Author Topic: How to stay clear of malware.  (Read 17975 times)

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Offline polonus

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How to stay clear of malware.
« on: June 08, 2005, 10:54:50 PM »
Hi folks,

To protect against malware is better, than having to clear it out afterwards. Keep both your OS and browser software up to date and with all the critical patches. Never add any site to your trusted sites zone.
Make sure you have a fully updated AV program, and keep it that way. Do not use the big two, because they are very system-resource hungry. ONLY RUN ONE AV, whatever you choose. And we think you should use AVAST.
Use a firewall or you can get infested quicker than you can download the tools for fixes. Get a temp file cookies.index. dat cleaner URLViewer suits fine or CCleaner. For prevention use SpyWareBlaster, Microsoft@Windows Anti-Spyware, SpySweeper, PestPatrol. SpyWare Scanners to use AdAware and Spybot S&D. Take ActiveX out or change the settings in IE,
or use Firefox. Get a spamfighter like Mailwasher or SpamFighter. This is a good line of defense,

greetings
polonus
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kakapo

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2005, 11:28:04 PM »
Thank you for those great hints to avoid malware polonus.
I see you're recommending Firefox, but how do you feel about the latest Opera browser? Is it as safe/safer or less safe than Firefox? I use both but like the easy log-ins via Opera's wand but wonder if this is a security risk?
happy days to all

kamulko

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2005, 12:00:02 AM »
Hi, Kakapo! :D
I've downloaded Avant Browser and Opera this week: Opera is wonderful but I prefer to keep deactivated Wand. Better to delete all passwords and tracking cookies to be in peace of mind. The net is... a net! The word explain well the level of  the danger... eh eh eh... ;D

Offline polonus

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2005, 12:25:04 AM »
Hi Kakapo,

I agree with my friend Kamulko ;), that Opera is also a very safe browser, only the free version show ads. It is a way of appreciation. Whatever works good for you, you can choose of these  two. Opera is advised by the good old search-guru FRAVIA, go to www.fravia.org for his views. In FF I have con-query installed, where I can load a 100 search-engines, so FF for me is the search-browser par excellence. I do not like toolbars for obvious reasons. Once the google toolbar had a gigantic security  hole in it, and some toolbars are renowned mal- or spyware.
Stay free of mal- and scumware, go to the forums  to stay informed.

kindest regards to you,

polonus
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Offline DavidR

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2005, 01:13:18 AM »
Assuming you are trying to avoid malware but do get hit, if you are browsing as a user with administrator right, then the malware also has admin rights and can reap havoc. However, on an account with restricted rights the damage is greatly limited.

MS has the tool so you don't have to switch user accounts all the time, just modified shortcuts, that when launched restrict the rights for that program only. For more information and full instructions see:

DropMyRights - Browsing the Web and Reading E-mail Safely as an Administrator

For ease of use I would suggest that you create a folder called DMR (on the C:\ drive) rather than the default location buried in the documents and settings folder. This makes the path in your shortcut much shorter, but this is your choice.
For each program (browser, email program, etc.) that you want to run with restricted rights you need to create an alternative desktop shortcut to launch it via DropMyRights.exe.
The target location in the alternative shortcut would look something like this - C:\DMR\DropMyRights.exe "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe". What this is doing is calling the DropMyRights.exe, which launches the program with restricted rights.
You will need to change the icon as it will look like a plain old MS DOS icon, rather than the original programs icon.
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kakapo

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2005, 12:27:20 AM »
Thank you all very much for this useful info. We do need to be pro-active when it comes to malware which is what brought me here in the first place, but I didn't have avast! than.........
I appreciate the way you all share your knowledge.
I'll deactivate that wand Kamulko. (Always looked silly with my jeans anyway)
Good to meet you polonus - one Capricorn to another..... ;) I had never explored con-query but will do so as I do a lot of research. Fravia's going to take a little more time, but thank you for the excellent link.
DavidR, that looks like a good idea using DMR.  Again, I'll have to read more to understand how it works with FF and Opera, but it's a lot easier than what I did -I set up a guest account to use while websurfing!
Wishing you all happy, sunny days - we're drying out here now.



