[BVamp]

It occured to me the other day, that most of the guys that come to this forum may not be as computer savy as some of us here are. So I wanted to point out a couple of things that I use to protect myself when I am on the internet from the various nasties to be found out there.

First thing is spyware. This stuff is just BAD. You can get it from porn sites, from gambling sites, from programs like bonzi buddy (you uninstall it and the spyware stays), and more places that you wouldnt think would install this type of stuff. It is most noticeble as a toolbar suddenly loading with your internet browser every time you open it, also as popups every other click you make, changes to your homepage, and changes to whats called your "hosts" table, which tells your computer what site to go to when you type in an address or type an invalid address in and go to a search engine. All of these things happening is a BAD thing. You can get a good program for combating this called Ad-Aware SE, and is free for personal use, and you can update its scan engine for free. A nice thing about this program, is if it DOES interfere with something you like and use that has suspect items in it, you can add it to an ignore list so you can keep your wanted program. It will also allow you to restore your removed items if you screw something up. I have been on the internet since the days of "archie" "gopher" and BEFORE www was even a thought yet, and this is what I use, and you can read about it and download it here:

http://www.lavasoftu...ftware/adaware/

dont forget to right click and pick "select all" with this program after its done scanning, or it wont remove the stuff it finds.


Virus. Trojan Horse. Anyone that buys off the internet live in fear of these words. I have seen virii that will actually burn hardware out, that will not only allow someone to use your computer as if it were their own, but will also TELL them that you are online. I have seen and caught many of these things, and not one was any good for my machine, or its ability to run right. Here is what I use on a weekly basis. I also use a corporate version of Norton Anti-virus just in case i cant get ON the internet to clean my machine, but the link below just seems to catch more things when I use it. It will catch the worst of the spyware, and just about any virus within days of it being released into the internet to do its damage.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/


You should use both of these once a week, in my opinion, if not more, and keep them updated if you use them. Dialup users will have to wait a few minutes while the anti-virus program downloads and installs, but the ad-aware program is a one download thing, and updates failry quickly for a dialup connection. You can also use ad-aware without being connected to the internet, which does help if you KNOW you have spyware running, and want to get rid of it.

I hope this helps some of you out, and feel free to ask me anything you need help with. Im trying to help you guys out, and I am NOT plugging these two programs for the manufacturers. Try them out if you have symptoms like I described, or even if you dont. you will be amazed at what they pick up.

I didnt see anywhere else to post a thread like this here, so I chose the general forum to post in. I hope you all understand.

[KySoldier]

Bvamps started something good here. We should advise each other on good (clean) programs. I won't say I'm a computer guru, I started with Win 3.1 on the www about ten years ago. Progressed through the Microsoft OSs up to Win 2000 Pro, but I refuse to get XP as it hasn't proven itself to me yet. As for Outlook, its a big security goof and I don't touch it. Mac has better designed OSs but they are still the far minoirty. I only use them to edit video. Haven't messed with Linux yet. Adaware SE is a good program, I run it frequently and its never done me wrong. Nortons and McAfee are good virus scanners which is an absolute must.

[G O B]

Guys-Ran Bvamps post past my 2nd son,-GOOD STUFF. #2 son was IT admin. for a major college,now same for an aerospace program. Man knows his stuff. If he says Bvamp tells the truth, you can take it to the bank.

Other good stuff AntiVir (free antiviral just websearch anti virus) that is the one that I use. Also Yahoo users can use their free anti spy, I have had good luck with it, it even detected a worm that was slowing my system to a crawl.

Bottom line guys--DON'T f^@# around (on the internet) without PROTECTION!

G O B

[BVamp]

Another thing occured to me recently that is worth mentioning, here. When you post your email address on the ineternet, you should not post it like this:

myemail@myemailhost.com

you should always list it with a break in it, or other data that an internet search bot wont see, like:

myemail*NOSPAM*@myemailhost.com

or

my email @ myemailhost. com

and then specify right after that to remove either the *NOSPAM* or the spaces to get the correct email. you will save yourself loads of spam into your email like that. some people know to take the spaces off of it, so using * or $ or % or other odd "letters" will work better for keeping your email safer. safe ER.....not safe, safe ER....

there is a 10 year old trick (well, ive known about it for about ten years, at least) that STILL WORKS on sites like yahoo search and google that will bring up EVERY email from ANY site.....and hence "spam". old trick, simple solution.......

[shadow]

I use both of these and they work great for me. I tryed spybot before i got ad aware. I must say ad aware is sooo much better. spybot doesn't catch nearly as much and it doesn't even work at all sometimes. The first time i used ad aware i was really supprised about how much was on my computer. nortons will find things and won't be able to remove them so i do still have about 7 things that nortons finds and can't remove...i wish nortons would fix this.

[BVamp]

the housecall link should be able to get it out of there if its an infection of some kind.....ad-aware will get most everything else....

