GeekBuddy—Brought To You By Comodo 12/31/2009
 Comodo has announced a new (or is it?) service called GeekBuddy. GeekBuddy is the easiest way to get instant support with common problems which keep your computer from functioning at peak performance. Our next-generation computer support service combines expert hands-on support with an unbelievably low price. Our Expert Support Technicians are available 24/7 to help diagnose and fix computer related problems. From Virus removal to adding an email account, GeekBuddy can provide hands-on, expert support with the most challenging to the simplest of computer problems. There are two pricing options: one-time service, or unlimited home use (pay per year).  GeekBuddy Pricing (Click for larger picture) As you can see, one time use costs $19 while you can pay $49 per year for unlimited use. Now this reminds me of another service called livePCsupport, also by Comodo.  livePCsupport "happens" to have the same basic look of GeekBuddy, and the same pricing (and features). My guess is that Comodo changed around the livePCsupport website, changed the name, and reproduced it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put down Comodo. It is just a bit of marketing, I think. If you have enough money to spend, and aren't computer-literate, this may be something you could use. ~LaserWraith A Game — Rome: Total War 12/30/2009
I usually like multiplayer games - those are the ones that keep me "hooked" most often. But I have played one game, Rome: Total War, I bit longer than usual for a game. Description: Rome: Total War (out now), the next generation in epic strategy gaming from the critically acclaimed and award winning Total War brand. The aim of the game is to conquer, rule and manipulate the Roman Empire with the ultimate goal of being declared as the “Imperator” of Rome. Set in a time when the mighty Roman Empire emerged to conquer the known world against powerful enemies, when gladiators fought to a bloody death in the Coliseum; when Spartacus defied the might of the empire; when Hannibal led his invincible army and his war elephants across the Alps to strike fear into the very heart of Rome itself; and when Julius Caesar finally smashed the Barbarian Gauls. This was a time of brutal confrontation between civilization and barbarism, and of civil war as the ancient world’s only superpower turned on itself. When I test a game, sometimes I get a pirated copy (yeah...I know it is considered "bad", but one way to think about it is that the company would never get my money if I didn't try it first). That I did with Rome, and true to my policy I bought the game since I liked it. It also isn't too resource-heavy. Of course, one of our computers, about ten years old, couldn't run it. But my fairly low-powered laptop could. (Wikipedia article on Rome: Total War.) ~LaserWraith A friend from Comodo Forums, eXPerience, told me to update my blog. I had taken a break because of Christmas and all the things that come with it. He also told me something I may want to post: Fix Windows 7’s 'Search programs and files' Incorrect Results ~LaserWraith Merry Christmas! 12/19/2009
Hello! Sorry for not posting. I'm sure most understand—Christmas rush, etc. I have had a lot to do. If any of you are wishing for giveaways, there are many here: http://www.raymond.cc/forum/freebies/16069-christmas-giveaways-and-contests.html Have a merry Christmas! ~LaserWraith Animals 12/15/2009
Hello! Sorry for not blogging a bit those past few days. I have been playing Minecraft a bit (even though I had left...that is what happens when you buy the game). But just today, we had an interesting site in front of our door. Around 3/4 of our circular driveway walked about 20 or more turkeys, in a line. In the middle of the circle, a big deer stood. It was pretty neat to see them all. ~LaserWraith DefenseWall HIPS for Free on Dec 10-12, 2009 12/11/2009
Raymond has posted a way to get a free Kaspersky Security Suite here: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2009/12/11/free-kaspersky-security-suite-cbe-win7-internet-security-2010-for-all-windows-7-users/ ~LaserWraith Returnil Virtual System 2010 Home Lux is a completely new product that uses a combination of antivirus, antimalware and a virtual system to protect your computer from all types of viruses and other malicious threats. RVS 2010 uses an advanced anti-malware and virtualization technology. It clones (copies) your operating system and creates a virtual environment for your PC. Instead of loading the native operating system, a clone is loaded that allows you to run your applications and perform your online activities in an entirely isolated environment. In this manner, your actual operating system is never affected by viruses, Trojans, malware and other malicious threats. To return to the actual operating system environment, you just need to restart your PC. While working in the virtual environment, you have the option of saving documents and files so that your data will not be lost when the system is restarted. I found a promo for this. Download RVS 2010 from the given website above (it is the official site, so don't worry). Then use this key: S000030001A00000610KT2QMM Note: This key is the one that was used on Returnil's official Facebook Promotions fan page. So it isn't illegal. Get it while it lasts! ~LaserWraith avast!'s Update Problem And Why It Happened 12/05/2009
