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NobleTruths
Old 03-30-2010, 10:41 PM     Post subject: Computer Security, Malware and Internet Poker, Part 2 #1 (permalink)  
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 This is the second of what I anticipate to be a series of articles about Internet security. Please see my first article here.

Hopeful, everyone has followed the suggestions of my first article, and now are surfing safely. However, even with the safest of surfing, our vigilance can lapse or the evil-doers can be particularly tricky.

With that in mind, here are some sign that can indicate your computer is infected:
  • Unexpected messages or images are suddenly displayed
  • Unusual sounds or music played at random
  • Programs suddenly start on your computer
  • You receive notification from your firewall that some applications have attempted to connect to the Internet
  • Your friends mention that they have received messages from your address which you know you did not send
  • Your computer freezes frequently or encounters errors
  • Your computer slows down when programs are started
  • Your hard drive is accessed too often (the light on your main unit flashes rapidly)
  • Warning messages from your antivirus or fake messages from a rogue program
  • Redirects when surfing the Web
There are many more possible symptoms, and some of these symptoms can be seen with general hardware or software problems. However, let’s assume you now have had the pleasure of seeing a message like Congratulations: You Are Infected or some other pop-up (real or rogue) informing you Infections Found on your computer. So, now what?

Do not click anywhere on a pop-up message if you do not recognize the image/program. If it is from a rogue program, any click (even on the X in the upper right corner) will activate it further. Leave the message alone for now, if you are not sure.

Your initial step should be to immediately disconnect from the Internet. You must halt the transfer of more virus load into your system, as well as whatever the virus is trying to send outward. Next, disconnect your computer from a Local Area Network, if applicable. Try to contain the infection to your computer, only.

Now it is time to deal with the message. If it is from your antivirus or other know protection software, follow its prompts on what to do with the issue. If it is from an unknown or suspicious program, close it by navigating to Task Manager (right click on an empty area of the Task Bar - the bottom edge of your screen), click Applications, highlight the offending program and click End Task.

Next, perform full system scans with your antivirus software, as well as your other on-demand scanners (if you followed the advise from my first article, you should have several on your computer). Quarantine/delete everything they find.

Some severe infections will block your ability to run your antivirus programs. If that happens, reboot the computer into Safe Mode (tapping f8 key repeatedly as your computer is just turning on), because many malware programs are not active in Safe Mode. Do not use Safe Mode with Networking. Run your scanners now, if possible.

Now, look to see when these programs were last updated. Your antivirus should be up-to-date, since it is real-time protection. The others may not be. Re-connect to the Internet (after rebooting into Normal Mode), update as needed, disconnect from the Internet, and rescan.

Reconnect to the Internet and perform an on-line scanner. Good choices are:

Finally, examine the logs of what was found. Research the names of the malware identified. Decide if any further cleaning is necessary based on that research, or if you continue to have symptoms of infection.

If further assistance is needed, you can go to a local malware specialist or you can try an on-line antimalware forum. Two of the best (and free) forums are SpywareInfoforum.com and bleepingcomputer.com.

If all else fails and the cleaning is not working, or the computer’s operating system is corrupt, then and wipe and re-install may be necessary. The best way to accomplish this is by having a disk image saved from an previously know malware-free time period. I shall make that the topic of my next article.

If you have a topic you would like me to cover, or have questions for me, please post here or pm me.

Please Surf Safely
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a500lbgorilla
Old 03-31-2010, 12:03 AM #2 (permalink)  
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kiwiMark
Old 03-31-2010, 04:18 AM #3 (permalink)  
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