The Five Signs That Your Cell Phone Has Been Bugged

While the USA is immersed in spy conspiracy scandals, and spread news of uncovering a Russian intelligence network, the average citizens of both countries are toying with "harmless phone tapping" of others' conversations.

First of, it needs to be said, that it is not possible to intercept someone else's signal with just any box with antenna. The data transfer channel is well encrypted, so that only the mobile operators themselves, upon request by certain government secret services, can perform this kind of interception. It is possible however to track activities of your lovely wife without the need for such highly sophisticated methods.

Internet is abound with downloadable programs that can covertly work in the background on the victim's phone, recording and transferring elsewhere its coordinates, actual recorded conversations, SMS and even shots taken by the inbuilt phone camera. Some of these programs are able to function as a full-blown "bug", that allows you to hear everything that its microphone picks up in real-time. This is quite convenient when it comes to listening in on a secret meeting or even a more secret date.

Users most at risk are ones using phones with Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems. There are also spying Trojans for iPhone, however you would not be able to install it on a phone without jailbreak (official App Store, do not sell such programs).

It is pretty hard for an average user to determine whether his phone has a Trojan in it or not. However, there are few signs that may indirectly suggest one to believe that his phone has been tapped to.

1. Hot battery.

If your phone's battery feels hot, that means that it's being actively discharged. This is normal during a conversation, but if you have not used the phone for few hours, and the battery still feels hot, that means that some process is active inside, and it well may be a spy program.

2. Short battery life.

This point derives from previous sign - if the battery discharges too quickly, especially if you have not used the phone more than usual, which means that some potentially dangerous application is running on it all the time. You should however remember that with time, all batteries are prone to eventual deterioration of charge capacity, and short battery life is a normal occurrence. This should only alert you if you have noticed that one week you charged your phone once in three days, and then all of a sudden it needed to be charged daily.

3. Delayed power-off.

Pay attention to the time it takes to power the phone off. If it starts taking suspiciously longer than usual, is accompanied by multiple led flashings (the screen stays lit for some time after the phone is turned off), or it completely refuses to turn off, then definitely someone is happening with your phone. Of course, this may have to do with basic technical issues, but may also point to other less pleasant causes.

4. Strange behavior in general

If your phone's screen led display spontaneously comes on, the phone turns off, reboots, installs or starts applications on its own, then most likely you are already "under the hood". Of course, this may be due to faults in operating system, however you should not let this go unnoticed either.

5. Interference and bad reception

Interference can be of two types: those you hear during your conversation and those that happen when you come close to, say, audio speakers. In the first case, suspicious may be echoes and any other noises (clicks, hiss, etc) that disrupt your conversation at any time with any party. Sometimes this may be due to poor signal quality or other similar problems, but if this starts occurring frequently, regardless of your location and call destination, this may be a good reason to start worrying.

In the second case, this is a phantom noise of the transmitting antenna of the phone to other receivers, such as stereo speakers. You have surely heard this "gurgling" sound more than once.

It appears during a conversation and also in stand-by mode with short intervals, while the phone addresses the base station. Abnormal is considered constant "gurgling" while the phone is not in use. This may mean that the spying application is contacting someone to broadcast the sounds around it.

Alex Must is interested in TV news, most popular gadgets and hi-tech news. He writes articles about PC and hardware, 3D TV and gadgets, Tablet PC and other digital devices. Read more news on Alex Must's blog http://tvinlive.blogspot.com/

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IP Swapper 2.0.0.1: Conceal Your real IP Address

IP Swapper 2.0.0.1: Conceal Your real IP Address
IP Swapper is a handy application designed to hide your real IP address by using one of hundred publicly available proxy IPs, hence protect your Internet surfing privacy.

Network proxy configuration is as simple as click and go (for IE and Google Chrome; Firefox will need one time manual setting.). Includes over 30 working proxy IPs to choose from

How to Detect And Remove a Virus From Your Computer

ByGaurav Srivastava

The article explains the procedure for detecting and removing a virus from a computer. The methods described here are reliable and correct to date. We still advise you to follow and implement them carefully to avoid running in to problems.

