© n3rraD
Certain brands of notebook PCs appear to be susceptible to battery hacking. It is therefore important to choose a notebook PC that includes security systems both for its hardware and software.
Attackers can target the chip which controls the notebooks battery, since the security guarding both battery functions and data storage is especially week in some notebooks. For example, a major PC maker released a battery firmware update two years ago which contained two passwords granting users access to the firmware. Experienced hackers can thus easily alter communications with the OS and use the firmware as a backdoor to hide small programs that won't show up on the hard drive. Using this approach, a researcher was able to permanently disable the batteries of seven notebooks during a test. Companies that build their batteries into their notebooks complicate the problem further because it is harder to fix one of these batteries that gets hacked.
© kiewic
Fake antivirus software is a problem many pc owners are falling for these days. According to a study that was done by Google, many computer users are falling prey to fake antivirus software that makes them pay a fee and ultimately cheats them.
This is a trend that is rampant in the cyber world these days and Google's analysis of 240 million web pages found that fake antivirus software accounts for 15% malicious software on the net. This study was started in 2009 and found that 11,000 web domains were a part and parcel in promoting and distributing fake antivirus software.
What usually takes place is, the user gets repeated warnings of their computer being in danger and is asked to download and undertake a free download to scan his/her computer. These "scans" pretend to find files that may not even exist in the computer. Users are made to register to the fake antivirus software and most people do it.
It has also been found that sites like Facebook, Twitter and New York Times have been used to distribute this kind of antivirus software.
© kiewic
Free antivirus software is a great way to save money on PC security, but there are many competing packages these days. Some of the most popular include offerings from AVG, Microsoft and Comodo. In addition, a free offering from AVAST Software for home users that's gaining popularity is avast Antivirus 6.
This package includes virus, spyware, and rootkit protection, as well as some advanced features like a file system shield. This shield monitors and scans files you open, save and store on the computer. It serves as the main component of protection and is similar to other real-time scanners. However, avast also gives you additional shields that monitor specific connections like mail, Web, P2P, IM, and network traffic. The goal is to detect viruses before they get to the file system.
