First of all, I'd just like to say that everything I've seen so far from lurking looks absolutely wonderful! I am pretty darn sure I'm in the right place for the questions I have.
I will try to be brief, but if I drag on a little then please bare with me.
I came accross TSG from doing a Google search on an executable that tried to access the Internet, so that's why I'm here. I am relatively new to broadband (hence the heightened concerns with security) but I consider myself an advanced PC user, so I'm not intimidated by "techy" things. Anyway, here are some particulars.
I am using Windows XP Pro. I currently connect to the internet via a cable modem that is connected to a wireless router. I connect to the router via a Cat5 cable. I have Norton Systemworks and the free version of Zone Alarm as my main lines of defense. I also have Ad-Aware installed, version 6-181.
I am a pretty intensive Internet junkie and I must admit that I freely visit sites that I should probably think a little harder about before doing so. Anyway, while investigating this executable I mentioned earlier I came accross several threads that mentioned several other utilities that many of the users here seem to use, namely HighjackThis (sp?), and several forms of Spybot. I would love to have my system analyzed by the good folks of this forum by posting some log files, as many people seem to do, but I don't know where to begin!
So...I would be interested in your reccomendations of which programs to download and in what order to run them. I'd also be interested in what the proper steps are in regards to posting the results of various scans and logs.
Lastly, just this evening I went to run Ad-Aware and there seems to be a problem in downloading the most recent update. When I click on the link for "Details" on the main Ad-Aware window after having attempted to update the software it says there was an error in attempting to download the most recent updates. Is this normal? I wouldn't think so.
Any help with my questions would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and I have read most of the Sticky's and I will be downloading some of the utilities mentioned, but I think I'll wait for a response before proceeding.
Thanks!!
-gk-
I will try to be brief, but if I drag on a little then please bare with me.
I came accross TSG from doing a Google search on an executable that tried to access the Internet, so that's why I'm here. I am relatively new to broadband (hence the heightened concerns with security) but I consider myself an advanced PC user, so I'm not intimidated by "techy" things. Anyway, here are some particulars.
I am using Windows XP Pro. I currently connect to the internet via a cable modem that is connected to a wireless router. I connect to the router via a Cat5 cable. I have Norton Systemworks and the free version of Zone Alarm as my main lines of defense. I also have Ad-Aware installed, version 6-181.
I am a pretty intensive Internet junkie and I must admit that I freely visit sites that I should probably think a little harder about before doing so. Anyway, while investigating this executable I mentioned earlier I came accross several threads that mentioned several other utilities that many of the users here seem to use, namely HighjackThis (sp?), and several forms of Spybot. I would love to have my system analyzed by the good folks of this forum by posting some log files, as many people seem to do, but I don't know where to begin!
So...I would be interested in your reccomendations of which programs to download and in what order to run them. I'd also be interested in what the proper steps are in regards to posting the results of various scans and logs.
Lastly, just this evening I went to run Ad-Aware and there seems to be a problem in downloading the most recent update. When I click on the link for "Details" on the main Ad-Aware window after having attempted to update the software it says there was an error in attempting to download the most recent updates. Is this normal? I wouldn't think so.
Any help with my questions would be greatly appreciated.
Oh, and I have read most of the Sticky's and I will be downloading some of the utilities mentioned, but I think I'll wait for a response before proceeding.
Thanks!!
-gk-