Protecting your PC from the Nasties

By Kent (with help from the great posters at WindowsBBS forum)

Page last modified - July 14, 2007

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Here are a few steps to help you protect your home PC from those nasties.  I call anything that invades your computer without your permission “nasties”.

Step 1:

1)  Having an up-to-date antivirus (AV) program is very essential. Most AV programs have the ability to auto-update. Make sure yours is set to do so.

- AVG
     - AVG Free Edition
- Kapersky KAV
- McAfee
- my-etrust
- NOD32
- Panda
- PC-cillin
- Symantec

2)  Use online virus, trojan, and spyware scanners to supplement your protection.  I have listed a few below:

- eTrust -  Free Online Virus Scanner
- McAfee -  Free Online Virus Scanner
- Panda -  Free Online Virus Scanner.
- RAV -  Free Online Virus Scanner
- Symantec -  Security Check Site.  Can access the online virus scanner here
- Trend Micro -  Free Online Virus Scanner
- Trojan Scan -  Free Online Trojan Scanner - Supplied by GFI
- X-Cleaner -  Free Online Spyware Scanner from Spywareinfo and XBlock

Step 2:

Make sure you have a Firewall installed.  What is a firewall?

NOTE:  If you using Windows XP SP1 as your operating system, you already have a firewall installed.  However, the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) may not be turned on.   Microsoft does offer instructions on how to enable or disable the ICF.  Unfortunately, the ICF for SP1 blocks incoming traffic only, no outgoing.  Now that Windows XP SP2 has been released the ICF has also been upgraded and will now be referred to as Windows Firewall (WF).  The new WF will be turned on by default and offers a sufficient level of protection.  Windows Firewall is a big improvement from the ICF.

Listed below are some software firewalls (aka programs) and some hardware firewalls (aka routers)...

Software Firewalls:
- Outpost Firewall - Sunbelt's Personal Firewall - I use this firewall - Sygate Personal Firewall   *** Note: As of Nov 30, 2005 Sygate was discontinued by Symantec... but the web site Old Version still has copies. My link points to the Sygate Firewall page on Old Version. - Tiny Firewall   *** Note: Tiny Firewall was bought out by by CA... but the web site Old Version still has copies. My link points to the Tiny Firewall page on Old Version. - ZoneAlarm
     - ZoneAlarm Free - Download ZoneAlarm's free version here.

Hardware Firewalls:
- D-Link Routers -  Links to Wired and Wireless routers
- Linksy Wireless Routers -  Links to all the Wireless routers   This is the model that I use.
- Linksy Wired Routers -  Links to all the Wired routers.

Step 3:

Make sure Windows is up-to-date by visiting Microsoft’s Windows Update page on a regular basis.  A better suggestion is to use the built-in Automatic Updates feature available on Windows ME, 2000 Pro, or XP (Home and Pro).

- How to use Windows Update and Automatic Updates – http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/swupdates.asp
- Windows Update page - http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Step 4:

Downloading software from the internet:
- Download only “trusted” software from “trusted” sites:  How do you know what sites should be trusted?  Well, as a rule of thumb, I will not download software unless I have checked it out on the web via a search engine such as Google, Vivisimo , etc.  For example: If you wanted to find out about the program Kazaa, you should go to Google’s search page, then type Kazaa in the search window.  Press enter and Google will display the results of your query.
- Read the EULA:  (End User License agreement) Before installing any software, read the fine print of the EULA as it may tell you that other software may be included with the installation of the software you are considering installing.   Sometimes this "other" software is what we know as "spyware, adware, or malware".  If your not sure about the "other" software then do not install the original program.  See "Joining an Internet forum below.
- Join an Internet Forum:  Forums, such as Malware Removal,  BleepingComputer,  SpywareInfo, Spyware Warrior, TomCoyote, WindowsBBS, HelpontheNet, or SmartestComputing, are excellent sources of information and assistance.  Post your question on the software you want to install and some one will reply to help you with making a decision whether or not the piece of software can be trusted.  I am a member of these forums and use them on a regular basis. (Note:   You will have to fill out a free registration form to join most forums)
- Never join peer-to-peer networking sites: (Kazaa, Gnutella, Morpheus, etc). P2P networks share movies, music or programs via the Internet. Statistics show that upwards of 50% of the shared files include some sort of malware, virus or other "nasty". Although the temptation to get "free stuff" may be great, the consequences could be irreparable.

