘warez,’ which is guaranteed to get you crap every time. Sure enough, the picture was a little different:

I’m not really sure about the diagnosis of some of the sites as ‘Risky’–they seemed pretty much to be categorized as such merely because they were ‘Cracks’ sites–but then again, I kind of had the same assumption based on my choice of search term. Most importantly, I haven’t noticed any performance change in Firefox. If the page doesn’t load quickly enough, a throbber simply takes the place of a rating until it can be returned. You can click through to any page without having to wait. All in all, a pretty nice feature.

Are You an Internet Security Wizard?

I am. The proof is to the left of this text. The latest sponsored review to come my way was for an online Security Quiz that purports to test your knowledge of computer security-related terminology and practice.

The quiz itself is pretty tough, both because it asks a variety of decent questions on things like firewalls and phishing, and because it features questions phrased like “Which of the following is NOT…” with a ‘None of the above’ answer choice (does that mean ‘all of the above’ ARE?). There are also quite a few spelling and grammar errors in the questions, which added to the ambiguity factor.

There was no area of knowledge on the quiz that I, as a support technician at a university, felt that I didn’t know, but at the end, I apparently got a 19 out of 30 (hence the Warlock classification). I’m not blaming the questions entirely, but I will say some of them were very confusing in the way they were posed.

Anyway, the test is obviously part of a larger website, into which you are funnelled once you complete the quiz, if you choose to click a link to sign up for Agnitum’s newsletter. Agnitum’s main product is the Outpost Security Suite, which purports to be a one-stop-shop for all your anti-spyware, -malware, and -virus needs. Judging by some of the leading questions in the security quiz (”What makes most virus software slow down your computer?” type questions), the folks at Agnitum believe they have a lighter-weight and better PC protection suite than most of the big names out there right now. The software starts at $49.95 for a single-user home license, and they offer enterprise and business pricing, in addition to some family packs and other options for home users.

antivirus, anti virus, malware, spyware, agnitum, outpost security, security quiz, wizard

The following is a compensated review of a site which gives a walkthrough of how to remove spylocked, a common and annoying piece of spyware masquerading as a helpful application:

If you’re here looking to remove the annoying piece of spyware known as ’spylocked’ from your system, you can click on through to the walkthrough itself, which will help you get rid of the software. However, the purpose of this post is to review the walkthrough, which I think has some very strong, as well as some very weak, points.

Overall, the solution to removing spylocked is well-detailed and thorough. The site takes you step-by-step through the process, linking you to tools that you’ll need, such as smitrem.exe. However, here’s where some of the negatives come in.

The site is undeniably peppered with ads, some of which I believe (though I am not that company, and especially not their legal counsel, so this is my opinion only) constitute a violation of the advertising company’s Terms of Service. Even those which don’t are clearly designed to funnel you into clicking on them. This starts on the first page, which asks you to ‘click below’ and then shows you a bunch of ads, with a tiny link bar directly over them (what you’re ’supposed’ to click on).

While it took me about 2 minutes to find the actual links (after walking away in disgust the night before, having not seen it then), I guess that technically, this isn’t encouraging anyone to click the ads, just being pretty sleazy about link placement and size. The following screenshot, though, is definitely just nasty:

That’s right, this site wants you to install the Google Pack to ‘prevent’ SpyLocked from ‘continually reinfecting’ your computer, and they’re not afraid to put an ad link in there for you to click on to get it. Now that, my friends, is pretty weak, if you ask me. If you’re a blogger, you know what kind of revenue that particular ad brings, and telling people that they pretty much need it to keep SpyLocked off their computer is just cheap. Cheap cheap cheap. Also, you can’t see it, but the words ‘CRITICAL FINAL STEP…’ are in the BLINK tag. That’s right, they used the blink tag. So, overall, if you need to get rid of spylocked, the info’s there, but be careful not to fall into any of the obviously placed ad traps that are just plain lame. Maybe if the authors took some steps to clean up the ads and remove the terribly obvious link to the Google Pack (or just tone it down), this would be a worthwhile service, and satisfied browsers who learned something from the page would be interested in ads displayed and click on them without being tricked into it.

remove spylocked, smitrem.exe, smitrem, spylocked, spy locked, spyware, shrockinnovations

You know what? I’ve had enough of the self-righteous bullshit I constantly hear from people who, for one reason or another, use obscure operating systems and feel it necessary, solely for that reason, to rag on Windows at every opportunity. Take for example, the plethora of smug, overbearing Mac users that seems to crawl out of the woodwork to make fun of virus protection. Case in point is a poll on Techdirt.com, which asks users to list the number of ‘anti-’ programs running on their desktop. Clearly, this was intended for the 95% of users out there running Windows, but that didn’t stop the beret-wearing crowd from chiming in brilliantly:

Why is it that if somebody doesn’t have ANY anti-something, that they are “living dangerously”?

Perhaps it should be renamed to “I don’t use an OS/Software the forces me to use this junk”

Here’s the thing: I love Macs. I think Linux is neat. But the fact of the matter is that most of the world is running Windows, so most of the pond-scum writing viruses and spyware are going to target it, because they’re skeevy assholes, not complete idiots. No one really cares if their popup displays on Safari 1.0, if their malware-anti-spyware product will install on FreeBSD, or if they can hijack your browser to dial aged Portuguese women in South Jersey for per-minute tele-sexual services. There’s millions of other people out there running Windows who are ready to eat that shit up. But you know what? If your operating system was popular, all the other kids would hate it too, and try to hurt it both phyisically and psychologically. Plus, here’s the thing that other OS users are always afraid to admit. Windows users can afford to run anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-phishing, anti-bellum, and anti-quated software all at the same time on their machines, and still be able to do exactly what they want with their computers. And you know why? ‘Cuz all that porno’s optimized to run on fuckin’ IE, bitch. So have a nice day staring at the command line, nerd.