For the months of June, July and August 2009, PC Tools is offering 50% commission on Registry Mechanic.

Registry Mechanic is an Award-winning registry cleaner to fix Windows errors and optimize PC performance. It is an advanced registry cleaner for Windows® that can safely clean, repair and optimize your registry in a few simple mouse clicks!

Features:

The bonus commission will be awarded to the top five performing affiliates on oneNetworkDirect. Bonus Commission will be awarded as follows:

• World’s most popular registry cleaner with over 60 million downloads.
• Recommended by experts and editors as the world’s best registry cleaner.
• Clean the registry to fix Windows errors and crashes.
• Registry defrag to optimize your PC for better performance.
• FREE customer support for all users.
• Easy to use. Designed for both expert and novice users.
• 100% Money Back Guarantee.

With a few easy steps our registry cleaner will scan your entire registry for any invalid entries and provides a list of the registry errors found, you can then choose to selectively clean each item or automatically repair them all. For your convenience and protection Registry Mechanic can also make a backup of any repairs made so that you can easily recover any changes if required.

To receive 50% commission, simply contact PC Tools directly via affiliates@pctools.com and request the increase to your commission.

PC Tools Affiliate Team

www.pctools.com

affiliates@pctools.com

PC Tools is running a HUGE bonus commission promotion with a bonus of $25,000 for oneNetworkDirect Affiliates.

The top five affiliates with the highest gross sales (from any of our award winning products) for the combined months of June, July and August 2009 will be awarded a bonus commission. The promotion will begin at 00:01 (GMT) on 1 June 2009 and closes at 23:59 (GMT) on 31 August 2009.

The bonus commission

The bonus commission will be awarded to the top five performing affiliates on oneNetworkDirect as follows:

• 1st: $10,000 USD
• 2nd: $6,000 USD
• 3rd: $4,000 USD
• 4th: $3,000 USD
• 5th: $2,000 USD

Who can participate

All active PC Tools affiliates in oneNetworkDirect are eligible to participate.

Click Here to Join Now!

More Information

You can find more information and terms and conditions here

About PC Tools

PC Tools Software is a global leader developing products to protect the privacy, security, performance and stability of Windows computer users. Promote our multi award winning products including the high converting Spyware Doctor, Registry Mechanic and PC Tools Internet Security. Other features of our Affiliate program include:

• High converting software
• Minimum 40% commission
• Long cookie life of 180 days
• Dedicated Account Management
• Support with designing HTML emails and dedicated landing pages
• Banner ads and text links with localized landing pages in 24 languages including English (US and UK), German, Spanish, Italian, French, Polish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finish, Greek, Polish, Czech, Turkish, Russian, Portuguese, Portuguese Brazilian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean and Thai are available to help you become another successful affiliate for PC Tools

Special program terms and conditions are available for high earning affiliates. To find out more, contact PC Tools Affiliate team via affiliates@pctools.com.

Regards

Mac Threat Alert

Know anyone that is a Mac User?

Then let them know that malware researchers have discovered what appears to be the first Mac OSX botnet, aka MacBot or iBotnet and its receiving a substantial amount of industry and media interest.

Early estimates suggest that thousands of people have unknowingly downloaded the infected files. Don’t let yourself be one of them…

In a nutshell the botnet is launching a number of malware variants inside pirated copies of popular Mac based software in order to take control of the infected Mac machine.

First and foremost make sure that you and your fellow Mac users, exercise caution, have Mac specific security software installed and that your existing version of iAntiVirus is up to date – there’s a free version or you can purchase a version with full functionality and support. It’s also vital that you enable and install the latest Mac security updates.

Tricks hackers use you probably never heard about!

Ask Erik Do I need any security for my Mac? Jane Jane, we recommend using PC Tools iAntiVirus a free application from PC Tools which offers anti-malware protection for the Mac operating system. iAntiVirus provides real-time and comprehensive system scanning against viruses and spyware (malware has been designed to detect and remove Mac specific threats and is not cluttered/bloated with signatures for Windows specific threats to keep the memory footprint and resource usage to a minimum. You can download iAntiVirus from http://www.iantivirus.com/

Looks like cybercriminals have turned social networking into a minefield of threats where one wrong move may have very serious consequences. Long gone are the days when you could avoid being scammed simply by using antivirus software. The more aware we are the harder bad guys are working on fooling us. And let me tell you, their techniques are getting more and more sophisticated! Have a look at some examples of the latest cyber criminals’ creations and how to avoid them.

