Posted by Migo on Jan 1st, 2009
After a brief hiatus for the holidays I came back to the WotG HQ to see two pieces of news that blew me away. Touted as two of the most maleficent corporations, Microsoft and Wal-Mart, were both hit with some unexpected tech problems over the holiday season and into the New Year.
Some of the Mercury 1.5-inch Digital Photo keychain carried by Wal-Mart, and I assume other stores as well, came bundled with a special holiday gift. That was the gift of virus files DPFMate.exe and FEnCodeUnicode.dll. Samsung’s SPF-85H 8-inch digital photo frame was hit by the W32.Sality.AE worm over the holidays as well, hiding in the “SAMSUNG FRAME MANAGER XP VERSION 1.08″ on the installation disc according to a customer review and email from Amazon.com. These seems to be only a couple of holiday trojans to brighten your spirits into 2009.
In addition to baddies invading your computer, Microsoft Zune owners have had their own problem starting New Years Eve. Apparently, a lot of the 2006 model 30GB Zunes have been committing mass suicide on the same day. Reports on the Zune Forum and Gizmodo. Having been ignored or denied for most of the day, in true Microsoft fashion, the official Zune site posted a “solution” to fixing the problem. Apparently the solution is as follows:
1. Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.
2. Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain—this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.
3. Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that’s 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
4. Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.
So there you have it. Everything will be fine, just go back to your normal everyday life. There’s nothing wrong, don’t mind the zombies rolling down the street.
To all those hit by the Zunicide, we really hope your Zunes come back tomorrow and don’t end up being overpriced door stops. And if you got hit with one of the holiday viruses, here’s hoping your photos don’t end up on some sort of advertising poster in China or something.
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Hey Migo,
It seems that my girlfriend’s sisters computer was hit with some type of bad bug that began on the first. Any google searches are either redirected to random sites that then get blocked by Avast Antivirus or will simply not connect to the site. Other websites that mostly seem to be anti adware/malware and antivirus websites also do not load. No other computers on the network are having any issues and she also has the zune program on her computer. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do or where I could go for help?
If you haven’t done so already, scan for viruses and malware. I like Spybot Search & Destroy along with Hijack This! (be careful with the latter as it’s pretty powerful juju). If you can’t get these programs off the internet onto her computer you may have to burn them to a CD and transfer them old skool.
Short of that, take it to a local and reputable repair tech. Try avoid Geek Squad if you can, as I’ve heard they’re not that bright usually and somewhat overpriced. Get estimates to see how much it would cost if you can before the work gets underway.
If any of our readers work for Best Buy, we’re sure you’re geniuses in your field. But it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch.