[TechGuy]

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[Cookiegal]

Malware Anyone?

No thanks, of course! But you may already have some lurking in your computer and not even know it. So what does the word "malware" mean? It's actually a compound word that's short for "malicious software", which can be anything from minor annoyances and nuisances, like unwanted tracking cookies, popups, spam/phishing scams and adware to much more serious and intrusive spyware, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, fake security programs, rootkits, bootkits, etc. Various methods are used to gain access to your system, often for the purpose of harvesting sensitive information, such as passwords, bank account or credit card numbers and/or making changes to the system that render it difficult to even use it.

Malware is continuously evolving and using more complex and sophisticated methods to penetrate deeper into your system, making it much more difficult to eradicate. Long gone are the good old days when your resident anti-virus software or a quick on-line scan would take care of any type of innocuous "bug" that you may have inadvertently picked up. Although the various anti-virus software vendors do a very good job of updating their virus definitions frequently and using heuristics to detect patterns and characteristic of unidentified malware, unfortunately, people are still getting infected in large numbers every day.

Should you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being a victim of malware, Tech Support Guy has several qualified Malware Removal Specialists (gold shields) and Malware Removal Trainees (blue shields) who are authorized to assist and will be happy to advise and guide you through the process of cleaning your computer. The helpers do this on a volunteer basis because they enjoy helping people and putting their skills to good use. If only the malware writers would do the same.

All you need to do is register to create an account at Tech Support Guy (http://forums.techguy.org) and then start a new thread in the Virus & Other Malware Removal forum, being sure to follow the preliminary instructions at the following link and posting the requested logs for review:

http://forums.techguy.org/virus-othe...e-posting.html

If you're new to message boards or are unsure how to start a new thread, please consult our Welcome Guide at the following link which provides detailed instructions, including screenshots and a video:

http://www.techguy.org/welcome.html

Please be patient and follow the process through with your helper to completion, which may involve several steps, in order to be sure to achieve the desired results.


Best practices

The following is a short summary of some tips to follow for best practices. This list is certainly not meant to be exhaustive or all-inclusive, as that would be beyond the scope of this newsletter article, but it does give some basic guidelines that can help prevent unfortunate situations.

First and foremost, I can't stress enough the importance of backing up your important data, such as documents, photos, music files, etc., in effect, anything that you wouldn't want to lose should something happen to your hard drive. Keep in mind that hard drives can fail at any time for a number of reasons, not necessarily malware-related, and data cannot always be salvaged or recovered from them so it's vital that you create backups on a regular basis.

There are various methods than can be used to accomplish this and you will find a lot of information about this on our web site, so we will just touch on the basics here.

One simple method is to copy important files over to CDs or to an external hard drive which can then be transferred to another hard drive, if necessary. However, it's not advisable to use a USB "thumb" or "flash" drive for backups as they are only meant for convenience in transferring data from one computer to another and are not necessarily reliable for long-term data storage. Once you've backed up your data, check to make sure that you can open the files without any problems.

The most effective and reliable method is to use software that will image your hard drive to an external one and then add any changes that you make afterward as incremental backups at regularly scheduled intervals. Using this method requires very little time and effort and allows you to easily restore an image of your entire system to the same hard drive, or to a new one, if necessary, without having to reload drivers, programs or other software.

As with anything in life, it's never too late to start best practices and there are many things that you can easily do to help protect yourself from falling victim to malicious attacks and exploits, which are so prevalent these days. We won't go into a great amount of detail but here are a few basic tips that can help keep you safe on the Internet.

1. Always have anti-virus software that is updated and running on your computer. There are many good ones that you can purchase, which generally have more features or functions, but there are also several good free alternatives available. You will find many informative discussions about them in the General Security forum on our web site that can help you decide which one would be best for you. Note that it's not better, nor is it recommended, to have more than one anti-virus program installed on your computer as they will conflict which each other and reduce the effectiveness of your virus protection.
   
   
2. You should also install a good anti-malware/spyware program to compliment your anti-virus protection. These are not the same as anti-virus software and can be used as an added layer of protection.
   
