I am not one to use scare tactics when talking about a virus that is spreading, but this one is a doozie.

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There is a new variation of the Virut Trojan, which began life in 2007, going around called Win32:Vitro. You obtain and install Vitro by visiting websites that ask you to install a video codec that is fake, before you can watch free movies online.

Vitro injects itself into ALL .exe files on your computer slowly and over time, making them unable to run. This includes Notepad, Paint, WordPad, Word, Excel, Outlook and Outlook Express, Quicken, Adobe products, and all of you browsers, and any software you have installed.

It also invites and installs fake clean up tools like Ant-Virus 360 and System Protector as well as others.

You will know you have it if you can not open a program that opened just a minute ago or recently or if your anti-virus tells you that a needed .exe file is infected with Win32:Vitro.

The Vitro Trojan WILL, I repeat, WILL require you to back up your data, format your hard disk, then do a wipe of your drive, then reinstall Windows, all of the service packs and updates, all of your software, then restore your data. This IS the only way to get rid of it.

If you have any older software that you do not have the original installation disk to, say goodbye. There IS not way to repair them.

Also, if you use a USB drive, external, thumb, jump, or any other USB storage device that has .exe files on it, they WILL also become infected. That means the will HAVE to be deleted by formatting and wiping that drive as well.

You will not get this virus by visiting You Tube, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, TV networks, or any other known big name site to watch video. If you frequent some porn sites, illegal movie sites, download illegal movies, or sites that you never heard of to watch video, your chances of getting this virus are huge.

If you are using a product like Acronis True Image to make full image backups onto an external drive, you are in better shape. However, if you backed up since you were infected with Vitro, your backup is now infected as well.

Avast, Norton, McAfee, and all of the good anti-virus programs detect Vitro. But, Vito cannot be removed or repaired. You MUST FORMAT and WIPE the drive to get rid of it.

If you can play movies from YouTube or Netflix you don’t need any video codecs. If they are offered for download and installation, get the heck off that site NOW! And, don’t click on anything on the site.

If you do click on something that says you need it to play video, shut your machine off NOW! Your computer will have to be taken into a reputable service center to try and clean it up before any damage is done. This cannot be cleaned up via remote control either. Make sure the service center backs up you data, photos, and music before they do anything.

Please be careful with visiting sites and clicking on anything that is not familiar. This is not cause by a security hole in Windows or any of your software. You get infected with this because you give it permission to install by clicking on malicious software installations offered to you on malicious or unknown websites. Use common sense and read what pops up on the screen.

If you don’t know what it is or don’t understand what it is saying, leave that site immediately and call someone for assistance.

Mike DiMichele
savemybutt.com

Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio 720AM - Chicago

I took the definition above from the Wikipedia website. I cut and pasted it into my post. I probably broke some copyright or IP law, or somebody’s definition of copyright or IP law, but, frankly I don’t care.

We have lobbying groups and lobbyists that represent many companies, trade organizations, and groups of people.

They serve a purpose I suppose. I don’t always agree with the purpose personally. But, until some or our politicians stop putting their hand out, lobbying will continue to influence our governments; local, state, and federal.

There is one lobbying group that never seems to get heard though. They talk tough. They have good information and opinions to share. They are smart. And, they are rich.

They seem motivated to make their opinion known to government officials who are willing to take their money and work for them in our Congress and Senate.

Oppps. I screwed up the last paragraph. This lobbying group has a lot of money. More than all of the other lobbying groups and lobbyists put together. Yet, they can’t seem to put two cents together to hire their own lobbyist to buy the influence of some congressmen or senators in favor of their cause.

Who is this lobbying group that is so powerful, yet so weak?

You and me. Regular citizens of the United States of America. Average Joe consumer.

There are a lot of issues to be concerned about. But, there is one issue that affects us all every day that we, as a lobbying group, don’t seem to have on our radar very much.

For the past few years you’ve have heard or read about it. Some of us gadget junkies and geeks argue about it in tech forums or read about it in tech magazines, newsletters, and blogs.

I brought it up in the second paragraph of this post. It’s copyright. There is so much going on behind our backs as consumers that will, from now and into the future, affect us.

Our politicians are so blind as to believe the thief that guards the jail, because the thief has money, that they actually might allow the thief to write the laws regarding copyright and intellectual property.

I think it is time that “We the people…”, did I just break another copyright law or is the Bill of Rights in the public domain, join together as a group and pay for good lobbyists, just like the big companies do, to buy us some influence in Washington. Ummm… Did I say I didn’t like lobbying somewhere above? Shhhh. I’m on a roll.

