New FCC Regulations Have Internet Marketers Scratching Their Heads

January 29th, 2010 admin

There has been a ton of chatter concerning the new FCC regulation governing the conduct of Internet marketers. Several websites have jumped all over this in an attempt to pull traffic and sell information concerning the changes and how to safe guard your business… this is not one of those blog posts.

Those who approach Internet marketing with a little common sense will not need to WORRY about the regulation governing what they can and can’t say in the subject line of e-mail based ad or sales letter, for example. Those who take the approach of honesty, integrity and truth, when it comes to building their business, will have be well on their way to being compliant.

If you have read over the rules (see links below) there is a general theme… JUST BE HONEST!

Instead of stressing over what you can and can’t do, when developing your marketing system, subject lines, sales letters, web pages, etc. focus on marketing to meet the needs of others based on the target market versus throwing out outlandish dollar amounts that people will make, every week, when they invest. We’ve all seen it… “Retire in 10 weeks on a $50 investment.” We all know that there is a better chance that someone will with the lottery. If people could really retire in 10 weeks on a $50 investment, then the U.S. economy would be turned around in no time.

It’s common sense and a willingness to do things right that are going to protect you. The FCC and the government are after the scammers. If you act like a scammer, in your marketing efforts, then you could draw attention that you don’t want.

You will find, as an Internet marketer, that when you do for others first, what comes around, goes around. One of my former mentors used to say it best… “Internet marketing is the art and science of empowering, communicating and building a relationship with someone based on THEIR needs, not mine or yours!”

A great method of marketing, that serves this very purpose, is to offer free, no obligation incentives to attract the traffic you need. Instead of creating hype and bull shit based content that we all know is a “crock”, take an advertising strategy (for example) that was worked for you, create a .pdf document and give it away! This is a great way to build a mailing list which will give you the opportunity to market open and honestly to a “willing” audience. Marketing in this way will help you gain trust and build a relationship with your subscribers.

Internet marketing, if it’s about anything, it’s about leadership. Those who are willing to step up, step out and lead people to the “promised land” are going to reap the rewards. There are too many people in this industry, calling themselves mentors and coaches, that have no idea how to lead once they develop a following. In fact (here’s a prime example)… a good friend of mine recently joined a business opportunity and marketing system that generated big excitement! The system was working, people were getting results and some of them were even making more money than they ever had before. Those who started the system became so overwhelmed by the demand for leadership (as it grew very fast) that they jumped ship and dumped the whole thing in my friends lap, leaving him to deal with the mess.

Yes, it’s important to know the rules concerning the new FCC regulations, buy those who are willing to make an adjustment to their character and do things correctly will have a whole lot less to worry about!

There are a couple of very good blogs that are discussing this topic in great deal… Blog 1 – Blog 2

Have a GREAT weekend!

Rex

Posted in Rants & Raves Tags:

Traffic Exchange and Safelist Marketers, protect yourself from viruses!

January 26th, 2010 admin

As many of you know, we have had our struggles with viruses and Windows XP over the last couple of weeks. As we continue to learn more about these fake security software viruses, and how to protect yourself, we will continue to publish it.

At the recommendation of my computer repair guy I purchased a different anti-virus software called Avira. So far, the combination of Avira, Malwarebytes and the Windows 7 is doing the job very well. I’m especially impressed with Avira and (as much as it pains me to admit it) Windows 7 isn’t half bad either. In fact, I kind of like it… I know, I know… ;) !

Avira, for $19, is well worth the money spent. I’ve used BitDefender, AVG, Norton, McAfee… all of which were giant resource hogs. Avira is not only lite on your system but it’s tough as nails. It’s a sharp piece of software and, so far, it hasn’t missed a beat. In fact, just this morning it found a bug trying to access my system through a banner ad…

As an Internet marketer using safe lists and traffic exchanges you are vulnerable to these attacks… most of the time you will never know it’s even happening. If you are using Windows XP, you are especially vulnerable right now, even if you are completely updated. I highly recommend that anyone using XP count their losses with your current AV protection and switch to Avira. It offer e-mail and web browsing protection that is working flawlessly right now. I also like the fact that it updates itself every two hours. You’d be amazed at how many new threats are pointed at the Internet on a daily basis.

