Is the day of a virus free Apple over?

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As the worlds most valuable company gains dominance in the computing world, the attention of those wanting to steal our person details is also turning to Apple. This is evident with the Flashback trojan-downloader which, at the time of writing, had infected some 600,000 machines world wide, with 40,000 of those in Australia. It looks like times are changing for the world’s Apple users, and it was only a matter of time before they became a target. So, to the point:

A trojan, also known as a trojan horse program, is a deceptive program that performs additional actions without the user’s knowledge or permission. It does not replicate.

A trojan-downloader is a a trojan that secretly downloads malicious files from a remote server, then installs and executes the files.

What is Flashback?

There are several versions of the Flashback Trojan and it was specifically targeted at Mac users. Flashback is the name for a malicious software program discovered in September 2011 that tried to trick users into installing it by masquerading as an installer for Adobe Flash. Protecting your Mac from Flashback is relatively easy by only download Flash from Adobe.com. Never click download links in emails – no matter who it is from, or download reputable software from companies like Adobe except from their website.

Like all malware, Flashback has evolved to a new form. The current version called Trojan-Downloader:OSX/Flashback.K,  connects to a remote site to download its payload; on successful infection, the malware modifies targeted webpages displayed in the web browser.

Must do: Listen to Adam Turner’s View from the Couch about the subject. It’ll be the best 5 minutes you spend on the problem.

How to Detect the Flashback Trojan on Your Mac

Luckily, there are sites on the web that allow you to download a flashback checker. A quick search finds several. One can be found at Softpedia and there will be others.

Flashback Checker

Note of caution: When downloading files, try and download from reputable sites such as a manufacturers site or reputable anti virus company site. Always check the URL in the address bar of your browser and make sure you’re on a legitimate site. If you don’t feel comfortable doing so, or your gut instinct smells a rat, then DON’T.

I have Flashback, what do I do?

Firstly, don’t panic and run your Mac OS Software Update. Lion and Leopard users will receive a java update which removes the trojan and fixes the hole. Note: There is no Apple  fix  for 10.5 or earlier which is about 20% of macs. (They’ll want you to upgrade)

Secondly, you could visit a reputable anti virus software site such as F-secure and download a removal tool. Follow the instructions that these company’s give and you should be clean of this trojan with not much effort. Run the detecting software again after removal and reboot to make sure your machine is clean.

Need Help?

If things don’t go as planned, read the page where you downloaded the removal software from. This may give clues and further instructions. Alternatively, log in to the Tech Talk Radio Forum and ask there. Don’t forget to Listen to Adam Turner’s View from the Couch about the subject.

One thing is certain, Macs are not immune to viruses and this won’t be the last time something like this targets the Mac. It’s timely to start looking for software to help protect your computer. For the record, I have both PC and Apple products.

 

 

Phones that announce the callers name as they ring…

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I had a call from an ABC listener recently asking if there were any apps that could announce the name of the caller when the phone rings. This was a great feature in some of the earlier Nokia phones which users of those phones miss. Well having done a bit of research, if you’re an Android user you’re in luck, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like it’s possible on an iPhone at this time.

Announcify App for Android

Announcify App for Android

The app you want on the Android platform is Announcify, andaccording to their website…

“Announcify reads out loud various kinds of information, like events or whole documents, for you. You don’t need to take your phone out of your pocket anymore everytime someone sends you a message.…but not too talkative.

Features like mute gestures, discreet mode and black- / whitelists allow you to customize every detail.”

Give it a go, and if anyone finds an app for the iPhone be sure to let me know! Oh, Apart from Tech Talk Radio, you can hear me on Sonya Feldhoff’s show on 891 ABC Adelaide every other Monday at 3PM Easter Australian time.

How to turn your late model iPad, iPod Touch or Android device into a phone for Australian use.

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So you’ve managed to get yourself a new iPad or iPod Touch which can do Facetime and the likes – a device which is not a traditional a phone. We’ll how about turning it into a phone with a real phone number? It’s easier than you think.

Chances are you have a mobile broadband card such as a USB modem or a wireless hotspot. You know, the gadget you take on holidays so everyone can stay connected. This device will have a mobile phone number associated with it, and that’s the number you can give to your iGadget or Android device so others can call you, and you can call others.

