Computing

Well folks, I am sure you're all familiar with the Internet, or you wouldn't be here reading this web page. In the old days the Internet was very slow and when you got onto it, the relatively small number of websites were only in text. If you were asked to answer a question, a command line interface was used. By that I mean the question would appear on a line and you would have to write on the line under it. There were no checkboxes or radio boxes or anything like that. The Internet was quite primitive and if you wanted to download something, even a tiny file might take all night, if you could even download it. Notice that I said, if you could even download it, that is because it was downloading so slowly and a connection was so shaky that you would be cut off many times in the middle of the download and have to start all over. While this was a very primitive time, it did have it's advantages. There were no people trying to sabotage your computer, read your keyboard, or steal your identity. Those annoying pop-up ads did not exist and in the beginning I don't even recall anyone having e-mail, at least anyone that I know of. Sure it was a primitive time, but it was also a much safer time, for the average computer owner. It wasn't necessary to have anti-virus programs, anti-Trojan programs, or even firewalls for that matter. Today you would have to be crazy not to have this protection on your computer and even with this, going on to the Internet is a risky distance .Why heck, even opening your e-mail can cause you grief. So what can we do about all this? The trick is to try and protect ourselves without spending a fortune to do it, so I thought I might review some software that is capable of this, for the benefit of everyone.

A little while ago my computer, the one that I use to write my articles on, which is connected to the Internet by Cablevision, was the victim of a vicious attack. I spent several days trying to resolve this issue. I am more computer literate than most people, having been into computers since 1974 when everything was basically a mainframe. I quickly found out what was going on, but I couldn't figure out exactly what file was causing my problem. I knew that a system file had been altered, but I didn't know which one. The problem was that the remote desktop and remote assistance features of windows XP, which is the operating system on my computer, would automatically turn on giving at entry point to a malicious program that would use my computer for authorized purposes. At first I tried turning off the remote assistance and remote desktop by unchecking the boxes that allow it, in the system properties and in the Microsoft firewall. It didn't do any good however, because it would just reauthorize remote access when I rebooted and didn't really disconnect when I unchecked the boxes, even though it appeared to do so. For those that have the professional version of Windows XP, they can get what is known as administrative privileges through the operating system and turn things services on and off at a much deeper level. I went into this and completely turned off all the remote assistance and remote desktop services .I really thought I had the problem solved, so I reset the computer and noticed that these services were all authorized again. I was getting very frustrated by this time and decided to do some research into the problem. I scoured the Internet to see if anyone else had this happen to them and even though there were a few people who were stating that their remote desktop kept going on and off on its own, I found out after reading what they were complaining about, that it was not the same problem and they were just unfamiliar with the controls, so this was not very helpful to me.

The remote desktop and remote assistant features allow others to access your computer, which I believe is never a good idea .Sure it may be handy for you if you are away from your desk, to be able to access your computer, but is it worth the risk? The next thing I decided to do was to contact a representative of one of the spyware companies to get help .He did respond in a timely manner and tried to help me, but ultimately he could not solve the problem either and stated that this was a new type of malicious program that they had not seen before, that was causing this problem. It had even infiltrated my backups which were all on other hard drives that were connected to the system. I finally had to re-format all my hard drives .It was just a lucky thing for me that I had some of this information on DVDs. Since then I have reinforced my computer with even more powerful and anti-malware programs, which I am going to tell you about in a minute. By the way I should mention the fact that even though my computer had up-to-date anti-virus and anti-Trojan software the programs were not able to recognize the threat nor was any other software from any other company that I tried. There are now criminal gangs that have software laboratories where they test their malware against all the leading detection systems and this allows them to refine their product. Why do they do this? They want to use your computer for various illegal things and maybe get on it and steal your identity.

