Posts with tag antivirus

Good news! Antivirus maker Kapersky Lab teamed up with Blizzard Entertainment to offer bundle that includes WoW, Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Kaspersky Internet Security 2013. Basically, the package is a World of Warcraft Battle Chest plus antivirus package. We think this would be a great package for friends who haven't yet gotten into the game because computer security is awfully important to keeping your WoW account in your hands. Kapersky in particular is designed with gamers in mind with a "game mode" that postpones processor-gobbling scans to free up power for gameplay. The only thing that would make this package better would be if it also included an authenticator, so you really wouldn't have to worry about account security.

The only downside to this package? Currently it's only available in South Africa, where it sells for 399 Rand (or about $44). Perhaps if it's successful there, Blizzard will offer similar packages elsewhere, but for now, new players will need to purchase their game of choice and their antivirus software separately. And don't forget your authenticator!

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Make no mistake: it really sucks when your WoW account gets compromised. Even with the speed with which compromises are handled by the support department nowadays, it's still a pain to have to wait to get your stuff back -- and it's even worse to know that someone was in there mucking around with your dudes, you know? Blizzard's been better about helping people with account security problems recently, like giving out free authenticators to some hacked accounts and offering a free phone-in authenticator service, but in the end, a lot of the responsibility falls on you the player to keep your account secure.

To that end, Blizzard has assembled a new account security guide. It's a pretty comprehensive list of the steps you can take to secure your account, from getting an authenticator to learning how to recognize phishing emails to making sure that your computer itself is secured through the use of antivirus software. Learn it, live it, love it. In account security, as in Planeteering, the power is yours.

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Here's a big oops -- a company named M&A Technology accidentally shipped out a unit of their Companion Touch PC that contained some malware on it, including a password stealer that targeted World of Warcraft. It was an accident -- apparently someone at the factory decided to upgrade the computer's drivers and software before shipping it out, but they used a USB stick that had been infected with the bad apps, and thus in the process infected the brand new computer. Fortunately, the person who received the computer apparently scanned and caught the bad code before any damage was done -- I guess if you buy a computer from a brand you've never heard of, it's worth giving it an antivirus and malware scan at least once before you use it.

And/or you can just use an authenticator -- even if someone nabs your password, the Blizzard Authenticator makes sure that they can't log in without a current code. So there's not too much to worry about here -- while computers do occasionally get shipped with software that could jeopardize your security, as long as you're vigilant about what's on your hard drive, and take caution before using apps and hardware that you've never used before, you generally won't have any problems.

[via WoW LJ]

Surprised? You probably shouldn't be -- NPD has released the top sales list for November, and our favorite game is sitting right on top. In fact, the most interesting thing about the list is what's not on it: games. Wrath is at number one, followed up by such great titles like Office 2007 and Trend Micro Anti-virus. The collector's edition of Wrath comes in at number four, and after that it's all utilities except Call of Duty: World at War at number six and Spore at number 10.

That's a sad month for PC gaming, especially during a time when sales are supposed to be at their highest. Blizzard's leading the charge (and they're not leaving PC anytime soon), but they seem to be pretty much the only PC studio able to bring it home this year.

Videogame sales in general are doing just great: even in a bad economy, console companies -- both developers and retailers -- are seeing nice growth. But those saying PC gaming is dead will only have to point to November's sales for proof. Maybe in 2009 we can get a couple more titles quality enough to give World of Warcraft a run for its money.

If you run Grisoft's AVG antivirus program, you may have seen a strange message pop up yesterday-- the program reported that there was a trojan in WoW's fmod.dll file. fmod.dll, as Datth tell us, is part of the sound engine for WoW, and is not a virus at all. But it appears that AVG picked it up as a false positive, and labeled it as dangerous when it wasn't.

There was some confusion yesterday about it, but as of right now, the fix is easy-- go to AVG's website and update it to the latest version. The most recent definitions rule WoW's directory A-OK, so everything should be fine. Apparently this is not the only false positive problem AVG has had this week-- Google Desktop was also ruled a virus, so either AVG is being too strict, or these two big software companies are getting a little too grabby for Grisoft's tastes.

[ via WoWLJ ]