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RULE #1 "YOUR COMPUTERS FIRST LINE OF
DEFENSE IS YOU !!!!"
DO NOT expect your computer to
save your ass, An informed user can provide a sturdy wall of protection
for his PC for everything else all we can do is keep updated Antivirus
and Antispyware programs and cross our fingers.
E-MAIL
DO NOT open e-mail attachments unless
you know exactly whom sent it to you and for what reason, virus
developers are counting on you recognizing that E-mail sender therefore
assuming the attachment must be some cute innocent something "DON'T FALL
FOR IT", just because the message appears to be from Nice old ant Emma
doesn't mean she sent it, as soon as your PC becomes infected many
viruses will look thru your list of contacts and email themselves to all
your friends & family
NEVER open attachments unless
you requested them and know exactly what they are and why they are being
sent to you, E-mail attachments could easily be the most popular way
viruses get into your machines, Viruses are programs once you open them
they will do whatever they are designed to do, all the fancy firewalls
and Internet restrictions will do you no good if you execute that
infected program.
WEB SITES
Avoid at all cost questionable
websites, whenever prompted to install Java o ActiveX components while
browsing a webpage try to close the prompt by clicking on the X on the
upper right hand corner of the prompt box, whenever possible do NOT
click on the YES or NO option, if you end up on one of those websites
that flood you with POPUP boxes use the combination ALT-F4 repeatedly to
close them before they have the opportunity to open other windows
Use a POPUP blocker to
avoid being flooded with advertisements, most of them include the option
to ALLOW certain pages to POP OPEN when they are desired.
Most modern browsers including
Firefox and internet explorer include POP UP blockers, many toolbars
such as googles have built in POPUP filters as well
Unfortunately it is no longer necessary to open up attachments to
get your computer infected with nasty programs & parasitic software, Web
pages & even E-mail messages can now contain active code which can
infect your computer with a new breed of computer parasites commonly
known as spyware.
According to http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/s/spyware.html
spyware
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Last
modified: Friday, May 21, 2004 |
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(n.) Any
software
that covertly gathers user information through the user's
Internet
connection without his or her knowledge, usually for advertising
purposes. Spyware
applications are typically
bundled as a hidden component of
freeware or
shareware programs that can be
downloaded from the Internet; however,
it should be noted that the majority of shareware and freeware
applications do not come with spyware. Once installed, the
spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits
that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can
also gather information about
e-mail
addresses and even passwords and credit card numbers.
Spyware is similar to a
Trojan horse in that users unwittingly
install the product when they install something else. A common
way to become a victim of spyware is to download certain
peer-to-peer file
swapping products that are available today.
Aside from the questions of
ethics and privacy, spyware steals from the user by using the
computer's memory resources and also by eating
bandwidth as it sends information back
to the spyware's home base via the user's Internet connection.
Because spyware is using memory and system resources, the
applications running in the background can lead to system
crashes
or general system instability.
Because spyware exists as
independent
executable programs, they have the
ability to monitor
keystrokes, scan files on the
hard drive, snoop other applications,
such as
chat
programs or word processors, install other spyware programs,
read
cookies,
change the
default
home page on the
Web
browser, consistently
relaying this information back to the spyware author who will
either use it for advertising/marketing purposes or sell the
information to another party.
Licensing agreements that
accompany software downloads sometimes warn the user that a
spyware program will be installed along with the requested
software, but the licensing agreements may not always be read
completely because the notice of a spyware installation is often
couched in obtuse, hard-to-read legal disclaimers.
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After installing the device
drivers on a new PC the FIRST THING I do is install the following programs to prevent spyware infestations
Just follow the white rabbit to
their respective WebPages:
MALWAREBYTES
SUPER ANTY SPYWARE
MICROSOFT ANTISPYWARE
MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENCIALS
ALL of them include online
code updates, make sure you download the latest updates for all of
them and immunize your PC against everything suggested.
VIRUS
According to
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/v/virus.html
virus
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Last
modified: Monday, April 05, 2004 |
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program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer
without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. Viruses can
also replicate themselves. All
computer
viruses are manmade. A simple virus that can make a
copy
of itself over and over again is relatively easy to produce.
Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will quickly
use all available
memory
and bring the
system
to a halt. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable
of transmitting itself across
networks
and bypassing
security
systems.
Since 1987, when a virus
infected
ARPANET,
a large network used by the Defense Department and many
universities, many
antivirus programs have become
available. These
programs
periodically check your
computer system for
the best-known types of viruses.
Some people distinguish
between general viruses and worms. A worm is a special type of
virus that can replicate itself and use memory, but cannot
attach itself to other programs. |
My next step in defending the
system I am setting up is installing a reputable Antivirus program, I
usually use Norton antivirus however there are a number of free
antivirus applications out there as well. |
GRISOFT
AVG ANTIVIRUS
The
most popular compression utility for Windows, with more than 120 million
downloads 