Securing Your Computer

[Fathom]

Despite the best anti-virus products on the market, the reality is that from my experience as a 15 year veteran computer technician that 9 out of 10 computers have some kind of infection in them. In this tutorial you will find both explanations and program recommendations to help ensure the health and security of your computer.

Threat Index

Listed below are definitions of different threats associated with computers:

1. Virus: a natural computer virus is a type of program that is designed to infect a target computer's files and spread itself throughout the system. It's only purpose to to disable/destroy the computer's file system. It is called a virus because of the way it mimics a real virus, such as the common cold.

2. Trojan: The trojan is a type of program that is designed to grant access for a hacker into the target computer. It's purpose is to remain hidden from view while it secretly opens a "back door" to the target computer to allow a hacker access to that computer's file system. It get's its name from the story about the great Trojan War in which a large wooden horse was used to hide soldiers inside of it as a means of attacking a city from within the city itself.

3. Trojan-Virus: A combination of a Trojan and a Virus.

4. Ad-ware: A low risk threat designed to display advertising on your screen. It is usually found in the form of what is called a "Browser Helper Object" (BHO) as it is commonly attached to your browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc. A common piece of ad-ware is known as a "toolbar."

5. Spy-ware: A medium risk threat that demonstrates similar qualities of a trojan and ad-ware combined. It's purpose is to secretly gather information about the habits of the computer user, and then use that information to either spam the user with advertising emails, display ads on screen, or steal the users confidential information- such as the users email contact list.

6. Mal-ware: Malicious software that is a high-risk. It is a combination of a trojan-virus and spy-ware.

7. Ransom-ware: An elevated version of mal-ware in which the targeted computer's user is locked out of using the computer until he pays the hacker. This type of software usually displays itself as a fake anti-virus which will claim you have numerous viruses that you don't actually have. Each time you try to click up a program, the fake antivirus will stop it, while claiming the program you tried to click up is infected. They will then display a "Remove Virus" button which, when clicked on, will take the user to a website where they are asked to enter a credit care number for payment to get rid of the viruses the user doesn't even have.

8. Rootkits: The deadliest of them all. Most well-designed rootkits will get past any anti-virus on the market. They can be a combination of most of the previous 7 threats listed here, and are extremely difficult to detect and eradicate.

The Best Anti-Threat Programs

Listed below are the very best tech tools and resources available to secure your computer:

1. TDSSkiller: Made by Kapersky for the exclusive purpose of hunting down rootkits. It's a very small file that comes in a zip archive and it's free. Click it up and scan.

http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208283363

2. Combofix: The best mal-ware eradicater available and it's free. It used a Command Prompt screen to run scripts that hunt down the most stealthy mal-ware out there. Disable your anti-virus before using this, since this program runs scripts which most anti-viruses will stop because they think it's a virus. If you are using AVG, remove AVG before using Combofix or Combofix will refuse to run until you do.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/anti-virus/combofix

3. Malwarebytes: The best free Windows-coded program to get rid of almost all threats, including some rootkits and ransom-ware. Download the file, run it, and update its definition database. Then, go to the scanner tab and choose to run a Full Scan.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

4. Microsoft Security Essentials: Why did I choose this anti-virus over the other free anti-virus protects? 3 words: "Real Time Protection." Unlike the other free anti-virus products, Microsoft Security Essentials actually watches for threats embedded in websites you visit, and email attachments. It also ranks among the highest threat detections for mal-ware and rootkits.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/security_essentials/default.aspx


Resources and Teaching Aids

Listed below you will find some resources and teaching aids that will further your education regarding online threats.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

http://majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

This tutorial is subject to updating as more information becomes available.

Thank you.

[AhmedBahgat]

Hello Fathom

I am having one malware of a nightmare, my web browsers open pages by themselves, I ahve done all the scans you can imagine and nothing is found.

Cheers

[AhmedBahgat]

Hello Fathom

I am having one malware of a nightmare, my web browsers open pages by themselves, I ahve done all the scans you can imagine and nothing is found.

Cheers

[AhmedBahgat]

Just scanned using TDSSKiller and nothing is found

[AhmedBahgat]

Just scanned using TDSSKiller and nothing is found

[Fathom]

There is another file I use to detect elusive malware. It's called HiJackThis and it's made by Trend Micro. It detects "hijackers" on web browsers.

Go to the following link and download the executionable for version 2.0.4 to your desktop. Then, use the "Do a scan and save a log file" option. It will do a very quick scan, and then produce a notepad text which is the log file. Copy and Paste the contents of the log file here in this form.

http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

Also, let me know which version of Windows you are using; XP, Vista, Windows 7, and which browsers you are using, as well as their version numbers.

We'll figure it out.

[AhmedBahgat]

I use hijackthis for year mate, it still cannot detect it

[AhmedBahgat]

I use hijackthis for year mate, it still cannot detect it

[Fathom]

[AhmedBahgat]

Yeh mate, i did so and still same problem, what is puzzling me is this, iot affect firefox too, I even removed firefox totally, cleaned all registery references to it, did another install and the problem is still there, I think I have no other option but to format the HD and reinstall everythying, a nightmere of a job. My laptop OS is windows 2003 server though

Cheers

[AhmedBahgat]

Yeh mate, i did so and still same problem, what is puzzling me is this, iot affect firefox too, I even removed firefox totally, cleaned all registery references to it, did another install and the problem is still there, I think I have no other option but to format the HD and reinstall everythying, a nightmere of a job. My laptop OS is windows 2003 server though

Cheers

[Fathom]

[AhmedBahgat]

Nothing worked, mate

I ended up changing my laptop from xp to win 7 ultimate and ie9 all seems great so far, I like this new os

Cheers

[AhmedBahgat]

Nothing worked, mate

I ended up changing my laptop from xp to win 7 ultimate and ie9 all seems great so far, I like this new os

Cheers