Cogen Antivirus

Friday, September 11, 2009

Remove Antivirus 360. Description and removal instructions
Antivirus 360 is a brand new fake spyware remover, program with evil intent. Parasite, as many of its kind, tries to push user into purchasing of a licensed version with falsified threats. The name Antivirus 360 sounds very similar to respected security tool Norton 360 by Symantec. Application makes its own way into user’s computer via trojan Zlob or by manual download. After installation, parasite, flood user with numerous pop-ups with imaginary virus infections and system risks. After these notifications Antivirus360 advertises as an effective program that is able to fix all these problems, and of course it is paid one. Program is very dangerous, it mark windows files as an infections or serious threats. The main purpose of it is to show pop-ups and suck money. About fixing of infections you can forget it wasn’t created for that. As a parasite, Antivirus360 can do many serious problems for users, slowdown computer, limit connection of internet, increase loses of personal data and even brake your machine. We recommend you scan your system with reputable spyware remover programs to avoid problems.
Antivirus 360 properties:
• Changes browser settings
• Shows commercial adverts
• Connects itself to the internet
• Hides from the user
• Stays resident in background
Killing malicious processes and removing harmful files
Processes
Each program is a collection of files. To start the program you launch an executable file that runs the entire program or some of its components.
When you launch an executable, part of its code is being loaded into computer’s memory. This code is the process. It allows the system to run the corresponding program. In simple phrase, every running program is represented by its main process (or task). If such process doesn’t exist, the application doesn’t run at the moment.
Parasites are programs and also have processes. However, unlike regular software, their processes run without user knoledge. You cannot terminate a parasite like a common application by simply closing its window. That’s why you have to learn how to kill malicious processes.


Files

Each program consists of files. Even spyware, a virus or a different parasite - all have their own files. Removing a parasite often means deleting all its files. However, some files cannot be easily erased. You cannot delete the file while it’s used by an active application. Furthermore, some files are "invisible".
Imagine the situation: your anti-spyware program keeps detecting a parasite, and you know where its files reside. You open the corresponding folder, but see nothing in there! The parasite continues performing malicious actions and its files remain in that "empty" directory. You wonder how this happens?
Files can really be "invisible". However, it’s not their exceptional feature - the operating system simply hides them from you. Such OS behavior can be a result of recent malware activity. Fortunately, there are several ways to make your system display such files, and thus allow you to delete them.
In this guide manual process termination methods are described. These methods can be applied to all modern Windows operating system versions. The following instructions also explain how to find a file, make it visible (in case it’s hidden) and completely remove it from the system. This information is also fully applicable to folders (directories)

. Start Windows Task Manager
Use the following key combination: press CTRL+ALT+DEL or CTRL+SHIFT+ESC. This will open the Windows Task Manager.
If that didn’t work, try another way. Press the Start button and click on the Run… option. This will start the Run tool. Type in taskmgr and press OK. This should start the Windows Task Manager.
Find and terminate the process
Within the Windows Task Manager click on the Processes tab (it is in the red box). This will bring the complete list of all active tasks. Find the process by name. Names are in the first column from the left. Click on the Image Name button (it is designated by the blue box) to sort tasks in alphabetical order. Then scroll the list to find required process. Select it with your mouse or keyboard and click on the End Process button (in the green box). This will kill the process.


Tuesday, September 1, 2009


Anti-Virus Strategy Systems
Where do our anti-virus strategy systems fit in this picture? We hope to explore some answers to that question by first examining the components of our model system. Keep in mind, however, that the goal of this paper is not to provide you with answers, but rather to stimulate new ways of thinking about the problems we face daily.

Components
Each of the components in Diagram 1 contributes to the overall health of the system. Conversely, each can contribute to the illness of the system. For instance, our computer can contribute to the health of the system by functioning properly. If the hard drive crashes, a disharmonic condition is introduced. Our managers contribute to the overall well-being of the system, as long as they perform correctly. However, if one of them intentionally or unintentionally infects a computer with a virus, he or she contributes to the illness of the system. Our software contributes to the wellness by keeping employees reassured, and by keeping viruses out. If it is disabled by an employee desirous of more speed upon boot, or if it does not do its job in virus detection, it contributes to the illness or chaos in the system. There are other factors not shown, as the anti-virus strategy system model does not stop at the boundary of the company. The model includes your Internet service provider, virus writers, makers of electronic mail front-ends, anti-virus product tech support people and more. For the purposes of this paper, we must draw an artificial boundary. We mention the rest to give you food for thought, and to illustrate that boundaries are not static.
Anti-virus Strategy System - The Environment
Programs Policy and Procedures
(Selection, Implementation and Maintenance)
Where do we begin in examining the interaction of our chosen system elements? Let's start with the software selection. Anti-virus software is selected based on a wide number of criteria (8). While some of these criteria are beneficial, several are counterproductive at best (9). We need to be aware of exactly how our company's software is being chosen, and not leave this vital aspect of software selection up to people who do not have the experience or expertise to make a selection that will maximize your organisation's protection against viruses.
Does your anti-virus software detect all of the viruses which are a real threat to your organisation? Before you glibly answer yes, you should recognise that all products are far from created equal, and that even the best products will not achieve this goal if not properly maintained. Consider the following:
When asked what happens to two blocks of copper initially at different temperatures left alone together in an insulated container, students will reply that the blocks will come to the same temperature. Of course, if asked how they know, they usually say "Because it is a law of nature"...the opposite is true...it is a law of nature because it happens.[10]
Apply this to your anti-virus software. Does it catch viruses because it is anti-virus software? If so, you can depend on it, as its name defines what it is. But, if you even loosely apply this concept, you will see that it is anti-virus software because it catches viruses - and if it does not, then what does that make it?

Remember the following quote:
'If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog?''Five?''No, Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg' [11]
Maintenance of your software is another critical issue. Maintenance refers not to the upgrade, but to the maintaining of the software on a daily basis. What does it require to run? Are you supplying what it needs to live? Or is it merely surviving? Does it have adequate memory, power, disk space to run optimally and lessen the chance your employees will disable it? Is it in an environment free from other programs which may hinder its performance? If you cannot answer yes to these questions, you are not providing an environment for this element of your strategy system which will allow it to remain viable. It will not survive. Like living systems, the anti-virus strategy system requires a favorable environment, else the system will adapt. Unfortunately, in the case of this system, adaptation can mean software becoming disabled by the user component of the system, or overridden by a competing software component. All this, and we have not even added viruses which by design cause a problem to the system by the introduction of instability.
Even if you have the best anti-virus software, and are running it optimally, there can still be problems. Software is just one part of the strategy system. Policies and procedures play an important role in the overall strategy. Even the viruses we mentioned earlier play a part in this system. Then there are the least predictable aspects of the system, the human beings. How complex is this system? How much should we expect the people involved to understand?
Ackoff defines an abstract system as one in which all of the elements are concepts, whereas a concrete system is one in which at least two of the elements are objects [12]. As you can see, our system is concrete. It is also by design an open system, one into which new components may be introduced. Some of these components are by nature 'unknown' (i.e. actions of people, how software may react, viruses which may appear).
When these components are introduced, we have to consider first how they behave on their own. Next, we have to consider how they would behave in combination with any and/or all of the other elements. Finally, we have to consider how 'things' in general will be if neither of the objects are present. In its most simple form, a two-part system would require four equations, but of course, you can see that as the number of elements increases, the number of interactive equations grows by leaps and bounds