The most common problem I'm asked to fix is viruses. I'm always baffled as to the many different ways people get hit with viruses. In most cases, you click a horribly wrong link on a webpage which spawns spyware and worm programs to load onto your computer. Then there's the email attack, where all you have to do is view the email to get hit. But the bottom line is, it happens! I've been hit hard only once in my life, and the root cause? I downloaded a file that I thought was an installation file for a program I wanted, it had the right logo and everything, except when it installed, I unleashed what's called the "netbus" virus. Almost instantly, my computer was taken over by the attacker and I can only imagine what files they stole from me. However, being the fiesty computer nut that I am, I used logs and traces to find out who the attacker was and eventually got his ISP (Internet Service Provider) to decline service to his account. Score 1 for me! This happened nearly 5 years ago, but the scars of the attack have left me more virus paranoid than you can imagine. Cleaning it up was messy and I eventually just formated my computer and started from scratch. So lets get started and try and prevent you from having the same experience!

The first defence against viruses is your operating system. I know you're thinking, dont you mean a good anti-virus program? Nope! Windows operating systems have a wide range of security flaws, I downloaded a document that outlined about 250 ways to attack a Windows 98 system. Although they're great, if you ever encounter a virus on a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer, you're swimming up the creek without a paddle. The systems are out-dated and recovery is a big pain. If you constantly see that "The System has Preformed an Illegal Operation and Must be Shut Down" window, you know what I'm talking about! I'm not trying to promote Windows XP, but from experience (and I have had Windows 95,98,ME), XP is worth the investment. If you have Windows 98 or ME, it will install right over your operating system, so you wont even have to delete anything. I would recommend formatting your computer, but if you really dont want to, the option is there. XP is really secure, especially with the new service packs. There is of course Windows Server editions, but most household computers dont use or really need that. The Server editions are meant for networks and it takes a lot of computer know-how to maintain that system. In any case, as far as your first defence goes, my recommendation is to invest in Windows XP.

Now then, anti-virus programs are as priceless as they come when it comes to protecting yourself online. The King of Kings is Norton. I've been using Norton forever now and its been a saving grace in a lot of shaky situations. The functions of Norton are straight forward and it doesnt take a lot of computer experience to use it. I've also used McAfee a while back, but I quickly gave it up just for personal preference. Its a good program and it does a great job. But its like buying a Nike shoe instead of Reebok, I'm just more comfortable with the Norton name and the service. Once you do have an anti-virus program, make sure you run computer scans on a monthly basis, at the very least. Norton does a bi-weekly check automatically on my system, you can set that up quite easily using the norton control panel. Check the settings and make sure you configure the security features to suit your online fears. I have all the features enabled for email, script blocking, instant messaging, etc. Make sure auto-protect is always enabled. That little yellow computer at the bottom of your screen in the taskbar is the best icon you could have!

Most people are confused about how firewalls work and how it helps prevents viruses. Well, in as much plain english as possible, I'll try and break it down. Basically all internet programs run through a port. A port is a route for information to travel to and from your computer. For example, all the websites you access from Internet Explorer or Netscape run through port 80. Its a common port. Port 21 is also a very widely used port for programs to transfer files. However, port numbers go up in the tens of thousands. Where you run into problems is when you have open ports to your computer that virtually anyone can access. Its like locking your front door but leaving some windows open. Attackers use a "port sniffer" to see what ports you have open and can access your computer through those ports. Its not an easy process but a skilled attacker can exploit any opening you give them. This is why you always see Microsoft sending out patches for their operating systems. A firewall blocks all trasmission to uncommon ports until you say its ok. I used Norton's Personal Firewall (you can also combine this with Norton Internet Security). When I first installed my firewall, I had about 5 attacks daily! I was a little scared to think what was going on before I installed the program and who's eyes were on my personal files. The first few weeks are going to be a bothersome, because the firewall program will ask you for permission to allow virtually dozens of programs to access the internet. A lot of unusual program names may pop up, programs that you cant be sure if they are viruses or system programs. In which case, I would initially deny the program access to the internet a few times until you either notice a problem with the system or a program stops working. In that case, you would allow the program to access the internet on the next go around.

If you dont have one by now, get one!! I use Panicware Pop-Up Stopper and its by and large effective. A few misses every now and then, but it has about a 99% pop-up stop success rate. Yahoo and Google have their own FREE pop-up stoppers for download. I personally havent used them but I've read that they are indeed effective and I'm not very fond of uneccessary toolbars on my browsing screen! Check out their website for details. And of course, if you have Windows XP, service pack 2 has a built-in pop-up stopper!! Extremely effective and much better than the program I have. I use them in tandem and 2 pop-up stoppers means I dont get bothered at all with mindless advertising.

And of course you will definitely find a good spyware remover of great importance when protecting your computer. Spybot Search and Destroy is a FREE, I stress FREE, spyware program that has saved my hyde quite a few times. Download it, install it, and run the check. In my first run I was SHOCKED to find nearly 27 spyware programs running on my system. Even if you think you're safe, run this anyway, I'm sure the results will shock you! Another recommended companion to this spyware program is Lavasoft's Ad-Aware spyware detector. Very good! I also have this installed on my system. It has a very easy to use interface and does as good a job as the Spybot program. In tandem, you're looking at a great spyware prevention system.

Lastly, the best protection to getting hit with a virus is you!! Yes, you. Marketing people and hackers are getting smarter and smarter, getting you to click on links that you think lead you to something useful, instead leading you to an unwanted spyware page. Be vigilant. A few tips I can give you regarding web surfing, check the links before you click them!! For example, if you do a google search and you see something that catches your eye, check the coresponding url link, the part where you can see the "www.daremedy.com". As a rule of thumb, links that contain "-" as an extension are usually bad links. For example "www.aaa.com/bbb-ccc-ddd-eee.html". You'll usually find this if you search for celebrities, say..... Jessica Alba! Same thing goes for the url name, if its some long www.aaa-bbb-ccc-ddd.com extension, probably not good! Also, check the title and description of the website. Is the information consistent or do they look a bit shady? You can also check for unusal website extensions, like, www.aaa.cx, or www.aaa.do, something irregular.

And since I know we all do it, watch what you download off file sharing programs!! I know you all love to download songs, pictures, movie clips and whatever else, make sure you dont download a nasty virus. Some movie clips are programmed to transport you to a certain website as soon as the film is finished, and once you get to the site, its lights out. Watch out when you download executable files (.exe) and if you're unsure if its valid, run it through an anti-virus program. Never, never, never download files that dont make sense or use weird letters. Something like "^%Sjf97*Y7_du7f8t.exe" or weird stuff like that! And if you use Outlook to check your email, make sure you change the settings in the Read tab so that you DO NOT automatically download messages in the preview pane and make sure your security tabs are all in check. Attackers can use Active-X controls to send you unwanted material through email. And when you are reading emails, DO NOT respond to, click on links, or reply to any sender with garbage in the email. Odds are, you didnt win 1 million dollars, or win a trip to Cuba, and do not click on any links that are associated with the email. Dont be fooled by people. If the email sounds a little off beat, it probably is. Never click on a link from someone you dont know or dont trust. Just can the message.

Hopefully some of this helps. If you are unsure of what steps to take to remove a virus or just want some other information, feel free to contact me. Be safe out there.

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