Traditionalists might balk, but the holiday shopping season is already underway. Skeptical? Head to your local department store and you'll be inundated by Christmas trees and ornaments. Bargain hunters, though, know that the real deals are more than a month away.
Black Friday, traditionally, is when retailers truly slash prices. Early birds can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars off of their holiday bills. Switched.com checked with a few elves, who gave a sneak peek at what you can expect deal-wise this year.
Blu-ray Players and Movies: Blu-ray is shaping up to be the biggest door buster of this year's Black Friday. de Grandpre expects at least one retailer will offer a Blu-ray player for just $49. Look for bargains on Blu-ray films as well, with last year's hit titles (such as "Iron Man") to fall as low as $5.
Laptops: With the proliferation of Netbooks this year, it's never been easier to find affordable portable computing, but Dan de Grandpre, CEO of DealNews.com says it will get even cheaper on Black Friday. Look for well-equipped Netbooks to sell for $199 – and basic 15" laptops to go for as little as $249.
HDTVs (Pretty big): The holidays are typically the best time to buy a new TV – and Black Friday is the time to do it. If you're looking for a normal sized set, you're in luck. Piper Jaffrey analyst Mitch Kaiser says he expects to see 32-inch LCD sets for as low as $299. GottaDeal.com is estimating 37-inch plasma and LCD sets will fall to $399 or less.
HDTVs (Really big): Need something bigger? How about a 46-47 inch LCD set for $599 – a 25 percent savings? Or a 52-inch LCD for $999? Dealnews says you can expect both. Plasma deals will be a little harder to come by, but a 50-inch set should run roughly $899.
HD Camcorders: You've wanted to shoot your child's school play in HD for a while, but haven't been able to spring for the pricey camcorder. This might be the year. Low-end, flash-based 720p models could drop as low as $60 (though you won't be able to zoom with those). Expect a high quality 1080p HD camcorder for $349.
GPS: While navigation systems have dramatically expanded their reach this year – even making it onto the iPhone – there's still a market for car-based systems. Dealnews predicts you'll be able to find a no-name entry-level system for $49, while a Garmin or Tom-Tom brand will be as low as $69.
Digital Picture Frames: Showcasing your digital pictures consistently gets cheaper. This year, skip the 7-inch screens and focus on the 8- or 9-inch ones, which should be available on Black Friday for as little as $30.
Monitors: Computer monitors might not be the sexiest of gifts, but they're usually welcomed with open arms – and they'll be cheap this year. Name brand 22-inch LCD models may go for as low as $99, while 24-inch models will drop below $150.
Memory: Don't know anyone who needs a monitor? External hard drives are always popular, since they're an easy way to back-up data. Dealnews expects a 1TB drive to fall as low as $49 this year. Gottadeal is looking for 8GB flash drives to hit $15.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
lsydexick said 4:05PM on 8-18-2008
I manage a small network, and I have already seen this. I like the idea flashblock add-on, but I don't think it is totally necessary to block all flash content. On some sites that would mean blocking everything on the site and then checking off what you want to see... The solution I chose was to install the adblock plus add-on for firefox. It automatically block banner adds(which is where this spyware is coming from) , but not flash movies like on youtube, or flash menus, etc... It does give you the option to block any other flash content, but doesn't slow you down by having to check off what you do want to see. You'd be surprised at how much faster web pages load without loading all the banner adds... who clicks on those anyway?
Just thought I'd share my thought, as I think this is a somewhat better solution.
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Julia Gunnells said 10:33PM on 8-19-2008
Banner ads are what keep my business going on the web and helps new subscribers find me! And lots of people click banner ads, thank goodness! You really should try it sometime. You might be surprised what great deals you can find. They don't all lead to a virus!!
loren said 2:36PM on 8-19-2008
I got one of these viruses and i did notice it populated an icon on my task bar that tried to download a spyware beware ad too and it kept on prompting me.. The adaware program I have to remove Spyware did not remove it and I have macafee virus protection and it didn't remove it either.. but I found a tool thru the Macafee site that did.. it was a free download (Malwarebytes antimalware) and this removed it right away.
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JSub said 2:39PM on 8-19-2008
I have Firefox, it happened 2 times when I was on MySpace. My security stopped it both times, thank goodness. I deleted my MySpace account, and it hasn't happened since. It was a gray windows box that told me I need to buy software security, and not matter if I clicked X or Cancel, it still detected the "worm".
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Tommo said 2:56PM on 8-19-2008
i got one of these, and it popped up as an internet explorer window, warning of a spyware attack and showing a little box that says: "download spyware shield now?" as it turns out, it comes in many forms, most of it malware and trojan horses that wreak havoc and place foreign websites in your site history. it's really hard to get rid of, but i found a suitable program that was surprisingly free and a quick download. it's called malwarebytes anti-malware, and it's just for this sort of crap that some asshat decides to put on your computer.
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Cory said 11:21AM on 8-23-2008
The same thing happened to my computer a few months ago. So I now have a new computer but I have many photos on the old computer I'd like to retrieve and put on a CD to save. Is there anyway I can still get rid of that virus on the old computer or is it too late?
