Johnny Doe, meet the McGeeks.
Computers and Viruses and Spyware, Oh My
May 19th
We write about the threats of viruses, spyware and malware a lot, but it’s still what we’re most often asked about so we are happy to continue trying to provide you with the best information we can find on the subjects.
The bottom line with these threats is that while a majority can be cleaned or removed from your system after infection, that doesn’t mean they didn’t do great harm before you found them, so the best thing to do is take every step possible to prevent them from getting on your PC in the first place.
This means having a good Firewall and AntiVirus setup on your machine, and allowing them to update your protections daily. This usually runs in the background and won’t interfere with what you’re doing on the computer.
There are free options for both available, as well as affordable commercial titles too. We prefer one of the commercial products out there simply because they seem to update against the latest threats a little faster than the free options do, and the level of support you can expect when paying for software is usually higher.
Still, if you can’t afford a few dollars for one of the commercial firewall and antivirus products then at the very least use the free options… just get your PC protected.
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Internet Security In The Workplace
Mar 24th
Businesses struggle with securing their Information and Data against intentional and unintentional breaches on a daily basis. Everything from hackers to hardware failures pose a threat to digital files, but one area many businesses overlook or tend to not be cautious enough in is the Internet access of their employees.
- Information leaks
- Hackers
- Spyware and Malware
- Virus and Trojan infections
These are just a few of the potential risks when employees have Internet access, and they pose a threat to more than just the individual employee’s workstation. Once inside, hackers or programs can potentially gain access to your entire network, your databases, customer information, payroll information…almost everything you have in digital form.
For managers and owners in workplaces where employees have Internet access it’s vital to ensure that you have taken every possible measure to secure your network and every workstation against intrusions. Don’t rely on your employees to be safe while online, because without the proper tools and security in place there is no such thing as safe Internet activity.
And for anyone who works in an office that provides Internet access, it would not be out of line to inquire with your supervisor about whether they’ve taken the appropriate steps to secure their office hardware from intrusions. Remember, you’re not just protecting the business, but also your own personal information and the data of your customers too.
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Removing The Vundo Trojan From Your PC
Mar 23rd
We’ve received a few messages recently from people who unfortunately found their PC’s infected with the Vundo Trojan. Some have called it a virus, but it’s really a trojan horse which most often causes popups and other dubious and unwanted advertising to appear on your screen.
This trojan horse has also been used by some malicious people to do things like launch Denial of Service attacks on networks from the infected machines, so this is more severe than a simple annoying issue of advertising, it opens your machine up to all kinds of risky behavior.
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Vundo Removal- How did this virus ruin my computer?
by Jake Black
In the past few years there has been one virus on the internet that has destroyed countless computers and had their owners wondering how it all happened. The vundo.trojan virus has steadily infected computers all over the world at a great rate since its inception in 2005. Many experts state that over 50% of the computers connected to the computer without adequate antivirus protection were infected in 2008. The vundo Trojan is definitely a disaster for any computer, as it can literally destroy a computer in mere days, if not hours. I have personally had a lot of experience dealing with vundo over the years, and have staged many battles against the virus over the years and vundo has won a majority of the time. Vundo has taken over many names over the years of its existence and has hundreds of variations; virtuemonde, vundo, win32 vundo, MS Juan, virtumondo are just a few of the more popular stands infecting computers today. The one fact about vundo that is concerning is that the most popular spyware programs on the market cannot remove the virus. Programs like Norton or McAfee can detect the threat and tell you when your computer is infected, but have problems actually neutralizing the threat of the Trojan. The problem that most people have when they get the virus is they think that since the virus was detected it should be taken care of by one of these programs, which most of the time is incorrect. These programs are very good at many things, but do not cut it when it comes to the vundo virus, probably because the virus was designed to withstand these programs that control most of the market. Vundo spreads in a way that is hard to control, especially with the spread of p2p networks like limewire, kazza, and bittorrent. You can get vundo in many ways, including:
• P2P (peer to peer) programs such as limewire, kazzaa, and ares are common sources of the virus. Fake music, movie, or codec files are uploaded and when they are opened on your computer automatically install vundo without your knowledge.
• Direct downloads from bad websites. Many sites will funnel you through to a download of the virus without your knowledge, many of these sites are of the adult nature and create pop ups and trouble for your computer. Some sites will not let you exit unless you download a file onto your computer, and these are extremely dangerous and account for many vundo problems.