There is an option to obtain Avira, free of charge, through the acceptance of special offers, but for $19, it’s worth every penny.

Those who aren’t using Malwarebytes, go get it and scan your system. It’s free and it seems to do the anti-spy job better than anything out there.

Click here to get Avira – Click here to get Malwarebytes

Posted in Virus Alerts Tags: , , ,

Jay Rockefeller wants to shut down the Internet!

January 26th, 2010 admin

While my buddy Bob and I were working this morning, he sent me this video, via YouTube, of Jay Rockefeller running his mouth about the cyber security and the dangers of the Internet. I had to laugh when I watched this, especially after the nightmare that viruses have caused me over the last week. Yes, the viruses were a problem but I certainly wouldn’t want to shut the Internet down over it… good grief.

If those who are in “authority” (I guess that’s what we call it…) are really that concerned over the security of the Internet then perhaps they should consider…

1.) Not allowing certain companies (we all know who I’m talking about) to release products that aren’t sufficient to keep us secure. If Ford were to release a new breed of car that only did half of what it was supposed to do, people would be in an uproar. The government would most certainly step in and stop Ford from making a car that was coming to a dead stop, in the middle of the highway, causing people to lose their life. Yet it’s okay to allow a software company to release an incomplete product and force us to buy other products to keep us safe and secure. What’s wrong with that picture?

2.) Living a moral lifestyle so they don’t have to worry about their garbage being leaked to the public. Taking away our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press isn’t the way to do this… even if you are trying to do it under the guise of “national security.”

It’s no wonder that our economy is in such shambles when we have people like Jay Rockefeller trying to convince our government that the Internet is our number one security risk. According the the media, our number one security risk is still hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan.

It seems as though “the land of the free and the home of the brave” is turning into “the land of the money hungry and the home of the scared and stupid!”

“You sound like a scared little school girl in this video, Jay! Those of us working to achieve the American dream don’t need people like you trying to convince those, who don’t know any better, that the Internet is bad. If you want to see the U.S. crumble, go ahead, shut down the Internet and WATCH what happens. I don’t think I’ve EVER heard such an IDIOT idea in my life!”

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Rex

Posted in Rants & Raves Tags:

New fake security virus exposes loopholes in Adobe flash and more

January 22nd, 2010 admin

Well, talk about a topic I was hoping I wouldn’t have to blog about twice in one week… good grief. Last night, while working on a client website, I was infected, yet again, with another one of these fake security viruses. This one, again, blew through the anti-virus and anti-spyware like it wasn’t even there.

After chatting with the security department at HostGator, there are a couple of loopholes these viruses are sneaking through that I want to keep people aware of.

First, make sure that your version of Adobe Flash Player is updated and current. There is a loop hole in the older software that is allowing these bugs to infiltrate systems, which can, also impact web hosts.

Second, after speaking with a computer tech this morning, I learned that Windows XP is especially vulnerable, right now, to these attacks.

Third, if you are behind on your Windows security updates, get up to date a.s.a.p. If you aren’t updated then these bugs can get into your system with relative ease, even if you think you are protected.

Files you should be watching your system for… siszyd32.exe, wwwpos32.exe, and there are others. If you find a file in your system control that looks suspicious then Google it to find out for sure.

There is also talk of these files coming through Facebook. Anyone asking you to click a link concerning pictures they have found of you online are probably dangerous, do not click on them. Walk on the side of caution whatever you do online, right now.

Any e-mails from people you don’t know asking you to click blind links are also dangerous. DELETE THEM! Better safe than sorry. These e-mails can even appear to have come from family. Many are based around a request to view pictures, participate in offers or respond to a bank issue. Even if they look legit there’s a good chance they are not. If you receive something that looks like it’s from your bank, PayPal or any other service you are using online, before you click anything in those messages, call the institution in question first.