[Doerdie]

Spy Sweeper by Webroot....it stops dialers before they are installed. I run it, Adaware and Zone Alarm and it costs me NUTHING

[BVamp]

i forgot about zone alarm. good software firewall. better than winblow's packaged firewall. zone alarm will catch just about any dialer or trojan horse even if you do catch it the first time it tries to connect to anything if you have it set on just about any level of security

[BVamp]

Bumping this up, as Ive seen a few people say they were having problems with popups on thier computers, as well as some others that said that thier machines lock up on them.

[stokstad]

shadow, on Dec 24 2004, 03:51 AM, said:

I use both of these and they work great for me. I tryed spybot before i got ad aware. I must say ad aware is sooo much better. spybot doesn't catch nearly as much and it doesn't even work at all sometimes. The first time i used ad aware i was really supprised about how much was on my computer. nortons will find things and won't be able to remove them so i do still have about 7 things that nortons finds and can't remove...i wish nortons would fix this.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually its better to use both Adaware and spybot or even more if you can find good programs. One will catch stuff the other misses and vise versa. I use both and it seems to work well. Also I would like to recomend a free antivirus program called AVG. It seems to be working great for me and its free. Go to download.com and search for it. Zone alarm is a great firewall and a free one

[whatthedil]

Quote

Actually its better to use both Adaware and spybot or even more if you can find good programs. One will catch stuff the other misses and vise versa. I use both and it seems to work well. Also I would like to recomend a free antivirus program called AVG. It seems to be working great for me and its free. Go to download.com and search for it. Zone alarm is a great firewall and a free one

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with the adaware/spybot combo, it usually picks it all out. Anything else normally has to be hacked out manually.

I also agree with the AVG Free. It is an awesome Antivirus package at a great price! You can get it directly from the source at www.grisoft.com

This post has been edited by whatthedil: 28 February 2005 - 03:02 AM

[dodgeturbointerceptor]

Thanks man.....As I told you earlier...all that you had described was happening to my computer.....and hasn't since i downloaded this, and the stomp spyware.....


good looking out Bvamp!!

[akok]

I would also recomend giving Mozilla Firefox a try as your browser rather than MS Explorer. You will get hardly any pop-ups as most are designed to pop-up with Explorer running. Also Firefox has many useful plug-ins that are free on the Mozilla sight. Keep Explorer too ,as Firefox does not work on some sights. Its also free........

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

[Makc]

Spy Sweeper and Zone Alarm... Geez...

Bevamp, you are getting "rusty" with the names of the software if you are confirming that those are worth installing....

You guys were all good with me right up until I saw you say that those were good...

[urotu]

Good post BVamp, an often overlooked part of net surfing and basic computer maintanence.

I use AdAware by Lavasoft, but also run Spybot Search and Destroy for spyware. I run both because they will both catch somethings that the other won't.

Spybot Search and Destroy

As for antivirus I use Norton, but it isn't free, but $60 a year is fine for piece of mind. I also run Panda ActiveScan, it's a free online service you can get through their website here.

http://www.pandasoftware.com/

Just look for a scan your PC now link, or the activeScan link.

This post has been edited by urotu: 03 April 2007 - 04:26 PM

[akok]

If you run Firefox and have not upgraded to the latest version do so......it has some great new features including a built in spell check function that checks on the fly. Lord knows I needed that . ver 2.0.0.3

[akok]

How about a great free media player....VLC media player. Small program that plays most any media. Thats all I ever use these days.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[BVamp]

yeh, i Know I forgot some, but hell, I wanted other people to chime in.

[Makc]

I'm the admin by trade, not just the admin of this forum (although the word sysadmin as almost equal to a cuss word these days as there are so many people that call themselves that and have no clue “what da hell they are doing”!)

Having said that, my suggestion of the software that every end user should have on their systems is very simple (as it was mentioned in the post above):

TrendMicro Internet Security 2007 - for $50/year you get a license to protect up to 3 computers at home. (You can actually get the same license on ebay for only $18-$20 - just make sure it is for 2007!)

The Trend Micro Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) would be a good place to start (if you do not have antivirus installed) to scan your system for treats, but it does not give you the protection like full version of TrendMicro Internet Security. If you use Norton (which I am personally not a fan of as it slows your systems performance by about 25% and is the one that most of the hacks are written for) try using Housecall – chances are it will find quite a few things that Norton simply missed.

“AdAware” and “SpyBot Search and Destroy” were two great pieces of software to use prior to TrendMicro Internet Security 2007 release as this release has almost all the features of those two combined in one package.

Spy Sweeper – well this is almost a spyware in itself!

Zone Alarm – plain sucks! Would not trust this one with guard my dirty laundry!

This is just my take on the subject...

[Racegal20]

OK, computer guru's. I can't get my Internet Explorer to open. It's affecting my ability to open other pages. I use AOL. I know. They suck but as far as I have seen, they all do. I'm trying to order tickets online. Rush is coming to Raleigh and I'm a MAJOR Neil Peart fan. I've just got to see them. So why doesn't my IE open?