   
3. Stay away from dodgy sites displaying inappropriate/offensive content. Notwithstanding any potential moral and/or legal issues, these sites are often malware land mines.
   
   
4. Be wary of ActiveX controls, which are small executable programs that are often needed for various sites to function or be viewed properly but they can also be used to download malicious content to your computer.
   
   
5. Be wary of notifications on web sites indicating that you need to get or update Adobe Flash or a media player to view them, especially if you know you're already running the latest version, as these are methods that are often used for malicious exploits. If it is indeed necessary to update these applications then do so manually through the software itself and then, if you're still prompted to click on a link to update, chances are there's a malicious exploit involved that the site may not even be aware of.
   
   
6. Don't use P2P/torrent applications to obtain software and/or music, etc. without paying for it but rather only download genuine software from legitimate sources. Also, although there are often many valid sources for legitimate programs, it's generally safest to download software from the vendor/author's site whenever you can in order to avoid any confusion as to the integrity of the download.
   
   
7. Be careful when using a USB "flash" or "thumb" drive from another computer. Many infections are spread through the autorun (autoplay) feature as they will execute immediately upon insertion of the device. It is recommended that this feature be disabled and although this means that you will have to start your music, games, etc. manually, it can be instrumental in preventing infection and is well worth any minor inconvenience.
   
   
8. There are also a lot of concerns these days about social networking sites but you can certainly enjoy and use them safely. Just be sure to check out the privacy settings that are available and don't post material that you wouldn't want your grandmother or perhaps a potential employer to see as those can come back to haunt you later on.
   
   Also, use caution before clicking on links, even if it's something that appears to be coming from a friend. Unfortunately, accounts do get hacked regularly so you should check with your friend first to be sure that they actually sent you that video or photo from the party to look at before actually clicking on it.
   
   
9. Always use strong passwords that include a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and/or symbols and not something like a pet's name, your username, your address or date of birth which can be easily cracked by humans or automated bots. Also, don't use the same password for every site or place where you have to enter one. Not only is it safer should a password ever be compromised, as then the hackers would be limited in what they had access to, but you wouldn't have to change them all either should that happen.
   
   
10. Be careful of phishing scam e-mails arriving in your Inbox. "Phishing" is a play on the word "fishing" and is an attempt to get you to willingly provide sensitive information such as passwords, bank account and/or credit card numbers, etc. These e-mails are often spoofed to look like they come from legitimate sources but a bank or other type of financial institution will never contact you in this manner to ask for your account number or other personal information, which they would already in their records. When in doubt, contact your bank or financial institution to see if they did indeed send the communication before responding or clicking on anything in the e-mail.
    
    
11. Make sure all of the software running on your system is up to date with the latest version available to be sure that any known vulnerabilities in them have been patched. This includes things such as your operating system; Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, your browser; Internet Explorer (even if you don't use it, it's important to keep it up to date. The latest versions are 8 for XP and 9 for Vista and Windows 7), Firefox (there are several add-ons that you can get to increase security) and Google Chrome, etc., as well as other software such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Flash/Reader and Sun Java, among others.
    
    It's also a good idea to scan with the Secunia Online Software Inspector http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/ regularly to see if there are any vulnerabilities in applications that need to be addressed on your computer so that you can take appropriate action to correct them, if necessary.
    
    
12. Should you find yourself being presented with a suspicious/unwanted popup or download box requiring you to click "Yes", "No", "Cancel" or similar, don't even click on the "X" in the top corner to close this out as that often actually executes the malicious exploit. It's best to call up the Task Manager and "End Task" on the application to close down that particular browser tab or window safely.

There are other things that can be done to harden the security of your system with respect to the various operating systems, software, browsers, add-ons etc. and you can find more information about this on the Tech Support Guy web site.

I hope that you found this article informative and that you and your families stay safe on the Internet.

Cookiegal
Administrator
Tech Support Guy

[TechGuy]

From flavallee:


10 Ways To Improve Speed And Performance In Your Computer


These are some of the more common ones that I use and recommend, but there are many other ways that you can improve speed and performance in a computer.