1. Koobface (social networking worm). It gains access to Facebook profile pages and directs you to view a video that then encourages you to update your Flash player. Malicious files such as flash_update.exe and bloivar29.exe are being downloaded and installed which results in a range of visible problems, including modifications to your Facebook profile, with the immediate result being an error message to contact support. There is also the very real potential for your identity and finances to be compromised!
2. Picture files carrying malware are “planted” on social networking websites and instant messaging programs. Hackers try to convince you that your friend has sent you a message or IM to view pictures. Legitimate looking URL when clicked on sends you to an illegitimate website hosting malicious files and executables, which have been modified to appear to be genuine picture files (jpg, gif or bmp). When you download and open those “pictures”; the malware unknowingly runs on your computer. It allows hacker to take control over your operating system as well as the information in it and exposes you to identity fraud and financial loss!
3. UPS Delivery Threat, also known as Zbot. It delivers an illegitimate file when you are visiting a counterfeit UPS delivery site. Zbot has been known to distribute via email phishing and instant messenger. Upon informing you that you have missed a UPS delivery, the message urges you to view the invoice online, which in fact sends you to the counterfeit website which downloads a malicious program designed to bypass the firewall and then steal banking and personal information.

So how do we protect ourselves against all this and more?

1. Be wary of unexpected IM messages and emails urging you to open or run an attachment or download !
2. Run up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware software with behavioural protection – such as Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus. Keep it running in the background at all times.
3. Ensure you run Smart Updates and Microsoft updates regularly.
4. If you are asked to update to a new version of a flash player or any other program go to producers’ website and download the update directly from it.
5. Organisations usually contact you by phone or mail, so when you get an email call them back instead of clicking on any links or attachments.
6. Never let your guard down, it’s better to be too cautious then sorry.

JOIN the PC Tools Affiliate Program TODAY and help protect PC users around the world.

The anticipation of Valentines Day is almost here.

In the excitement, don’t be caught off-guard by Hackers!  On Valentine’s we are not only targeted by retailers but by hackers as well. The malware that could infect your computer – by simply opening an e-card- could crash your PC, steal your credit card and bank account information and/or send an email containing the same link to all of the contacts in your address book.

Ask Erik Got a computer problem or an interesting cyber experience to tell us about? Write to us, keeping it short and sweet and your story might feature in our next article. Click here to submit your question

This would facilitate the need to cancel your credit card, close down your account, spend hours restoring your computer and send a message to all of your friends and colleagues explaining  as well as warning them against opening the email.

So how do you stay safe this Valentine’s Day?

1. Be wary of any e-mail received from an unknown sender and do not click on any links provided.
2. Run up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware software with behavioural protection such as Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus.
3. Ensure your software is up-to-date and run Smart Updates regularly.
4. Keep the programs running in the background at all times.
5. Use common sense.

Online shopping confessions

Every year I sit down in front of my computer, a mouse in one hand and a credit card in the other as I start my yearly ritual – Christmas Shopping.

Online Shopping you ask? Why not? I can visit more online shops in two hours than I could physically get to in an entire day and suddenly a chore becomes a breeze. There are no excruciatingly long lines to the cash register, no crowds, and no parking nightmares…

But the truth is, online shopping can turn into a disaster, as I found out one day when I received “the call” from my credit card provider. “Had I purchased any electronic gear in the last couple of days?” No. But someone else was – armed with a copy of my credit card details. The charges had been made in six different transactions totaling $14,365. I felt sick…

Even though my bank started the investigation and assured me that my money would be refunded within a month, the amount of stress I suffered during the ordeal taught me a valuable lesson about the need for quality security software and diligence on my own part when shopping online. Shortly after the incident and keen to prevent this sort of thing happening to me again I did my research on how to safely shop on the internet. Here are some tips which can prevent you from facing the same problem:

1. Use web browser protection and install comprehensive security software which has real-time and browser protection.

2. Check out the website’s refund and returns policies, privacy policy and legal notices.

3. Be wise about clicking on links in emails from online retailers, as they may be easily forged by cybercriminals. Make sure you have a powerful spam filter that detects suspicious emails.

4. Using your browser, view the site’s security certificate and verify that it is issued and registered to the web site you intended.

5. Don’t give out too many details. Online retailers should only require your basic contact details (e.g. name, billing address and contact number) and card details in order to process a credit/debit card payment.

6. Keep records of the transaction, including the product description, price and the receipt of payment.

You can read more detailed descriptions by clicking on this link.

I will still shop online but I’m much savvier about it now.

Adware.Adrotator.GEN

Backdoor.RBot.AS

Trojan.Alureon.J

The above infections can be detected and cleaned using PC Tools Internet Security and Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus

Got a computer problem or an interesting cyber experience to tell us about?

Write to us, keeping it short and sweet and your story might feature in our next article.

Click here to submit your question