Through the lobbyist we would pay for educating our representatives and their staffs to know how to find and assemble good information about music, video, software, and other IP piracy. How to ask the right questions. How to weigh research, public opinion, facts, and testimony, reaching an outcome that is balanced and fair to all involved, not just the thief.

Teach them, instead of believing BS press releases that can be written to say anything the author wants without question, to rely on independent specialists or reputable independent research in the field.

Help them to learn about technology and how it affects them in their offices and homes, as well as ours.

Did anyone really ask the question if the President broke copyright law by giving the Queen of England an iPod with show tunes pre-loaded on it?

Our lobbyist should contribute to the campaigns of the men and women in government who either are willing to stand up for what is good for the people or are willing to be paid to stand up for the good of the people.

And, maybe influence our representatives to hold honest hearings about copyright law and how it affects all of us.

Maybe take some example from trial law to find a solution to the copyright questions. Ask those questions. Weigh the evidence. And, come to a conclusion.

Not one representative was present to speak for the common people as a witness in any hearings about copyright, piracy, or intellectual property to date as I can recall. No college students or single moms. No teens or disgruntled customers. Not one!

It’s about damned time that all of us opinionated gadget junkies, tech geeks, and people who appreciate listening to music we paid for anywhere in our household or having an ebook reader read us the book we paid for, put our money where our mouths are and stop beefing about the problem. Let’s do something about it. Oh, let’s not forget our movies. They are included.

Talk it up. In the forums and on the blogs. Start a movement. Form an organization. Hire a lobbyist or two. Start playing like the big boys. When in Rome…

Let the big corporate types know that “We The People” with the money to buy their products have something to say about those products and customer services. Quit screwing us and we won’t screw you.

Mike DiMichele
Tech Specialist -WGN Radio 720 - Chicago
Savemybutt.com

Like all ZDNet articles, there is a section called Talk Back at the bottom. And, as usual, most of the people who respond come from a more technical background or have a better understanding of technology than most people. Theydo not take into consideration the history of the industry or the average consumer that uses computers in their homes.

The following quote is from one of the people who posted a comment. His comment kind of set me off as it usually does when I read statements from uninformed people. The paragraphs following the quote are my response to the author’s comment.

“But who cares about a multi-billion dollar corporation that has run roughshod over the entire industry for longer than I can remember?”

I don’t know how old you are or how far back you can remember, but if it were not for Microsoft, the industry would not be anywhere as advanced as it is today.

They are as big as they are for a few reasons, one of which is luck and another is being in the right places at the right times and seizing the opportunities that arose from them.

Who should have competed against Microsoft and didn’t?

How about Apple? They were first with a desktop computer, but chose to go the route of the enthusiast early on and still do to some extent. They COULD have been as big as MS today is Steve Jobs thought the way he Bill Gates did about the future of the industry.

How about IBM? Twice in IBM’s history they could have beat Microsoft to the prize as biggest software company. First, they blew it with the DOS debacle not keeping the copyright for themselves. Then, they decided not to develop, support, and promote O/S2 more aggressively than they did. For the time, it was cool and better than Windows.

And what about Xerox? What would have happened if the management of Xerox would have developed, promoted, and sold Star instead of letting it die. AND, letting Jobs and Gates steal the GUI space and other technology.
You
All of the software, hardware, and peripheral companies we know of would not be here if MS had not pushed their OS and encourage startup companies to follow suit.

Dell would not be here, or as big, if it weren’t for MS. Compaq would not have designed the first IBM Clone if it were not for the MS operating system of the day.

So, the bottom line is that we would still be in the dark ages of desktop computing if it were not for Microsoft.

As for Internet Explorer ? It is not only part of Explorer and called by many third party applications for GUI services, but it IS the GUI of windows. Take a look at a themes structure. The file extension is .hta. It IS html with some scripting.

The Windows GUI is Internet Explorer.

Take Internet Explorer away and you break the GUI, you break the functionality of many third party apps, and you piss off a lot of confused moms and dads who don’t know one browser from the other or why their apps don’t work any more. Many don’t even know where the address bar is in a browser! They think the search bar is.

Think of the turmoil caused in the gen X consumer market. I service hundreds of these gen X computers every year. These people DON’T have a clue.

So, let’s break their experience and confuse them some more. Let’s put MORE money in my pocket providing support services.

If Opera what’s a bigger piece of the pie, then they should get off their asses and compete like Firefox has done instead of leaning on government to do their job.

This reeks of the same thing the RIAA is doing. Using government as a means to their end.

It’s a shame that the European Union does not seem to be able to look at the big picture when it comes to technology and also seems to like using Microsoft as a bank.

