The Fight Against
Spyware:
There are many questions regarding spyware. DMX's Prevention of
Spyware is an excellent tutorial summing it all up.
Thanks to DMX for this tutorial:
Do you find your computer is slowing down?? a likely cause is
Spyware
Here's what I recommend doing:
Download
Ad-Aware 6 SE
Before you do start the primary scan (i.e. Run AD-Aware for the
1st time) it is advisable to delete your temporary files. Temp files
are not "important" and safe to remove.
Here's how you do it:
Deleting Temporary Files
Click Start > Run and type "%temp%" without the quotes.
Delete any folders and files that appear in this directory.
Click Start > Run and type "c:\WINNT\Temp" without the
quotes.
Delete any folders and files that appear in this directory.
If you use Internet Explorer, you can also clean out these files are
well:
Open your Internet Properties window either one of two ways:
If Internet Explorer is on your desktop, right click and select
"Properties" or navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel >
Internet Options. Now, under the General tab, click "Delete
Files..." Check the "Delete all offline content" tab and then click
ok.
By doing this it will reduce the scan time
If you use Internet Explorer 6, it's advisable to change the Active
X settings of the browser. Spyware is notorious for attacking your
computer via Active X.
a) Open Internet Options either through IE:
Launch IE, click on Tools > Internet Options...
or
Launch Internet Options from the Control Panel.
b) Click on the Security Tab.
c) Click on the Earth icon labelled 'Internet'
d) Click on the button labelled 'Default Level' on the lower,
right of the window.
e) Now, click on 'Custom Level...'
f) The first section will be 'ActiveX controls and plug-ins':
Set both 'Download signed ActiveX controls' and 'Download unsigned
ActiveX controls' to PROMPT
Set 'Initialize and script Active X controls not marked as safe' to
DISABLE
However, I personally recommend using the
Mozilla Firefox
browser. It is proven to be a much more secure browser.
Finally...
Go to IE > Tools > Windows Update > Product Updates, and
install ALL Security Updates listed.
It's important to always keep current with the latest security fixes
from Microsoft.
Install those patches for Internet Explorer, and make sure your
installation of Java VM is up-to-date. There are some well known
security bugs with Microsoft Java VM which are exploited regularly
by browser hijackers.
Oh yeah, and the most obvious of all!!!
Watch what you download!
Many freeware programs, and P2P programs like Grokster,
Imesh, Kazaa and others are amongst the most notorious, come
with an enormous amount of bundled spyware that will eat
system resources, slow down your system, clash with other installed
software, or just plain crash your browser or even Windows itself.
Once you have installed updates to the most recent file
definitions, then perform these little tweaks to improve scanning
results.
A. Click on 'General' and make sure the following are checked
and colored green:
· Automatically save log-file
· Automatically quarantine objects prior to removal
· Safe Mode (always request confirmation)
B. Click on ‘Scanning’ (second from top on the left) and make
sure the following are checked and colored green:
· Scan Within Archives
· Scan Active Processes
· Scan Registry
· Deep Scan Registry
· Scan my IE favourites for banned URL’s
· Scan my Hosts file
· Click 'Select drives & folders to scan’ and select all of your
hard drives.
C. Click on ‘Advanced’ (second from top on the left) and make
sure the following are checked and colored green:
· Include additional object information
· Include environment information
· DESELECT Include negligible objects information -- Checkbox should
be red with an 'X'
D. Click the ‘Tweak’ button (on the bottom left):
Expand ‘Scanning Engine’ and make sure the following are checked and
colored green:
· Unload recognized processes & modules during scan
· Scan registry for all users instead of current user only
Expand ‘Cleaning Engine’ and make sure the following are checked and
colored green:
· Let Windows remove files in use at next reboot
Expand ‘Log Files’ and make sure the following are checked and
colored green:
· Include basic Ad-aware settings in log file
· Include additional Ad-aware settings in log file
E. Click 'Proceed' in the bottom-right corner to save your
settings.
Then run the scan. This will basically clean out all the "rubbish"
you already have on your computer.
•You should also get this,
Spyware Guard
This is a little program u leave on in the background. It will stop
spyware as it comes, so you will hardly get infected in the first
place.
Both are free, offer free & regular updates, and are very
user-friendly.
Note: Neither of these offer Virus protection. I would advise
purchasing Norton 2004 for that
Together they form a violent offensive against spyware.
Enjoy your Spyware free computers
