Kortech Services » Windows 7

Beware Of The System Check Trojan

okorioth — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:23:28 +0000

Lately in the last couple of months I’ve seen this infection making the rounds, and it is a nasty one. The System Check virus/Trojan, part of the FakeHDD family of infections is a fake computer analysis and optimization program designed to look like your Windows system is failing and that you need to purchase their software in order to fix it. The method of infection varies but most likely came from a deceptive pop-up ad that may appear as regular a Windows notification with links which look like buttons reading Yes and No. (Maybe its time to get yourself off Internet Explorer and use Firefox or Chrome with a pop up blocker.) On top of that, this Trojan wreaks havoc on your hard drive by removing all program shortcuts, blanking your desktop and basically hiding all files on the hard drive, including on secondary drives installed in the machine (I’m not sure about external drives but I’m assuming so). You’ll know there’s a problem immediately with your machine. The window that pops up looks like this:

There’s a great write up on BleepingComputer.com on how to get rid of this bug. Frankly, its my opinion there’s no way to really be sure that the machine in question is ever truly going to be the same again. So I would recommend that a format and reinstall is the only way to ensure that this Trojan has been removed. Before doing so you should move any data off the machine you need to save. Don’t worry, the files are still there you just need to unhide them again. You can do so either manually via Folder Options or as this web site instructs download the unhide.exe program to do it for you. Yes I know this is going to be a pain, you did have a good backup didn’t you?

Microsoft Releases Massive Batch of Security Updates For October

okorioth — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:32:24 +0000

Its the second Tuesday of the month, and that of course means in the Microsoft camp its patch Tuesday. And what a whopper this one is, in fact its the largest amount of patches ever released at one time. The range of patches pretty much covers almost every major product line, from Windows, Server, SQL, Office and even the yet unreleased Windows 7. So I strongly urge everyone to take the time to install these updates. More info on these flaws can be found here.

Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Pricing

okorioth — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:53:10 +0000

So, the cat is finally out of the bag. As an update to my previous post, Microsoft has finally released details on what Windows 7 is going to cost. Via this blog posting;

The estimated retail prices for upgrade packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S. are:

Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99

Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99

Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

And the estimated retail prices for full packaged retail product of Windows 7 in the U.S. are:

Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99

Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99

Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

Aww boo! Even though it less than what Vista costs today, this is still too expensive for my tastes. Two other tidibits of info, if you are a diehard first in line type Microsoft will be offering a Pre Order discount of about half off starting tomorrow (Friday June 26th 2009) at select retailers like Best Buy, Amazon etc. But only until July 11th! Fear not if you don’t want to take the early plunge, also starting tomorrow if you buy a new computer ” from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost to customers.” This is good until January 31st 2010.

OK, that doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.

Windows 7 gets a release date

okorioth — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:12:19 +0000

The news was flying around the intertubes yesterday, Windows 7 will be generally available on October 22nd this year, just in time for the holidays of course. So if you are thinking of upgrading your computer, it may be in your best interest to wait. Windows 7 so far has proved, via the beta program, it is far superior than Vista in many ways. Details ares till forthcoming on the Windows 7 Option Upgrade program, how much this will finally cost etc etc. Of course, Microsoft is still sticking with its more is better mantra and will be offerring another confusing multiple versions of 7. Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. Thats a lot of versions, the only two consumers should care about would be Home Premium or Professional, the first two will only be sold in emerging markets for the most part. PCMag has a great article dissecting all this information on the different versions.

Microsoft’s Next Operating System will be called..7?

okorioth — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:43:13 +0000

Yep, you heard that right. Just announced yesterday the folks in Redmond are steaming full ahead for the next iteration of Windows which will simply be called..Windows 7. After all these crazy naming schemes, could they not have done this since the beginning (kinda like the Mac OS series names)? I have a feeling this move has something to do with getting away from the Windows Vista name as quickly as possible, as they seem to not be able to get out from the constant negative attention this OS is getting. Although from leaked screen shots this looks a lot like Vista, the code base will be the same with some tweaks. I’ll bet the marketing team will be ramping up the idea that this isn’t even related to its predecessor and is a completely new OS, although under the hood it isn’t.

Other sites are also reporting that this may be released even sooner than 2010, which is only speculation at this point on that date, possibly even in June 2009. Yeah right, thats a good one. Since when has Microsoft been on time for any major release? The betas for Windows 7 will be released shortly during some upcoming developer conferences so I’m curious to see what things have changed. Call me skeptical unless I’m convinced otherwise. I knew there was a reason to wait just a little while longer with Windows XP!