Your Computer May Be Infected. Here's How To Check.. (NOT about virus)

<span style="font-size:85%;">by: <b class="author">Fazly Mohamed</b></span><br /><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">NOTE: Please take time to read on - it may be vital for your PC's security. If you are not in the mood, just save it or print it out for later reference. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">A recent research revealed that 80% of the computers today is infected with these dangerous spyware and most of the users not aware of it. (Your computer could fall into this lot too.) The most dangerous fact is, even though the anti-virus software is running, these software can even inactivate them and take over your PC. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Have you experienced any of the following? </p><ul style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><li>Awsome popups comes out of nowhere, when browsing the web </li><li>Home page reset to some other site </li></ul><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">How can this happen? </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">The components installed when viewing certain sites, starts up and running as soon as it's finished installing (or after the page is completely loaded) and with every windows startup since then. Their job is to collect information and report (or transfer) it to an external computer. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">What is deceptive software? (Reference: www.microsoft.com) </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Spyware and unauthorized adware are two examples of "deceptive" software. Deceptive software includes programs which take over your home page or search page without first getting your permission. There are a number of ways deceptive software can get on your system. A common trick is to covertly install the software during the installation of other software you want such as a music or video file sharing program. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Whenever you are installing something on your computer, make sure you carefully read all disclosures, including the license agreement and privacy statement. Sometimes the inclusion of adware in a given software installation is documented, but it may appear at the end of a license agreement or privacy statement. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Sometimes deceptive software gets silently installed on your system without any warning at all. If you use Internet Explorer as your Web browser, this can happen if your Internet Explorer security setting is set to its lowest value. Make sure to keep this setting at the medium level or higher. Doing so will help you control what is being installed on your computer. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Have you ever had an experience where you were repeatedly asked to accept a download even after you said "no"? Creators of deceptive software often use such tricks to get you to load their software. If this happens to you, do not click "yes". Instead, try to close the Web page that first asked you to accept the download by hitting the "X" in the corner of the window. Alternatively, quit Internet Explorer and restart it to begin browsing the Internet again. If you visit a Web page that continually displays these tricky pop-up windows, that Web site may not be worthy of your trust. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Your computer may be infected by now, but you may not know. Just have a checkup with a software specifically designed for it, to know the status of your computer. You must clean infections once you find it and the game is not over yet. The spyware might reinfect your PC. So it's highly recommended that you run a firewall on your system after the clean up. This will allow you to monitor every single communication occurs with your computer and block the ones which you feel unnecessary. The firewall acts as a barrier between your PC and the external world (Internet / Network). </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">A good spyware detector recommended by most people is, http://noadware.cjb.net and it shows you all the infections and potential dangers in great detail. It's free to scan but not to clean. It's a good idea to have a scan even you have no idea of cleaning, since you know the status of your PC in great detail. This gives two advantages. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Firstly, if there are minor infections and if you have a fair knowledge on registry settings and how to edit them, you may have a try to clean them up. Secondly, if it shows that there are major infections, you can avoid using credit cards and doing other confidential stuff, until you clean it up later. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">You must run a firewall. In many new operating systems (eg. Windows XP), there is a built-in firewall. Google search on how to activate it. Others may try one at http://www.download.com </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">You may have a question by now. What is the purpose of these spyware? Even though we cannot give an explicit and clear cut answer, we can safely state that every thing boils down to the urge of more profits. How? The spyware collects all your personal information and transfer it to an external computer. The information is reviewed by a software in the receiving computer and then delivered targeted popup ads to your PC. There are many things that spyware does in addition to this. The most dangerous of those is that collecting the credit card numbers. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">If you have some technical knowledge on your PC, here's a technical explanation on what trouble does the spyware cause. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">1. An extra process is running to monitor and log your activities in your PC. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">2. Constant transfer is taking place between your PC and the spyware writer's computer. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">The first process in it self is an unneeded process and it contributes to slow down your PC. Second is the most harmful. It transfers logged info to the external PC (spyware writer's PC). Then the external PC transfers targeted popups to the infected PC. This, in addition to slowing down your PC because of these extra processes, it also slows down the internet connection, as the bandwidth is shared. In short, PC with a spyware is like a dumping ground for snakes. Once its there and up and running, it can do almost anything with your PC. </p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">Please pass this on to all you know. The most risk is for people who use Internet Explorer, as it is the most popular web browser and that very fact has drawn more attention of many malicious software developers. </p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> About The Author<br />Fazly Mohamed - fazlymohamed @ yahoo.com</span> </div>

by: Fazly Mohamed NOTE: Please take time to read on - it may be vital for your PC's security. If you are not in the mood, just save it ...

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Keeping Your Computer Safe From Viruses

