How to Remove Newfolder.EXE or Sohanad Virus

You can remove this worm by manual method, or using a removal tool.

1.Manual Method
Here are simple steps following which you can get the worm removed from your system:

1.Download this file:Registry_Repair.

2.Double click on that downloaded registry file, you will be asked weather you're sure to add this to registry, click yes.

3.Restart your system.

4.Search for the file svhost32.exe and delete it if its found.

5.Search for the file svhost.exe and delete it if its found.

please pass your suggestions by comments and rating this info

at the Group:  http://groups.google.com/group/tsksoft

 Public Website: www.tsksoft.co.cc

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How to Protect an Email Account from SPAM

Most of us get SPAM every day. Some of us get more and some little. Even a newly created email account will begin to receive spam just after a few days of it's creation. Many times we wonder where these spam come from and why? But this question remains unanswered within ourselves. So in this post I will try my best to give every possible information about the spam and will also tell you about how to combat spam.

What is SPAM?

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. Most widely recognized form of spam is email spam.

Where do these SPAM come from?

These spam come only from spammers and never from a legitimate user or a company. These spammers send a single email to hundreds (some times thousands or millions) of email addresses at a time. They either send it manually or use spambots to automate the process of spamming.

Why do spammers SPAM?

The main goal of spammers is to send the spam (unsolicited bulk messages) to as many people as possible in order to make profit. For example, John builds a small website to sell an ebook which gives information about weight loss. In order to make sales he needs publicity for his website. Instead of spending money on advertising, John decides to create an email which contains information about his site along with it's link and send this email to say 100 email addresses in his contact list. If 1 person out of hundred buy this book john gets $10. What if he sends this email to 1000s of email addresses. He gets $100. Imagine, if he sends this email to 1 Million email addresses he gets $100000.

Now I hope you understood the idea behind spamming. So in order to make money, spammers send their advertising emails to as many people as possible without respecting the recipient's privacy.

From where do SPAMmers get my email address?

On the Internet there exists many sites who collect the email IDs of people and sell them to spammers in bulk. Most often, people sign up for monthly newsletters and take up surveys. This is the time where these scam sites get their email addresses. Also many spammers collect email addresses by using spambots. These spambots collect email addresses from the Internet in order to build mailing lists. Such spambots are web crawlers that can gather email addresses from Web sites, newsgroups, forums, special-interest group (SIG) postings, and chat-room conversations.

Spammers also use the trick of creating Hoax Emails for gathering a huge list of email IDs. For example, a spammer sends a hoax email which says "Forward this Message to Help Severely Burned Child". This email claims that 11 cents will be donated to the child's family every time the message is sent to others. Most of the people believe this and start forwarding this hoax email to all of the IDs in their contact list. In this way the email spreads rapidly and eventually when it reaches the creator (spammer), the spammer gets a huge list of valid email addresses in the email header. When you get these kind of hoax emails, you can see for yourself in the email header which contains a huge list of email addresses of all those people to whom the email is being forwarded to. This is one of the effective methods used by spammers to gather email addresses.

Is SPAMming legal?

Spamming is completely illegal. Yet it is really difficult to stop spammers from spamming since they keep moving from one hosting company to another after getting banned. This makes it practically impossible to catch spammers and prosecute them.

How to protect my email account from getting SPAMmed?

The following methods can be used to combat email spam.

1. Use spam filters for your email account. If you're using email services like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. then spam filters are used by defaut. Each spam filter has it's algorithm to detect spam emails and will automatically move them to SPAM folder. This keeps your inbox free from spam. However some spam emails become successful to make their way into the inbox by successfully bypassing the filters.

2. Do not post your email address in public forums, user comments and chat-rooms. Give your email address only to trustworthy websites while signing up for newsletters.

3. While taking up online surveys and filling up feedback forms, it is better not to give your personal email address. Instead singup for a dummy email account and use this for surveys and feedback forms.

4. While posting your contact email address on your website use this format: emailaddress [at] yoursite.com instead of emailaddress@yoursite.com. This protects your email address from being indexed by spambots.

5. Do not respond to hoax messages. When you receive a hoax email, avoid forwarding it to your friends. Examples of hoax messages can be found at www.hoax-slayer.com. If you really want to forward it to your friends, make sure that you use "Bcc" (blind carbon copy) option to send the email. This will hide all the email IDs to which the mail is forwarded to.

I hope this helps. Pass your suggestions and feedback via comments at the Topic Posted at the Group www.groups.google.com/group/tsksoft

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Tips for a Total Online Security

With the sudden rise in the Internet usage across the globe over the
past few years, there has also been a rise in the amount of online
scams and frauds. Today most of the Internet users are unaware of the
most prevailing online threats which pose a real challenge for their
safe Internet usage. As a result, Online Security has become a
questionable factor for the most Internet users. However it is still
possible to effectively combat online insecurity provided that the
users are well aware of the common scams and frauds and know how to
protect themselves. A study shows that over 91% of the Internet users
are unaware of the online scams and are worried about their security.
Well if you are one among those 91% then here is a list of 10 tips to
ensure your total online security.

1. Always install a good antivirus software and keep it up-to-date.
Also install a good anti-spyware to keep your PC away from spywares.

2. Always visit known and trusted websites. If you are about to visit
an unknown website, ensure that you do not click on suspectable links
and banners.

