Post by Thirty Shrewster on Sept 1, 2004 22:00:12 GMT 1
Here's some advice to help you guys with some of the most common problems that I get asked here, at work and in general 
Viruses
Most of the problems on here involve viruses or spyware so firstly viruses.
As you know it's strongly recommended to have anti-virus software on your computer, but which one do you go for? Do you go and buy one of the big brand name anti-virus packages or download a free one? I would personally use one of the free download ones. I find the free ones tend to be less intrusive, update automatically find more viruses more relibally and of course, don't need a subscription although they do need to be registered for free.
If you have one of the brand names like Norton or Macaffee and it works for you, I'd stick with it until your update subscription expires, typically 90 or 365 days, after that I could go and uninstall it and go install a free one like Avast or AVG from www.avast.com or www.grisoft.com . It is discouraged from having more than 1 virus scanner on your computer at any one time. They usually interfere with each other.
If you don't currently have an anti-virus program installed or you think it's too difficult to install one or you'd like a second opinion about viruses on your computer, try a onetime online scan at housecall.trendmicro.com . As it's a onetime scan and not installed on your computer, you can do this with another anti-virus installed. It's good to see how your current anti-virus is going. It's also easy to use, click scan now, click yes on the security warning and once the virus definitions are downloaded choose your hard drives and scan away!
Spyware
The other main issue, spyware
Best thing to do about this is try not to get any spyware on your system in the first place. one of the sneakiest tactics played nowadays is using spoof windows that look like real windows, but if you click anywhere on the page, even on no or cancel, it still takes it as a yes because it's programmed to work that way. If you're unsure, click on the upper-right-most X to close the window, but beware, I've seen tactics where the window goes above the screen so hides the real X and puts a fake X there.
You can also use the key combination on the keyboard ALT with F4 so tell a program to close. just make sure the correct window is selected before pressing it or it will close windows you don't intend to, it just takes practice. Don't worry, if you press Alt-F4 in something like Microsoft Word, it will be the same as clicking on the X or choosing close and exit, so will ask you if you want to save first.
Now for spyware on your computer, you can again use retail packages to remove spyware, but you can also download alternatives for free. Adaware SE and spybot are the most well known ones. you can download them from www.lavasoft.de/support/download or www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html for Adaware SE and Spybot S&D respectively. They are relatively easy to use but make sure the definitions are up to datte before scanning.
You'll find once these have scanned, you don't really even need popup blockers as they eliminate popup generators on your computer already. However they don't stop popups generated by a particular website. I personally use Adaware.
Also see the section below on HijackThis
Firewalls
These reduce the risk of hackers and other nasty things coming through a backdoor in windows. I personally do not use one as I think I've eliminated most security risks myself on my own computers. If you have a broadband router (wireless or not) they are almost always a hardware firewall stopping pretty much anything that a software firewall will do. Again you can use retail packages or go for free ones. Zone alarm is a popular one but I haven't got on well with that. You can download from www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp .
Another popular free firewall is done by Sygate, is Sygate Personal Firewall. Download from the bottom of smb.sygate.com/download_buy.htm .
One thing though with firewalls, you need to know how to use them to best effect. Some people have them installed with almost all security turned off (they might as well have not had a firewall), and I've seen computers with every security thing turned on, that complete internet access was blocked, so try not to be lulled into a false sense of security. Default configurations are usually the best. again it's not wise to have more than one firewall on a system at once.
HijackThis
This is a good program to use to get to the depths of hijacking tactics. Use this program with care though as it requires knowledge of windows to use effectively. you can look up entries found in there at www.sysinfo.org . although it doesn't list everything that HijackThis reports, you can use it to sort many of them. Most Search defaults and Homepage defaults can be changed, because even if you do erase them, you can set a new homepage default and use your favourite search engine.
Most BHO entries can be deleted. If you don't recognise the name, you can safely delete it. If the BHO is required, it will be installed automatically by the website you visit, and anyway, BHO's are usually used for bad for spying and hijacking, but can be used for good too. In the run list, check for weird names. Use the guide at www.sysinfo.org for most items in the run and startup section. I can't really give you a list of things to delete here as some spoof things look like real things. but type them in sysinfo EXACTLY how it would appear.
The bottom section is DPF's. Again pretty much all of these can be deleted unless you recognise them If in doubt delete them. These are things that install and run when you accept the security window that appears at certain real websites or popups. you can delete them safely, it just means they have to be downloaded next time. no hassle with broadband, might take a few minutes to redownload when you revisit the site which uses the DPF on a standard modem, depends how big the DPF is. Download HijackThis from www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html
Windows Update
Go to www.windowsupdate.com to keep your windows up to date. you can also use the Windows Autoupdate too. This stops some of the security holes taken advantage of by certain viruses and hackers. Nuff said.
Hope this infomation is useful. Please reply to this thread if it is useful or has helped you. If you have a problem however that you need solving, please do not reply to this thread, but make a new one. You've done well to read this far!