The wwwpos32.exe file did so much damage to my main machine this morning that it wouldn’t even reboot in safe mode. Thus, it’s in the shop being recovered.

Malware Bytes (see previous blog post on virus threats) seems to be the best for removing these files. As far as anti-virus goes, I’m not sure what to recommend right now because this bug is easily bypassing, BitDefender, McAfee and Norton. The tech and the computer shop recommended Avast this morning as the top AV software right now. You can download it free through www.avast.com.

As I know more about these bugs and how to fix them, I’ll keep you posted. Tread lightly wherever you go right now, these viruses seem to be everywhere and many don’t even realize their computers and web hosts are infected.

Have a great weekend!

Rex

Posted in Virus Alerts Tags:

How to use the Law of Attraction in marketing and business

January 20th, 2010 admin
I’ve been involved in several conversations this week where the failure rate, in the Internet marketing industry, has been the topic of conversation. It stands, even today, that 97% of the people to try to start a business from home, using the Internet, eventually fail or quit for reasons that are just to numerous to mention.

Instead of focusing on failure, we need to focus on success. Thinking about failure will bring about failure… thus, the Law of Attraction.

The Law of Attraction functions when a combination of thoughts, emotion and concentration are focused, without distraction, for a certain period of time.

Through study I’ve learned that the common consensus concerning this required period of time is somewhere between 10 minutes and a half an hour.

What most people don’t understand is that the Law of Attraction is working against them, most of the time, because the are focusing on the negative. Just like a magnet, the Law of Attraction is always at work in your life, whether you realize it or not. If you are worried (emotion) about the toils of life, the emotion and concentration of that thought will attract more negative… that’s just the way it is.

Here’s an example… let’s say that Mike has a big bill come due. Not knowing how to use the Law of Attraction to meet his need, Mike starts to worry (emotion) and think (concentration) about the negatives associated with this burden. He think about not having the money, he worries about the consequences of not paying the bill and before Mike knows it, everything he has been worrying about comes to pass because this thoughts and emotions have created the very circumstance he feared.

I don’t mean to over simplify this, but the truth of the matter is that the Law of Attraction is not rocket science. It’s a simple natural law that is every bit as real as the Law of Gravity. The problem, with most people, is the application of this universal (natural) law as outlined in Mikes story above.

The Law of Attraction is the ability to use personal magnetism to attract the things in life that you want or need. This personal magnetism is a power that all of us were born with. You don’t need to acquire it, you already have it. The trick is to learn how to use it consciously. The key is to reverse the negative polarity and turn on the positive.

While there are numerous teachings on HOW TO make this happen, the best (in my opinion) ever written is The Master Key System. MKS can be acquired a couple of ways… you can buy it at Barnes and Noble for about 10 bucks or you can read it for free online. I have found that the best combination for using MKS to make a significant change in life is the combination of printed text (hard copy or digital) and audio.

The Master Key System has had such a profound impact on my life that it is my mission to provide this information to as many people as I can. Today, I am re-releasing a new Master Key System box set that is available for immediate download, free of charge, by clicking here. This is the full version of MKS in both .pdf format and mp3! (This is usually a $30 to $50 investment at the book store.)

What I am offering you, right now, are the keys to the kingdom. What you choose to do is up to you. I know there are a lot of people out there who reject this information because they don’t believe that it will product “fast enough” to meet their current needs. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that will prolong the process is procrastination.

Once you learn to use the Law of Attraction you will be able to build anything at will. Build an MLM, a mailing list, a fortune… it only requires that you take action, concentrate and think!

Enjoy your journey!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips Tags: ,

Dealing with distractions in the world of Internet marketing

January 18th, 2010 admin

I just got off the phone with a long time client who has been struggling as an Internet marketer for years. I’ve understood why he struggles, for a while now, and I know based on conversations with many others, that he’s not the only one who struggles with distraction.

In fact, if we look at the global average for failure in this industry (97%) I’m willing to bet that a large percentage (of that 97%) can be attributed to distraction. Unfortunately, as most Internet marketers experience the hard way, the grass isn’t usually greener on the other side of the fence, once they get there. Sure, it might look fresh and shiny when things aren’t going as fast as they should on one side, but once the move has been made, people find that it’s usually the same thing or very similar.

