MS UPDATES: No program is perfect. The test versions of all programs look a lot better than they do when you finally throw them out there for the public to use. So the developers create PATCHES as time moves along and they discover problems. These problems are fixed by you the user keeping your MS downloads CURRENT. Go to www.microsoft.com and look on the left hand side to UPDATES. Click on that, let MS scan your system for updates, ALWAYS download the CRITICAL patches, the rest you can browse through and pick which updates you be interested in. But CRITICALS are a must!
DELETE, DELETE, DELETE: Dump your junk! Everytime you visit a site it leaves a shadow, or a ookie These just clog up your system. Go to START/SEARCH/FILES& FOLDERS and do individual searches on 3 things: .tmp, .bac, and cookies. After each search is finished, highlight all files and DELETE. Then go to START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEMTOOLS/DISKCLEANUP and run it on your C DRIVE. Check the boxes and clean em up!
Or you can use WINDOWS TRACE REMOVER http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/wtr.html
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE: You need it still. It has its purpose in that most only protect your email system. But keep it on there. There are several varieties out there:
SPYWARE REMOVERS: This catagory is NOT ANTIVIRUS. These programs run a scan of your machine to look for the bad programs that are ALREADY there. Then the program offers you a "fix" to get rid of the bad guys.
AD-AWARE 6.1: http://www.tucows.com/preview/236049.html this program is suggested you run every other day. It looks for cookies, temp files and advertisement features that you DON want. Check boxes and DELETE!
SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY 1.2: http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download This is another program you run every other time you are on the internet. Check boxes and DELETE
STILL GOT PROBLEMS?
HOUSECALL SCANNER - http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/enterprise.htm has a program called HOUSECALL. It literally scans in your system and looks for bugs. It fixes most of them, but has some issues getting rid of Trojans, in my experience. Run it anyway, it a great start.
PANDA AV SCAN - http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/ RAV AV SCAN - http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/ BIT DEFENDER: http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php PC PITSTOP: http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp KAPERSKEY VC - http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html CWSHREDDER - For removal of the Cool Web Virus or its lookalikes TROJAN SCANNER: http://www.trojanscan.com/
another forum for researching the oddities of virus trojan problems. Good resource
For running (mostly system) processes: http://www.liutilities.com/products...processlibrary/ (you'll need to scroll down some)
For BHO's and Toolbars: http://computercops.biz/CLSID.html
For Startup entries: http://computercops.biz/StartupList.html
Startups and running processes: http://www.answersthatwork.com/
For ActiveX elements: use the find feature in SpywareBlaster
For items in the LSP stack: http://computercops.biz/LSPs.html
Other Startup-locations: http://home8.inet.tele.dk/fbj/NewHJTEntries.htm
BUT IVE DONE ALL THAT......
OK, time for the big guns. Below is info on a program called HIJACKTHIS. HIJACKTHIS is a WONDERFUL informational tool to see whats in your registry and startup files as well as some others. It does allow you to check a box and delete the offender HOWEVER WARNING WARNING WARNING This can be a problem if you don know what you are deleting! HIJACK THIS GIVES DATA INFO ON GOOD PROGRAMS AND BAD PROGRAMS. Your job is to identify which is which. Fortunately theres help. The wonderful people at WILDERS SECURITY http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php? Offer help reading your HIJACKTHIS printout.
PLEASE NOTE: The Wilders group just posted a notice they will NOT allow direct posting on the boards of your HIJACKTHIS log without being asked. SO... from the sounds of it, you need to identify your potential problems and go to them with a specific request. THEN if they see fit, they will at that time ASK YOU FOR A COPY OF YOUR HIJACKTHIS log. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=42148 dated 07/23/04
NOVICE USER: After hijack this runs, highlight and copy all that info, go to the wilders security forum, register, and post your printout in one of their forum columns. Usually ADAWARE SPYWARE AND HIJACK CLEANING is the thread category you want to use. Then they will analyze and point out the bad guys for you.
SEMI EXPERIENCED MORE THAN JUST A USER - Below Ive used with permission a review of the tutorial options and research links by PIETER ARNTZ who pretty much runs the show over there at WILDERS. Read through the below info and don delete any entries on your HIJACKTHIS log unless youe completely identified the bad guys and are certain.
PIETERS WORDS OF WISDOM
Merijn has written a tutorial http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html
on what to remove with HijackThis.
It is well worth reading, but please remember, HijackThis is a very powerful tool. If you want to try and fix things yourself using HijackThis, always keep in mind, the program makes no difference between good or bad. It just does what the user instructs it to do, no matter what the consequences might be. You could end up disconnecting yourself from the internet or being unable to reboot at all.
So if you are in any doubt, post your log in the
adware, spyware & hijack cleaning forum http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26
Make sure you have the latest version as it is updated very often to keep up with the latest threats.
You will find some of these links in that tutorial, but I'd like to make them available here as well.
For running (mostly system) processes: http://www.liutilities.com/products...processlibrary/ (you'll need to scroll down some)
For BHO's and Toolbars: http://www.sysinfo.org/bholist.php
For Startup entries: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php Startups and running processes: http://www.answersthatwork.com/
For ActiveX elements: use the find feature in SpywareBlaster - http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
And then, if all else fails, there is always your favorite search engine. Google.com is good.
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