[RTTY] QRZ.com virus

[Charles Morrison]

> Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2011 08:14:13 -0500
> From: David Levine <david at levinecentral.com>
> Subject: Re: [RTTY] FW: QRZ.com virus
> To: "G. E. Janssens - K5WW" <k5ww at live.com>
> Cc: rtty at contesting.com
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAGu77J-
> V4NQPTNGFofJUA7wk02VLfCwaP4sK7_bgesPa31ZRwg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> I have friends(?) and relatives drop off their PCs way too often. I've
> come
> home from work and there were multiple computers waiting for me to do
> something about them. As I moved people to Chrome/FF away from IE as
> well
> as install AVG (especially vs Mcafee or Norton), those same people
> don't
> typically (some due especially those that download a lot) return there
> computers to me. There has never been a case where someone received a
> virus
> on the computer they gave me without doing something - downloading and
> installing something infected or clicking on a pop-up. I always ask and
> they tell me the truth.
>

I too do this for a living and a majority of the ones that I see are
installed via ActiveX scripts that are on the infected page.  Accordingly,
as you stated, changing to Chrome has eliminated this because of its lack of
ActiveX controls as well as its inability to execute an app from within the
browser without a preceding warning at the bottom.

As for Antivirus, I've found that the free Microsoft Security Essentials
footprint and effectiveness when compared to the bloatware that gets
installed by AVG to be far superior.  As for Mcafee and Norton, they haven't
been relevant in the Spyware business since it became so prominent.  For
commercial, check out either Kaspersky or Eset. 

Bottom line is stop using IE and you'll probably eliminate about 99% of your
problems (as well as increase the speed and performance of your browser).
Get rid of Mcafee, Norton and AVG because they're useless and bloated and
replace it with something that targets spyware.  Heck, even the registered
version of MalwareBytes with its real time scan work better than the three
mentioned above.

Charlie
Ki5xp