Slack virus month – but be on guard

February saw only limited virus activity, according to the experts, but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security, says David Dorn

“Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you” – thus goes a wise, if somewhat humorous saying, and it could easily be applied to the state of the script-kiddy world today.

February, it seems, did not see much in the way of new virus activity – there were no major top level scares, and certainly nothing with the virulence of a Melissa made it into the wild.

While that may be comforting to some, I find it slightly worrying. If the little perverts that write these things haven’t released one into the wild, it’s a fair bet that one is on the way. Indeed, just as I write this, an email has arrived warning of a new delivery method and a new (to me) virus. This one turns up masquerading as a patch being emailed out from Microsoft, with an executable attachment carrying the Knowledge Base filename (Q followed by a string of digits). As soon as it’s executed, BANG! You’re infected.

Now, that might well catch out a few folks that aren’t aware that Microsoft never emails patches out. You have been warned.

The good news, though, is that Zone Labs has released version 3.0 of Zone Alarm Pro, which will, we assume translate into the free version very soon, if it hasn’t already. As regular readers will know, we’re very keen on Zone Alarm hereabouts, and highly recommend that everybody has it installed – if not ZA then another personal firewall.

Its new look is very different from the older version, and one or two funnies that we noticed on extended usage seem to have been fixed, although since we’ve only had the new version installed since late Thursday, it’s early days yet.

That said, it’s very easy to set up, and very easy to administer – it’s hard to find a reason why you wouldn’t want it running. Oh! And it recognises the presence of AOL on your hard disk and sets itself up for it, which is refreshing (and very useful!).

Ad-blocking

One of ZA Pro’s new facilities is the ability to block slow and pop-under adverts, about which I feel the need to type a few words…

Firstly, I’m not against advertising on the Internet per se. It provides a source of revenue for web-based publications that have precious few other avenues for making a few bob, and thus staying in business. I am not, though, in favour of stealth advertising – the annoying habit many sites and advertisers have of popping a new window underneath the main one, so that you don’t see the advert until you’re closing everything down.

As you’ll be aware (because you will have seen them right at the top of this page) we have what we hope are neat and quick adverts on most of our pages. As Zone Alarm arrives, it leaves those adverts intact. I hope that you’ll consider leaving the settings as they are, such that ZA doesn’t affect them! You can, of course, get rid of as many pop-unders as you like – indeed, I’ve turned my Zone Alarm up to full strength to get rid of the nasty, pernicious things.

Porn

A bit of a side issue, this and unrelated to Zone Alarm or viruses, I’ve noticed an increasing amount of rubbish in my email box trying to get me to click a link to go to a porn site. If you get such an email, forward it to UKCOS@aol.com for them to deal with – I’ve noticed that one or two carry a nasty payload (aside from the sites they’re linking to). Be especially vigilant if you get an IM request from a screen name you don’t recognise offering you a link – you could end up with all kinds of nasties on your system – again, report the IM to the COS people. They’re the experts in sorting things out.

^top

Have your say - click here

David Dorn