Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

If you own a laptop or a notebook equipped with an Intel Centrino processor, you need to manually install a patch NOW, or your computer could be taken over by anyone with some technical savvy. Oh, by the way, if you have already installed the patch, keep reading. You are not out of the woods yet.

Over the past week, a vulnerability has been exposed in Intel’s PROSet wireless networking software that comes preinstalled on all notebook computers equipped with an Intel Centrino processor. Apparently, there is a security flaw in the PROSet wireless software that can allow an unauthorized user to take complete control of a laptop or notebook computer that is equipped with an Intel Centrino processor. You can download the Schrock Innovatiosn “Detect and Patch” utility here to see if your system is effected.

Today on Compute This I had the opportunity to speak on the air with Jeff Schwartz, of the Law Offices of Manuel H. Miller from California. Jeff is the attorney who is working to assemble a class action lawsuit against the makers of the MovieLand, MoviePass, and Popcorn.net spyware infections.

For those of you who are not aware, these three software programs solicit people on the web to install a “free” 3-day trial service that allows them to download movies and other media files from the Internet. However, unless you cancel the 3-day trial before it expires, you will be haunted by continual pop-ups that nearly debilitate your computer until you pay their subscription fees.

If you missed the show, you can listen to the entire interview here.

With everything going on this past week, Microsoft’s visit to Omaha for a technical seminar was unfortunately buried in the news. However, our own Blaze was in attendance and asked the questions our customers have passed to us about Office 2007 and Vista over the past few months.

The question I have been asked more often than not is how much the products would cost. The question caught the presenter off guard, as he seemed very qualified to speak to the technical aspects of the software rather than the business and supply channel plans. He told Blaze that he was not absolutely certain, but he could not imagine Vista costing more than Windows XP does now.

Channel 10/11 stopped by the Lincoln Service Center today to interview someone about Dell recalling 4.1 million batteries that could overheat and explode. The batteries, made by Sony, span more than 4 years of Dell notebook computers.

I was giving prepared remarks at the LIBA Luncheon, so Blaze filed in for me and did an outstanding job. You can watch the video on the 10/11 website!

Easton Herd and Andrew Garroni, the men behind the MoviePass spyware infection, have spun their software off under a new name in an attempt to lure more unsuspecting victims into 3-day trials of the new Popcorn.net Download Manager service. You can view complete Popcorn.net removal instructions on the Schrock Innovations website.

MoviePass has earned a reputation across the Internet as deceptive software that collected unreasonable information about the computers on which it was installed. The MoviePass software was distributed by luring visitors with a free 3-day trial of the movie and video download service. If the user failed to cancel their subscription before the end of the trial, they would be billed for the service whether they wanted it or not. Those who refused to pay were haunted by near continuous pop-up messages that plagued their PCs and slowed their productivity.

A new spyware infection has started showing up on our benches called Brave Sentry. The Brave Sentry and Brave Sentry 2.0 infections are modeled after the SpyFalcon, SpySheriff, and SpywareQuake infection models.

This particular infection is usually delivered when someone using your computer clicks on a pop-up message that states the computer is already infected with spyware. The message claims it can remove the spyware for you. When users click on the message, they are instructed to download Brave Sentry to clean their systems.

Microsoft released 12 new security updates on Tuesday, and the Department of Homeland Security is urging Windows users to install them as quickly as possible to plug a new security vulnerability similar to the one that the MS-Blaster virus exploited.

Homeland Security is urging Windows users to install Microsoft’s MS06-040 patch as soon as possible. Viruses that exploit RPC vulnerabilities like MS Blaster did tend to cut through antivirus programs like Swiss cheese, resulting in a potentially hefty repair bill.

As more and more big security players create products to help consumers rid their computers of Malware, the creators of the malware are incorporating a new tool into their arsenal – stealth.

It is estimated that 90% of all computers are infected with some degree of Malware (malware is a global term that encompasses spyware, adware, and scumware). Typically systems become infected when users install software programs from the Internet that contain the malware as an additional component.

Adios. Its over. No more Blueman Group, no more Weird Al Yankovic songs, no more MMX – Pentium is dead. The Pentium-Class processor officially ended its 13-year run as Intel’s flagship processor today, while its replacement, the Core 2 Duo, takes center stage.

When the Pentium processor was released in 1993, it revolutionized the world of computing. Intel’s unique microarchitecture allowed a processor to complete tens of thousands of instructions much more quickly than its predecessor, the 486dx. Rivals soon fell by the wayside as the Pentium overdrive processor boosted processing speeds to a staggering (at the time) 90 MHz. Technologies like MMX allowed for more detailed graphic processing than ever. The Pentium processor was a recommended system requirement for Windows 95, and the world took its first toddler steps into home supercomputing.

I received an alert today from Symantec about a disturbing rise in the number of fake email messages that purport to be from legitimate online retailers. Apparently, these messages are sent via bulk-email to unsuspecting individuals. The emails state that an invoice for a recent purchase at the online retailer is attached, and that you should open it to verify your order.

When the email attachment is opened, the user’s computer is infected with a Trojan horse virus that allows an unknown party to take control of your computer and its Internet connection at a later time for any number of nefarious purposes.