Mike DiMichele
Technology Specialist - Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio 720AM - Chicago
 http://wgnradio.com
 http://savemybutt.com

As in example, several weeks ago, I did a short story on CBS news in Chicago about the out of band update Microsoft did in December. No hype. Just make sure your Windows is updated and your security software is updated and you’re safe. That’s all I said on television because that’s all that was required. Why scare the hell out of people when it’s so simple.

Now, we are hearing about how quickly the Conficker Worm is spreading. In the neighborhood of 3.5 million computers have been infected in the last few days according to ask F-Secure.

I don’t get it! I simply don’t get it!!

All people have to do is schedule their computers to do automatic updates at some time during the day when the computer is on. If you have a high-speed Internet connection you can choose to leave your computer on all night and it will update while you sleep.

I congratulate people who do this and also keep their security software current as they have no issue to be concerned about with this new worm.

If you have not got your system set to automatic update or you are not updating manually on a regular basis, shame on you. Turn on automatic updates!

This worm is particularly bad because if your password is weak your computer may get infected, you are external device like a hard drive or USB drive may get infected by this worm, and definitely if your copy of Windows is not updated and your security software is not updated your computer may get infected by the Conficker.B. worm.

If you are having difficulty logging onto your computer, doing Windows updates, or your security software won’t update, or you cannot access the Microsoft website or security websites, you have most likely been infected.

If you have a home network or small business network, all of the machines on the network may have been infected.

Am I writing this to scare you? Nope! I’m writing this to make you aware of the fact that you really don’t have to worry about issues like this if you just follow some preventative maintenance procedure on a regular basis and where you can let the computer do it automatically.

If you do have the Conficker.B. worm you won’t be able to download the patch or the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal tool unless you have an uninfected machine to do it from or I have made available on my website, in the blog at http://savedmybutt.com, the removal tool which can be downloaded directly from my site which is not blocked by the worm.

So, if you’re updated you have nothing to worry about, congratulations! If you’re infected, no problem. Go to my website at http://savedmybutt.com, download the repair tool from the blog, run it on every machine on your network, and then update your Windows and security software. That’s all there is to it.

See? Did that require all the hype and scare tactics that a lot of the media are putting out there about this worm?

Thank you. Have a nice day!

Mike DiMichele
Technology Specialist - Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio 720AM - Chicago
 http://wgnradio.com
 http://savemybutt.com

Before Microsoft Vista was released to the general public, we had a discussion on the show about what to look for when buying a new Vista ready computer.

I mentioned that I was fearful that the tier 1 computer makers, Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, and the rest, will be selling low priced machines just like they have been with XP. But!!!!! Vista is a different animal. There are five versions.

My fear was that these makers would be putting Vista Home Basic on the low priced computers. Thereby, cheating the buyer out of the full Vista experience and a number of useful features. Vista Home Basic is a bastardizedversion of Windows just like Windows ME was to Windows 98.

In the meantime, Vista has now shipped. Many are finding that third party manufacturers are lagging behind in preparing their products for Vista, and that many of these third party product don’t work properly on Vista.

All that said my worst fear came true tonight.

I was asked by a friend to visit one of his employees homes to find out why the computer was running slow.

The user is a complete novice.

When I arrived, I discovered that he had just bought this computer from Dell and it came with Windows Vista Home Basic on it. Strike one.

When I sat down to the machine, the Dell support software was asking that the NVIDIA drivers be updated. We all know the NVIDIAs Vista drivers are not 100% yet don’t we? Ok. I do this. I took 15 minutes do install after I downloaded the update!!!

I proceeded to the System Information to find out what was in this machine. The processor was plenty fast. An AMD 3100, But, the video ram was just 64MB and system RAM was only 512MB.

In addition, I found the latest version of Norton Internet Security on the machine.

Oh, one more thing. The version of Sonic DVD software on the machine was not Vista compatible. Windows kept popping up a message stating an upgrade was needed.

With all of these issues in combination, it’s no wonder this machine ever ran.

I removed the Norton and replaced it with AVG antivirus and antispyware. I made sure the built in security feature were all enabled in Vista. Added 512MB more memory, removed Sonic replacing it with Nero, and guess what? Speed! And no errors! This machine was now running much better. More like a Vista machine should be running.

He is going to put a new ATI video card into it when he gets a little more money. That should help a lot. Then this customer will be a happy camper with his new machine.

The bottom line?

What the hell is Dell doing selling such a crippled machine? This machine should have 1GB of Ram, 128MB of Video Ram, and software that does not restrict the users ability to use the system. And, all of the software should be Vista compatible.