The Internet marketing scene moves at a pace second only to the speed of light ;) !! If you think about feeds and how fast they move, traffic exchanges, safe lists, ad exchanges and so forth, they are all getting hit with such a large traffic volume that it makes your head spin. What’s worse is the fact that people, who are trying to focus on building their business, get sucked into the vortex with flashy promises of dollar bills that lead them to believe that making a change will bring about results much faster than what their current opportunity is producing.

We live in an instant gratification based society, especially in the United States. We want what we want or need and we want it now. This mentality holds much of the responsibility in the current financial crisis in the U.S. and around the world today.

The majority of the world is hypnotized by money! It happens in casinos, world wide, everyday. Unfortunately, the Internet marketing industry isn’t a whole lot different. When surfing traffic exchanges, for example, they can have the same hypnotic effect on you as would a slot machine. You sit there and watch as your time and/or money vanishes penny by penny and second by second.

There are many points of wisdom that my father has shared with me, over the years, that I still use to help mold who I am to this day. One of those points of wisdom says “Son, be careful with your money… you can nickel and dime yourself to death.” The same thing can be said of your time as well. Distractions cause us to take action without thinking. We use “sales” and “discounts” as excuses for spending money under the guise of “savings” when the truth rests in the fact that we would have saved more had we not spent money or time on something we didn’t actually need.

Distractions come at us from many angles as an Internet marketer. We have to deal with distraction every time we log in to Facebook, Twitter or any other resource with a live feed. We have to deal with distractions while surfing for credits on traffic exchanges or credit based safelists. We have to deal with the distraction caused by advertising when posting ads. Distractions are everywhere.

The key to dealing with this is determining to deal with it… setting your mind in such a way that you become hardened to the distraction. It requires discipline, focus and undying desire TO DO what you need TO DO to build your business. What everyone else is doing doesn’t matter. You must learn to discern, quickly, what you can use to your benefit (information) and what needs to be discarded.

For example, if I log into Facebook to update the groups I belong to… I DO THAT! I don’t go feed my fish in Happy Aquarium, harvest duck eggs in FarmVille, or hire a hit on one of my friends in MobWars. If I logged into Facebook to work my business, then I stick to that plan! I don’t take five minutes to go try to outscore my kids on Bejeweled Blitz. Those of you who have played Bejeweled Blitz know that five minutes turns into a half an hour in less than 10 minutes… ;) !!

There’s nothing wrong with playing games but if you are going to do that then manage and plan the time to do that. When it’s time to work… WORK! “… the thing is settled, the die is cast, you have determined it, there is no room for argument.”

There isn’t a magic potion to keep you focused on what you SHOULD be doing to stay on point. It’s a matter of determining what you are going to do. Determine to focus on one thing… and even if someone knocks on your door and offers you a million dollars, you stay on point and do what you set out to do. You can’t react each time something shiny catches your eye. You have to program yourself to ignore those distractions and move forward with your mission.

A great resource for getting focused and staying on point is The Master Key System by Charles Haanel. If you’ve followed my blogs for any length of time then you’ve heard me talk about this before. Before anything else in life is going to change, you have to get your mind right. The Master Key System is the ULTIMATE mind workout. MKS will get your mind in shape and give you the mental strength to stay laser focused. You can get the Master Key System, free, on mp3 audio by clicking here.

Something else that you should take into consideration, when it comes to staying focused, is your diet and physical health. I’ve invested a lot of time paying attention to some of the great minds in this industry… Mike Dillard, Frank Kern and a couple of others who I have mad respect for. Most of them will agree with me when I say, “If you are going to be successful in life and business then it takes more than just mechanics. It requires balance. That balance consists of a sound mind, a health body and a peaceful spirit.” A mind that wanders aimlessly is easily distracted. An unhealthy body is undisciplined and lacks focus. A chaotic spirit leads to worry, stress, anxiety and depression. Lack of balance leads to distraction. All of the above leads to fatigue which leads to laziness and lack of motivation. Therefore, healthy and fit mind, body and spirit are vital to staying focused and successful in whatever you do!

