11-21-2005, 05:10 PM
There are many 'bad' people out there, we all know this.
There are many ways to keep your computer Virus free, Trojan free, and Spyware free.
1st Tip:
-People You Don't Know Too Well-
Alright, I am first going to start off with people that you don't know to well.
Lots of people can send you harmful files, both Male AND Female. (Don't think just because they are 'Female' doesn't mean they can't send out virus's). If you get an E-Mail from someone the contains an .exe file, do NOT download it, and do NOT open it especialy if the person did not tell you they were going to send you a file. If the person told you they were going to send you something, inspect the name of the file and if it seems legit, download it. After downloading it Scan it for virus's afterwards BEFORE using it.
2nd Tip:
-Websites-
Now I know there are a lot of legit websites, but there are also some very bad websites. The websites to look out for are Illegal websites... Also known as "Warez" or "Crack" Websites. Some of these sites can give you Trojan's, Spyware, or Virus's, EVEN if the site looks profesional. If you are to download from these sort of sites, always scan the files you download before installing, or using.
3rd Tip:
-Dictionary Terms-
I looked up the "Terms" for Virus, Trojan, and Spyware/Adware to show you what each one does.
Virus: A computer program that is designed to replicate itself by copying itself into the other programs stored in a computer. It may be benign or have a negative effect, such as causing a program to operate incorrectly or corrupting a computer's memory.
Trojan: In computers, a Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk. In one celebrated case, a Trojan horse was a program that was supposed to find and destroy computer viruses. A Trojan horse may be widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.
Spyware/Adware:Spywareis a broad category of malicious software designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer's operation without the informed consent of that machine's owner or legitimate user. While the term taken literally suggests software that surreptitiously monitors the user, it has come to refer more broadly to software that subverts the computer's operation for the benefit of a third party.
Spyware differs from viruses and worms in that it does not usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses, however, spyware is designed to exploit infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites.
As of 2005, spyware has often been described as the #1 security threat for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Some malware on the Linux and Mac OS X platforms has behavior similar to Windows spyware, but to date has not become anywhere near as widespread.
Now that you know what each one of these does, it's time for some programs that can stop them.
4th Tip:
-Helpful Programs And/Or Sites-
There are helpful programs and sites to help for each of these 3 harmful things.
Taking Care of Viruses & Trojan's:
AVG is a free Virus scanner. (I don't know if it's free for a certain amount of time or not, but it's still free!) - http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1
Panda Free Virus Scanner. "Scans, disinfects and eliminates over 90000 viruses, worms and Trojans." It's an online Virus Scanner, you might need to download a few things. If you're on High-Speed you won't have to worry about that though, it's quite fast. It's just the scan itself that is always slow. - http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm
Norton Anti-Virus is one of the leading Anti-Virus companies out there. If you have money to spend, this is a must get. - http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/index.html
Taking Care of Spyware, Adware, And/Or Trojan's:
Counter-Spy is one of my FAVORITE programs to use. It gets rid of all sorts of terrible things on your computer that you'd never want on it in the first place. There are also some awesome helpful things this program can do as well.. Although this program only lasts for 15 Days, it's good to use for that time. (There are ways to get PASSED the 15 day trial.. But I can't really say anything more without Admin Permission. Let's just say I have about 5,000+ Days left on my 'Trial'
) - http://www.sunbelt-software.com/CounterSpy-Download.cfm
Spyware Doctor is another great program that I have found. Counter-Spy finds some things that Spyware doctor can't, as the same goes for Spyware doctor finding things that Counter-Spy doesn't as well. There is also a way to get the full version for this as well, but again, I'm not going to say anything without an Admin's permission. - http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/download/
I hope any of this has helped you in <i>some</i> sort of way to help you.
There are many ways to keep your computer Virus free, Trojan free, and Spyware free.
1st Tip:
-People You Don't Know Too Well-
Alright, I am first going to start off with people that you don't know to well.
Lots of people can send you harmful files, both Male AND Female. (Don't think just because they are 'Female' doesn't mean they can't send out virus's). If you get an E-Mail from someone the contains an .exe file, do NOT download it, and do NOT open it especialy if the person did not tell you they were going to send you a file. If the person told you they were going to send you something, inspect the name of the file and if it seems legit, download it. After downloading it Scan it for virus's afterwards BEFORE using it.
2nd Tip:
-Websites-
Now I know there are a lot of legit websites, but there are also some very bad websites. The websites to look out for are Illegal websites... Also known as "Warez" or "Crack" Websites. Some of these sites can give you Trojan's, Spyware, or Virus's, EVEN if the site looks profesional. If you are to download from these sort of sites, always scan the files you download before installing, or using.
3rd Tip:
-Dictionary Terms-
I looked up the "Terms" for Virus, Trojan, and Spyware/Adware to show you what each one does.
Virus: A computer program that is designed to replicate itself by copying itself into the other programs stored in a computer. It may be benign or have a negative effect, such as causing a program to operate incorrectly or corrupting a computer's memory.
Trojan: In computers, a Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the file allocation table on your hard disk. In one celebrated case, a Trojan horse was a program that was supposed to find and destroy computer viruses. A Trojan horse may be widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.
Spyware/Adware:Spywareis a broad category of malicious software designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer's operation without the informed consent of that machine's owner or legitimate user. While the term taken literally suggests software that surreptitiously monitors the user, it has come to refer more broadly to software that subverts the computer's operation for the benefit of a third party.
Spyware differs from viruses and worms in that it does not usually self-replicate. Like many recent viruses, however, spyware is designed to exploit infected computers for commercial gain. Typical tactics furthering this goal include delivery of unsolicited pop-up advertisements; theft of personal information (including financial information such as credit card numbers); monitoring of Web-browsing activity for marketing purposes; or routing of HTTP requests to advertising sites.
As of 2005, spyware has often been described as the #1 security threat for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Some malware on the Linux and Mac OS X platforms has behavior similar to Windows spyware, but to date has not become anywhere near as widespread.
Now that you know what each one of these does, it's time for some programs that can stop them.
4th Tip:
-Helpful Programs And/Or Sites-
There are helpful programs and sites to help for each of these 3 harmful things.
Taking Care of Viruses & Trojan's:
AVG is a free Virus scanner. (I don't know if it's free for a certain amount of time or not, but it's still free!) - http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1
Panda Free Virus Scanner. "Scans, disinfects and eliminates over 90000 viruses, worms and Trojans." It's an online Virus Scanner, you might need to download a few things. If you're on High-Speed you won't have to worry about that though, it's quite fast. It's just the scan itself that is always slow. - http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm
Norton Anti-Virus is one of the leading Anti-Virus companies out there. If you have money to spend, this is a must get. - http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/index.html
Taking Care of Spyware, Adware, And/Or Trojan's:
Counter-Spy is one of my FAVORITE programs to use. It gets rid of all sorts of terrible things on your computer that you'd never want on it in the first place. There are also some awesome helpful things this program can do as well.. Although this program only lasts for 15 Days, it's good to use for that time. (There are ways to get PASSED the 15 day trial.. But I can't really say anything more without Admin Permission. Let's just say I have about 5,000+ Days left on my 'Trial'
) - http://www.sunbelt-software.com/CounterSpy-Download.cfmSpyware Doctor is another great program that I have found. Counter-Spy finds some things that Spyware doctor can't, as the same goes for Spyware doctor finding things that Counter-Spy doesn't as well. There is also a way to get the full version for this as well, but again, I'm not going to say anything without an Admin's permission. - http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/download/
I hope any of this has helped you in <i>some</i> sort of way to help you.
