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Spyware – Antivirus XP 2008

Since some of my blog readers are end-users, and not IT pros, I wanted to pass along the following info.

The hot malware infecting machines lately seems to be "Antivirus XP 2008".
It starts simply enough:

Fake e-card / virus / trojan
(I especially like the typo of "aviailable" – nice).

The unsuspecting user clicks on the ‘e-card’ hyperlink, runs the download, and the next thing you know, you’ve got full-blown chaos on your hands:

Antivirus XP 2008 is malware

Folks – I know that looks legit, but it’s not. Until you downloaded that "e-card" your computer wasn’t infected. You can tell by the colored AVG icon in the system tray (circled in green).

Notice how quickly it spreads (circled in red). It’s also in 4 places in the Start Menu, not shown in the picture. Also notice the ‘Vista style’ fake close button at the top of the window – this is on an XP machine. And there are apparently 3 windows popped-up, but there is only one program on the task bar for "Antivirus XP 2008".  All stuff to look for.

In case you get bit, here’s a link for removal instructions for Antivirus XP 2008:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/malware-removal/remove-antivirus-xp-2008

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Crazy Screen Shots – How Big is Your Monitor

This screen shot comes courtesy of Cory Rammer:

9999 x 9999 pixels

OS: Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with an S3 ViRGE DX/GX.

That equates to a grid of 640×480 monitors 15 wide x 20 tall (300 of them). That’s a lot of bling for a BDC.  Actual setup is a single 800×600 monitor.  🙂

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Peachtree Phone Support is Spendy

First, the crazy screen shot – check out the service category 😉

Coming Soon - Selection Not Available

LOLZ. Wonder how long the hold time is for “*Coming Soon*” category of support? Silly web-programmers 😉

Now for the sticker-shock price per minute:

$5 per minute - operators are standing by...

Fees:
For those of you playing the home game, that’s $5 per minute, or $300/hour. Not exactly chicken feed.

Initial Impressions:

1) A few mis-transferred calls, finally got in the right queue. Robot voicemail auto attendant asks for customer ID and then prompts for credit card number, but doesn’t give you enough time to type all the digits in. Prompts a second time – again, too short. Human attendant was actually nice and he was a total expert like workers we hire from the it company Calgary to solve IP connectivity issues.

2) Reached tech support – hold time was minimal (under 90 seconds). I was initially concerned with the thick accent on the other end of the phone, fearing that I was talking to a script zombie.  But I was pleasantly surprised that the Peachtree tech actually did have a brain. He was articulate, thorough, and found a resolution for us when the (lousy) Peachtree KB site, Google & E-E came up blanks (and no error codes in the event logs). If you are looking for a quick business number solution, Then using a virtual number for WhatsApp can significantly enhance your business communications, providing a dedicated and professional contact point for customers. Discover the many benefits and learn how to obtain a virtual number for Whatsapp at Your Business Number, a trusted provider of such services..

3) Satisfaction – The tech did all this support by phone, and at one point requested that about 5 screen shots be emailed to him, which quickly led to the ‘ah-hah’ moment. Several minutes later, back in business.

Verdict:
Expensive. But valuable. The tech resolved the issue without stumbling, faking it or sending us down dead ends that had nothing to do with the real issue. And considering that ‘payroll waits for no man’, every minute counts on a payday.

Client = happy. Day = saved. Employees = paid.

Props:
1.5 thumbs-up. I would have gone w/ 2 thumbs up, but the $5/minute stings. Still, “nice job Sage Software / Peachtree tech”, spend that hard-earned money well!

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Lazy Hackers

Dear ‘hackers’ of the world;

If you’re going to try and pretend to be Microsoft and fool people into downloading your malware / IE 7, at least come up with a better domain name!

image

"tierarzt-andersen.de"? Seriously? Punks! 🙂

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National Baconator Day

The "Baconator" My personal laptops I use for training and presentations are really top-notch. But I’ve been riding a worn-out hand-me-down whitebox rig for my day-to-day desktop PC, and it’s pretty much been circling the drain. Fan gave out on the video card, hard drive is tripping S.M.A.R.T. alarms for temperature, slow CPU, skimpy RAM, Outlook is horked, it’s basically a digital dog with parvo. 