Offline DavidR

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2005, 12:51:29 AM »
It really isn't that difficult, here is a very simplified explanation of creating the shortcut that executes DropMyRights, which in turn calls firefox, but it is best to print off the instruction on the MS web page of the link I gave.

Firefox example - Create a second shortcut for firefox (copy the first) and check the path to the executable and compare the difference here D:\DMR\DropMyRights.exe "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" it is just a case of putting the 'D:\DMR\DropMyRights.exe' without the quotes in front of the existing path and changing the Start In folder to D:\DMR.

Repeat the exercise for each program that accesses the internet, once you have that done you just click the 'Firefox (non-Admin)' shortcut. Notice I have tacked on (Non-Admin) to the shortcut name to make it easier to see the difference. If you ever need to have full administrative permissions, close the non-admin occurance and start again with the normal shortcut.
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inconnu

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2005, 11:50:19 AM »
This is a very useful tool, DavidR;  thanks for sharing this information.  I've been using it for a while now, and it's very easy to use.

Offline polonus

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #8 on: June 13, 2005, 07:07:10 PM »
Howdy inconnu,

I found up this free anti-malware scan address. It is from a reliable source, the makers of spysweeper:
http://www.webroot.com/services/spyaudit_03.htm
Go there for a free scan.

Have a nice day,

polonus
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

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Offline FreewheelinFrank

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2005, 07:18:55 PM »
It's been telling me I've got:

Spy #38ef1 -- Research In Progress

for months.

I'm pretty sure this is a false positve, as nothing else has picked up anything.
     Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson brain     Don't Surf in the Nude Blog

Offline polonus

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2005, 07:40:35 PM »
Hi FreewheelinFrank,

This sounds fishy. I hope they are not putting in FP's to lure potential customers to download their software. My position now-a-days is trust no-one until prooven trustworthy.

Have a nice day,

polonus
Cybersecurity is more of an attitude than anything else. Avast Evangelists.

Use NoScript, a limited user account and a virtual machine and be safe(r)!

inconnu

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2005, 12:21:25 PM »
Thanks for the link, polonus.  Webroot is (as of now) still one of the legitimate ones according to SpywareWarrior.  I used to use the free version, which was without updates.  Seems like I had a few more false positives with it than usual, but I can't remember for sure.

But I share your hesitation about trusting them ... there are so many scams in this area today, and so many things going on, that I am becoming habitually suspicious.


emma

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2005, 04:01:30 PM »
I just ran the Webroot Scan.  Everything seems clear except for some cookies.
I don't want to get rid of all my cookies.  I did that once and got confused (again)
But I don't know how to find and get rid of the several that are mentioned.
I use IE usually only for updating or for something I can't seem to do with Mozilla.

Thanks for any simple help telling me how to rid myself of these cookies.

Offline FreewheelinFrank

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2005, 04:39:20 PM »
mmmm.......cookies!

There's a fellow here who just loves to gobble up cookies, either one at a time, or a whole bunch together!

He likes Explorer cookies and Firefox cookies just fine.

But remember to move any cookies you want to keep to the preserved list, or he'll gobble them up too!

Who is this cookie loving fellow?

Why, it's the cookie monster!



http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/CookieMonster.php#Download
     Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson brain     Don't Surf in the Nude Blog

Spiritsongs

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Re: How to stay clear of malware.
« Reply #14 on: June 14, 2005, 06:24:23 PM »
 :) I use a "cookie manager", the good & FREE "CookieWall"
     available from www.analogx.com . However, after
     installation & configuration, any time a "New cookie
     detected..." screen appears, ALWAYS click "Temporary
     Accept", then right-click the yellowish cookie icon in the
     System Tray, selecting "Add/Remove". When that screen
     appears, move all items in the middle column either to the
     left to "Delete/Kill" for the future or to the right to "Keep/
     Save" for the future . The "Always Delete" & "Always
     Accept" tabs do not seem to work, especially concerning
     future occurrences .