Microsoft update removes rogue antivirus program

Microsoft has taken aim at a rogue antivirus program called Internet Antivirus Pro.

The company's latest update to its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, (MSRT) released Tuesday, adds detection for this dubious program, which masquerades as security software.

Like all of these rogue antivirus products, Internet Antivirus Pro tries to trick victims into installing the software. It pops up a fake warning message and then pretends to scan the victim's computer. But instead of scanning for malicious software, Internet Antivirus downloads password-stealing software that looks for FTP user names and passwords, presumably so that its creators can install their software on Web servers.

Internet Antivirus installs a browser component that displays fake messages, and it also pops up a fake Windows Security Center, Microsoft said in a blog posting Tuesday.

The software has also used the names General Antivirus and Personal Antivirus.

Rogue antivirus software has been on the rise over the past year and was among the most-detected unwanted software on Windows PCs during the second half of last year, Microsoft said in its recent Security Intelligence Report.

Two rogue Trojans, Renos and Zlob, were found on more than 8 million infected machines, Microsoft said. They use similar techniques to get installed on victims PCs.

Internet Antivirus has been around since the middle of 2008, but it became much more of a problem, starting in mid-April, according to Ben Greenbaum, a senior research manager with Symantec. "It looks like there was a big push," he said. "Either they've started selling it to other groups, or the original authors are making a much larger attempt to get this on people's machines."

This isn't the first time Microsoft has gone after a rogue antivirus program. Last month it issued detection for a program called Winwebsec. In November, it added FakeSecSen.

Microsoft updated the MSRT as part of its monthly set of security updates. This month's set of patches was a whopper, with critical updates for Windows, Internet Explorer and Office. In all, the updates fix 31 vulnerabilities.

Microsoft to offer 'special' Windows 7 upgrade deals

Microsoft on Tuesday confirmed that it will offer consumers "special deals" on an upgrade to Windows 7 if they buy a Vista-equipped PC before the launch of the new operating system.

Earlier in the day, Microsoft announced that it would start selling Windows 7 on Oct. 22, and acknowledged that it would have some kind of free or discounted upgrade offer in place before that.

But other than the name of the program -- "Windows 7 Upgrade Option" -- the company remained mum on the deal's details, including start and end dates, how much computer makers and retailers will charge for the upgrade, or even what versions of Windows Vista will be eligible.

"This program enables participating retailers and OEMs to offer a special deal to upgrade to Windows 7 for customers purchasing a qualifying PC," said company spokesman Brandon LeBlanc in a post to the Windows 7 blog Tuesday afternoon. More information, said LeBlanc, would be disclosed as the program's kick-off nears.

But Microsoft isn't the only source of information regarding the upgrade offer, which will probably resemble Vista Express Upgrade, a program that gave people who purchased Windows XP PCs free or inexpensive upgrades to Vista.

TechARP.com, a Web site that has a solid track record in pegging Microsoft plans, said as early as January that Microsoft would unveil an upgrade program for Windows 7. In April, TechARP reported that Microsoft had changed the name of the program to Windows 7 Upgrade Option, the same moniker the company used today.

In a long account last updated two weeks ago, TechARP spelled out what its OEM sources have revealed about the upgrade offer.

Only "like-to-like upgrades" will be supported by the program, said TechARP, meaning that people who buy a PC with Vista Home Premium during the eligible period will be offered an upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. In the same fashion, Vista Business will be upgraded only to Windows 7 Professional, and Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate.

TechARP had no information on what computer makers and retailers may charge for the Windows 7 upgrade. That's no surprise, since it's probable that OEMs and retailers will be given considerable flexibility by Microsoft. In 2006's Vista Express Upgrade, for example, some PC makers, such as Hewlett-Packard, offered free upgrades, while others, including Dell, charged users up to $49.

The most important piece of information still missing is the start date for the deal. Microsoft's reticence to divulge that is understandable, said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "Once you've told people the date, that starts the clock," said Cherry. "Now people, if they're inclined to wait [until the program begins] will wait to buy."

And that's the last thing Microsoft wants to do, since its revenues for Windows are tied to the number of PCs sold. "The effort is not so much to get people to upgrade, but so that the announcement of a new release doesn't totally stop PC sales dead until it comes out," Cherry said.

TechARP's June 26 start -- three weeks from this Friday -- is reasonable when compared to the timeframe Microsoft applied for the similar Vista program. In 2006, Microsoft started Vista Express Upgrade 96 days before the Jan. 30, 2007 official retail release of the OS. If Microsoft used the exact same time span between the start of Windows 7's deal and the operating system's on-sale date of Oct. 22, it would launch the program on July 18.

What does the new Windows Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 have to offer?

Microsoft's Windows Vista officially entered into its Service Pack 2 (SP2) phase on 26th May after releasing its second service pack for the operating system.

The software giant also rolled out a Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2008 that supports new kinds of hardware and emerging hardware standards, and it also has all the updates offered since SP1.

The last Vista Service Pack was released in March last year and according to Microsoft; Vista SP1 is required in order to install SP2.

Here is a list of the updates included in the new Service Pack:

- SP2 adds support for the 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) from VIA Technologies, which adds the ID and vendor strings for the new VIA 64-bit CPU.

- SP2 integrates the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, which contains support for Bluetooth v2.1 and Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration. Bluetooth v2.1 is the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology.

- SP2 improves performance for Wi-Fi connections after resuming from sleep mode.

- SP2 includes updates to the RSS feeds sidebar for improved performance and responsiveness.

- SP2 includes ability to record data to Blu-Ray Disc media.

Another important thing to note is that the beta version of the Service Pack is time limited and will expire on 1st June 2010. Microsoft strongly recommended users that are currently using the beta version, to install the upgraded version before the deadline.