Introduction

Who would think I was capable of such revengeful thoughts about the parties responsible for inflicting my poor computer with spyware? Well, after the trauma of having gone through such an experience for the first time, I was sorely tempted by the occult section of curses and witchcraft at my local bookstore. Growl!

Basically, I am a normal person using a home computer to perform simple normal tasks such as word processing, writing emails, internet banking, and surfing the Internet for useful information. Ok, I also have a weakness for looking for bargains on good old eBay (sheepish grin) and Paypal is quite a handy option for easy purchasing.

Problem:

Great dismay and panic hit when my pc started popping up strange windows or messages. With my limited IT knowledge, I ran a Norton virus scan which obviously revealed a number of problems. But the Symantec removal tool did not remove the spyware and I could not even log onto a couple of password protected sites. My beloved pc was infected with some malware or adware or trojan, among which, I believe was WinFixer and a Trojan Vundo. I did not know how to get rid of Vundo or how to remove WinFixer. (Or perhaps they were the one and same thing?). But at that point, I did not know any better, so began the laborious task of searching for information on how to get rid of the spyware.

Research:

From my search, I found out that the Trojan Vundo is a trojan horse that causes popups advertising rogue antispyware programs. For example, the program called Sysprotect is advertised in many of the popup windows as seen from the screenshot below. Vundo infects a computer by creating a DLL file in the Windows system directory and writes registry entries causing Windows to inject the file into winlogon.exe.

WinFixer, on the other hand, has siblings as it is identical to WinAntiVirus and ErrorSafe. And these programs all claim to repair problems within your computer system. By installing the program on your computer, you will likely end up receiving false information about your computer. Naturally, this will confuse you into believing your PC is infected with viruses, spyware and/or other forms of malware.

The popups and forced downloads apparently mirror “marketing” strategies of many spyware programs. And at times, infected computers will reduce in their level of speed and performance. Well, this all explained what was probably happening to my pc, and I knew I had to figure out how to get rid of WinFixer and Vundo before they drove me mad.

Research and solution:

In my initial panic, I reacted by downloading some recommended antispyware programs, namely CounterSpy by Sunbelt Software, XoftSpy by ParetoLogic and Spy Sweeper by Webroot Software Inc. I came to my senses by the third program and stopped myself from paying for another popular program, Spyware Doctor. But hey, all these programs did receive pretty good reviews from the experts at PCWorld, PCMag, CNet, Tucows and AdwareReport. So at the time, I did not feel that I had gone too much overboard

Now, there are many sites listing all sorts of free and paid antispyware programs with a variety of reviews and user opinions on how to remove WinFixer and how to get rid of Vundo. Many of the commercial antispyware program homepages also list very detailed features of their products plus the latest research findings about current spyware threats. Have a look at this webpage that lists some of these reliable programs. www.consumerstyle.com/antispyware

Anyway, an opinion and recommendation I had read when researching for the reliable antispyware programs made heaps sense in that software you pay for is more likely to offer benefits over freeware, i.e., better support, more frequent updates and better pro-active protection measures. One just has to be careful when selecting the programs. According to the comments in the forums and review articles I read, many recommend using at least two programs to be able to catch the latest spyware that either program might miss (that was when I stopped myself from my downloading frenzy). I have learnt much more about my pc now and wish to share and perhaps amuse you my muddled but finally effective measures to cleaning up my pc and removing the spyware.

My actions:

My initial Norton antivirus scan found but was not able to delete Vundo, even after rebooting. The Symantec removal tool did not help at all. I had disconnected from the Internet, disabled system restore, and ran the removal tool, regularly and in safe mode. After numerous startups, varying with safe mode, and disabling antivirus, I even tried to figure out how to remove Vundo manually without messing with the registry, etc. Please note that some people had success with the Symantec removal tools, and some others, like me, did not. Apart from the Trojan Vundo, I was getting quite frustrated at not being able to remove WinFixer for the many windows continually popping up started to slow my computer down, and even freeze it at times.

So I first tried Xoftspy, which was the fastest when scanning my computer. I was pleased to have fewer pop ups, was able to remove WinFixer, and ended with a much faster internet connection.

Then with my next program, Spy Sweeper, I ran it twice and then did a full system scan. Lo and behold, Vundo was gone, no more popups and adware annoyances. I guess this might not work for everyone but it is worth a shot to download Spy Sweeper.