Step 5:

- Browser "hijacking". When you open Internet Explorer, your “Home” page is a site you have never seen before. Another example occurs when you click on Internet Explorer’s Search button, you are taken to a page you have never seen before. Yet another example is constant “pop-up” ads when you're browsing the Net. If these things happen, your browser has most likely been hijacked.
- Sluggish PC performance. You notice your PC is not performing as quickly as it was a month ago. Programs load slowly. Screen refreshes take a long time to complete. Your PC freezes while you're writing a letter. Scandisk and Defrag don’t help. "Nasties" use up system resources and slow down your PC. They can also interfere with other software -- including AV programs. They can also cause the dreaded “Blue Screens Of Death”, commonly know as BSOD.

2) If your PC has any or all the symptoms described above, you could be infected with the "nasties".  Well don't worry as there are steps you can take to verify they exist and clean your PC.  There are free spyware/Adware/malware scanners that you can download, install, and scan your PC for those "nasties". (Note: Make sure you check for updates on a regular basis) Some of the recommended software programs are:

- Spybot S&D 1.3  - Free spyware/adware scanner.  Tutorial can be found here.  Only put checkmark on entries highlighted in RED.
- Ad-Aware 2007  - Free Spyware/adware scanner.  Let Ad-Aware fix anything it finds.
- SpywareBlaster  - A very good free spyware blocker.  Click here for instructions to enable protection.
- SpywareGuard  - Provides a real-time protection solution against spyware that is a great addition to SpywareBlaster's protection method.
- IE-SPYAD  - Adds a list of sites and domains associated with advertisers, marketers, and crapware pushers to the Restricted sites zone of IE.
- HijackThis  -  A homepage hijackers detector and remover. Read the official Quickstart guide before running program. After running program post your log file to one of the forums listed in Step 4 to have someone analyze your log file. Please do not remove anything without advice and most of all please be patient.
- CWShredder  - A small utility for removing CoolWebSearch (aka CoolWwwSearch, YouFindAll, White-Pages.ws and a dozen other names).
- SwatIT  - A FREE program that scans your computer for Trojans, Worms, Bots and other Hacker programs.
- Google Toolbar  - The toolbar provide a very good "POP UP" stopper and it's FREE.

Step 6:

1) If your using Microsoft Internet Explorer as your web browser, make sure your Security settings are not set to low.  To look at your settings click on "Tools" => select "Internet Options" => select "Security" tab.   There are 4 settings => Low, Medium-Low, Medium, and High.  Microsoft, right out of the box, typically sets Internet Explorer’s security setting to “Medium”.  The higher the setting the lower the risk of getting infected by the "nasties".

“When you first install Internet Explorer, it classifies all Web sites into a single zone (the Internet zone) and assigns everything medium level security. When you are using this level of security, Internet Explorer should ask you to confirm that you want to download a file, unless you have previously indicated that the Web site or publisher is trusted. If you change the security level to "low," Web sites will be able to download software to your computer without telling you, so be careful when using this setting. If you need to change the security level to low for some reason, change it back to medium or higher as soon as possible.” => Quote from Microsoft

Also, you should make sure that Third Party cookies are always blocked.  To make this change click on "Tools" => select "Internet Options" => click "Privacy" tab => click "Advanced" button => select "Override automatic cookie handling" then under "Third-party cookies" select "Block".

- IE Security settings - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/using/howto/security/settings.asp
- IE 6.0 Cookies - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283185
- IE 7.0 Cookies - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278835

2) There are other free web browsers available.  Some do not have the security vulnerabilities that that have been exploited in Internet Explorer.  I, myself, use a couple other browsers such as Mozilla 1.8 and Firefox 1.0.  Both of these browsers work quite well.  The only problem I have found is that some banking institutions require the use of Internet Explorer for online banking.

- Internet Explorer – http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp
- Mozilla 1.x – http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/
- Firefox – http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/