The software which makes this possible is call Viber and it’s available for iPhone and Android and it works on the iPod touch. Viber is software which allows you to call other Viber users over broadband connections. It is similar to Skype except it uses a phone number  to identify itself and is very kind to you battery. The best thing is that it connects seamlessly to the contacts in your phone.

Viber also lets you text, and send pictures like you would over a traditional phone network without the associated telco costs. A word of caution: You will be using the broadband connection of your home or phone service. Viber will use some of this bandwidth.

Now head of to the Viber site and download the app using your favourite iGadget or Android device. Also, download it on the device you use daily too. Infact, add it to the whole family’s phones.

During the Viber installation, you’ll be asked for your phone number. A text with a PIN number will be sent to it to establish that the phone you have is associated with that number. On the non telephone device (iPad or iPod) put the mobile number in of your broadband only service and then retrieve the PIN form that device. (You’ll have to connect the broadband device for the PIN as it will be sent to it.)

Enter the PIN into the non phone device and your done. The phone number which you would not normally use for your mobile broadband service is now usable on your iGadget or Android device. Remeber, it can only be called from other Viber services.

I recently configured my daughters iPod in just this way and now she can call me on my mobile using my mobile phone number (as I have a data allowance on my plan), where ever she has internet access on her iPod touch and vice versa. No more Skype confusion.

iiNet Usage Update

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If you’re a customer of iiNet, chances are you use iiUsage – a handy little app for Windows which sits in your app tray. Well, since the new iiNet Anytime plans came out, the old app didn’t quite work as expected so Martin has updated his site with iiUsage 1.2.8 which you can download at his site.

Thanks Martin for a great app.

Photoshop CS6 Beta

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Adobe’s latest incarnation of Photoshop is now available to try out as CS6 Beta.  Photoshop is a staple for any production facility for artwork lay-up and image manipulation, and well… for just about anything. I use it extensively and it is a major player in our post production facility.

Photoshop 6CS
New look Photoshop 6CS

This time, at first glance, the CS6 interface has evolved. Photoshop CS6 launches with a darker workspace which has been reworked. Naturally you can change this, but I didn’t mind it. Our Avid edit system also has a dark working environment which tends to make images a bit easer to work with. I know, its not everyone’s cup of tea.

It’s operationally the same, but the software takes advantage of the new hardware in today’s modern computers, but there are some new worthy additions, like the auto save option, something we’re very thankful for in our editing package. It uses Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine to speed up performance which first hit the scene in Adobe Premier CS5.5 This is built using the NVIDIA® CUDA™ parallel processing architecture, which is perfect in a post environment as Nvidia cards are prolific here.

Some of the new features on offer, according to the Adobe sales pitch include:

  • Content-Aware Patch — Patch images with greater control using the newest member of the Content-Aware family of technologies. Choose the sample area you want to use to create your patch, and then watch Content-Aware Patch magically blend pixels for a stunning result.
  • Blazingly fast performance and a modern UI — Experience unprecedented performance with the Mercury Graphics Engine, which gives you near-instant results when you edit with key tools such as Liquify, Puppet Warp, and Crop.* Plus, a refined, fresh, and elegant Photoshop interface features dark background options that make your images pop.
  • New and re-engineered design tools — Create superior designs fast. Get consistent formatting with type styles, create and apply custom strokes and dashed lines to shapes, quickly search layers, and much more.
Photoshop 6CS Layers
Note the Video Layer

Surprisingly, Photoshop now ships with a video editor, all be it quite basic, and it looks like Adobe Premier… sort of. As Photoshop is a image manipulation package, it does this with video too, but I haven’t played with this just yet. It looks very basic, and most likely just a bit of fun. Traditional video platforms will not fear this feature.

The Blur Gallery has evolved a little too with new, tilt-shift and bokeh background blurring. Useful if that’s your thing or you want your photos to have that great depth of field look. But one of the best features is the Content Aware Move (with Patch). It lets you drag parts of an image like people or animals almost any object around in a photo and Photoshop magically and automatically fixes the background. The complexity of background is it’s limitation, but it works remarkably well and will save time with quick fixes in shot placement.

Adobe says it has 62 percent more new features, which I’ve yet to see, but all in all, a piece of software I look forward to updating when the time comes.

Check out the YouTube clips here here and here.
You can download the beta here