Viruses and other online threats are an inescapable reality in today's world. Why cannot you escape them? It is because you (not just you, all of us) cannot live without going offline. Most of us use the internet for official or personal reasons. Just like you cannot stay away from the internet for various reasons, so are viruses or other malicious infections. Hackers out there in the world know that you will go online to access your emails or search for various things like favorite music numbers, online databases, free online virus scanner, online virus removal support service, and free virus removal software among other things. Considering that you need help understanding about a virus, its effects, and removal, we have brought a free virus removal guide for you.

Instructions:

Before you begin with the virus removal procedure, you must learn about the symptoms of a virus that has intruded into your computer. Diagnose your computer carefully and check if it has been behaving oddly for some time, shows a tsunami of virus alerts (these may be even from a fake antivirus program) or pop-ups, takes more than the usual time to shut down or restart, displays low-memory alerts despite having a good amount of memory, does not load certain programs like Task Manager or your antivirus program, shuts down inadvertently showing the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) error, runs very slowly or malfunctions despite making no changes, and shows changed Desktop settings.

Other than these, if your web browser does not respond or redirects you to adult or sales

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How to Remove a Trojan Virus Manually

ByGaurav Srivastava

The article describes how you can manually remove a Trojan virus from your computer. The methods described here are reliable and correct to date. We still advise you to follow them carefully to avoid facing problems. It is because virus removal is a sensitive procedure and requires thorough understanding of the virus infected files and their locations in the computer.

A Trojan virus is a dangerous program that masquerades as a legitimate program and thus bypasses your security program's reach. It mostly comes embedded into freeware like weather forecast software and tray clocks etc. considering that you need help removing the bad Trojan virus from your computer; we have compiled a free virus removal guide for you to remove it manually from your computer. However, online virus removal is recommended over the manual procedure for normal users.

Instructions:

Before you begin removing the Trojan virus from your computer, take a backup of your valuable data to a flash drive or CD etc. Instead of relying on external backup media that are equally susceptible to catastrophic damage, you can choose a cloud storage service to store your data. Once the data is backed up, open Task Manager by right clicking anywhere on the taskbar. Alternatively, you can press Alt, Ctrl, Delete keys together on the keyboard.

If you are unable to run any of these below mentioned steps in the normal mode, restart your computer in Safe Mode with Networking. When the computer start rebooting, repeatedly press the F8 key on the keyboard until you see the Windows boot menu. Use the Down arrow key to reach Safe Mode with Networking and then hit Enter. Make sure you immediately start tapping the F8 key before the Windows logo appears.

Disable System Restore. If it is Windows 7 or Vista, click on the Start menu and browse to Control Panel. Locate System and click on it. Click on System protection. Highlight the System Protection tab, select the disk drive viz. C or D etc., and then hit the Configure button. Select the Turn off system protection option, hit the Apply button, and then OK to exit the System Properties window. if you are using Windows XP, right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Highlight the System Restore tab and disable the system restore feature. Delete all the system restore points to avoid the Trojan virus from loading itself back on to your computer after it is restored.

In the Task Manager window, click on the Processes tab and look for the virus' processes. You will see weird names such as 124hies.exe, mslaugh.exe, and ghie4562.exe among others. Once you have spotted such process, click on it and then press the End Process button. It will stop the Trojan virus from running and consuming the CPU power. If the virus has got a specific name like blaster.worm or 32heur etc., you will find processes followed by such name extensions in addition to the weird names. Close Task Manager.

If the Trojan virus has disabled Task Manager due to which you are unable to kill malicious processes, check if you can launch your antivirus program or connect to the internet. If the antivirus program opens up, update it with latest virus definitions. Wait until updating finishes. When done, run a full virus scan (recommended) and not a custom one. When finished, check for the virus infected files and their locations into your computer. Write their full path in a Windows Notepad or on a piece of paper. Prompt the security program to delete them. If it is unable to delete the infected files, close it.

Click on the Start menu and browse to C:

How to Clean a Virus Infected Computer

ByGaurav Srivastava

The article describes the procedure for cleaning a virus-infected computer. The methods described here are simple and reliable. Since virus removal is a delicate procedure, we recommend you to follow the instructions carefully to avoid facing problems. Doing so will save your time.