Can an admin please pin this post to the top? Thanks!
Viruses
Most of the problems on here involve viruses or spyware so firstly viruses.
As you know it's strongly recommended to have anti-virus software on your computer, but which one do you go for? Do you go and buy one of the big brand name anti-virus packages or download a free one? I would personally use one of the free download ones. I find the free ones tend to be less intrusive, update automatically find more viruses more relibally and of course, don't need a subscription although they do need to be registered for free.
If you have one of the brand names like Norton or Macaffee and it works for you, I'd stick with it until your update subscription expires, typically 90 or 365 days, after that I could go and uninstall it and go install a free one like Avast or AVG from www.avast.com or www.grisoft.com . It is discouraged from having more than 1 virus scanner on your computer at any one time. They usually interfere with each other.
If you don't currently have an anti-virus program installed or you think it's too difficult to install one or you'd like a second opinion about viruses on your computer, try a onetime online scan at housecall.trendmicro.com . As it's a onetime scan and not installed on your computer, you can do this with another anti-virus installed. It's good to see how your current anti-virus is going. It's also easy to use, click scan now, click yes on the security warning and once the virus definitions are downloaded choose your hard drives and scan away!
Spyware
The other main issue, spyware
Best thing to do about this is try not to get any spyware on your system in the first place. one of the sneakiest tactics played nowadays is using spoof windows that look like real windows, but if you click anywhere on the page, even on no or cancel, it still takes it as a yes because it's programmed to work that way. If you're unsure, click on the upper-right-most X to close the window, but beware, I've seen tactics where the window goes above the screen so hides the real X and puts a fake X there.
You can also use the key combination on the keyboard ALT with F4 so tell a program to close. just make sure the correct window is selected before pressing it or it will close windows you don't intend to, it just takes practice. Don't worry, if you press Alt-F4 in something like Microsoft Word, it will be the same as clicking on the X or choosing close and exit, so will ask you if you want to save first.
Now for spyware on your computer, you can again use retail packages to remove spyware, but you can also download alternatives for free. Adaware SE and spybot are the most well known ones. you can download them from www.lavasoft.de/support/download or www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html for Adaware SE and Spybot S&D respectively. They are relatively easy to use but make sure the definitions are up to datte before scanning.
You'll find once these have scanned, you don't really even need popup blockers as they eliminate popup generators on your computer already. However they don't stop popups generated by a particular website. I personally use Adaware.
Also see the section below on HijackThis
Firewalls
These reduce the risk of hackers and other nasty things coming through a backdoor in windows. I personally do not use one as I think I've eliminated most security risks myself on my own computers. If you have a broadband router (wireless or not) they are almost always a hardware firewall stopping pretty much anything that a software firewall will do. Again you can use retail packages or go for free ones. Zone alarm is a popular one but I haven't got on well with that. You can download from www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp .
Another popular free firewall is done by Sygate, is Sygate Personal Firewall. Download from the bottom of smb.sygate.com/download_buy.htm .
One thing though with firewalls, you need to know how to use them to best effect. Some people have them installed with almost all security turned off (they might as well have not had a firewall), and I've seen computers with every security thing turned on, that complete internet access was blocked, so try not to be lulled into a false sense of security. Default configurations are usually the best. again it's not wise to have more than one firewall on a system at once.
HijackThis
This is a good program to use to get to the depths of hijacking tactics. Use this program with care though as it requires knowledge of windows to use effectively. you can look up entries found in there at www.sysinfo.org . although it doesn't list everything that HijackThis reports, you can use it to sort many of them. Most Search defaults and Homepage defaults can be changed, because even if you do erase them, you can set a new homepage default and use your favourite search engine.
Most BHO entries can be deleted. If you don't recognise the name, you can safely delete it. If the BHO is required, it will be installed automatically by the website you visit, and anyway, BHO's are usually used for bad for spying and hijacking, but can be used for good too. In the run list, check for weird names. Use the guide at www.sysinfo.org for most items in the run and startup section. I can't really give you a list of things to delete here as some spoof things look like real things. but type them in sysinfo EXACTLY how it would appear.
The bottom section is DPF's. Again pretty much all of these can be deleted unless you recognise them If in doubt delete them. These are things that install and run when you accept the security window that appears at certain real websites or popups. you can delete them safely, it just means they have to be downloaded next time. no hassle with broadband, might take a few minutes to redownload when you revisit the site which uses the DPF on a standard modem, depends how big the DPF is. Download HijackThis from www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html
Windows Update
Go to www.windowsupdate.com to keep your windows up to date. you can also use the Windows Autoupdate too. This stops some of the security holes taken advantage of by certain viruses and hackers. Nuff said.
Hope this infomation is useful. Please reply to this thread if it is useful or has helped you. If you have a problem however that you need solving, please do not reply to this thread, but make a new one. You've done well to read this far!
Can an admin please pin this post to the top? Thanks!
