Win7 AV is a Rogue Anti-Spyware program. Win7 AV downloads and installs itself via a Trojan automatically without the users’ knowledge and consent. When a user downloads Win7 AV and runs a scan, the program reports false scan alerts. The user is then prompted to pay for a full license of the application in order to remove the threats.

Type: Misleading Application
Name: Win7 AV
Website: gcounter.cn (Site already blocked by Google)
Risk Impact: Medium
Systems Affected: Windows 7
Behavior: Win7 AV is a misleading application that may give exaggerated reports of threats on the computer.

Manual Win7 AV Removal

Win7 AV processes:

Win7Browser.exe
Win7 AV.exe

Win7 AV DLLs:

VmDetectLibrary.dll
svhostqt.dll
svhostesl.dll
sbhostcl.dll

Other malicious Win7 AV files:

Win7Browser.exe
Win7 AV.exe
VmDetectLibrary.dll
svhostqt.dll
svhostesl.dll
sbhostcl.dll

Automatic Removal

Download and install SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Both security programs come with free versions.

I recommend that you run multiple passes of SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

It’s important that you keep your security programs up to date. I highly recommend downloading the WOT (Web of Trust) add-on for IE and/or Firefox. The WOT add-on warns you about risky sites before you click.

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You just launched a website and you are eager to drive visitors to your new online home, but you don’t know how. You are probably going to search for “web traffic services,” and this can be a very costly mistake.

Many of these companies claim that they can send one thousand visitors or even 10,000 visitors to your website in 24 hours. If this is the case, why are most of these companies performing poorly in Alexa Ranking, Pagerank and overall organic traffic? If I could guarantee that many visitors, I certainly would help my own cause, right? This is what makes these scams stand out.

Many of these companies send bots to your website instead of real human visits.

If you are launching a new website or online business, you should consult with a professional marketing company. There are many reputable companies that offer world class services.

What to avoid when marketing your website

Email Marketing can put your site in danger. Many email marketing companies claim that their lists are double opt-in, but many of these lists come from email harvest programs which scan thousands of webpage’s for email addresses.

Backlink Building Services make exaggerated claims about how many backlinks they provide to highly ranked websites. In most cases these backlinks are placed on article pages or link pages and not the homepage that has a high Pagerank. These link building services can place your URL (Web Address) in bad neighborhoods or on malicious websites. It’s best to build links for yourself by commenting on other blogs, participating in forums with a link in your signature, social network engagement, etc. You should never use any automated commenting programs. These programs could land your URL in the Akismet database.

Link Exchanges can put you in Google’s sandbox if you over do it. You can exchange links in your blogroll, but don’t overdo it. If you have too many links on one page, you could be looked at as a link farm. This can increase the risk of being penalized by Google.

Automated Directory Submissions are not recommended as some of these directory sites could be in Google’s penalty box. It is best to perform manual directory submissions so you can review the sites content and also check to see if the site is safe using URLVoid.com.

Blog Commenting should be about the article and not “Thanks for sharing this information.” Let the author know you read the article. You should always include your name in the ‘Name Field” and not keywords that relate to your website, if you included one in the Website form field.

Spamming to gain traffic is a poor tactic when launching a new website. It can hurt your websites reputation and your website can be listed in some of the Spam reporting agencies. I see a lot of unethical comments on Yahoo blogs that always include some dating website.

Be ethical in your marketing approach and build your reputation the right way!

The Magic Carpet ride held in Spring Grove, IL this past Sunday, August 29, was a charity event for Children of Fallen Riders.  There were close to 500 bikers participating and what a great way to launch the riders when Tallan Latz played the Star Spangled Banner. I am sure if Jimi Hendrix was alive he would of been proud and amazed like I was. This young talented guitar player is truly amazing, but what’s even more impressive, is how he handles himself. He is a very mature young man.

When I asked Tallan what inspired him to play, he replied;

“If Joe Satriani can play like that, so can a kid.”

