Malware creators have upped the ante recently by trying represent legitimate warnings from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome.  It starts from a compromised website that auto-detects your browser.  Once it does that, it presents the user with a warning screen like the ones below:

Anti-Spy Safeguard:

Last night I was delivered a laptop with AntiSpy Safeguard running on it.  As convincing as it looks while its running, this infections should be named Spyware Anti-Safeguard.  What I noticed right off the bat is that at start-up in both Normal and Safe Mode the the user is prevented from doing anything while this tool pretends to be scanning your machine.

What it is actually doing is displaying false scan results as a tactic to scare you into thinking that your computer is infected with viruses. This fake program is advertised through websites and popups that pretend to be online malware applications that find infections on your computer.

Microsoft System Configuration Overview:

The Microsoft utility MSCONFIG is a tool available in most currentWindows versions (XP, Vista and Windows 7) which is very helpful to maintain, troubleshoot and most importantly limit Windows startup programs. MSCONFIG provides a handful maintenance tasks, but the most common one is the ability to control programs that automatically start up when you boot your PC

How is the Microsoft system configuration utility useful?

As a Windows user you will install many programs over time. Some of these applications set themselves to automatically start up each time you boot your computer. Some of them are obvious but many of them will be hidden as background processes. Although many programs are necessary to be running at startup, many of them are not and just waste your computer's resources.  Loading unnecessary programs at the startup can lead to various problems such as:

• Taking unnecessary space of the computer memory.
• Slow down startup process
• Slow down the computer speed.
• Startup problems due to corrupted files.
• System crash.

Using the MSCONFIG utility for computer maintenance and troubleshooting

1. Click Start button and select "Run"
2. Then type MSCONFIG.

It should open a screen similar to below depending on your Windows version. I am using screens from Windows XP.

What is a Rogue Security Infection?

They are virus delivery programs masquerading as legitimate anti-virus tools. Rogue security software  uses malicious software to advertise  install itself on to your PC usually by presenting a popup that looks like a legitimate warning of a virus alert.  When the user clicks on these warnings instead of removing any infections, the release a payload of viruses onto your machine.  Once this tool is installed  it usually tries to force PC users to pay for removal of nonexistent malware.

Sometime these fake anti-virus applications slows users PC down and convince the user that they have virus, spyware, bugs, and adware in their computer. The main goal of these types of software makers is to sell their product. Many times fake Windows dialog boxes appears as well.

Of Course, once these fake anti-virus tools are on your machine, there is no easy way to get rid of them. Here is a screenshot of one particular fake anti-virus tool.

Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system that is now almost a year old.  As good as it is, there are always ways of making it better and easier to use.  Here are ten tips that do just that:

Using Keyboard Shortcuts to Launch any Program:

  Lets face it, we clutter up our desktops with short cuts to almost every application that we have installed.  Here is how you can setup a keyboard shortcut to launch an application.

1. Create a normal shortcut to the application
2. Right Click the shortcut and click Properties.
3. Type your desired Keyboard Shortcut in the Shortcut field.  Make sure its prefaced with "CTRL+ALT"

This shortcut will work in Windows Explorer, on your Desktop and in most programs