One of the first things you need is a strong firewall. Microsoft provides a firewall with their operating system, but the malware that was on my computer went right through it like a dose of salt along with my hardware firewall. I found a very competent freeware firewall that I now use in place of the Microsoft one. The name of it is COMODO. It can be downloaded by just typing the name into Google and going to the site. Before downloading it, I have to warn you about something. The program is one that learns what your habits are and can be very pesky in the first few weeks by constantly asking you if it should allow certain things. If you download something it will drive you nuts unless you put it into download/install mode. If you can put up with this, it is a fine program. I would not be without it, because it seems to detect everything and can be set to different levels of protection. I did find one thing that I must tell you about. I have cable tv going through a cable box to my computer which plays in the Microsoft Media Center. The only way I could reset it after the attack was by turning off the firewall until the tv was setup and then turning the firewall back on. The tv works fine now even with the firewall running. There are tons of controls on the firewall program, do not let them overpower you. The average person will not have to play with them very much, I know that I didn't. This program would be a bargain even at $100.00, but as I said, it is free.

The next thing that I did was invest a little money for a subscription for PC Tools' Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus This program was picked as one of the best of 2007 at detecting and destroying trojans and with the added anti-virus protection became even better. It wasn't that I am depending solely on its anti-virus capabilities for anti-virus protection, because I am not. I also run other anti-virus software. Spyware Doctor has a feature called "OnGuard". This feature monitors you web browsers for malicious tracking and advertising cookies and automatically removes them. It has things like a guard against people reading your keyboard remotely, a guard against seeing what process you are using, a guard against changing files or adding to them, a guard against malware starting at the computer startup. This is the kind of stuff that you really need. It is like running several programs at once, which is what you would have to do to get this level of protection. Different modules in the program can be turned on an off, but most of them should just be left on.

The virus protection that I use is not free, but a free version with less options does exist. I use AVG Professional. I have tried all different anti-virus programs and even though I had AVG Professional in place during the time that the malware attack struck my computer, it is still the best of the bunch. None of the other anti-virus programs detected the attack either. Actually the anti-trojan software I was using at the time should have detected it, since it was a trojan attack. I no longer use that software, which was also considered one of the best at that time. Windows XP came with McAfee, it was a trial copy. I am not a McAfee fan and removed it. It is not easy to remove and those without computer knowledge might not be able to do it. To remove it, you must prevent it from starting up. The easiest way to do this is to go into SAFE MODE and then remove it. Another way to get some protection is to download the Google Pack at http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html?hl=en&gl=us The Google Pack is free and contains many programs and among them are Norton Security Scan, a free anti-virus program and Spyware Doctor Starter Edition, which protects you from trojans, spyware, adware and keyloggers and is the light edition of what I use. With these free programs you also get Google Earth, Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, Google Desktop, Picasa, Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar, Google Photos Screen saver, Adobe Reader, Google Talk, Skype, StarOfficer and RealPlayer. Hey the price is right at zero.

There really isn't much more the average person can do to protect themselves and their computers. There are a few tricks that are available to Geeks, but by and large, if you do what I did, you just about have maximum protection. To review what I am running to protect myself, here it is again in the short form:

A hardware firewall
Comodo software firewall
Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus
AVG Professional

It is important to let your anti-malware programs update themselves automatically and remember this, the best protection is to use your head. Don't go onto those sites that give you bootleg software for free or allow you to download current movies for free. It is not only against the law, but these are places where viruses and spyware abound. The criminal gangs use those sites to attract people with the promise of free stuff that shouldn't be available. They appeal to people's greed. It is just like the email that is constantly sent out that promises you millions for helping someone smuggle money out of their country. The only difference there is that they take you money directly, because they ask for a SMALL FEE to get the ball rolling. That old saying is still true, "there is no free lunch". Lastly be very careful in opening email attachments. Don't open any if you don't know where they come from and don't click on any links asking you for personal information even if it seems to come from somewhere that you know such as your bank. Remember this, NO financial institution will send you an email asking for personal information, it just isn't done.