<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-family:arial;" >By : matth02</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:arial;">To keep your computer safe from the multitude of computer viruses out there, there are several things you should be aware of. Let's examine a few that might just save your computer. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >Get yourself high-quality virus protection software:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you don't have virus protection software on your computer, you are pretty much leaving yourself open to viruses, spyware, malware, adware, worms, and other devious programs that can eventually lead to the destruction of your files and your computer. And, if you happen to be hit with a highly malicious virus, you can even become the victim of identity theft. A computer virus can literally get on to your computer, record every keystroke you make, and find out all of your passwords, bank account, and charge card information. So if you think that you don't need good virus protection software, ask yourself if ending up with a drained bank account is worth not taking the care to spend a few extra dollars on a virus protection program. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >What is the best software for virus protection?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There are many, many companies that market and sell great virus protection software. Some of the top virus protection software available on the market for the year 2007 includes: The Shield Pro, Bit Defender 9, Norton Antivirus, Kaspersky 5.0, McAfee Virusscan, Trend PC-cillin, and Panda Antivirus. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Let's take a look at one of these programs. The Shield Pro, for example, is both an anti-virus and firewall program. (Note that many popular anti-virus software programs come with firewall protection as well.) The Shield Pro is a good program for people who don't know too much about computers or virus protection. This is due to the fact that it is very simple to install and use. It will literally walk the user right through the very short installation process, and explain what is going on. This particular program scans your computer once a week and updates itself just as often. You don't have to remember to run scans with this program, as it does it on its own. If you have a problem getting The Shield Pro to work, it comes with a live help option. The Shield Pro does not take up a lot of space on your hard drive, unlike other popular programs. Therefore, it will not slow down your system to get the virus protection that you need. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The importance of updating anti-virus software:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It cannot be stressed enough just how important it is to update your anti-virus program. This is because your anti-virus software will only be 100% effective if it is totally up-to-date. Typically, if you purchase anti-virus software, it comes with one year of free updates for virus protection. After your year runs out, you will still have the anti-virus software on your PC, however you will have to purchase additional updates and make sure that you keep them up-to-date! For example, when your year runs out, you can simply purchase service for another year or more.</span><br /></div><br /><h4 style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">About the Author</span></h4><p class="ArticleText" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">More </span><a href="http://ecomputersecurity-today.com/" style="font-style: italic;">Computer Security</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> Articles at http://eComputerSecurity-Today.com. Learn how to operate a Successful </span><b style="font-style: italic;">Niche Website</b><span style="font-style: italic;"> Network at </span><a href="http://ewebcreator.com/" style="font-style: italic;">http://ewebcreator.com/</a><span style="font-style: italic;">. Matthew Hick has been designing profitable Niche Adsense Websites for over 5 years.</span> </span></p>

By : matth02 To keep your computer safe from the multitude of computer viruses out there, there are several things you should be aware of. L...

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Removing Viruses, Spyware, Adware And Trojans Using Free Antivirus And Free Antimalware

<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Submitted By: </span><span class="biggerlink" style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Matthew Rizos</span><br /><br /></span><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">Please follow the steps below to become malware free.</p><div> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">1. Backup your critical documents and system files</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">2. Create a Restore Point by clicking start – run – and typing rstrui.exe and click choose the option that allows you to create a restore point. The exact text\options will vary according the version of Windows you are using.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">3. Backup personal files such as documents and pictures to external media (like a usb hard drive, cd/dvd or flash drive)</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">4. Uninstall your current antivirus via add/remove programs in the control panel. I know this may seem a little weird since we are trying to remove malware, but it’s obvious that your current antivirus is not working otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. If you don’t have antivirus, then you can skip this step.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">5. Visit the following link to download AntiVir Free Edition to your download folder (like you’re my documents or desktop for example) The download is about 17 mb and takes about 1-2 min on cable or dsl.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">6. Double Click antivir_workstation_win7u_en_h (looks like a little umbrella) and follow the default install options.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">7. AntiVir will want to download an update. Please let the update download and install.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">6. Once AntiVir has been completely updated you may start encountering some virus detections. If you do please quarantine infections first (and only delete as a second option).</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">7. Now, we are going to reboot your PC in Safe Mode. Safe Mode loads a “bare bones” version of windows and disables 90% of viruses and their protection mechanisms.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">8. Reboot your pc.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">9. As the PC is starting please type the F8 key on your keyboard until you receive a text based list of about 6-10 options.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">10. Please use your up/down arrows on your keyboard and select safe mode. You will see about 30 lines of quickly scrolling text. This is normal.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">11. After 30 seconds – 5 minutes you will be loaded into windows safe mode (it says safe mode on all four corners of your screen). Windows may ask if you if you would like to enter safe mode. Choose Yes.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">12. Now it’s time to load AntiVir. You may have a shortcut on your desktop or you can load AntiVir by clicking Start – Programs – AntiVir PersonalClassic Edition -- Start AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">13. Click the “Scanner Tab”.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">14. Right Click “Local Drives” and click scan.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">15. Your entire computer will be scanned now. This entire process can take 1-4 hours (typically). During this process will most likely encounter malware ( such as viruses, spyware, adware or Trojans ). You should always try to remove malware in this order:</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">a. Repair<br />b. Quarantine<br />c. Rename<br />d. Delete</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">16. After the scan has completed and the malware has been neutralized you should do a reboot.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">The following steps below are removing additional malware left behind. We will be using MalwareBytes’ AntiMalware which can be downloaded from (malwarebytes.org). MalwareBytes Antimalware comes in 2 flavors: Free and Paid. The paid version offers always on protection and the free version requires you to initialize the scan.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">1. So, download MalwareBytes (from malwarebytes.org) and install it.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">2. Update MalwareBytes by launching it and clicking the update tab and then clicking check for updates.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">3. Once MalwareBytes has been completely updated please reboot into safe mode. If you don’t remember how to boot into safe mode please read steps 9,10 and 11 from above.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">4. In safe mode launch MalwareBytes.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">5. Select “Perform a Full Scan” and click Scan.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">6. Select the Drives that you want to scan and click Scan.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">7. At the end of the malware bytes scan quarantine anything that it finds.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">8. Reboot.</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">Optional Programs to run if your still experiencing malware issue are</p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;">ComboFix (Windows XP ONLY)<br />SmitFraudFix<br />VundoFix</p><br /><div id="authorbio" style="font-family:arial;"><p style="padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 100%;" class="text"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>About the Author</b>:<br /><br />Matthew Rizos is a PC Security Consultant in Saint Louis Mo You can read my blog at www.remove-malware.com</span></p></div><span style="font-family:arial;"></span>

Submitted By: Matthew Rizos Please follow the steps below to become malware free. 1. Backup your critical documents and system files 2. Cr...

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