When it comes to removing a virus, you often feel confused and have no idea where to start from. You need help indeed removing the dangerous virus from your computer to make it healthy again. Considering this, we have brought a free virus removal guide for you to not only help remove virus but also block its recurrence in future.

Instructions:

Check if you can open your antivirus program or not. Most of the times, a virus disables your antivirus protection to prevent its detection and removal. Thus, if you can access your antivirus protection, launch it and update with latest virus definitions. These definitions will improve your security program's defense level against the virus. When all the updates have been downloaded and installed, run a full virus scan. Wait until the scan finishes. When finished, instruct the program to delete the infections that were found during the scan.

If you are unable to open your security program, check if you can connect to the internet. If you can, run a free online virus scan from Trend Micro's official website. To do so, visit the Trend Micro website (trendmicro.com, prefix 'www' before the name) and download the latest version of HouseCall, a free utility. Save the downloaded file and run the setup. Open the utility and run a complete virus scan. When done, hit the Fix Problems button and delete the virus infected files. Now try to launch your antivirus program again and re-run a full virus scan to make sure that no traces of the virus have been left in the computer.

If you are unable to access any application or program on your computer, restart it in Safe Mode with Networking. Why Safe Mode? It is because Windows loads without driver software or applications in Safe Mode. Since virus is a malicious software, it will not load on to Windows Safe Mode. Thus it becomes easy to remove virus in Safe Mode. When the computer is restarting, start tapping the F8 key on the keyboard and continue doing so until you enter the boot menu. Use the Down arrow key on the keyboard to scroll down to Safe Mode with Networking and then hit Enter.

When done, run a free online virus scan from Trend Micro's HouseCall first and then run a full virus scan from your security program. If you don't have an antivirus installed on your machine, choose and download one from the internet. There are various security programs like McAfee (recommended), Microsoft Security Essentials, Kaspersky, and Panda among others available on the internet. When done, open your web browser and delete the browsing history including cookies, auto-fill forms, and passwords etc.

Thereafter, download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from its official website. Save the file and run the installation. When done, open the program, highlight the Update tab, and then hit the Update button. When done, click on the Scanner tab and select Perform Full Scan. Hit the Scan button to start a full virus scan. Prompt the tool to remove all the viruses after the scan has completed. Exit all the windows and restart your computer into normal mode.

Additional Tips:

If you are unable to clean your computer fully despite going through all the steps, contact V tech-squad for online virus removal support service. We don't recommend manual virus removal for normal users as it is a sensitive procedure and involves the risk of data deletion.

The Author of this article is associated with V tech-squad Inc, V tech-squad Inc. is a cloud based technical support provider to consumers and small businesses. if you have any problem while performing the above steps and need technical assistance for online virus removal, You can reach V tech-squad online technical support at their Toll Free No

What Are Runtime Packed Trojans and How Do I Avoid Them?

ByJulie Dreese

A growing danger all PC users are facing these days is the runtime packed Trojan. These malware programs are designed to infect your PC and keep it from working properly. To avoid them, it's best to have an understanding of what they are and how they operate so you will be more equipped to avoid them.

What is a Trojan?

Let's start at the beginning. A "Trojan" is a program that appears to be something helpful (i.e. anti-spyware, essential download) when in reality it is actually a harmful program that can open up unauthorized access to your PC and its settings. Runtime refers to a Trojan that continues to actively "run." So, rather than just being downloaded and dropping its nasty little package, the Trojan runs continuously in the background of your PC. The reason for this is that usually the Tojan is designed to open up a port and keep it open, letting some hacker or malicious server have access to your PC. A packed runtime Trojan is a program that contains something inside it, generally a hunk of malware. The Trojan "packs" its contents and makes it smaller in hopes of the malware going undetected.

What sorts of malware are "packed"? Anything that can do a job secretly and that is small. This usually means spyware, so little keylogging programs, web-monitors and even simple tracking cookies can all be part of a Trojan's payload.

How are Runtime Packed Trojans Disguised?

