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Recommend a Virus
and Spyware Protection Solution
How to keep your computer protected.
Solution Summary:
1. Keep your computer’s software patched and up-to-date.
Accomplishing this helps ensure that that any vulnerabilities in
out of date versions aren't exploited by attackers which often
occur in internet browser, flash players, and video codecs.
2. Both your operating system and your anti- virus application
must be updated on a regular basis.
3. Only download updates, software, and files from reputable and
trusted sources.
4. For Windows operating systems, always go to
Microsoft Update and for
other software always use the legitimate websites of the company
or person who produces it.
5. Never install software without knowing exactly what it is.
The most malicious viruses and trojans generally get on your
computer when you run a .exe file or attempt to install unknown
programs and software. You should also pay close attention
to the license agreement. It is possible that a
rather lengthy
license agreement that you don’t want to read could conceal a
warning that you are about to install spyware.
6. Install and use a firewall. If you are running Windows XP you
can use the built-in software firewall under Control Panel, and
there are free versions of firewalls that work on all versions
of Windows.
Malware and Spyware
Exactly what is malware, viruses, spyware, and cookies, and what makes
them different from each other.
A: Let us take the easy one first. "Malware" is short
for malicious software and is typically used as a
catch-all term to refer to any software designed to
cause damage to a single computer, server, or computer
network, whether it's a virus, spyware, or trojan.
Q. What exactly is a virus? Is a
"worm" also a virus?
Viruses are computer programs or scripts that attempt
to spread from one file to another on a single computer
and/or from one computer to another, using a variety of
methods, without the knowledge and consent of the
computer user. A worm is a specific type of virus that
propagates itself across many computers, usually by
creating copies of itself in each computer’s memory and
spreading itself accordingly.
Many users define viruses simply as
trick programs designed to delete or move hard drive data,
which, strictly speaking, is not correct. From a technical
viewpoint, what makes a virus a virus is that it spreads
itself on the computer. The fact that a virus does damage
at all is often incidental when making a diagnosis and
not all viruses specifically harm your computer.
Obviously, any incidental damage is
important, even when authors do not intend to create
problems with their viruses; they can still cause harm
unintentionally because the author did not anticipate the
full effect or unintentional side effects. The most common
method used for spreading a virus is through e-mail
attachment and auto-download scripts when visiting less
than trustworthy sites. Sending a virus, even if
designed to be harmless, can cause unforeseen damage to
both you and the recipient.
Q. How can I prevent a virus from
infecting my computer?
A virus scanner is the most popular
tool for prevention. This utility attempts to scan
computer programs and dll files before they run, and if it recognizes the
signature of a malicious code, it shuts it down and
attempts to quarantine it. Many
scanners also evaluate programs to determine if it
contains any virus-related characteristics.
The best way to stop viruses is to
use common sense. If an executable computer program is
attached to your e-mail and you are unsure of the source,
then it should be deleted immediately. Do not download any
applications or executable files from unknown sources, and
be careful when trading files with other users.
Malicious executable files are also commonly found when
using p2p networks and care should be taken when
downloading files from torrents or other peer to peer
networks.
Q. What is a "Trojan Horse"?
Isn't this a virus by any other name?
I have heard some arguments that
Trojan Horse malware is a virus subset (and vice versa)
but there are several differences worth mentioning between
a trojan horse and a virus.
A Trojan Horse meets the definition
of virus that most people use, in the sense that it
attempts to infiltrate a computer without the user’s
knowledge or consent. A Trojan Horse, similar to its Greek
mythological counterpart, often presents itself as one
form while it is actually another. A recent example of
malware acting as a Trojan horse is the recent e-mail
version of the "Swen" virus, which falsely claimed to be a
Microsoft update application.
Trojans typically do one of two
things: they either destroy or modify data the moment they
launch, such as erase a hard drive, or they attempt to
ferret out and steal passwords, credit card numbers, and
other such confidential information. There are also
many varieties that will hijack the internet browser and
record everything you type in an attempt to get personal
information.