I am sure the other makers are just as guilty of doing the same thing with their low-end machines. I just have not bumped into one yet.

Why can’t the bottom line machine at least be good enough to make sure the buyer’s experience is a good one? Don’t sell middle of the road XP machines with the Vista label on them.

Get with it Dell.

Mike DiMichele
Technology Specialist
Steve and Johnnie’s Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio - Chicago
www.wgnradio.com
www.savemybutt.com

He told me what the support person on both calls had him do. It is amazing what the troubleshooting flow charts that tier 1 tech support people read actually make you do.

However, none of it helped. Basically because none of it stepped the user through some basic troubleshooting steps.

When I arrived with my laptop and disk case in hand I asked the user to review for me what the problem was.

He could not get onto the internet from the desktop computer. The IP address was the default 169 IP range that Windows uses when there is no DHCP server found.
Their wireless laptop was able to browse and send email though.

Here are the steps I used to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

1. I connected my laptop to the ISP provided router/modem with my own patch cable. I obtained an IP address and browsed the web. That meant the modem was working fine.

2. I did the same thing with his cable with the same results. That meant his patch cable was good also.

3. I set the computer’s IP to an address in the range of the router, 192.168.1.105, and tried to ping the router. No luck this time.

4. I pulled a CD out of my case that I keep some utilities on and ran a little freeware program that has been around for a long time called Winsocfix. Bottom line it repairs the Windows Network Socket Layer. Oh, I did backup the registry first. Viola! After a reboot, we were back online.

This all took 15 minutes to do. It took an hour each way to get there!

Windows sockets have been know to get corrupted from time to time for years. This fix has been around for that long also. And I have used it many hundreds of times over the years.

So, why is it that the two tech support people at Comcast and Microsoft don’t know about this simple fix? Why is it not written in any of the Windows books at the book store? How come all those “Windows Tips and Tricks” books say nothing about this little tiny fix?

If you know the answer, let me know.

Mike DiMichele
Technology Specialist
Steve and Johnnie’s Website Wednesday Night
WGN Radio - Chicago
www.wgnradio.com
www.savemybutt.com

Why is it the more tech related articles I read about Vista the more I see writers blame Microsoft and Vista for not playing nice with hardware, drivers, and software.

Does anybody believe as I do? That, in most cases, it isn’t Vista’s fault?

Why? Because those same writers have been hounding Microsoft for several years to get the security and functions thing right. Vista is what we’ve gotten. Is it perfect? Not yet. Yes, there are some bugs.

But, most of the bugs are not Microsoft’s fault. It is the fault of software and hardware makers who have not made their product Vista ready. These companies were given Vista APIs more than a year ago so they could make their product work on the beta releases. This in turn would make the final tweak for their software and drivers a quick fix for the final edition of Vista, which by the way has been out for the business community since November. That means these manufacturers have had more than 2 months of a gold release in the public’s hands to do their final tweaks.

So, what is the hang up with some stuff not working right in Vista? Not Microsoft.

In a slightly different direction, upgrading to Vista can be tricky if you are not prepared for it. I have a tutorial and downloadable PDF at my web site, http://www.savemybutt.com.

Basically, I recommend a clean install. Many drivers and settings in XP will be inherited and may screw up how Vista works. If you aren’t going to do a clean install, then make an image of you OS drive with something like Acronis True Image first just to cover your butt, or buy a new computer with Vista already on it.

Bottom line?

Hardware and software makers need to get off their dead butts and get with the game. And QUIT blaming Microsoft for everything.

Oh, one final thing.

On the subject of software companies coming to the table late, what the hell is taking Apple so long to make iTunes work on Vista. They, too, have had more than a year to make it so.

Oh, I forgot. If iTunes doesn’t work on Vista, then that is that many more PCs that won’t be sold or upgraded to Vista and Apple fans will blame Microsoft again.

Mike DiMichele
 mike at savemybutt.com  href=”http://www.savemybutt.com” title=”http://www.savemybutt.com” target=”_blank”>http://www.savemybutt.com

It had to do with the potential ability, yet undocumented, to use the voice-recognition feature built into Vista to do delete files on your hard disk.

The first comment made by a reader named Joe sent me ballistic. It was one of those days.

Joe said, “Gotta love Microsoft’s defense — “this attack will only work if you’re actually -using- the super-duper cool features that we put into the OS to try to con you into buying it…”"

So the FUD begins.

If you have an understanding of what has to be done for this to work, then you would also understand that it is more likely that you will be bitten by a spider and become Spiderman.