Although these tips are focused towards Windows XP users, they can also be used by Windows Vista and Windows 7 users.

1. Add more RAM.
Unless your computer doesn’t support that amount, install at least 2048 MB(2 GB) of RAM.
Programs and games and computer functions are getting more and more memory-hungry, so 512 MB of RAM isn’t sufficient anymore.


2. Make sure the processor is running at its rated speed and not at a noticeably slower speed.
This is more of a problem with laptops/notebooks than with desktops because the processor can slow down to conserve battery power.
To determine if your computer’s processor is running at its rated speed, right-click “My Computer”, then click Properties.
If the processor’s rated speed and the speed shown aren’t the same, it’s not running at its rated speed.
To prevent this from occurring, go to Power Options, then set the power scheme to “Always On”, then restart the computer.

Note: If your computer has an AMD processor, it may not list the rated speed but may list a code instead, such as “4400+”. Unless you already know how the code equates to rated speed, doing a Google search for that code should determine what it is. The GHz number shown in the properties will be the actual speed your computer is running at.


3. Make sure the hard drive is running at the proper transfer mode and not at a slower mode.
Go to the Device Manager, then expand the “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” heading, then open the properties window for the primary IDE channel, then select the advanced settings tab.
The hard drive transfer mode should be set on “DMA if available” and should not be set on “PIO only”.
If it is, change the setting and then restart the computer.
If it’s set properly, also make sure the transfer mode number isn’t lower than it should be.
Depending on how old your computer is and what transfer mode the hard disk controller supports, most hard drives run in Ultra DMA Mode 5 or Ultra DMA Mode 6.


4. Reduce the number of programs that auto-load and run in the background.
Many programs and add-ons that you install in your computer will set themselves up to auto-load and run in the background.
Many of them don’t need to auto-load and run at all, and others can be manually started when you need them.
To prevent the unnecessary ones from auto-loading and running all the time, go to Start - Run – MSCONFIG – OK – “Startup” tab, then uncheck them, then apply the change, then restart the computer.
Two good sites for researching the startup list are:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.p...t=100&offset=0


5. Prevent a large buildup of temp files from occurring.
Unless you delete them on a regular basis, they can build up over time to hundreds or even thousands of files.
To delete them, type in
%TEMP%
in the “Run” or “Search” box.
When the temp folder appears, select and delete everything that’s inside it.
If a few files resist being deleted, that’s normal. Leave them alone and delete everything else.


6. Don’t allow malware, spyware, etc. to accumulate in your computer.
I recommend you install and use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and SUPERAntiSpyware.
They’re very user-friendly and do a good job and are well recommended in these forums.
Run a quick scan weekly and run a complete/full scan monthly.
Always make sure to update the definition files first before running a scan.
After the scan is finished, select and remove everything that’s found.
You can download them from:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html


7. Don’t use full-featured security suites.
Besides the fact they contain unneeded extras, those extra features add to the startup load and consume more system resources - which slows down a computer.
I recommend you install and use Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira AntiVir.
They do a good job and are light on system resources and are well recommended in these forums.
You can download them from:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...ity-essentials
http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-free-antivirus


8. Don’t use cleaner/optimizer/booster/tuneup utilities, especially the ones that allow you to “clean” and “fix” the registry.
They do little-to-nothing to improve speed, and in some cases will reduce speed.
They also do little-to-nothing to fix problems.
What they can do though is damage the Windows operating system, cause programs to stop working, generate unexpected error messages, and cause overall havoc with your computer.


9. Don’t allow unneeded toolbars and add-ons to accumulate in your computer.
When installing new programs or updating current programs, take time to read each window that appears during the install process.
You can then opt out and decline to install these unneeded extras.
Besides the fact that many of them are spyware-related, they can increase the loading time of webpages.


10. Reduce the amount of graphic and multimedia “eye candy”.
All those fancy screensavers, animations, clocks, weather monitors, etc. look nice, but they consume system resources and can slow down a computer.