Janalee said 7:52PM on 8-19-2008
I looked all over McAfees website and could not find the category you talked about. Could you please tell me where you found it on the website? Thanks very much
marc said 3:03PM on 8-19-2008
it is nothing new i have had this virus 3 times and i sugest a back up of your files. a simple reformat does the job 4 me. you just have to be one step ahead of the virus
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D Swift said 3:15PM on 8-19-2008
After hours of trying common solutions, I went to AOL online help and they directed me to Malwarebytes. It did the trick. I downloaded, installed, scanned, and eliminated this and other viruses in less than an hour on an XP platform.
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Mary said 12:17PM on 8-20-2008
It got me on my desktop!!!! I believe it happened when I created a myspace account. I will try the remedies listed on this page and hope it works. Thank you to all the people out there that know what to do when something like this happens.
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Charles said 1:32PM on 8-21-2008
I had to completely recapture the computer system restore to get away from XP2008 virus protection notices on my computer. I didn't download the program but somewhere that I visited this showed up. The notice would flash on my screen saying that I had all this spy ware to delete and no matter how much I did to try to remove this from computer the only thing that worked was doing a system restore and I am now having problems with that. So if you see XP2008 virus protection delete it.
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Rick said 4:59PM on 8-19-2008
Stay away from this software, UNLESS you want to buy it. It is almost impossible to get back off your computer. If you do not want to get wrapped around the axle with software you do not want to buy LEAVE THIS ONE ALONE !
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bcsclan said 5:26PM on 8-19-2008
I got something like this virus from a emal that was from CNN but was a fake. You click on a video and it says your flash player needed updating. So you let it update but it install the virus you discribed and it keeps pushing for you to buy there virus software to remove the virus.And if you try to uninstall the so called flash player it won't let you. Luckly I used WinXP and was able to revert my registry back to the day before and then run my virus program to get read of the virus itself. But you have to run the virus program before windows starts. I run Avast! Free edition which lets me schedule a scan at start-up. Good virus program. Try it.
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David said 5:30PM on 8-19-2008
I too have fallen victim to this. It started with a ikon on the task bar that said I had spyware and that it was slowing the computer way down. I have Macafee plus I have spybot and ran both. Kept getting the prompt and finally something from Macafee came up showing where this "antispycheck" was located on the C drive and I found it and deleted it. It didn't go away and I kept getting the prompt. Finally all of a sudden, I got a BLUE screen and it said that it had shut down the system and Now I am at a shop where they will try to retrieve my data before re installing Windows XP.
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Jane said 5:59PM on 8-19-2008
this has been around for awhile... I don't recall it as coming on in this manner, but it masqueraded as something which would Protect and Serve (could not resist saying that!), or rather would 'find and fix' what was 'wrong' with m computer. said -- oh, we'll find anything which might be wrong and then TELL you and even FIX it for you if you want... well, being especially STUPID that evnening, I clicked on it... had to send it to a friend who always fixes this thing for me when I do something foolish like that, or when something goes wrong. man, that sucker imbedded it's damn self and then had the audacity to try to CHARGE me!! lol; no, I wasn't THAT kind of fool, but damn. was not alone either; discovered later someone else had gotten the same damn one. it pretended to be 'microsoft windows' stuff but it was not and if I'd looked more closely I would have SEEN that.
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Al Schrader said 6:08PM on 8-19-2008
Hey Tommo- I had the same virus.
I was on the US Olympic weightlifting Team in 2005.
The best I've been able to press is 400 pounds.
These people that are putting this virus on me wouldn't like me if I get angry, and it makes me angry.
Al
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Patricia said 6:16PM on 8-19-2008
I got this new virus a couple of weeks ago on my laptop (OS Vista). I managed to get rid of it by Cleaning everything I could think of and then did a Restore back to about a week before I encountered the little bugger. So far so good. Oh yeah, I also ran my PC-cillian several times.
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csummers1968 said 7:41PM on 8-19-2008
Hmmm, have a mac .... won't open exe files .... have come across this saying I had all these viruses on my hard drive and proceeded to show me a fake Windoze my computer folder with all kinds of stuff then proceeded to download an exe file . My Mac said " sh!!!!!t...dis is bullsh!t jack ......get da fnck outta here ya windoze piece of sh!t !!!!"
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Willy said 10:10PM on 8-19-2008
So, just HOW does this kill your computer? This wouldn't be yet ANOTHER sensational headline from AOL, would it? Nah!!
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Jim said 7:05PM on 8-19-2008
Charles .... I got the xp2008 and tryed everything, Mcaffee the works... all looked good then one moning last week I woke up, the screen saver was frozen, the puter was not responsive, I turned off the power ...waited then turned it back on that was the last time that puter was ever used.
It will not start, it starts the xp window, but will not boot, not in safe mode, will not restore... I noticed before the final crash that I tryed to go to a previous restore point ....no GO.... so for Now I have a great PAPER WEIGHT..... Good Luck all Its a Nasty one XP2008.....
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