Cynics, like Joe, do nothing but spread their dislike for Microsoft. When, in fact, the blame should be, most often, on the third party driver and software manufacturer and the user.

Yes, as it turns out, no matter how secure an operating system is made, the hole that cannot be patched is the user.

The are so many steps that must be in just the right place at just the right time for this to even possibly work, that I’m sure we will never hear of a documented occurrence of it really happening.

So, this is FUD.

Since 95.9% of computer users world wide are using some form of Windows (see Forbes reference here http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P8018), don’t you think it is better to help educate them on the proper use and protection of their system then copping out by blaming Microsoft for everything?

If you are ordering Comcast broadband, make sure you insist that the installer let the tech office do the registration saving you the possible grief of having to clean up your machine.

For Christians, like myself, we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ.

However, there are a lot of people who also celebrate at this time of year.

Our African American friends celebrate Kwanzaa and our Jewish friends celebrate Chanukah.

This time of year is about family, friends, giving, and reaching out.

While most of us will enjoy the company of those close to us, there are many who can’t be home to enjoy.

There are our heros in Iraq. The public service people, police and fire fighters. The men and women who are working, driving trucks and flying air planes, delivering the gifts we bought and the food we will eat.

There are the service people waiting on us in restaurants, the gas station attendant who makes sure we get where we are going, and the doctors and nurses in our hospitals.

We also need to remember that we have homeless people and people in hospitals or have no family.

It is a time to celebrate.

Please, while you are celebrating raise a toast or say a prayer for all of the people who, for one reason or another, can not celebrate in their own traditional way with their loved ones or friends.

They are all our family.

Happy Holidays.

The tech was wondering if he should risk his job and turn in the head of the company to police.

This incident brings up a good point. When you have your computer repaired is it the technicians place to determine if anything, be it porn, accounting documents, company secrets, etc., on the computer is incriminating and should that tech call in the authorities?

Generally speaking as a tech myself, if there is no life or death issues, than it is none of my business.

In 23 years of servicing and repairing computers I have seen all kinds of interesting things pass before my eyes. With the development of the Internet it has become even more interesting. None of it can be categorized as life or death information, thank God.

In todays society we have to be careful of what we see and who we tell. The mighty arm of a lawyer may well come down on you. And, with all of the stuff that could, I repeat, COULD be misconstrued as against the law, what happens if it isn’t? What if you were wrong?

How does that impact the accused or even you?

I don’t want to be a professional witness for the rest of my life turning in people who have some porn on their machines that COULD be child porn. Or, maybe it ISN’T child porn. I don’t want to warm the bench of some court room guessing if the document I recovered from a dead hard disk might be the recipe to Coke a Cola. I don’t get paid to be a snitch. I get paid to repair computers.

Unless there is a clear indication that there is a threat to life and limb, or it is very clear that there is some sort of incriminating information that could be a danger to other people, I do the job I was hired for. Repair the computer and that’s it.

No matter my moral or ethical beliefs, it is none of my business. Period.

As a matter of fact I remember reading a story in one of the big business magazines some years ago, sorry I don’t remember which one now, about the business model porn sites use to keep their customers happy and spending money.

Now it appears, I thought with a laugh, that the anti-virus companies are starting to learn from the porn industry. The Computerworld story talks about how McAfee has joined Symantec and Microsoft in the auto-renewal of your subscription every year on your credit card unless you opt out.

That is exactly what porn sites do. If you sign up for a membership, your credit card is charged every month by default, unless you cancel before the next billing date. Actually, porn sites even make it easy to opt out or cancel a membership. They hope you will come back some day.

McAfee, Symantec, and Microsoft don’t make it easy or friendly. They seem to have learned how to increase the cash flow, good for them, but not how to make it easy for the customer to cancel or even switch to another vendor, bad for us.

Just like the porn sites, when you sign up for one of their anti-virus products online, the auto renewal feature is the default action. There is no opting out or canceling it until at least one month later in one case.

They big three are saying that it is for the good of the customer to protect their computers and those of others that they communicate with. All in all, not a bad idea. But, the customer service side of this stinks.

So, as low as it might sound, again, the porn industry has beaten some of the biggest computer software companies in the game of customer service and knowing how to please and/or keep the customer.

As I am not a fan of any of their services because the are invasive and intrusive to the performance of the operating system, I will continue to use other products that many times seem to do a better job anyway. In some cases FREE software.

What do I use? Trend Micro’s products, NOD32, Kaspersky, and AVG (Free).

The moral of the story? Be very careful when buying your anti-virus or security software online. Especially from McAfee, Symantec, and Microsoft.

Mike