The Vundo Virus has been around for a while now on the internet and it shows no signs of stopping its control of the new age airwaves on the web. It is definitely a threat to your computer and important files due to the fact that it will make sure that your browser pops up a large amount of ads and other things that will damage your computer if clicked on.

So What is the Vundo Trojan Virus?

It is a very small piece of code that can be downloaded to your computer that usually is unknown to you when you click on a bad link or when you download an email attachment or media file. After this type of Trojan virus is installed, it will start creating connections behind the scenes on your computer to allow your important information to flow out of your computer through the internet. You must install this type of file in order for it to work as it is an .exe, but usually you won’t know when this happens.

The title makes it obvious that Antivirus Sentry is not what it says it is. Antivirus Sentry is really a rogue antispyware program. The computer industry calls these programs ?rogues? because they are fake. These programs are traps to separate you from your money and to take control of your computer in the process.

Some basic information about Antivirus Sentry in particular is that we have seen this program before. Antivirus Sentry is a clone of Vista Antivirus and MS Antivirus2008. These programs are part of the Innovagest 2000 family. Let me tell you a little about the Innovagest 2000 family. Innovagest 2000 is a company that creates and distributes nothing but rogue antispyware programs. That?s correct ? a company dedicated to scamming you out of your money and using your computer for its own purposes.

Programs like Antivirus Sentry are spread through either the Vundo or Zlob Trojans. These Trojans get on your computer any number of ways. You could have gone to a porn site and a corrupt advertisement or video infected your computer. You could have gotten a corrupt or infected file while using a file sharing program. You could have opened a spam email and clicked on the file attached. Or the Trojan could have disguised itself as a video or ActiveX codec in an infected free download.

Once on your computer, the Vundo or Zlob Trojan will flood your computer with pop-ups telling you that your computer is infected or false security alerts telling you that your computer is under attack. Your web browser will be hijacked and you will be taken to antivirussentry.com. At the website a fake scan will run and then tell you that you are infected with a variety of malware.

At this point you are pressured to purchase the ?full version? of Antivirus Sentry. The price will be $34.95, $49.95 or $119.95. If you give your credit card information you get nothing useful back. This is because Antivirus Sentry has already installed itself on your computer without your permission by this point. If you pay the money you will only get more malware, spyware and adware in exchange.

Antivirus Sentry is a resource hog. Your computer will slow down. The programming is shoddy and causes conflicts, which cause errors and freezes. This accelerates the wear and tear of your computer. If you look at your running processes you will see that Antivirus Sentry uses more of your CPU than your most demanding programs.

If you try to remove Antivirus Sentry through Add/Remove Programs you will find on system log in that Add/Remove Programs does not work. At system log on Antivirus Sentry will be running as if you never tried to uninstall it. Some people who are well versed in the registry will try to manually remove the infection. I do not suggest this route because removal can take hours and if you miss a single file Antivirus Sentry will reinstall itself. Not only that, but if you remove the wrong file you could cause Windows not to run.

What I suggest instead is for you to get a real, dependable antispyware program. There are many out there for $40 or less. Once you have an antispyware program on your computer, keep it updated and it can prevent any further infections by rogue antispyware or the Trojans that spread them.

The growing problem of ?Bot nets?.Criminals have learned how to use your computer to take control of thousands of other computers in order to spread and execute malicious tasks on unprotected computers. The method they using to spread these viruses and malicious code is through what is now called ?Bot nets?Botnets, which can be a network of millions of computers, can dispense and spread viruses, spam e-mail, commit fraud and attack other computers and servers.”Bot nets” are designed to damage personal computers. Bot nets are made by inserting malicious code or software into many different spam e-mails and websites. When a PC user is contaminated they are immediately under the power of someone called a bot herder.A bot herder is a secret hacker who can be in charge of up to a million and a half contaminated computers and uses the computers they now have control of, to begin attacks all at once to other computers.This is a very serious problem. The FBI says that this problem is so serious, they consider this a threat to national security, a threat to the economy and to the national data inftrastructure.Guarding your PC from BotnetsThese bot herders are scanning for unprotected PCs that may not have a firewall or antivirus installed. Your best protection to prevent Botnets is to make sure your PC is protected with a personal firewall program, antivirus and antispyware program. In addition, always keep your anti-virus software and firewall up to date for maximum protection.Is your computer already infected?Signs and symptons you may have a virus or botnet on your computer: 1. Your computer seems to be operating slow2. Unexpected boxes pop up or is displaying mysterious messages.These viruses usually do not disable your computer, because zombie computers must be plugged in and connected to the Internet in order for the botnet to work.5 ways to help keep your computer from becoming a zombie.1. Make sure you use a personal firewall software.2. Keep your computer system up to date3. Install an antivirus software4. Use a recommended antispyware program5. Never open attachments you are not sure about.Top 3 internet security software programs 1. Norton 360 2. 3. PC Security Shield

I have AVG 8.0 on my computer; and everytime that I sit still for a few minutes; the “threat detector” pops up and says that I have a threat on – open – and it is called Downloader.Zlob. However; the threat encyclopedia is not giving me any info on it. Can anyone help in this matter? Much appreciated……