• Emails from spammers. Many people will open the wrong email and get the vundo virus. Anti-spyware can generally regulate and check your emails for problems before they are opened.
• Other ways of getting vundo exist, but they all come from the internet in some way.
The Dangers of letting vundo have free reign over your computer are monumental, as it can download horrible files like key loggers that download important files from your computer and can lead directly to identity theft. It is extremely important to remove the virus completely and quickly to prevent any loss of data and the working order of your computer. Visit www.vundo-removal.com for vundo removal tips and recommended anti-spyware programs.
Hi, I’m Jake Black and I have been an IT specialist for 20 years. I have an expertise in spyware and anti-virus programs and own a few websites dedicated to protection of computers from viruses. Please Visit www.vundo-removal.com for a detailed guide on how to remove the vundo virus and keep spyware off of your computer for good.
Almost Anyone Can Remove Spyware or a Virus – Save Money
Mar 13th
My friend has taken her Laptop to a local shop for security “clean ups” 5 times in the last year because she believed it had been compromised by either a virus or some form of spyware. Each clean up trip costing her $74.95
That’s almost $400 in one year to do what she probably could have done herself in just a few minutes with the right software helper, many of which can be purchased for under $100.
Here is some more information on how almost anybody can do their own security clean ups and save some money:
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Virus Help and Spyware Removal…how company’s profit off you!
by James Plewak
The truth about how to remove viruses and spyware.
Are you technologically challenged? Do you pay large electronic stores for “tune-ups” and virus removal? Unfortunately any company that charges you money to remove your viruses is taking advantage of your lack of knowledge. Removing viruses and cleaning out malware are the common problems faced with people today.
First of all, to remove malware you don’t need any sort of certification or programming expertise, all you need is a good virus removal program and a search engine. Here are the simple steps needed to remove a virus for people who really don’t know how things work.
1) Purchase effective software that doesn’t take up a lot of system resources. (Information on anti virus products and other software at bottom of page)
2) Install the software with its easy to follow step by step installation procedures.
3) Run the software’s entire system scans.
4) Follow the software’s virus removal steps…
Sounds just a little to simple…
That is basically what the people you pay 50$ to 100$ do to remove your viruses. Kind of frustrating isn’t it? However not ALL viruses are that simple to remove, that is where google comes into play. Simply google what the virus may be doing, from moving your cursor to closing your web browser, and there are guides posted by other people for removing the virus! My website will recommend to you the best products and helpful guides to remove viruses.
When you encounter a virus that your software is not able to remove, first you have to find out what kind of virus you are dealing with. Once you have done your research into google on your computer’s symtoms, you just have to bombard your system with anti malware software. When your computer gets a virus you basicly treat it as that bad cold you got before you had a big day at work.
You woke up in the morning, feeling awful, and took as many cold medications, remedy’s, tea’s and decongestants that you thought your body could handle. Similarly with a virus you just install some free and some very inexpensive products and run them all over the course of the day, any virus that is in your system, will be removed!
James D. Plewak offers computer tips, help and product recommendations to optimize speed, safety and security. Visit Virus help and removal for more information, helpful tips, post questions or find products. James will do is best assisting you with your computer and virus issues.
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Basic and Vital Security Measures To Protect Your PC
Mar 11th
We talk about this topic often here, but the fact is people tend to hear the warnings but not act upon them until after they’ve experienced a problem.
Waiting until after some malicious hacker steals your personal information, credit card numbers or even identity is not a good plan, so we’ll continue offering tips like these on the most basic and fairly easy measures that can be taken to protect yourself and your computer when you’re going online.
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5 Critical Steps to Protecting Your Computer on the Internet
by John Lenaghan
Spyware, viruses and worms… oh my!
If you are connected to the internet, you need to make sure you get your computer set up properly if you want to avoid problems down the road.
With all the viruses, spyware and other threats on the internet today, no computer should be set up without the proper protection.
And that protection needs to be in place as soon after you hook up your new machine as possible.
The following five steps will make your computer a much harder target for threats. You still won’t be completely immune to problems, but 99% of the time the threat will pass you by, looking for the easy mark.
1. Running a Personal Firewall
A personal firewall is software that basically makes your computer invisible to hackers, worms and other threats that can infect your computer over the internet.