Being still paranoid about the health of my pc, I finally ran the the free two-week trial version of CounterSpy, for extra assurance. Now I was quite impressed as it also included a scheduler, secure file shredder, and a history cleaner that made it simple to set up weekly scans. And there are frequent definition file updates for CounterSpy’s publisher. The company seems to run a well-staffed spyware research department. After a scan, CounterSpy can delete, quarantine, or remove spyware. I was advised not to install Microsoft AntiSpyware alongside older versions of CounterSpy (version 1.5 and below). And it is recommended to get CounterSpy to check for online updates of definitions and program files manually.

Conclusion:

To sum it all, XoftSpy was able to delete WinFixer as the program was able to uninstall WinFixer within fifteen minutes requiring a couple of restarts. As for Spy Sweeper, it managed to remove Vundo with ease. And I have no doubt that CounterSpy has done a great job of keeping my pc free of spyware. I cannot say that I have taken the best approach to solving my problems, but my pc is now running faster than ever and I have been free of WinFixer and Vundo ever since. I just have to remember to be more careful and scan my pc regularly.

One thing is for sure, there are many reliable and popular antispyware programs out there, and many helpful forum chat folk who can lend a hand with plenty of technical advice. You just have to sort out what advice and which steps to take by increasing your own awareness and understanding of your pc and the nasty world of spyware lurking around these days.

Jess Ong

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This week we will be focusing on Spyware.

Exactly What Is Spyware?

We wanted to go into a little more detail on this whole spyware thing because we talk about it so often. Ninety-nine percent of what goes wrong in an internet connected PC is caused by spyware, right? Wrong. Spyware gets a bad press. It certainly deserves it, but the term has become too generalized, and this can be frustrating for both technicians and end users alike.

Spyware often manifests itself in the following ways:

Popups appear when you’re not even connected to the Internet.

Strange toolbars appear on your browser that you did not install.

Your homepage has changed and you cannot change it back.

You system crashes or takes forever to load.

So I have Spyware. Now what?

Just about everyone gets spyware on their system at some time or another. The question is, ‘how do you get rid of it?’ Depending on the severity of the infection, reformatting and a clean install of the operating system may be the only sure way to know it’s gone.

We do this for several reasons, but the most important is that you know the spyware is gone and prevention can be used to keep the system clean.

If reformatting and reinstalling isnt a desired option, then check out some of the free spyware scanners such as adaware or spybot sd. Personally I use Counterspy which is an excellent scanner at a very competitive price.

Free Software etc

Although there are many bonefide distributors of software there are also many unscrupulous sites and programmers who attach viruses and or spyware to their ‘free programs.’

If you consistently install software from the internet without checking it out first then it is only a matter of time before your system becomes infected with spyware and or viruses.

You may have already experienced something along these lines. You come across a free program that promises all sorts of benefits for you and its FREE! How can you resist? You click on the download button and if your lucky and have SP2 installed then you get the message asking you if you want to install the,’ active x control,’ that will allow the software download.

This is where the trouble can begin. Active x controls without getting too geeky can of course be good or bad and basically you are giving permission if you answer yes to allow this active x control to do whatever it wants to your system.

If you use P2P file sharing programs then the chances of your system becoming infected are substantially increased, in fact I would say it’s inevitable.
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Prevention

The obvious answer to free downloads and P2P file sharing problems is not to use these programs or download software that we are not familiar with the source. Will we do this, I would doubt it. So what else can we do to prevent this from happening and our systems becoming infected?

This is going to be painful, I know. But keeping your system free of spyware takes a little effort coupled with some helpful tips.

Use a good firewall, anti-virus solution & spyware scanner. Never open email if you don’t recognize the sender. Install McAfee’s free site advisor & spoofstick to prevent phising scams.

McAfee’s site advisor is an excellent way to be alerted of potentially dangerous sites. Its quick, it’s free and it works. More and more sites are being submitted for Testing every day. Just type, ‘Site advisor,’ into Googles search engine to find the download.

Spoof stick will alert you with just a quick glance to any spoof (fake)websites. It will also work when clicking on any links in an email etc. This should help you steer clear of banking scams, identity theft etc. Again Google it for the free download.

Make sure you have your system set to automatically receive updates & patches. Scan your system about once a week & remove any nasties that you may find. I also run Kaspersky’s free online scanner once a month as an extra precaution.

If you want to take your protection a step further then have a separate hard drive installed in your system. Its quick, relatively cheap, offers extra protection and gives us more space to store our data etc.

Once installed then simply make sure that anything you download is stored on the extra hard drive, the one not containing your operating system.