Recently, avast! (an antivirus) users may have noticed tons of false positives (sometimes called "FP": where an antivirus detects a files as a virus but it isn't). This has caused some to stop using avast!, but the truth is that problems like this can happen to anybody. On their forum, a staff member (maybe the CEO?) explained the problem: Hi, I decided to explain in a bit more detail what happened during that Wednesday night when we released the bad definitions that started flagging thousands of innocent programs as Trojans. Normally, we have two definition updates a day. Usually one in the morning, and one in the afternoon/evening (unless there's some emergency). The actual release process is well defined, and features multiple QA checks that ensure that the definitions we roll out don't cause any [major] problems. For example, every definitions that we push out have to pass a false positive (FP) test on our extensive cleansets. The cleansets currently contain terabytes of data from hundreds of thousands of applications (we run many tests in parallel but still the test takes at least an hour to complete). Every single FP on this test set is a reason for the definitions to go back to the virus lab and be revised (and after a fix is made, a new full cleanset test is performed, until all is fine). Now, given what I've just described, how could it happen that we released definitions that produced so many FP's? Were we so unlucky so that none of the affected applications was included in the cleanset? (i.e. is the cleanset so poor?) No. In fact, an analysis done later showed that with the definitions in question (VPS 091203-0), we detected over 50 thousand unique samples from the cleansets as viruses! The problem was that the FP test was not performed at all before the definitions were pushed out. On December 2, roughly 9pm we had a normal (scheduled) VPS update 091202-1. The update was working fine for most users, no FP's or anything. However, due to a bug in it, the update wasn't working correctly in some Avast v5.0 (beta) installations. On these computers, the avast service wouldn't start after a reboot. Remember that avast 5 is still in beta and bugs like this can (and do) occur. Soon after releasing the 091202-1, we noticed the problems with v5 and after doing some analysis, a decision was made to release another update that would fix the problem. It was around 1am local time and the situation was a bit stressful because v5 users were experiencing the issue and something had to be done fast. One of the persons not normally responsible for releasing VPS updates (but equipped with the knowledge of how it's technically done) went ahead and released the out-of-band update. However, unfortunately, he didn't follow the prescribed process and used wrong input files to generate the VPS. Files that were just prepared for testing - but were never really tested. Anyway, after the update was released (at around 12:30am GMT, i.e. 1:30 local time here in Prague) there still was a chance to get some early warnings that the update is a fiasco and needs to be rolled back immediately. The irony is that the person was checking for at least one more hour whether there's anything wrong, but the internal systems used to flag any anomalies (such as increased load on the FP reporting servers) weren't showing anything special at this time. Should he have checked the forum he'd certainly notice the buzz that just started happening here, but unfortunately, he didn't do so. The responsible people were alerted not earlier than at 5:15am local time when the problem was already of massive size. It took 75 more minutes to release the cure. What's the conclusion? We will certainly be improving the process further so that such a thing is not possible anymore. In fact, this is our first major issue of this type, so we feel that even the current process works well, but only if it's strictly followed. But we need to make sure that it is really enforced in every possible case. Furthermore, we're thinking of some additional early warning systems. If for example the evangelists here on the forum had a phone number to call in case of emergency, the problem could have been contained much much faster and the harm done would be incomparably smaller. Automated alerting systems have their place, but in many cases, a human decision is the best. And better to be alerted falsely ten times than not alerted at all. The overall process will also be completely revised, and crisis management plans defined. We plan to do this over the next week, and I'll be sharing the outcome of this with you. Looking back, we feel really sorry for what happened. We have learned a lot from this incident and are making sure it will never, ever happen again. So, if you believe in second chances, please stay with avast. We screwed and we know it but we have to look forward and keep fighting. The virus writers don't sleep. Thanks Vlk Even though I don't personally use their products, I still recommend them to others. ~LaserWraith Webroot 2010 Internet Security Suite Beta 12/04/2009
Webroot has a new beta out: Webroot 2010 Internet Security Suite Beta — Click to get it. You have to fill out the short form, then you get it. I was going to post screenshots, but I after waiting 10+ minutes and the installer was still on Downloading Files, I gave up. ~LaserWraith | Subscribe!CategoriesAll Archives |
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