I was floored, because Joe Satriani is my favorite guitarist and I had the privilege seeing Satriani play in concert 9 times.

Tallan Latz performing at the Harley-Davidson Museum-Milwaukee on April 23, 2010 for the “Guitars for Vets” benefit.

Tallan Latz one day will be mentioned in the same sentence of Guitar virtuosos like; Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen and Robert Petrucci.

I would like to thank Tim Atkins and Susie Kliener at Leathers 4 U and Carpets 4 U for organizing this great event. I would also like to thank Franco for taking my wife on the bike ride. It was a great event with awesome people, music, and for a great cause!

Note: I recorded Tallan playing the Star Spangled Banner at the Magic Carpet Ride with my iPhone, but the sound wasn’t good so I opted to use Tallan Latz performing at the Harley-Davidson Museum-Milwaukee on April 23, 2010 for the “Guitars for Vets” benefit.

I can’t wait until next year!

There’s an email purporting to be from F-Secure, claiming that you must confirm, update and verify your account information. The email is not from F-Secure. It is a phishing scam that’s designed to steal a customers account details and other personal information. F-Secure customers should ignore this email and delete it immediately.

Example Email:

From: Account SupportF-Secure Phishing Scam
Date: Saturday, August 28, 2010 4:33 AM
To: none
Subject: Account Alert!!!

An HTK4S virus has been detected in your Email Account, and your email account has to be upgraded immediately to our new F-Secure HTK4S anti-virus/anti-Spam version 2010 to prevent damage to the email and important files in your email account. You are therefore required fill the columns below to enable us verify your email account or your email account will be suspended temporarily from our services.

Username:
Password:
Date of Birth:
Telephone Number:

Copyright© Customer Care Center 2010 All Rights Reserved.

There is no such product by F-Secure called F-Secure HTK4S anti-virus/anti-Spam.

F-Secure will not send its customers unsolicited emails asking them to provide personal and or financial details.

F-Secure Blog: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002020.html

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Here’s an interesting video by Matt Cutts explaining how PageRank updates work. Matt Cutts, like many other SEO professionals, states that PR updates happen every 3 months or four times per year. Unfortunately, it’s not consistent and I wouldn’t hold my breath for the next update.

I hope you find this video informative.

The last Pagerank update occurred on April 3.

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This is absolutely ludicrous! Facebook doesn’t want anyone to register a domain name that uses ‘generic plus book’. There are many domains that have generic plus book such as;

Macbook.com
SEObook.com (Excellent resource for SEO)
lookatbook.com
eBook.com
Techbook.com (Parked domain)
Teachbook (Currently being sued)
iownbook.com (Newly registered)

According to Facebook: “If others could freely use ‘generic plus book’ marks for online networking services targeted to that particular generic category of individuals, the suffix ‘book’ could become a generic term for ‘online community/networking services’ or ‘social-networking services,’” it says. “That would dilute the distinctiveness of the Facebook marks, impairing their ability to function as unique and distinctive identifiers of Facebook’s goods and services.”

Facebook is suing Teachbook, claiming the startup’s use of the word “book” in its name trespasses on its trademark.

Facebook is sending a clear message to the marketplace: If you use the word “book” in your name, it’s going to be a fight.

iownbook.com for sale at a great price!

Original news story by Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com

Netflix just released an app for iPhone and iPod Touch which allows users to stream the company’s “Watch Instantly” library. This was only available for iPad, but now it’s available for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The app is free to download. In order to access the Netflix movie library, users will have to have a Netflix unlimited membership which starts at $8.99 a month. There is no limit on how many movies you can watch.

iPhone and IPod Touch users can also re-order their movie queue on their mobile device. I know my wife just loves moving her movies up in queue while putting mine at the bottom.

It’s great that this new app is available, but to watch it on such a small screen really takes away the viewing experience. I would rather watch movies on my big screen TV or if I had to, I would be alright viewing it on an iPad.

