The Definitive Spyware/Trojan/Virus Thread *DOWNLOAD LINKS*

**riffer** · 3rd June 2004, 08:40

Originally Posted by PuppetMaster

***Puppet unholsters the flame thrower**

Oooh could be dangerous - I'm pretty sure I know where you live if its your bike I've seen parked in a driveway just around from Upper Hutt School.

You might be able to get my house from your one

**menace** · 29th June 2004, 00:13

Just a few up dates...

I don't recommend editing your registry unless you know what you are doing or are in line for a format anyway

To stop programs running at startup:

1) Go to Start -> Programs -> Startup
Everything that is in this folder starts automatically when you log in.

2) Go to Start -> Run and type msconfig and press Enter.
This is a system configuration utility that covers startup programs in common locations in

win.ini

boot.ini

system.ini

Common Windows Services

Common Startup Locations (including Start -> Programs -> Startup and normal registry startup locations)

3) (Win 2000/XP only) Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. (Click go to classic view in the left pane if required), open Administrative Tools, and then open Services. The Windows services are all listed here, and can be started/stopped removed etc.

If you have to do it in the registry, back it up first.
The autorun programs are kept in
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Run
and
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
RunOnce

To see the end of adware, get Linux.

There are also many good programs some are free, others which are on a free-to-trial basis on www.download.com

I've found some programs on there which helped me. Just do a search on Spyware, Adaware, or Virus Killers.

If you find pop-up ads also to be annoying that site is great it's got a ton of things!!

A Bump and expansion, since people seem to have a problem keeping their boxes SpyWare free.....

Steps to Help Prevent SpyWare Infection, and Other Counter-Measures:

1) Adjust your Internet Security Settings.

File -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Security Tab -> Custom Level. Once here, set ALL ActiveX settings to Prompt and when a window asks you if you want to Download "Bonzai Buddy", or some other piece of crap click *no*. Go through the rest of the list and adjust as necessary. The less things you have set to automatic, the more secure you are and the more control you have over your box.

2) Use an alternative browser.

Go and get either Mozilla or FireFox. Try it out and see if you like it.

3) MSconfig + Windows StartUp Online

Start Menu -> Run -> msconfig

MsConfig is a powerful and useful program for editing how your system loads windows. Back in the day all this crap had to be done by hand, but now it's in a nice point and click interface. Going through this program has two advantages: 1) You can prevent SpyWare from being loaded. 2) You can prevent other self-righteous programs that think they have a right to start up every time you turn on your computer even though you rarely use them from starting up.

The tab we're interested in is, surprisingly, the startup tab. If you go here, you'll see a series of checkboxes and some sometimes cryptic. Go Here and to find out what all the processes are doing: http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/index.php

Some things ought to be loaded, but if you find spyware loading up click the box to disable them. You can't hurt your computer by disabling anything here, although some things will "break" it temporarily until you re-click the check box and reboot a second time. All changes made in msconfig take effect after a reboot.

One last resource you might be interested in: http://pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/

This site seems to be pretty good, although I just stumbled across it.

Hope this helps.

Again i will not accept any responsobilty if you try playing around with your registry but if you think you can do it go ahead...

Hope this will help

**menace** · 29th June 2004, 14:03

Ok another thing i use is the online Virus scan as i dont have an up to date Antivirus...

http://www.trendmicro.com.au/free_tools/

And just click on the Scan your PC -- FREE link it may take a while to dload on a slower conection but IMO its worth it...

**NotaGoth** · 29th June 2004, 14:38

Whats this about the "logging off" link? I haven't been around long to be able to know.

As for free virus checks http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ I'm not sure if it's one of the same ones as what menace has posted as I'm not to keen on checking out the links (no offence)

There was a free online spyware check that I used to know the address for. Will post that when I find out what it was again (suffers from memory loss)

Other then that, having zonealarm (you can download a free version) again I'm not sure on the addy for that. And having a pop up stopper, and a big one "downloading music" sure it's cool but thats the main problem.. most viruse, spyware and all that come through onto your computer through what you may think is just an mp3..

http://www.symantec.com/index.htm <<~*~ this site may help..

Anywho enough from me before I make this post even more useless.

*Theresa*

**menace** · 29th June 2004, 15:20

Originally Posted by XxKiTtiExX

As for free virus checks http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ I'm not sure if it's one of the same ones as what menace has posted as I'm not to keen on checking out the links (no offence)

Yup its the same one...

**mangell6** · 29th June 2004, 18:16

www.grisoft.com - Makers of AVG Virus software. I have had this find virii that McAfee didn't find and it was the latest version with the latest signatures downloaded from the web.

**Skyryder** · 29th June 2004, 21:03

I use the freeware of AVG and Zone Alarm. Seems to keep the nasties out.