Once you have it there then run right click your mouse and select scan with, ‘the name of your virus scanner,’ and or spyware scanner and scan the file you just downloaded. If the file comes up clean and you want to move the program to your system drive, the one containing the operating system then you are as sure as you can be that it doesnt contain any nasties thus virtually eliminating any threat to the drive containing your operating system.

Of course you should run your spyware & virus scanners on this extra drive whilst doing your weekly scans.

Hugh Duddy

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Chances are that if you have been browsing the internet lately, or even at all, you have probably had a run in with a computer virus or some other type of malicious program that is harmful to your PC. If you haven’t, well you are one of the lucky ones.

Spyware and viruses can infiltrate your computer a few ways. You could have visited a website where malicious programs were lurking and downloaded a file that contained spyware or a virus. These are generally referred to as Trojans because the malicious program hides in a seemingly harmless file that you download. Once you open the file or install the application, the spyware or virus secretly plants itself in your computer and starts doing damage. Emails and email attachments are another way you can pick up a malicious program such as a virus on your computer. Always know who is sending you the email, and if you are still not sure if the attachment or email is legitimate, give the person that sent you the email a call, if you know him or her, to verify that the email is harmless.

Panda Security offers an online virus scan for your computer. What you do is go to their website, or you can do a search for panda virus online scan and click on the first result, or one of the url’s that has Panda security in it. You will need to download a plug in for your web browser in order to complete the search.

Although the search is free, the removal of the virus and or malware is not.
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Increase your computer speed instantly!! Top 12 Ways to Speed Up Your Computer After a while, all computers start to slow down. The pop-ups start to invade your desktop. The programs take longer to load and the computer sounds like a freight train every time you start it up. Thankfully, there are a number of things you can do before calling in the repair man. Here are 12 of the top ways to speed up your computer. 1. Defragment your computer. The defrag tool can be found by going to the start menu, to programs, accessories, system tools and then clicking on the defragementation tool. It may take several hours to properly defrag a hard drive, especially if you haven’t done it in a while. However, the resulting gain in speed will be well worth it. Quick Note: For best performance, you should delete any unnecessary files before defragmenting your drives. 2. Add additional memory. Adding RAM to your system is one of the best ways to speed up your computer. 3. Clear your Internet cache for faster browsing speeds. 4. Delete your cookies. 5. Use keyboard shortcuts. 6. Empty your Temp Directory on a regular basis. The temp directory can quickly fill up with hundreds of temp files over time, which can slow things down immensely. To delete Temp files, you must first make sure that NO programs are open. If you are using windows 95, 98 or Me, go to C:WindowsTemp and delete everything inside the Temp folder. If you are using Windows 2000 or XP, the process is a bit trickier. First, you <b>…</b>

By definition, a virus is a computer program that is able to copy itself and infect other computers. The first one, according to Wikipedia, was seen almost half a century ago. The Creeper virus was detected in ARPANET, a predecessor of the World Wide Web. This code is compared to their virus dictionaries and if a match is found, the antivirus program attempts to clean the suspicious part, without damaging the original data. Another method of fighting viruses is to monitor computer activity, also known as heuristic analysis. It was using the modem connection to replicate on other PCs and when it achieved its goal, it displayed the following message IM THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. Anti virus software is another kind of computer programs that appeared because of the need to disinfect computers from viruses. Reaper was the first of its kind and its aim was the Creeper virus. You can visit Some people said that they might have shared the same creator, but this was never proved.

Since the first antivirus program, viruses and methods to fight them evolved rapidly. Most of the times, the next step in evolution is done by computer viruses and antivirus creators struggle to fight back and invent new ways to clean those pesky bugs. The common approach of antivirus software is to scan files, memory or registries from your computer and detect malicious code. This code is compared to their virus dictionaries and if a match is found, the antivirus program attempts to clean the suspicious part, without damaging the original data. Another method of fighting viruses is to monitor computer activity, also known as heuristic analysis. This includes monitoring memory and ports traffic for any signs of infection. A modern approach is the so called sandbox method. It involves running the suspicious file into a simulated operating system and analyzing the results. No matter the method, if a virus is found, the antivirus first attempts to disinfect the file. If its unsuccessful, or go to the infected file is quarantined (isolated from other programs) or in worst case, deleted.

