Category Archives: Articles

cryptowall

Virus Removal / Poweliks Rootkit

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I recently had a run in with a computer that, despite appearing clean, would use an incredible amount of bandwidth when plugged into the network. Despite the heavy bandwidth usage, every virus scan came back clean. A few days of on and off messing with it, and I decided to run Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit beta. Sure enough, there was a virus on the computer, and it was a sneaky one. The Poweliks virus hides all of its code in the registry and injects itself into other processes. Rootkits are specially designed viruses which trick the OS into hiding them. Rootkits can be in […]

computer repair and virus removal green bay

Cryptolocker Clones (Cryptowall) and Ransomware

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A recent (and terrible) new trend emerging in malware infections are the use of ransomware. While normal malware may simply lock your computer or infect it with unwanted ads or utilities, ransomware holds your files by encrypting them and hiding the key to unlock them until you pay a specified amount of money to the attacker. The fees vary, but may be upwards of $500 with no real guarantee of unlocking your files if you do manage to pay. The only reliable method of defense against this type of attack is to keep regular backups of your data. While these types of […]

Bogus Invoice

Fraudulent Emails and Invoices

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Recently, we’ve had questions regarding receiving an invoice similar to the one shown on the right. If you host your internet services with CNet System LLC and receive an invoice from another company you do not recognise, it may either be a scam email, or a mistake from a company that failed to discontinue their services when requested. Internet scams are a very large problem today. It is common to see a legitimate looking email which appears to be an official document from the company stated, while in reality, it may be a scam email trying to get your information […]

What are Virtualization and Cloud Hosting?

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The tech industry is full of buzz words; each month, some new technology shows up that people can’t stop talking about. A few recent tech trends that seem to have stuck around are “the cloud” and “virtualization”. The general description of “the cloud” seems to be that your data is simply floating in cyberspace, ready for you to access anywhere, while virtualization is the process of taking a physical system and making it completely virtual. That certainly sounds impressive, but what exactly does this mean to you? Not all cloud hosting is the same. Cloud hosted data has to be […]

Windows XP

Windows XP – The End of an Era

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Windows XP Support officially ended on April 8th 2014, and after a good run, it’s finally time to upgrade. Though XP was released in 2001, it’s not the same operating system it once was. Microsoft continuously patched XP over the years to provide support for each new generation of hardware and software, keeping it relatively up to date. Windows Vista and 7 expand on this by rewriting the whole operating system to be built upon those newer technologies. Despite being over 12 years old, Windows XP has held a significant market share in the face of more modern operating systems. […]