swizzor virus warning

[ozboyy]

I was playing on PokerStars until a couple of days ago with absolutely no problem and then I downloaded a new site "johnwoodspoker" and all of a sudden every time I had an update come through on PS AVG would go nuts to the point of not being able to even open PS. I stuffed around trying to get rid of it and going off my head I reread all the info on the Swizzor virus and realized that it piggybacked and you can get rid of it easily; But it comes straight back by way of the system restore so you either turn off system restore get rid of it then re boot then turn system restore back on or if you are lucky like I was you dump the program it came in with!

[kingjames07]

Hello steven james sim,<<<< not me

Thank you for your email regarding the AVG warning about the swizzlor
virus threat.

Please note that this is a false alarm introduced by a recent update to
the AVG virus definition file. There is no virus in the pokerstars update, which we have confirmed through the use of alternate scanners
from McAfee and Symantec.

It is perfectly safe to click on the "Ignore" option and accept the
update from PokerStars. However, should you get an update error,
please
disable your AVG software in order to launch your pokerstars program.

Should you be unable to use the "Ignore" option to complete the
PokerStars update, you may launch pokerstars temporarily by skipping
the
update process. To do so:

1) Right click on your desktop
2) Choose "New -> Shortcut"
3) Browse your computer to locate "PokerStars.EXE".

It will be accompanied by the familiar red, black and orange icon, and
may not have ".EXE" at the end of it depending on how your computer is
set up. It is likely be in one of these directories (folders):

C:\Program Files\PokerStars\
C:\Program Files\PokerStars.NET\

4) Give the shortcut a name, and click "OK".

This new shortcut will skip the update process and should allow you to
log on without complaint from AVG. If this fails, you will probably
need
to disable AVG temporarily in order to run PokerStars.

To disable AVG in order to run PokerStars, you need to turn off the
"Resident Shield" portion of the program. To do this, open the AVG
control center, and in the section where it says "Security Status",
right click on "Resident Shield" and choose "Properties". Uncheck the
checkbox for "Turn on AVG Resident Shield protection" and click OK.
You
can now launch PokerStars (and should re-launch Resident Shield as soon
as you do so, for maximum virus protection).

Please note that either option (bypassing the update, or temporarily
disabling the virus scanner) should only be used temporarily, until AVG
corrects the virus definition file. PokerStars updates are required,
and virus protection is too vital to be disabled for any length of
time.

At the moment we are trying to contact the AVG team at Grisoft as
quickly as possible in order to ask them to resolve this issue. We
apologize for the inconvenience this might cause.

Please note that this is not an unusual happening. All virus makers
occasionally put out virus definitions that cause false hits, sometimes
rather in high profile, such as this recent high profile occurrence
involving Adobe:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/31/avg_adobe_false_update/

You can see just how common this is by Googling "AVG false alarm":

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=AVG+false+alarm&btnG=Search

Please let us know if you need further assistance.



Regards,

Larry
PokerStars Support Team

[ozboyy]

Thanks Larry but if you read my post again you will see that I did not say there is a virus on Pokerstars!! It came in with another program and went bye bye when I dumped that download. On most of the anti virus manufacturer's websites you can find all the info on the swizzor and on Macafee it tells you how to get rid of it. So believe me I know there is NO virus coming through on PokerStars!

[kingjames07]

ummmmm im not larry and bob what did u edit from my post?????

[scrawnybob]

hi

the links were "pokerstars" which linked to another poker forum's review of pokerstars
especially when we have a perfectly good review of pokerstars / bonus / links etc

I'm hoping that it was an "oversight" and just cut and paste & somehow someone elses referal code got in there ;-)

whilst I like the site mentioned as a site - I dont like the way they're referal program means every member has a referal code and then mentions them at every opportunity - In the past we've had pretty much cr*ppy spam type post just to mention that forum to get posts for referring players / members & or get quality anchor links from our forum to their's - not on

cheers scrawnybob

[kingjames07]

yep sorry....i did just copy and paste it if i had noticed a link for the other forum i would have deleted it...sorry about that bob

[scrawnybob]

hi

no worries mate - I guessed you had ;-)

its a real pain how so many forums are now getting their members to do their dirty work for them and rewarding them with points etc - but I figured you'd been entirely innocent

on the virus warning front here is the offical response from our affiliate manager over at pokerstars ... all good

The problem you are experiencing is related to a recent (but now out
of date) update which was made to AVG anti-virus definitions. This
caused the Resident Shield portion of the AVG software to incorrectly
identify some parts of the PokerStars software and update process as
being infected with the Downloader.Swizzor threat.

This was a false alarm, and AVG recently updated their definitions to
resolve the problem. Here are the steps to ensure you have the latest
version:

1) Go to Start > All Programs > AVG 7.5 > AVG Control Center, or
double-click on the AVG icon near the time (bottom right of your
computer screen). The AVG Control Center page will open.

2) Click on Check for Updates. The update window will appear. Please
select and install all the available updates - you may have to repeat
this step a number of times to ensure you have them all.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the problems you have
experienced, even though they were out of our control. PokerStars
would never take any actions that would deliberately harm or damage
your computer. We can assure you that there are no viruses, malware
or spyware in your PokerStars software.

cheers scrawnybob

[gokhan14]

hi all
i have a question about a hack but not a virus.
there are some poker hacks on many internet sites.
they say pseudo rng (random number generator) of some poker rooms are hacked.
even they put some videos (i saw a video of a tourney an pokerstars) on net.
hacks include seeing hole cards of all opponents and dealing rivers. changing the dealing river and hole cards etc. is it true? can anyone tell me someting about it?

[YoungGunKid]

Im glad you got rid of your virus you had man...so you can begin playing on Stars again.So how is johnwood poker anyways Ive heard about it several times but never tried it out.