3. Perform a virus scan on the files/email attachments that you
download before executing them.

4. Regularly Update your operating system and browser software. For a
better security it is recommended that you surf the Internet through
the latest version of your browser program.

5. Never share your password (email, bank logins etc.) with any one
for any reason. Choose a strong password (A blend of alphanumeric
+special symbols) and change it regularly, eg. every 3 months. Avoid
using easy-to-guess passwords. (ex. pet’s name or kid’s name)

6. Always type the URL of the website in your browser’s address bar to
enter the login pages. For ex. To login to your Gmail account type
http://mail.google.com

7. Before you enter your password on any login page, ensure that you
see https instead of http. ex. https://mail.google.com instead of
http://mail.google.com. HTTPS protocol implements SSL (Secure Sockets
Layer) and provide better security than a normal HTTP.

8. Beware of phishing emails! Do not respond to any email that request
you to update your login details by clicking on a link in the body of
the email. Such links can lead to Fake Login Pages (Spoofed Pages).

9. Always hit the logout button to close your login session rather
than abruptly terminating the browser window. And clear your web
browser caches after every session to remove the temporary files
stored in the memory and hard disk of your PC.

10. Avoid (Stop) using any public computers or computers in the
Internet cafes to access any sensitive/confidential information. Also
avoid such computers to login to your email/bank accounts. You cannot
be sure if any spyware, keystroke-logger, password-sniffer and other
malicious programs have not been installed on such a PC.

By following the above 10 tips your online security can be guaranteed
upto 90%. I hope this will help my readers for keeping themselves safe
from any of the online insecurities. Cheers! Pass your Comments &
Suggestions at the Topic Which is Posted at the Group
www.groups.google.com/group/tsksoft

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Beaware of Common Internet Scams and Frauds

The term Internet Scam or Internet Fraud refers to any type of fraud scheme that uses one or more online services to conduct fraudulent activities. Internet fraud can take place on computer programs such as chat rooms, e-mail, message boards, or Web sites. In this post I will discuss about some of the commonly conducted scams and frauds across the Internet.

1. Phishing Scam

This is one of the most commonly used scam to steal bank logins and other types of passwords on the Internet. Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging.
Example:You may receive an email which claims to have come from your bank/financial institution/online service provider that asks you to click a link and update your account information. When you click such a link it will take you to a fake page which exactly resembles the original ones. Here you’ll be asked to enter your personal details such as username and password. Once you enter your personal details they will be stolen away. Such an email is more than likely the type of Internet scam known as “phishing”. Phishing is said to be highly effective and has proved to have more success rate since most of the common people fail to identify the scam.
Most legitimate companies never request any kind of personal/sensitive information via email. So it is highly recommended that you DO NOT respond to such fraudulent emails.

2. Nigerian Scams

This type of scam involves sending emails (spam) to people in bulk seeking their help to access large amount of money that is held up in a foreign bank account. This email claims that in return for the help you’ll be rewarded a percentage of the fund that involves in the transaction. Never respond to these emails since it’s none other than a scam.
In case if you respond to these emails you will be asked to deposit a small amount of money (say 1-2% of the whole fund) as an insurance or as an advance payment for the initialization of deal. However once you deposit the amount to the scammer’s account you’ll not get any further response from them and you lose your money. In fact “The large amount of money” never exists and the whole story is a trap for innocent people who are likely to become victims. The scammers use a variety of stories to explain why they need your help to access the funds. The following are some of the examples of them.
Examples:

• They may claim that political climate or legal issues preclude them from accessing funds in a foreign bank account
• They may claim that the person is a minor and hence needs your help to access the funds
• They may claim that your last name is the same as that of the deceased person who owned the account and suggest that you act as the Next of Kin of this person in order to gain access to the funds

3. Lottery Scams

This type of scam is similar to the one discussed above. In this type you may receive an email saying that you have won a large sum of money in online lottery scheme (ex. UK Lottery) even though you have not participated in any such schemes. The message claims that your email ID was selected randomly from a lagre pool of IDs. When you respond to such emails they initially ask for your complete name and address so that they can mail the cheque accross to you. After getting those details they may also send you an image of the cheque drawn in your name and address so as to confirm the deal. But in order to mail this cheque they demand a small amount of money as insurance/shipping charge/tax in return. However if you send the amount in hope to receive the cheque all you get is nothing. You’re just trapped in a wonderful scam scheme. Thats it.

4. Other General Scams and Frauds

The following are some of the other types of scams that you should be aware of.
In general, be aware of unsolicited emails that:

1. Promise you money, jobs or prizes
2. Ask you to provide sensitive personal information
3. Ask you to follow a link to a website and log on to an account.
4. Propose lucrative business deals

However it may seem to be a difficult task for novice Internet users to identify such online scams. Here are some of the common signs of such scam emails. By knowing them it may help you to stay away.

• All these scam emails never address you by your name. In turn they commonly address you something like “Dear User” or “Dear Customer” etc. This is a clear indication that the email is a fraudulent one
• When you observe the email header you may notice in the “TO:” Field that, the same email is forwarded to a large group of people or the “TO:” field appears blank. So this confirms that the email was not intended particularly for you. It was forwarded for a large group of people and you are one among them

I hope this post helps. Express your opinions through Comments & Suggestions at the Topic which is posted at the Group www.groups.google.com/group/tsksoft

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