Taking action with this information may require a couple of minor tweaks on your part. Or, as was my case not so long ago, it may require a complete overhaul. Whatever it takes, do it! Don’t make excuses, just do what needs to be done to get on track, get focused and stay determined! Focus on your purpose, take action and kick the distractions out of your way each time they catch your eye.

… and to quote my good buddy Mr. Bill (a.k.a. Bill Rowe) “Why not stop chasing that dream and actually start working to achieve it?”

Cheers!

Rex

Posted in Welcome

Tips for Effective Marketing on Facebook!

January 14th, 2010 admin

Facebook is a great place to market if you use it correctly.  It’s versatile and it offers several different strategies that will easily generate large volumes of traffic in a short period of time.  If you combine this with resources like Twitter, Friend Feed and Ping.fm, the traffic volume you can generate with one message is amazing.  Here’s a screen capture from bit.ly of a message sent just the other day…

The best way to get results like this is to share valuable information that will keep bringing people back for more.  This is not done by simply blasting ads at people.  It’s done be making an effort to go against the flow, step up and stand out in the crowd as the “Go To Gal/Guy”.

To do this, participation is required.  Facebook, if it’s anything, it’s participation oriented.  From groups, to multi-player games, Facebook is an incredible traffic resource.

To take advantage of that, here are a handful of strategies you can use to get great results:

1.)  Add Your Blog To Facebook:  This is a simple task that allows you to update your friends each time you create a new blog post.  To use this feature go to your applications menu, select “notes”, click “edit import settings” on the upper right and then add the rss feed from your blog.

2.)  Add New Friends:  I recommend adding 10 to 15 new friends per day by focusing on groups that qualify as your target market.  For example, if you are promoting a weight loss product/opportunity, you will want to add friends from weight loss groups.  This strategy will work with any target market.

As you add new friends, many times you will receive a message in the lower right hand corner of Facebook stating your request has been accepted.  When this happens, go directly to the wall of that person, thank them for accepting your friendship and start a conversation.  I usually use something like “Hi NAME, thanks for adding me as a friend, how are you today?”  Nothing fancy, just simply and basic… open the lines of communication and start building the friendship.

If you’re really gutsy you can go so far as to record a video, using your webcam, and send a video message to people each time they accept your friendship.  This makes a huge impact!

3.)  Start Your Own Group:  Starting a group is easy and it’s fun.  Setting one up is very simple… I’ve created a video on YouTube to walk you through the process:  click here to watch!  One of the coolest aspects of setting up a group on Facebook is the ability to message all of the members in your group.  Use this respectfully (in other words, don’t spam the daylights out of people) and it will serve you well.

4.)  Participate:  When given the opportunity, participate!  If you find a group where it’s okay to share your link, then share it.  Participate in discussions, wall posts, etc.  Each time you do this your action show up in the live and news feeds.  This is a great way to get the right attention and generate great traffic.

Hope these tips help!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips Tags:

How to get great results with ad groups on the social networks

January 13th, 2010 admin

As an avid fan of the advertising groups located on some of the Ning networks, I was elated to see a decent group show up on Facebook this week.  There are several Ning ad groups that have grown to a decent size, but this new group on Facebook is growing at an alarming rate… which mean a whole lot of traffic!  Question is, how to do you tap into that traffic source and funnel it in your direction.

When it comes to advertising online, subject lines, titles and headlines are the key that opens the door to your marketing system.  If you aren’t grabbing people’s attention with your subject lines, titles and headlines then it doesn’t matter what’s behind them… good, bad or otherwise.

As is the case in most of these group scenarios, the majority of the people using them are just blasting ads about business opportunities at one another.  This method of advertising is pretty much useless on any resource.

The real key to generating the traffic you need is to offer a GREAT incentive!  An incentive can be a free report, a blog post, e-book, audio or video of TREMENDOUS value that is actually going to benefit the reader in some way.  Your incentive should be created around your niche market if you are building a weight loss business, for example.