[Juggernaut]

AVAST good free anti virus.

http://www.avast.com/

[Makc]

Racegal55, on Apr 3 2007, 08:08 PM, said:

OK, computer guru's. I can't get my Internet Explorer to open. It's affecting my ability to open other pages. I use AOL. I know. They suck but as far as I have seen, they all do. I'm trying to order tickets online. Rush is coming to Raleigh and I'm a MAJOR Neil Peart fan. I've just got to see them. So why doesn't my IE open?

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ would be a really good place to start. Let it scan trough your system and find all the "bugs" first. Then, do the "Windows Update" thing and see if it helps. If it does not, under optional updates, in the same "Windows Update" there is IE7 available for install. That should fix it. If it does not, then there is something seriously wrong with your box.

[BVamp]

I have written virii (for experimental purposes and system security tests) that mcaffee and symantec STILL cant see, even when set all the way to the max on thier settings. mcafee just seems like it IS a virus to me. that is definately one product I have always HATED.

for a firewall? well, zone alarm is SOMETHING you can use, but like max says, it aint all that great.


I wouldnt do a fucking THING on your computer, racegal until you get the issue sorted out. especially any credit card info or bank statement inquiries.

[Racegal20]

Makc, on Apr 4 2007, 11:26 AM, said:

Racegal55, on Apr 3 2007, 08:08 PM, said:

OK, computer guru's. I can't get my Internet Explorer to open. It's affecting my ability to open other pages. I use AOL. I know. They suck but as far as I have seen, they all do. I'm trying to order tickets online. Rush is coming to Raleigh and I'm a MAJOR Neil Peart fan. I've just got to see them. So why doesn't my IE open?

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ would be a really good place to start. Let it scan trough your system and find all the "bugs" first. Then, do the "Windows Update" thing and see if it helps. If it does not, under optional updates, in the same "Windows Update" there is IE7 available for install. That should fix it. If it does not, then there is something seriously wrong with your box.

I've tried this 3 times (the link). Guess how many times I've been bumped offline? You got it. I called TWC, my ISP. They say it's not them. I've only had this puter about 2-3 months. This is bullshit.

[Gaddis]

Um, did you happen to do a "scheduled" Micro$oft software upgrade with your anti-virus program running?

I know that borked Outhouse Express on me once.

Only thing I can think of trying to do is try to open Internet Explorer using the computer's "Run" command. If it doesn't work that way, I think you can just re-install Internet Explorer using your original Windows CD.

Go ahead and "Roll them Bones."

[Racegal20]

Gaddis, on Apr 5 2007, 07:17 PM, said:

Um, did you happen to do a "scheduled" Micro$oft software upgrade with your anti-virus program running?

I know that borked Outhouse Express on me once.

Only thing I can think of trying to do is try to open Internet Explorer using the computer's "Run" command. If it doesn't work that way, I think you can just re-install Internet Explorer using your original Windows CD.

Go ahead and "Roll them Bones."

I reinstalled IE7 and it works fine now. I still can't open alot of windows through AOL but I can through IE. That's all I was really worried about. I'll still work on my AOL problem but I got what I really needed. I'll probably try to reinstall it too. Can't do it online but I've got a CD.

[Gaddis]

Having the original Windows CD handy for quick reinstalls can cure many a problem you happen to run into running Micro$oft products.

Besides, you're probably not missing much not being able to open those AOL windows.

They're probably just telling you they are dissapointed in you for accessing a forum called Saiga-12.com using their network .

[BVamp]

any machine Ive installed aol onto destabilsed. it is some shitty fucking software, I gotta tell ya. I had a win98 machine that never locked up, even after having two weeks of uninterrupted up-time, and installed it on there to go get something I needed (a driver I think it was), and the machine was never the same again.

[Makc]

Racegal55, on Apr 4 2007, 10:45 PM, said:

I've tried this 3 times (the link). Guess how many times I've been bumped offline? You got it. I called TWC, my ISP. They say it's not them. I've only had this puter about 2-3 months. This is bullshit.

House call is good if you have a high-speed connection, dial-up (AOL) is not a good choice for that...

Download Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 Trail - it is fully functional product, free for 30 days. After you install it, it will download and install the scan engine and virus definitions updates. After that do a FULL SCAN of your PC.

[Racegal20]

Makc, on Apr 10 2007, 01:01 PM, said:

Racegal55, on Apr 4 2007, 10:45 PM, said:

I've tried this 3 times (the link). Guess how many times I've been bumped offline? You got it. I called TWC, my ISP. They say it's not them. I've only had this puter about 2-3 months. This is bullshit.

House call is good if you have a high-speed connection, dial-up (AOL) is not a good choice for that...

Download Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 Trail - it is fully functional product, free for 30 days. After you install it, it will download and install the scan engine and virus definitions updates. After that do a FULL SCAN of your PC.

Thanks Max. I got Housecall to run. Didn't fix the problem with AOL. I did manage to get AOL fixed without reinstalling. Not sure what I did. But that's the way it usually works for me. I have fixed every problem I've had with my computer but as usual, I have no idea exactly what I did. Just trial and error. Thanks guys for all your help.