Its very important to have a reliable antivirus program installed because there can be viruses on a file you download, inside an email attachment or even a website can include some malicious code to infect your PC. Some of the programs that are out there and can do the task are free, but most of them require payment. This code is compared to their virus dictionaries and if a match is found, the antivirus program attempts to clean the suspicious part, without damaging the original data. Reaper was the first of its kind and its aim was the Creeper virus. Another method of fighting viruses is to monitor computer activity, also known as heuristic analysis. Almost all include updates of their viruses database, to make sure your PC is protected to the newest threats. AVG AntiVirus Free, BitDefender Free, Comodo AntiVirus and PC Tools AntiVirus Free Edition are only a couple of the free antivirus programs available on the Internet.

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Spyware is the main hurdle of any efficient system. Just as any other virus that may infect your system there are any number of sites that promote some product or service on the Internet and may have let loose a few Spyware programs that covertly download themselves onto your PC. Then they begin to operate in the background of the operating system unknown to the operator that this Spyware is observing every entry made through the keyboard and pointing device.

Such Spyware take up a lot of the processor time by overriding the IRQ settings of the peripheral devices and ‘hijacking’ the system in order to buy time to operate. This Spyware can be removed with the help of anti Spyware programs and safeguard the system from inadvertently giving out personal data. The entries in the registry can be removed with the help of the many free Spyware adware removal tools such as Microsoft free Spyware Adware removal utility and Yahoo Spyware removal tools.

Why The Registry Slows Down A System

As the registry gets older with constant use, it gets updated every time there is a change in the system. This change may be some program that has been added to or removed from the system or some hardware that has been added or removed. The registry updates its records with the change. However, not all the registry entries may be deleted when a program or hardware device is uninstalled. So, when a program requests the registry for some information the registry starts searching from the beginning of the database. It will go through all the entries one by one.

This will include all the redundant entries, which may be tens of thousands in number; this slows the system down drastically. The redundant entries are entries that are linked to the programs or hardware that have been uninstalled from the system. So, as you see, these entries are no longer needed but the registry scans them all the same. A good free Spyware Removal program will remove these obsolete entries from your system so the registry will no longer scan them. Making the system faster and more efficient.

Spyware installs itself on the system making hundreds of entries in the registry. When the anti virus utilities detect and remove the Spyware it leaves traces of it in the registry because anti virus is not designed to scan the registry. Only special Spyware removal tools can achieve this formidable task. The good anti Spyware such as free windows Microsoft Spyware remover utility can effectively remove all traces of Spyware from the registry to stabilize the system once again and make is joy to work on the PC.

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The explosion in Internet use has brought with it the very real threat of viruses that can attack the unwary user. Viruses come in many forms – installers, Trojans and worms all of which can affect the performance of your computer and your privacy seriously. Viruses affect the computer either by corrupting programs or by replicating themselves and denying resources to legitimate programs. Trojans usually come disguised as something desirable and are activated when you try to open or run them. Worms and some Trojans may send themselves to people in your address book in emails, without your knowledge.

Even though the threat posed by viruses is serious, a few precautions taken in time can help you protect and sanitize your computer against viruses.

1. Browse with Caution – Most viruses enter your computer as a result of clicking on pop ups or other links in websites that are not trustworthy. Do not follow links or click on pop ups that could install viruses on your computer.

2. Open Emails Cautiously – At times, even if the subject is innocuous, emails can contain links that lead to a virus entering your computer. If the email is not from a trusted source, treat it with caution.

3. Open Email Attachments with Care – The attachment that the email urges you to open may contain a virus! Make sure your mail manager allows you to preview the type of file (.exe, .com, .vbt in attachments are probably viruses. The same goes for screensaver programs that come to you unsolicited).

4. Installing downloaded programs – Programs downloaded from the Internet can pose a serious threat to your computer. Make sure that the program you have downloaded is from a trusted site or has a certificate issued by a trusted certifying authority.

5. Firewall – There are several firewall software packages available that allow you to prevent unauthorized access to your computer that could be initiated by an infected system.

6. Antivirus – A good antivirus package residing in your computer can be the best protection you can have against viruses. Choose an antivirus package that can comprehensively defend itself against viruses.

7. Regular Virus Scan – The mere presence of anti-virus software in your computer is not enough. Scanning of your computer for viruses must be done on a regular basis to locate and isolate viruses.

8. Update the Anti-Virus – It is very important to update the anti-virus program itself periodically. New viruses are introduced every day and the manufacturers of the anti-virus software update the virus database and capabilities of the anti-virus program regularly.

9. Update windows and all other software – Do not forget to update the Operating System and other software regularly as they are frequently patched to overcome security loopholes and vulnerabilities.

10. Removable Media – Removable media like floppies and USB drives are a major factor facilitating spreading of viruses. Use only trusted devices on your computer.

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