Once your incentive has been created and coordinated with your marketing system, it’s simply a matter of advertising the incentive.  Advertising your business opportunity directly, online, is an absolute no, no unless you have the advertising budget to utilize Google advertising or something similar.

Another reliable method of funneling traffic is to identify the target interest of the group you are using.  In this case we are talking about advertising groups so the target interest of this group is, of course, advertising.  Not quite rocket science, I know… but it never ceases to amaze me how many marketers get this wrong or miss it completely.

So, if I am working to target an advertising group and I want to use it as a traffic source to build a specific mailing list, it’s simply a matter of creating an incentive that will attract that target interest and expose them to what it is I am offering.

In this case, I have created a blog post as my incentive to share advertising strategies for advertising groups available in many of the social networks.  I have provided valuable information through a blog post which draws traffic in.  My advertising is then strategically placed to funnel that traffic into a couple of different directions, BUT, all of my ad links and all of my banners (with the exception of 1) are pointed to resources that will allow me to add to my mailing list and harvest a lead.

If you scroll down a few posts you will find my video entitled “The Money Is In The List” which talks specifically about marketing systems and how they work.  If you look on the lower right hand side of my blog you will find a free resource that teaches you how to niche target any market using Twitter.  In the upper right hand corner you will see a promo for E-mail Marketing Mastermind.  This is another resource I have created to teach people this same strategy using opt-in e-mail marketing resources.  You can get started with E-mail Marketing Mastermind for free as well.

The resources on this blog are here to help you build a bigger, better business so feel free to take advantage of this information.

… and to take advantage of this awesome new group on Facebook, click here!

Have a great day and God bless!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips Tags: , ,

Thanks for NOTHING GoDaddy, See Ya!

January 12th, 2010 admin

After years of spending my money on, what I thought was, the top hosting and domain provider online, I learned today that my affections for GoDaddy are completely unwarranted.

If you read the blog post directly beneath this one, it will bring you up to speed on the adventures of myself and Mr. Bill (Bill Rowe) doing battle with the Sissy Virus (siszyd32.exe) over the weekend.

Upon learning that this virus had infected our web hosting accounts as well as our computers, I got right on the phone with both GoDaddy and HostGator.

Contacting GoDaddy first, I explained the situation to the first support rep (yesterday) and asked if they could run a diagnostic on the server to locate the virus for removal.  I also asked for assistance in fixing the damage the virus had done.

After five minutes on hold, the GoDaddy support rep came back to inform me that the web host checked out fine.  And with a couple of slight changes, I could easily restore the site back to normal working order.

Once that call had ended I immediately contacted HostGator who jumped right on the problem as well.  I followed their instructions, contacted security, and within a half an hour… problem solved!

Today I created the blog post (see below) concerning this virus and how people can combat it (if needed) and protect their computer.  A friend of mine visited my blog just minutes after posting.  She then contacted me via Facebook to let me know that her security software was triggered by the visit to my blog and that I should probably have it checked again.

So, I got back on the phone with GoDaddy.  After explaining the situation to todays support rep, I was put on hold while the issue was explored.  What happened next floored me…

Upon returning to our conversation, the GoDaddy rep informed me that there was nothing they could do to fix the problem.  He went on to tell me that I needed to wipe the host clean and reinstall all of my files previous to the infection and that SHOULD do the trick.  He also suggested that I could back load the files onto my computer and then scan them for malware and virus infection.

As I picked my jaw up off the desk (realizing that yesterdays rep LIED to me about scanning the host account) I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me!  You mean to tell me that I spend all of this money with GoDaddy, every month, and the one time I call and need help you’re telling me, ’sorry dude, you’ll have to fend for yourself?’”

I then explained to the rep how HostGator helped me out and solved the problem in no time and I didn’t understand why a company as big as GoDaddy wasn’t set up to do the same.  He didn’t have an answer but went on to tell me that this was “no big deal, it should only take about a half an hour of my time to correct.”  With that, I told him that (based on what he had just told me) that I would be leaving GoDaddy effective immediately.  He told me he was sorry to hear that and ended the call.