More often than not, a runtime packed Trojan makes its appearance as something benign or something essential to the functionality of your PC. Clever advertising and disguises make it difficult to determine potential threats from necessary updates.

As a general rule, always be cautious when downloading:

1) An attachment in an e-mail Many Trojans can be spread by worms. These worms will hijack email addresses of people you know and trust. If the email is vague and points you to a link that you don't recognize, be suspicious. If it came from a friend, call and ask if they sent it.

2) A codec your PC doesn't have that is needed to access a multimedia file Codecs are programs that tell your browser how to interpret/display media, like videos. Some are legit and well known, like codecs for Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. The key here is that - if most videos already work for you and a website says theirs won't - be suspicious.

3) A plug-in for your browser Is it useful? Is it reviewed? Is it from a reputable source?

4) A free, downloadable security scanner or an "anti-spyware" program of some sort There are lots of good, legitimate free scanners our there, but there are also some scams. These are called "rogues," and work by using exaggerated or false reports of malware to scare you into buying a license. If a security program shows up on your computer and you didn't install it, it likely came from a Trojan.

When you do download files, make sure you always scan files for infection before you download or open them; and, of course, it's always a good idea to check up on any program before you install it. Reliable download sites like http://www.download.com have customer reviews and expos on hundreds of programs.

What Do these Trojans Do?

There are thousands of these little Trojans out there and each one can carry out a particular malicious function. But in general, most runtime packed Trojans will have the same effect on your PC.

1) Monitor and log your online activity without your permission.

2) Download files without your permission.

3) Slow down your downloads and operating system speed.

4) Disable antivirus software and firewalls.

These are just a few examples of what these Trojans are capable of. But if you are noticing the above symptoms, it's possible your PC could be infected.

As mentioned above, a new trend in packed Trojans is to appear disguised as free anti-spyware. By downloading this type of Trojan, your PC will experience dozens of pop-up windows of "threats" found by the malware. The malware usually recommends buying a specific product to "fix" the fake security issues. Once the PC user purchases the fake security software, the fake threats disappear; however your PC is also left unprotected and you shelled out good money for a fake fix. Vundo and Zlob Trojans are examples of these prolific anti-spyware rogues.

How Do I Get Rid of It?

If it's too late to prevent getting a Trojan, this sequence for troubleshooting should help with most uninvited Trojans that have taken over your system.

1) First thing's first, make sure you have a reliable anti-spyware scanner and anti-virus scanner before you get any infections. You don't have to keep them running all the time, but you should routinely update their definitions.

2) Disconnect your PC from the Internet. This way you can prevent further interference from outside sources. You can disable a network adapter or simply disconnect the ethernet cable and/or turn off the modem.

3) Restart your PC in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key as it reboots.

4) Pressing F8 brings up a menu on a black screen with one option being safe mode. Once you can access safe mode, you can log into your computer with only the minimal number of functions running. This cuts off a maliciously installed software that doesn't operate as "essential" to the system. Open your (up-to-date) antivirus software.

5) Run a deep scan on your PC from your antivirus software first. You want to make sure that it removes all occurrences of the malware from your computer.

You will want to make sure that your antivirus is looking for and finding the specific kind of malware files you have on your PC. You may have to run the scan several times or use multiple kinds of antivirus and anti-spyware utilities. Remember the two are different and work in different ways. Run the antivirus first and then the anti-spyware, one will likely find the Trojan and the other will likely find the spyware it left behind.

If your scanner(s) don't initially succeed try others. A reputable download site will have various options, and all of the major brands have free versions that will provide what you need in an emergency: Microsoft Security Essentials, McAfee, Symantec, Panda, Trend-Micro, Avast AntiVirus, Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, etc.

For more information on Optimizing your PC, visit our extensive information blog at http://www.fixcleaner.com/blog Here, you can find easy access to articles on fixing errors and optimizing all sorts of Windows functions. You can even get tips and tricks on how to navigate your way across the new frontier of Internet Social Media.

Julie Dreese is a freelance writer and editor who attempts to perform her own tech support through thorough research and anyone-can-do-it solutions.

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