Trojan Horses can be a bigger
problem than other types of viruses as they are design to
be destructive or disruptive, as opposed to viruses and
worms where the coder may not intend to do any harm at
all. Essentially this distinction does not matter in the
real world. You can lump viruses, Trojans, and worms
together as "things I don't want on my computer or my
network".
Q. How do I prevent a Trojan
Horse attack?
The methods for dealing with Trojans
are generally the same as for those for dealing with
viruses. Most virus scanners attempt to deal with some of
the common Trojans with varying degrees of success. There
are also specific "anti-Trojan" scanners available, and
your best weapon is common sense yet again. Score another
point for safe computing!
Q. What are cookies and spyware?
How are they different?
A cookie is just a bit of text in a
file on your computer, containing a small amount of
information that identifies you to a particular website,
and whatever information that site wanted to retain about
the user when they are visiting.
Cookies are a legitimate tool used
by many websites to track visitor information. As an
example, I might go to an online computer store and place
an item in the basket, but decide not to buy it right away
because I want to compare prices. The store can choose to
put the information about what products I put into my
basket in a cookie stored on my computer. This is an
example of a good use of cookies to help the user
experience.
The only websites that are supposed
to be able to retrieve the information stored in a cookie
are the websites that wrote the information in that
particular cookie. This should ensure your privacy by
stopping anyone other than the site you are visiting from
being able to read any cookies left by that site.
Q. Do some websites use cookies
to exploit user information?
A. Unfortunately, yes. Some may
deceive users or omit their policies. For example, they
may track your Web surfing habits across many different
websites without informing you, and then use this data to
customize the advertisements you see on websites, etc.,
this is
typically considered as an invasion of privacy.
It is difficult to identify this and
other forms of "cookie abuse," which makes it difficult to
decide if, when, and how to block them from ones system.
In addition, the acceptable level of shared information
varies between users, so it is difficult to create an
"anti-cookie" program to meet the needs of everyone.
Q. How does spyware exploit user
information?
The spyware problem is similar to
the cookie problem from the point of view that both are an
invasion of privacy, although spyware is different from
cookies, technically speaking. Spyware is a program that
runs on your computer and, again, tracks your habits and
tailors these patterns for advertisements, etc. Because it
is a computer program rather than just a bit of text in a
cookie, spyware can also do some nasty things to ensure
that the spyware keeps running and keeps influencing what
you see. This often includes duplicating and
renaming itself to several different files on the
computer so that if one of its instances is destroyed,
it has several backups to pick up where it left off.
Q. How do I know if spyware is
running on my computer?
You can use detection programs such
as Ad Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, Hijack This, and
many others. Similar to antivirus software,
these programs compare a list of known spyware code with files
on your computer and can help remove any that it detects.
However, some of the more dangerous spyware won't always
be removed from these well known programs, and can
sometimes need the assistance of professionals or
spyware specific software.
Q. How does spyware install
itself on computers?
Common tactics for surreptitious
installation include rolling up advertising programs into
"free" shareware program downloads, and once the spyware
is installed it can download advertisements 24 hours a day
and overlay them on websites and programs you are using.
Anti-spyware programs can combat spyware from being
installed, but the best strategy is to discriminate what
you choose to download and install, much like every type
of malware.
Q. Can spyware send tracked
information to other people?
Some forms of spyware monitor a
target’s Web use or even general computer use and sends
this information back to the spyware program's authors for
use as they see fit. To fight this kind of problem, a
spyware removal tool is obviously helpful, as is a
firewall that monitors outgoing connections from your
computer. Other forms of spyware take over parts of your
Web browsing interface, forcing you to use their own
search engines, where they can track your browsing habits
and send pop-up advertisements to you at will.
The biggest concern regarding
spyware is that most of them are poorly written or
designed. Many people first realize their computer is
running spyware when it noticeably slows down or stops
responding, especially when doing certain tasks such as
browsing websites or retrieving e-mail. In addition,
poorly written spyware can often cause your computer to
function incorrectly even after it has been
removed.