Setting up a firewall is the absolute first thing you should do if you’re going to connect to the internet. Without a firewall, your computer could get infected in as little as one minute after connecting.
If you have a brand new computer running Windows XP Service Pack 2, there is a firewall built into Windows. It will already have been turned on when you first set up your computer.
If you’re running an older version of Windows, even an earlier version of Windows XP, there is no firewall automatically set up for you. In this case there are two possibilities:
- Your computer came pre-loaded with a firewall such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee Internet Security – You have no firewall installed and should download one ASAP.
If you don’t have any personal firewall software installed, you should do so right away. Zone Alarm is a very good firewall program that has a version that you can download and install for free.
You can download the free version of Zone Alarm from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/zonealarm
2. Turn on Windows Updates
Again, if you’re running Windows XP Service Pack 2 this is already set up, but otherwise you should turn on Windows Updates. Microsoft releases updates for security problems and other bugs in Windows on a regular basis.
These updates will keep your computer running better, and they often fix security issues that could compromise your information or privacy.
If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, you can double-check that automatic updates are turned on by clicking Start, then click Control Panel, then double-click Security Center. The window that opens will tell you if automatic updates are turned on, and lets you turn them on if they’re not.
To turn on automatic updates in earlier versions of Windows XP, click on the Start menu, click Control Panel and then double-click on System. On the “Automatic Updates” tab, click the option to “Automatically download the updates and install them on the schedule I specify.”
To turn them on in Windows 2000, click on Start, click Control Panel and then double-click on Automatic Updates. Again, click the option to “automatically download the updates and install them on the schedule I specify.”
Now when Microsoft releases updates, they will be downloaded for you automatically and Windows will tell you when they are ready to be installed.
3. Install & Update Antivirus Software
Most new computers come with antivirus software these days. You might have Norton, McAfee, PC-Cillin or another brand. No matter what program you have, you will need to update it when you get connected to the internet.
It doesn’t matter how new your computer is – there will be new viruses, and new updates for the antivirus software, since it was loaded.
The exact process is different for each brand of antivirus program, but most of them will have an icon in the bottom right corner of your desktop, beside the time. The icon might be a picture of a shield (McAfee), a stethoscope (Norton) or something else.
In most cases, if you point to the icon for your antivirus and click the right mouse button, a menu will pop up with an update option. It could be simply called update or could be something like Live Update or Download Latest Updates. If you click on the update option (with the left button this time) it will install the newest updates for you.
If you’re not sure which icon is for your antivirus software, just point to each one for a few seconds and a little title should pop up telling you what it is.
4. Install Anti-Spyware Software
Spyware – and other things known as adware and malware – is becoming as big a problem as viruses. Spyware programs can cause a lot of problems with your computer, not to mention they can track your personal information and you never know where it’s being sent.
Some new computers might includes antispyware software, but most of them don’t yet. There are quite a few anti-spyware programs available, some free and some not. The one I recommend is from Microsoft and is one of the free ones.
One of the reasons I like it is because it always runs in the background and will automatically catch a lot of spyware before it gets on your computer.
Many of the other programs don’t catch it until you run a scan. Not only does this allow things to get on your computer, it also means you have to actually remember to run a scan.
You can download the free Microsoft Antispyware from http://www.computer-help-squad.com/antispyware
5. Set up a Free Email Account
This last item is not as critical as the first four, but I would highly recommend you set up an email account with one of the free services like Hotmail or Gmail.
Once you’re on the internet, you’ll find a lot of useful information that you want that requires you to provide an email address. In some cases, these people will end up sending you a bunch of spam.
If you use a free email account to sign up for anything that you don’t know for sure you can trust, it’s not going to fill your main email with a bunch of junk.
This goes for anything really, not just online information. If you’re entering a contest or signing up for anything offline and you don’t know where your information could end up being used, I would suggest using your free email address.
If worse comes to worse, and your free email address gets inundated with spam, you can always just set up a new one and let the old one expire.
Some of the better free email services are www.hotmail.com, www.gmail.com and www.yahoomail.com.
If you’ve had your computer for a while and never done any of these things, you should still take these steps to get it set up properly. It will definitely save you a lot of time – and possibly money – as you use your system.
About the author: http://www.i-zarada.com/computer