Nice site to add to your favorite
- Thread starter snooker
- Start date
It's always great to get the latest news on protection and Chris has posted an excellent article on defense.
My experience with free software is that they will in fact find stuff and alert you to the fact it's there, but then you have to pay for the software to get it removed.
Is there anything that's free, will do the job and delete the infection?
My experience with free software is that they will in fact find stuff and alert you to the fact it's there, but then you have to pay for the software to get it removed.
Is there anything that's free, will do the job and delete the infection?
AVG Anti-Virus is a free solution to get the job done. There are "more advanced" versions out there for a price, but I think the free version does the trick.. Another one is PC-Cillin house-call. It's listed in the article I wrote and is 100% free.
I don't run an anti-virus program myself, but I test regularly with housecall. I don't ever open myself to viruses though, so running anti-virus 24x7 is rather a waste of resources for me.
I don't run an anti-virus program myself, but I test regularly with housecall. I don't ever open myself to viruses though, so running anti-virus 24x7 is rather a waste of resources for me.
I have a completely paranoid system configuration, on my home PCs and my office workstation. Last spring when the Sasser worm hit my employer, my workstation was the only one unaffected, because I have a high security configuration as recommended by this guy:
http://www.blackviper.com/
This is a bright guy who spends a lot of time testing things, and he's never steered me wrong. The default setup of Windows (any version) leaves services running that most of us don't need, they eat up resources, and leave the system open to invasion. He'll tell you what you can safely disable and still have a usable system. I also go to the Windows update site at least once a week, I run Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, and Spywareblaster regularly, and I have a software firewall called Armor2net on every system. I don't have the URLs for those handy to paste in here, but a quick google on the names will turn them up. I've never had a virus, a trojan, or a worm, get into any of the systems in my home, despite having teenage children who tend to be a bit reckless about surfing the Web, because all systems have the same paranoid configuration.
Paranoia is the only rational attitude on the Internet. There are some nasty people out there who think its amusing and entertaining to hijack or destroy other people's computers. I hope there's a special place in Hell for them.
http://www.blackviper.com/
This is a bright guy who spends a lot of time testing things, and he's never steered me wrong. The default setup of Windows (any version) leaves services running that most of us don't need, they eat up resources, and leave the system open to invasion. He'll tell you what you can safely disable and still have a usable system. I also go to the Windows update site at least once a week, I run Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware, and Spywareblaster regularly, and I have a software firewall called Armor2net on every system. I don't have the URLs for those handy to paste in here, but a quick google on the names will turn them up. I've never had a virus, a trojan, or a worm, get into any of the systems in my home, despite having teenage children who tend to be a bit reckless about surfing the Web, because all systems have the same paranoid configuration.
Paranoia is the only rational attitude on the Internet. There are some nasty people out there who think its amusing and entertaining to hijack or destroy other people's computers. I hope there's a special place in Hell for them.
Hi! Dexter Sinister
I checked out that URL. Great stuff!
I always think of computer software just like I do about banks.
Safe crackers have always claimed "Whatever Man made .... Man can get into". I believe the same to be true with computers. Each time one hole is plugged .... another 3 possibilities appear out of no-where.
I simply refuse to pay for software. I've not purchased software since Dos 3.1 and WordPerfect 5.1 and Windows98. I just trip around the net and find myself a pirate. Problem solved!
Yuh know, I built my site and all that jazz and it never cost me a single-solitary dime.
I look at software like I do with education. Poor folks should not be denied educational tools just because they are poor or can't afford the tuition.
And, I was wonderin' .... do you live in a sinister dark alley?
Calm
I checked out that URL. Great stuff!
I always think of computer software just like I do about banks.
Safe crackers have always claimed "Whatever Man made .... Man can get into". I believe the same to be true with computers. Each time one hole is plugged .... another 3 possibilities appear out of no-where.
I simply refuse to pay for software. I've not purchased software since Dos 3.1 and WordPerfect 5.1 and Windows98. I just trip around the net and find myself a pirate. Problem solved!
Yuh know, I built my site and all that jazz and it never cost me a single-solitary dime.
I look at software like I do with education. Poor folks should not be denied educational tools just because they are poor or can't afford the tuition.
And, I was wonderin' .... do you live in a sinister dark alley?
Calm
Thanks Andem, I didn't think anybody'd noticed I was gone. I've been travelling a lot lately, and it looks like it'll be starting up again right after Christmas. Real life is really cramping my style.
And no, Calm, I don't live in or even near a sinister dark alley. I live on a pleasant urban street in Regina with a nice little park right across the road.
But what I really came in here for is this:
You can get Ad-Aware here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
And Spybot here:
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button
They're freeware, though you have to update them regularly, there's always new spyware and adware showing up. My experience with them on dozens of systems at my workplace is that the first time they run on a system that's been used for even a few months for Internet access, they'll find over a thousand bits of spyware, tracking cookies, and other assorted damnation. They'll also remove it all.
The other two products I mentioned, Spywareblaster and Armor2net, are commercial products, not freeware, so I won't bother posting a link to them.
Actually one of the best things you can do for security purposes is not use Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I use Firefox. And if you're interested in testing how secure your system really is, have a look at this site: http://www.grc.com/
There are some nice little tests there you can run that'll probe your system for holes, and give you a report on what they find.
Dex
And no, Calm, I don't live in or even near a sinister dark alley. I live on a pleasant urban street in Regina with a nice little park right across the road.
But what I really came in here for is this:
You can get Ad-Aware here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
And Spybot here:
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button
They're freeware, though you have to update them regularly, there's always new spyware and adware showing up. My experience with them on dozens of systems at my workplace is that the first time they run on a system that's been used for even a few months for Internet access, they'll find over a thousand bits of spyware, tracking cookies, and other assorted damnation. They'll also remove it all.
The other two products I mentioned, Spywareblaster and Armor2net, are commercial products, not freeware, so I won't bother posting a link to them.
Actually one of the best things you can do for security purposes is not use Microsoft's Internet Explorer. I use Firefox. And if you're interested in testing how secure your system really is, have a look at this site: http://www.grc.com/
There are some nice little tests there you can run that'll probe your system for holes, and give you a report on what they find.
Dex