Spyware, Trojans, etc.

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Zark
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Spyware, Trojans, etc.

Post: # 2409Post Zark »

One of our fellow members recently posted about their pc troubles in the thread titled: 'Just-Identified Internet Worm Attacks Forums Like Ours'. This problem is so common right now that I think it may deserve a thread in this section of our forum.
It's the second day that I have been subjected to professional hacking attempts. Someone keeps trying to turn my computer to a zombie for sending Spam. This Someone is also intrested in the information I have saved on my computer. I'm on watch!
My father has had similar problems just recently. There is some good free software for removing this stuff from your computer such as Ad-Aware, Bazooka, 'Spybot - Search & Destroy', SpywareBlaster and many more. I found that I had to use about four spyware removal programs in order to correct the problem!

Just go to http://www.download.com and you will find that there is a section entirely devoted to spyware.

The most common causes of infection currently appear to be security holes in Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer (IE). So I recommend that you go to http://www.mozilla.org and download Firefox which is a far more secure internet browser than IE and in my opinion a great improvement on IE. Whilst your at it you may wish to download another email program such as Thunderbird.
Last edited by Zark on Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:29 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Alisima
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Post: # 2410Post Alisima »

Most spyware comes from free downloads and visiting porn sites. Just dont do that, and you dont need any banti-spyware.
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Zark
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Post: # 2411Post Zark »

Alisima wrote:Most spyware comes from free downloads and visiting porn sites. Just dont do that, and you dont need any banti-spyware.
It is true that there is a lot of adware installed in free software. But some of us don't have the funds right now to justify paying for every peice of software and much prefer to use freely available software. I often checkout the comments on http://www.download.com before trying free software, especially the negative comments as people post warnings when there is spyware included in the product.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. -- Douglas Adams
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Vesko
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Post: # 2490Post Vesko »

Spyware indeed comes regularly with free software. Running an always-on antivirus, a firewall and a spyware checker such as Zark quoted, is crucial nowadays. Indeed, not all spyware removal programs are equal and sometimes one needs to use more than one to get rid of spyware. Spybot Search & Destroy has some neat features called TeaTimer and SDHelper, be sure to enable them if you are not a novice with computers.

Microsoft are also developing a spyware utility (actually they bought a company in the field) that they are going to make available for free.

The other possibility, of course, is to use GNU/Linux, or get a Mac.
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Vesko
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Post: # 2497Post Vesko »

UPDATE: Microsoft has released their new anti-spyware tool this morning, but it's beta:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... layLang=en
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Zark
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Post: # 2500Post Zark »

Vesko wrote:UPDATE: Microsoft has released their new anti-spyware tool this morning, but it's beta:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... layLang=en
Wow, I am impressed that they did that. Mind you it was necessary that they do this as they are losing a great deal of credibility given how easily folks manage to hack Outlook and IE.. A smart move on their part, but I wonder if anyone will complain about 'anti-competitive practices' ?
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. -- Douglas Adams
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Vesko
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Post: # 2567Post Vesko »

I have tried the beta version, and found out that Microsoft's new release is quite good. I had recently half-cleaned a spyware by hand, but I knew I hadn't tracked down everything, and Internet Explorer has been crashing on every unsuppressed pop-up. Yet, Spybot SD and AdAware could not find anything. The Microsoft one found the culprit and stopped the crashing. When it finds spyware, it reports / uploads it to an online database shared with the product team and other users, which is excellent.

They intend to release a combined antivirus & antispyware product, and this is indeed the way to go. Last time they released an antivirus was circa 1993, but the effort failed, perhaps because there were not so many viruses back then, and also because the percentage of people who were intelligent users of their computers was much greater.
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Vesko
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Post: # 3411Post Vesko »

I have recently encountered a situation where Microsoft's product has not been able to clean a particular spyware, and AdAware and SpyBot Search & Destroy has been able to. So my best advice is to use all 3 programs.
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trumpet_is_cool
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Post: # 3517Post trumpet_is_cool »

I switched to Linux 2 Years ago and i`m happy since then, i discovered how easy it is to remote-control/hack a Windows PC and i had to reinstall my Windows every 1/2 Year due to Garbage on the Harddisk that slows down the PC...Till now i have no problems with Dialers,Viruses,Hackers,Trojans...And the Architecture of Linux will avoid this problems in future too.

It is also amazing how fast Linux is developing and the best thing IT IS FREE, nobody makes big money with it and every individual can make this system better.I truly think that the developement of Open-Source will speed up drastical.

Of course it is a challenge to switch from Windows to Linux (or freeBSD or Mac...)
some programms are not available or you have to learn how to deal with alternative Programms...But i like such challenges - They don`t make me more stupid :-)

At work i have to work with WinXP and i`m everyday pissed about getting a white screen when i start a little bigger Application and that on a 3000MHZ Engine...And for such OS i shall Pay money and make one guy richer + I need other programms and have to pay money for them only to be SECURE in the web :-)

As with everyone...You have the freedom of choice :-)
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Psi
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Post: # 7703Post Psi »

Times have changed, my friends, NOW is the time to switch to a real platform ... to a Mac.

I, too, used to follow the Dark Side (admittedly that was before I saw the 'light' in 1991) but wouldn't swap my Mac for a Windoze machine if you paid me.

Now, there's no need to 'switch' since Mac has switched to Intel processors. Now, there are several ways you can use all of your old Windows programs including the OS - either by hard booting into Windows or running it parallel within Mac (the latter is slower, of course, because you are running two operating systems at once but safer in that Mac's firewall and other protective systems will prevent viruses and all the other nasties Win people are used to). And the latest independent benchmark tests show that Macs running in Windows mode are faster than comparable PCs - both desktops and laptops - and the hardware is cheaper. Here's the latest story re price comparisons between the new Mac laptops and their Dell counterparts: http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblo ... nts/11408/

Remember, there are no viruses on the Mac platform which is rock solid. UNIX. And, in Mac mode, you have most of the 'important' apps native - Microsoft Office and Adobe, for example. Sure, we don't have as many games as Win does - but now you can just run them native in Windows by hard booting the Mac. Two computers for the price of one.

Boy, if ever there was a reason for a flame war it's over operating systems - right? Before you respond, roadtest a Mac. If you like getting things done rather than looking under the hood of your computer, then a Mac is for you.

Search your feelings, young Skywalker. May the Mac be with you. :alien:
"The unexamined life is not worth living."
~ Socrates
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