Yet another windows worm

Dan R

Looks to have the potential to be bad.

Here's the MS reference:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS04-011.mspx

and some sprightly discussion:

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/05/01/1618224.shtml?tid=126&tid=172&tid=185&tid=190&tid=201

Dave Yates (PAH)

I got to wondering

about spyware after reading an article this past week, so I downloaded two separate detection programs this morning (to compare findings). Seems I've got over 200 spyware programs running on this machine.

Heading off to Officemax this afternoon to see if they've got any programs since I don't exactly trust the internet sellers.

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Don Walsh

Free program and very good!

www.Spybot.com is a source of an excellent shareware program to detect bots on your system. I have used it for a long time and am very impressed with the results. Give it a try.

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JB_2

spybot

just tried the program, very interesting,I did find somethings that my other program did not show. thanks for the tip,feel alittle safer.I think? better check again. jb

leo g_13

adaware

is another very good spy detector, and the residential version is free. also, if you don't have a wash programme, GET ONE! i use webroot window wash and it is great. they have a 30 day free trial available over the net. it cleans out a lot of garbage and helps with the performance of your machine.

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Steamhead

Dave, I've used both Spybot and Ad-aware

and they both work well. Both have also gotten good reviews in PC-oriented magazines. You can't go wrong with either, so why waste your money at OfficeMax?

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Dave Yates (PAH)

Thanks

Once again - The Wall to the rescue. I stayed home, saved gas, money, wear & tear on the truck & downloaded the software.

Now, if I could only kill off the damn pop-ups!

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Constantin

Splendid Isolation on the Mac Side.

You've just illustrated yet another reason why being part of 3% of the market share is a good thing. No such virii exist on the Mac OS X system-level... yet (cross-platform virii like MS Office Macros don't count). Having said that, I'm sure there are vulnerabilities on the Mac side also, just not enough folks to get excited enough to write a worm/trojan/etc. I suppose there was a proof-of-concept MP3 thingie last month... My last Mac virus infection was in 1989...

Anyway, it is my understanding that many of these adware programs only work with IE by infecting some IE-specific technology. That is, if you switch to Mozilla, FireFox, or the gaggle of other, superior browsers, you should be safer. While I use the Safari browser (part of Mac OS X), Firefox is sweet, cross-platform, and web-standards compliant... and much faster than IE at rendering just about anything. Try it, I think you'll like it.

Naturally, free-standing virii, trojans, exploits exist also. Regardless of platform, there are a number of ways to limit your exposures:

1. Avoid MS products where possible.
2. Install a router between a high-speed connection and the internal network. However, always assume that your internal network may be subject to hostile action. Secure computer-computer connections accordingly.
3. Keep your system patches up to date (i.e. daily).
4. Install a good combination of anti-virus/adware/spyware programs. Run a full scan nightly.
5. Keep the sentry programs updated also!
6. Never use the same password twice. I keep mine on a Palm handheld (there are many programs that will store passwords securely, even on the PocketPC). Works like a charm.
7. Do not run your machine in administrator mode unless necessary. Windows XP finally allows some account restrictions to make infections more difficult. Learn how to use them, particularly for users that should not be trusted to always make the right decisions.
8. Backups, backups, backups. Do them weekly, buy 2 firewire hard drives and rotate them between your home, office, and safe deposit box. Important data goes to a gold-plated CD-ROM, in triplicate (i.e. 3 CD-ROMs)
9. Have I missed anything?

Glenn Harrison_2

I recently found another free spyware program...

called SpywareBlaster. I found it at download.com. What it does is block the spyware from getting in your computer in the first place. I've only used it for about a week, but since I downloaded it, I think my Adaware and Spybot programs have only found two spywares, compared to the 10 or so I would find every day.

Steamhead

If we unleash the power of the Wall

and stop using Microsoft's programs, they might even take notice.

How about it, Wallsters? WordPerfect Suite, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox etc can do anything MS Office and Internet Explorer can, and do it more safely and with far less aggravation.

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Ken_8

Spybot

is the best value and superior to pricey alternatives IMHO.

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Constantin

Wouldn't be the First

... the city of Munich switched to Linux... despite Mr. Ballmer cutting his vacation short to personally appeal to the city fathers to take MS back, complete with ludicrous discounts not in line with a mere 17,000 CPU installation. MS recognized that this event could be the tipping point...

Don't get me wrong, I use MS products almost every day. But not by choice. At the end of the day, all we hear from MS is that their products are becoming safer, yet their critical alert software patches tell a different story.

ScottMP

e-mail

We just got a new computer and we checked with Dell on the install, they told us to not recieve any E-MAIL for the next two to three days. This was on Sunday 5-2-04.

I will not be checking my e-mail for two days. Dell claimed that Norton and Symantics was working onthis one together, because it was so bad.

Scott

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JimGPE_8

Did you say pop-up problems?

You want www.panicware.com.

Free version catches pop-up ads. You can have it just kill them or you can have a graphic and/or audio notification that it killed one.

It also catches some pop-up screens you DO want. If that happens, hold down the ctl button then click on the link again - it lets the pop-up through.

Or you can double click on the icon in your tray and temporarilly turn off the pop-up stopper.

Also comes with a free personal security meter to tell you how secure your personal information is.

JimGPE_8

See my post below.

Dingo

Symantec IS Norton

I think the guy from Dell must have misspoken