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Got a virus/trojan or adware/spyware?
 Dean C
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 9,071
England
07-02-2004, 10:00 PM
What are these grotesque things?
How do they get on to your system?
Viruses/Trojans - How to keep clean
Spyware/Adware/Browser Hijackers Now with spyware you need to take a different approach. You can follow the tips above but we also need to outline some other tips to keep yourself clean. The main way that these pesty things get into your system is via vulnrabilities in your browser. Their aim is to take your credit card details, log your keystrokes, take over your homepage, bombar you with popups. Now a lot of people claim the cause of the huge rise in spyware is due to the flaws and vulnrabilities in internet explorer (IE). I myself have been using internet explorer for quite some time until about 6 months ago when I decided to migrate to another browser. The main reason for this was due to it's failure to follow standards and keep itself up to date. I wanted something new, fresh with new features and plugins. My answer was a great product released by the Mozilla foundation called Firefox. For me this is my favorite browser out right now. I just can't heap enough praise on it but I'm not going to bore you going on about it. I'm going to explain the security reasons why you should move away from IE and to an alternative browser and if you insist on carrying on to use IE then how to make it a little more secure. The great browser war Do you want to carry on using IE but make it a little more secure? Go here and take a look at the great tutorial on how to beef up IEs security settings. The problem with IE is most of the security settings are disable by default and your average joe bloggs who knows little about computers is not going to know anything about tweaking software settings, let alone care about it. So what we need to do is heighten the security of it. Follow the instructions in the tutorial and you should be just a little bit more secure. However due to the regular exploits being discovered in IE and windows almost every month, unless Microsoft starts upgrading its software and adding functionality and more security then you're just going to be at constant risk if you don't update your security settings. Also another important point to tweaking your security settings is to update your windows as often as possible. There's an option to enable auto-updated but I do it manually every day when I get on just to be safe. To go to windows update navigate to your start menu and go to 'Programs > Windows Update'. (It's in the first, far left column almost right at the top) Want to move away from IE and step into the light? The alternative browsers that are around right now are superb. We have new features, plugins, skins and lots more. There's several right now but two which stand out for me are:
You've got spyware already huh? Ok well there are literaly hundreds of spyware/adware removers out there. Some are free, some are paid. Just be careful of what you're using and if you're reading reviews of them make sure they are coming from an unbiased source. Freebies: Ad-Aware - Probably the most popular free one out. They update their definitions on a regular basis and have an active community base for trying to resolve problems. Spybot, Search & Destroy - Another hugely popular free one. I will warn you now though I've been using it for about 2 months and they haven't updated the definitions once. It's good and will clean up quite a lot of the clutter on your system and also prevent it from ever getting on your system but unless it keeps up to date with the latest spyware technologies it'll be of little use in the next year or so. Paid or Free Trial: SpySweeper - This one only recently came into my light but boy oh boy it does the job. It can run in the background, protect your memory and monitor cookies. Also it regularly updates its definitions and the scan finds a lot of stuff which the others will not. PestPatrol - This one's great too. Ignore the horrific interface and navigation. It does the trick and finds so much horrible things on your PC. I've found all sorts from decompilers to tracking cookies. It's a great tool to have. 
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You'll be much safer in the long run! (Note to RIAA: you can pay me later 
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#2
07-03-2004, 05:44 PM
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Continued...
Still got spyware in IE? Ok well this is not a foolproof method and you will need help unless you're a genius and can follow the jargon presented in the range of tutorials for this software. It's called HijackThis and was developed by a programmer not too long ago. It basically list the component parts of the registry used by legitimate programmers and also hijackers. It'll produce a log but I must urge you do not do anything with this program other than look at it unless you know what you're doing. I will not be held responsible if you use this program and end up with a mucked up PC. Now what I do reccomend you do is just generate your log file and pop on over to ComputerCops and they have a dedicated forum where users can post their HijackThis logs and have an expert analyse it and tell you what to edit/delete. Yet again I must stress this is something which should be done only if you know what you're doing and the people over at ComputerCops and myself cannot be held responsible for any accidental damage to your computer that you may cause. That's about it I hope you enjoyed reading the article and if you have any further resources which you reccomend then send me a private message with the link and I'll think about adding it to the list. Please only reccomend the software if you have personal experience with it. Copyright/Disclaimer This tutorial was written by Dean Clatworthy and is copyrighted material. It may not be posted on any forum or website without my written consent. If you wish to post this on your website then please contact me and I'll let you know if you can use it. Anyone found re-distributing, translating or modifying this article without permission will be reported to their appropriate host and internet service provider. Also I will not be held responsible for any damaged caused to your PC as a result of information provided in this article. All software, changes to your sytem you do at your own risk.
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#3
07-04-2004, 12:39 AM
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someone posting this on their forum/site and gives you credit for the article still has t ask permission?
what happened to people just offering information for the benfit of others? no offense.. your material, i just find that a little over the top..
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#4
07-04-2004, 09:49 AM
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Anyone who wants to use this article has to ask for my permission privately yes
 There's nothing a little over the top about these pests. All I've tried to do is provide an informative article to people who are new to getting rid of them to try and help
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#6
07-12-2004, 01:29 AM
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Nice article, but I have to strongly disagree on one point: Firewalls.
First of all, a friewall can never-ever consist of a single product - be it Soft- or Hardware. Furthermore, a "Firewall" on the system that should be protected doesn't make sense at all. All those personal "firewall" software available is kinda risky, as it gives the user a false feeling of being save - which isn't and won't be the case. In fact, thos PFWs can be highly dangerous when it comes to remote managemant functions - they can open backdoors to your system that won't even exist if there was no such program. As we all know, only closed ports are good ports. So if you don't have open ports there's no need for a "firewall" to block those So the only case in which personal firewalls might be useful is to stop programs from "calling home", but even this doesn't work well. Last point: Zone Alarm is the worst software of this type. If one really want's to use such software you'd better go with Tiny/Kerio Personal Firewall. I don't use a personal firewall and haven't had problems with digital crap (eg. worms, virusses, etc.) so far, although I am using Windows.
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#10
12-08-2004, 07:50 AM
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I know this thread is old, but Dean, when you link too http://www.grissoft.com/ near the top of your thread, the site doesnt exist anymore so you get one of the nasty search pages and lots of pop ups and download prompts. Just thought i would tell you.
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