After talking to Mr. Bill (Bill Rowe) and sharing the aforementioned conversation with him, he suggested that I call back and speak with a supervisor… so I did.  When I was finally connected with the supervisor, I explained the situation to him.  Of course, I was then placed on hold to wait for an answer.

When the supervisor returned to our conversation he told me the same thing the support rep had told me earlier… nothing they could do, sorry.

At this point my patience had run out.  I asked the supervisor to help me understand how a customer could call their company, report a known, dangerous virus on THEIR SERVER and they DO NOTHING about it.  His reply was priceless…

“Oh, we’ll do something about it” he assured me. I then asked, “What are you going to do?  You won’t help me fix it so how are you going to handle it?”  He quickly replied “Well, if you don’t deal with it soon then we’ll just delete all of your files and close your account.”

I was stunned.  I’ve spent THOUSANDS of dollars with GoDaddy over the years, THOUSANDS!  From monthly hosting, to services, to domains, to reseller site… and this is the thanks I get as a valued customer?  Thanks for NOTHING GoneDaddy!

My next call was to HostGator in preparation to move all of my services there…

Think twice before trusting your website or blog with GoDaddy!

Cheers!

Rex

Posted in Rants & Raves, Virus Alerts Tags:

Wicked, Nasty Virus Targeting Internet Marketing Resources

January 12th, 2010 admin

For those who have not heard, or have been fortunate enough not to have been effected by it, there’s a nasty, mean virus circulating around several of the web based marketing resources that is causing a lot of problems.

Just this passed Saturday night, Bill Rowe and I were working into the midnight hour when we were simultaneously slammed with a file, which we have now nicknamed, The Sissy Virus (siszyd32.exe).  Don’t let the name deceive you, this virus is no sissy.

This virus crashed through our anti-virus (both BitDefender and McAfee) like they weren’t even there.  It then hijacked the anti-virus software rendering it completely useless.   If it couldn’t get any worse, it then hacked it’s way through my ftp software, planted itself on one web host and nearly wiped out both of my blogs.  Like I said, this virus is no sissy.

Bill and I spent the better part of two days working to clean this monster from our computers.  With the help of GoDaddy and HostGator support, we were able to clean the web hosting accounts as well.

It took three different anti-spyware applications to clean off the 300 plus files this virus planted on our systems.  We used Malware Bytes, SUPER Anti-Spyware and a third application before we were clean enough to repair our anti virus applications and finish the job.

Last night, at midnight, we finally put the finishing touches on the clean up of the mess this virus made.

Those of you clicking for credits on the safe lists and traffic exchanges need to be EXTREMELY cautious right now.  Bill and I were not the only people affected by this bug.  A friend of mine from back east was hit so hard that his computer wouldn’t even reboot.

Make sure that your anti-virus and anti-spyware applications are updated and engaged before entering any traffic generation resources, regardless of what it is.  I’m quite certain there are several web hosts out there that are infected with this bug and don’t even know it.

If  you are a safe list, ad exchange or traffic exchange owner, call your hosting provider and have them scan your account.  It’s easy to remove from the web host and it will save your clients days of heartache and frustration.  In many cases, this virus is destroying computer completely.

Bill and I ask that you share this blog post with as many people as you can.  We have provided links to the anti-spyware resources we are now using below.  Super Anti-Spyware has a real time protection feature.  If you are a click surfer, I highly recommend running this along side your security suite.  I’m running it side by side with BitDefender and it’s working great… no conflicts.

Click here to download Malware Bytes.

Click here to download Super Anti Spyware – I recommend you spend the 30 bux and upgrade this.  It will do the job for free, removal wise, but the real time protection requires an upgrade.

Surf carefully for the next several days, and check your web hosts.  This file may already be on your computer without your knowledge so run these two applications and get rid of it!

If you have any questions, you can contact Bill or myself on Facebook, Twitter or Skype.

Cheers!

Rex

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