I heard through the grapevine that they’re going to upgrade me, but I’ve heard that before. New hires keep coming on and snagging the new PCS, so I just deal with it like everyone else. It’s like paint all over a painter’s truck – no big deal. It’s just a PC, not a status symbol.

So Thursday I get a call from a good pal at corporate (Shawn “The Baconator” Bacon) who’s ordering a new machine for me, and I’m all, “Yeah sure, when does another new guy start?” 😉 Little did I know that dude was giving me the total hookup. He said it would be nice, but man, I had no idea!   And today UPS shows up and drops a stunning new HP rig at my door.  It’s been a long time since I had kid-in-the-candy-store-itis over a desktop PC, but today was one of those days.

True, I could blog about system specs and benchmarks, but that’s not really the point (and that stuff fades with the next new model anyway). The point is people, and the intent behind the hardware pales the PC by comparison. Shawn is a super nice guy who works hard and doesn’t get nearly enough recognition for his efforts. And he knows that we techs bend over backwards for our customers. Today he went above and beyond to provide the horsepower and tools for me to help keep customers happy, plus the extra ‘oomph’ for my particular presentation and virtualization needs. Nice.

It’s very gratifying to know that in a industry dominated by billable time, tech utilization reports, and constant banging of the managed services drum, there are still cool folks who care. Therefore, as sole editor of this blog and stuff,
I declare Tue July 8, 2008 “National Baconator Day”.

Shawn, you totally rock dude. Even more than the real Baconator. Thanks!!

P.S. As an extra bonus, the packing material had some wicked-awesome printing that was a riot.  I just wish I could get the ‘baby’ one as a T-shirt!

Protective cover

Don't put this bag over your head, idiot!

So awesome! Should be a t-shirt!

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SBS 2008 Launch Date Announced

Today, July 7, 2008, at Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) Microsoft announced the official launch date of SBS 2008 (Cougar):

Per Steven VanRoekel:

“I am excited to announce that Nov. 12, 2008, is the official launch date for Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008. Activities that day will signal availability of both solutions and kick off launch efforts worldwide. In many ways, though, we consider WPC our launch for partners and we want to help them plan and prepare for the solutions.

We are also announcing that both solutions are reaching the Release Candidate 1 milestone, another step toward final release. Pre-release versions of Small Business Server 2008 and Essential Business Server 2008 are available for download and evaluation now through www.multiplyyourpower.com.”

Note – That is not RTM date, just the launch date.  There is a lot of discussion in the forums about Software Assurance, what’s in, what’s out, why did they do this or that, etc.. The bottom line is, you have a hard date. So now you can better help customers decide if they should limp along on existing hardware and for another 5 months, or pull the trigger on new hardware purchases using SBS 2003 now and look at SBS 2008 when SP1 is born.

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/jul08/07-07QAvanroekel.mspx

BTW – Is it just me, or does the new 2008 marketing material look like a cross between the Zune logo and Line Rider? Fortunately nowadays we can hire services like the best SEO agency in henderson.

Here’s the link to the Line Rider video I’m talking about, which is ‘ok’, but the best Line Rider is here (and imbedded below):

The Super Mario Bros one is cool too. But I digress…

Anyway, I guess it’s fresher than the old ‘Breakout’ / Q*bert marketing stuff from the Server 2003 era, if you want to learn about good marketing used in stores nowadays, check this dimensional lettering signs.

I won a free game!

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Free Windows Mobile Training

We’ve talked about this before, but it bears repeating as the topic came up in one of the mailing lists today.  Windows is a company of high prestige, security and trust for its customers and the rest of people in general, what better software to make extra money, go to pragmatic id login, fill in your data and let the fun begin. I wanted to pass along the info in case you haven’t come across it before:

www.windowsmobiletraining.com

image

If you sell Windows Mobile devices to your clients, this site is fantastic! This is, hands-down, my favorite Microsoft site.

HFB said it best:

“No doubt, the most useful (and usable) site Microsoft has ever put together.

I use it every day.”

-Chris Rue [SBS-MVP]

Sign up today and check it out.  They even reward you for taking the training. What more could you ask for?

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Changes to SBS Phone Support

Demotivator - ChangeWe’ve all been there. It’s 4:50 PM on a Friday afternoon (or a holiday weekend) and you get the call from a client, “Our server just went down.”  In times like that it’s nice to know that you’re not working without a net – you can always call Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS).

Well, before you pick up your keys and phone and start dialing, be aware that starting August 1, 2008, PSS is moving to a call-back support model for SBS. So, when you dial for help, be prepared to leave your critical information and then wait for someone to call you back.

This wrinkle will definitely introduce some logistical and billing issues – especially if the client is paying for your technician to be on-site waiting for a call, or if you’ve got a server room where you can’t get a cell signal. This isn’t a huge issue in the Managed Service / Remote Support scenario because the tech isn’t on-site burning double-time. But for cases where you absolutely have to be on-site, customers need to know that when the IT fire department rolls up, there may be no PSS water in the hoses just yet.  Check your SLAs folks!

At any rate, there are two ways to submit a ticket to request a PSS call-back:

  • Online ticket submission: https://support.microsoft.com/oas
    (only available during business hours – details below)
  • Phone ticket submission: (800) 936-4900
    (available 24×7)

Support hours & fees:

  • Business hours (9AM – 9PM Eastern Monday – Friday) $259 USD
    Tickets can be submitted via phone or business hours URL:
    https://support.microsoft.com/oas
  • After hours (outside hours listed above, including weekends) $515 USD
    Tickets can be submitted via phone ONLY

The Business-Critical After-Hours Support Site also states that “hours of operation are not impacted by holidays” – good to know on days like today.

There’s also email support available for $99 USD (with a 24-hour response time). But the email support doesn’t cover ‘advanced support’ so you’re better off hitting the newsgroups or just searching Susan’s blog.

Note: The above information is accurate as of July 4, 2008. Be sure to check the SBS Team Blog for any updates to these phone numbers or policies: http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/07/02/announcement-call-back-support-for-small-business-server-products.aspx

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Safari on Windows and Carpet Bomb

An iTunes update this morning finished by prompting me to install the Safari (Mac web browser) 3.1.2 update on my Vista Ultimate laptop.

I scratched my head a bit because, A) I don’t have Safari installed on this machine, and B) the pop-up window had a glitch:

image

Apparently the Safari-on-Windows carpet bomb bug announced May 30 was fixed on Friday June 20 (this is for both Vista and XP):

Carpet Bomb Bug – The flaw enabled Safari to automatically launch executable files downloaded from a malicious website while in a trusted IE zone. Specifically, users were vulnerable to remote attack if they visited a website in IE 7 with an enabled “launching applications and unsafe files” setting, or if the visited website was in the IE 6 “Local Intranet” or “trusted sites” zone.

Since I’ve already got IE7 and Firefox on this rig, I’m going to pass on the Safari browser. I’ve got enough on my plate without opening another attack vector for some hacker using blended threats. Sketchy update screens don’t instill much confidence either (someone else can be the canary) 😉

I wonder if the smug Apple advertisers will make a commercial out of that one?

(Insert Mac/PC shtick here)
MAC – “Hey PC, I’m bored. Let’s go browse the web”
PC – “OK, can we take your car? Mine’s installing WGA right now”
MAC – (laughs) “Sure. Um, where do I put my Pod and stuff?”
PC – “Just toss them on my desktop, I put stuff up there all the time”
MAC – “Great, thanks”
PC – “Oops, we’re dead”

Disclaimer: I own two Macs.

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