Skyryder

**wkid_one** · 29th June 2004, 21:27

Originally Posted by menace

Just a few up dates...

I don't recommend editing your registry unless you know what you are doing or are in line for a format anyway

To stop programs running at startup:

1) Go to Start -> Programs -> Startup
Everything that is in this folder starts automatically when you log in.

2) Go to Start -> Run and type msconfig and press Enter.
This is a system configuration utility that covers startup programs in common locations in

win.ini

boot.ini

system.ini

Common Windows Services

Common Startup Locations (including Start -> Programs -> Startup and normal registry startup locations)

3) (Win 2000/XP only) Go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. (Click go to classic view in the left pane if required), open Administrative Tools, and then open Services. The Windows services are all listed here, and can be started/stopped removed etc.

If you have to do it in the registry, back it up first.
The autorun programs are kept in
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
Run
and
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
RunOnce

To see the end of adware, get Linux.

There are also many good programs some are free, others which are on a free-to-trial basis on www.download.com

I've found some programs on there which helped me. Just do a search on Spyware, Adaware, or Virus Killers.

If you find pop-up ads also to be annoying that site is great it's got a ton of things!!

A Bump and expansion, since people seem to have a problem keeping their boxes SpyWare free.....

Steps to Help Prevent SpyWare Infection, and Other Counter-Measures:

1) Adjust your Internet Security Settings.

File -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Security Tab -> Custom Level. Once here, set ALL ActiveX settings to Prompt and when a window asks you if you want to Download "Bonzai Buddy", or some other piece of crap click *no*. Go through the rest of the list and adjust as necessary. The less things you have set to automatic, the more secure you are and the more control you have over your box.

2) Use an alternative browser.

Go and get either Mozilla or FireFox. Try it out and see if you like it.

3) MSconfig + Windows StartUp Online

Start Menu -> Run -> msconfig

MsConfig is a powerful and useful program for editing how your system loads windows. Back in the day all this crap had to be done by hand, but now it's in a nice point and click interface. Going through this program has two advantages: 1) You can prevent SpyWare from being loaded. 2) You can prevent other self-righteous programs that think they have a right to start up every time you turn on your computer even though you rarely use them from starting up.

The tab we're interested in is, surprisingly, the startup tab. If you go here, you'll see a series of checkboxes and some sometimes cryptic. Go Here and to find out what all the processes are doing: http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/index.php

Some things ought to be loaded, but if you find spyware loading up click the box to disable them. You can't hurt your computer by disabling anything here, although some things will "break" it temporarily until you re-click the check box and reboot a second time. All changes made in msconfig take effect after a reboot.

One last resource you might be interested in: http://pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/

This site seems to be pretty good, although I just stumbled across it.

Hope this helps.

Again i will not accept any responsobilty if you try playing around with your registry but if you think you can do it go ahead...

Hope this will help

You are best to download a registry cleaning tool and general maintenance software such as Absolute Start Up or Tune Up Utilities etc - which scan for files in your registry and startup which are superfluous - running these regularly in conjunction with a firewall and AV software is the easiest way to keep things clean. These registry software tools take the editing away from you and make it simple.

I wouldn't recommend playing with your registry unless you know what you are doing either.....however once you know your way around it - it is an easy way to fix many of the problems in your computer. That and the Services tab in the Admin Option - as many of the viruses etc attack the shut down protocols of these. RPC is a common one (for example SASSER attacks this - forcing your pc to shutdown).

You can disable these by going in to the Recovery Tab (>Control Panel>Admin Tools>Services>The double click on services) and turn the failure defaults to 'Take No Action' - which means that the likes of the Sasser etc won't cause your computer to reboot.

Another handy tool to look at is the Event Viewer (>Control Panel>Admin Tools>Event Viewer). This logs every action your computer completes and is a good source for tracing back through the MS Knowledge Base for known remedies for fixing the problem - and can quite often reveal the root cause of the problem rather than the symptom.

I use Tune Up Utilities 2004 with MacAfee Antivirus and Firewall 8 - which keeps me free of viruses/trojans/worms etc.

Also - you can go to the MacAfee site and see how vunerable your computer is to attacks etc

**angle** · 29th June 2004, 22:45

Menace, I've got two questions:
1). Do you actually ride a motorcycle?
2). Did you study CS at Auckland?

**NotaGoth** · 30th June 2004, 08:38

Originally Posted by Skyryder

I use the freeware of AVG and Zone Alarm.

Skyryder

AVG is a really good antivirus programme, cool thing is... It's free. Used that for a while on our computer and it seemed to pick up things at the right time, and prevented my computer becoming badly infected.

Also my uncle had his computer become infected with "bugbear" i'm not sure who here has heard of it. But AVG was the only antivirus that actually picked it up. Confusing considering you pay alot for Nortons and it can't even pick up something that a free antivirus programme can.

*Theresa*