I gave this new app a try and selected one of the movies on my “Watch Instantly” list and was amazed how fast the movie started over 3G. One note – You should check to make sure your data plan is unlimited.

You can watch movies instantly over Wi-Fi as well.

The app is available now in the Apple App Store.

Google made a significant change to its algorithm on or around August 20 which really benefits brand names. They are allowing one domain to have many results in the first page. These brands which are well known are dominating in SERP by a landslide. An example of this is Apple iPod. There are 7 results on the first page that all point to apple.com.

There are many web owners crying foul because they’re noticing significant drops in traffic from Google. There was one site that dropped by 80% from Big G.

Google’s blog dated August 20:

Today we’ve launched a change to our ranking algorithm that will make it much easier for users to find a large number of results from a single site. For queries that indicate a strong user interest in a particular domain, like [exhibitions at amnh], we’ll now show more results from the relevant site:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/08/showing-more-results-from-domain.html

I am not sure if I want to click on the same site 7 times on the first page only to be shown the same content over and over again. On the upside, Google is now serving up more relevant websites based on a search term. This may also minimize the amount of malicious sites that show up in SERP.

I know that Sears with its brands is smiling and for a very good reason, thanks to Google.

The Magic Carpet Ride 2010 would like to invite you to a special charity event in support of Children of Fallen Riders. Come join us at KC’s Cabin in Spring Grove, IL this Sunday, August 29. There will be food, music, helicopter rides and so much more. You don’t need to ride in order to join this fun event.

Download the 2010 Registration Form – Magic Carpet Ride and pay early.

The morning will have a live broadcast from 95 WIIL Rock. Registration begins at 9:00, they will have live music all day, early bands are Cover Blondz and The Bloodline Blues Band along with Helicopter Rides from Lakeshore Helicopters.

You can pre-register for the helicopter rides – early bird special $25.00 – Rides will be $30.00 day of!

The Bike Run

The run leaves promptly at 11:00 am and will wind through Northern Illinois into Kansasville and we will stop at Marie’s Wildlife Refuge and then onto Lumpy’s Sports Bar & Grill. The run will end back at KC’s Cabin for music, food and entertainment. We have Tallan Latz coming in and Anthony Gomes will rock the house in the late afternoon.

You can pre-register at any time at KC’s Cabin, Carpets 4U or Leathers 4u.

Yours truly will be at KC’s Cabin throughout the day. If you plan on attending, please comment here so I can setup communications with you to meet up at KC’s Cabin.

For more information visit http://www.childrenoffallenriders.com/

There have been some weird email messages going around about stories of celebrity deaths. These messages are being sent by a spam ring with the intent to distribute viruses using HTML or zipped attachments. This tactic could be very affective as people just love gossip and this type of gossip is on the extreme side. The first report of such attacks was originally reported by Symantec’s Security Response Blog.

Here are some of the celebrities’ names found in the dead pool, so to speak.

• Beyonce Knowles died
• Bon Jovi died
• Brad Pitt died
• Cameron Diaz died
• David Beckham died
• Gwen Stefani died
• Jay-Z died
• Jennifer Aniston died
• Jennifer Lopez died
• Johnny Depp died
• Justin Timberlake died
• Kanye West died
• Miley Cyrus died
• Nicole Kidman died
• Ronaldinho died
• Tiger Woods died
• Tom Cruise died

Some of these messages look real and are crafted with messages like;

The celebrity has died along with 34 other people when their plane carrying the group on a trip crashed into a mountainside while approaching the airport. For further details, recipients are asked to open the malicious attachment. In another example, we observed that the subject lines were changed to show that the celebrities had a fatal car crash and they were killed in that accident.

Sample image of the message:

Do not open any emails or attachments with a celebrities name in the subject line. The zipped attachment named “[REMOVED]Hot News.zip,” was detected as Trojan.Zbot.

Source: Symantec’s Security Response Blog