Ineptitude and arrogance cause most PC problems, but vicious software designed to trick you, steal from you, and use your computer to hurt other people do the worst damage. After all, bugs aren’t designed to protect themselves, but “viruses” are.
(Why did I just put the word viruses in quotation marks? Anything that infects your PC today is almost certainly not, technically, a virus. But the word has become a common term for any malicious software, whether it spreads like a virus or not. See Is It a Virus? for details.)
What are some of the signs that you may have an infection?
* Your home page keeps changing, or web searches keep taking you to the wrong page.
* Software that should protect you, like your anti-virus program, can’t update or no longer works properly.
* Common programs you can use to configure your system, such as msconfig or System Restore, stop working.
* Your computer accesses the Internet a lot when you’re not using the Internet.
* Your security software tells you that you have an infection, but can’t get rid of it.
If you think you have an infection, try the following four fixes, in this order. And use them all, even if the second one solves the problem.
1) Accept that your anti-virus program has failed. Don’t be too hard on it; you just had the misfortune to get the malware before the update that would have protected you from it. But until everything else is fixed, your current software probably isn’t working.
2) Restore the system. Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Follow the prompts to restore from a time before you starting having the problem. If you don’t have a restore point that old, go on to step 2. If System Restore fails to work, reboot into Safe Mode (reboot, then press F8 before Windows starts loading (it may take a few tries to get the timing right) and try System Restore there.
3) Get a second opinion from another security program. I recommend the free version of either SUPERAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware. Download the program, install it, and have it scan your hard drive and eliminate what it finds.
4) Get a third opinion. Repeat with the other of those two programs.
If you’re not satisfied that you’re now clean, download and install another free program: Trend Micro’s HijackThis. This one doesn’t actually fix anything, but it gives you a very thorough, and for most people, thoroughly unreadable report. But someone who knows what they’re doing can study this report and figure out what your problem is and what you can do about it.
Spyware is a general term used to describe software that performs certain behaviors, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent first, such as:
Advertising
Collecting personal information
Changing the configuration of your computer
Spyware is often associated with software that displays advertisements (called adware) or software that tracks personal or sensitive information.
Trading tracking for services
That does not mean all software that provides ads or tracks your online activities is bad. For example, you might sign up for a free music service, but you “pay” for the service by agreeing to receive targeted ads. If you understand the terms and agree to them, you may have decided that it is a fair tradeoff. You might also agree to let the company track your online activities to determine which ads to show you.
What spyware does
Other kinds of spyware make changes to your computer that can be annoying and can cause your computer slow down or crash.
These programs can change your Web browser’s home page or search page, or add additional components to your browser you don’t need or want. They also make it very difficult for you to change your settings back to the way you had them.
Know what you’re installing
The key in all cases is whether or not you (or someone who uses your computer) understand what the software will do and have agreed to install the software on your computer.
A common trick is to covertly install the software during the installation of other software you want such as a music or video file sharing program.
Whenever you install something on your computer, make sure you carefully read all disclosures, including the license agreement and privacy statement. Sometimes the inclusion of unwanted software in a given software installation is documented, but it might appear at the end of a license agreement or privacy statement.
There are a number of ways spyware or other unwanted software can get on your computer. To learn more about spyware, read How to help prevent spyware.
Oh, the deck is stacked. Don’t think for a minute it’s not. As a technology professional responsible for securing office networks, workstations, and servers from viruses, spyware, adware, Trojans, and other malware infections, I can tell you that the situation is only getting worse.
A Computer Economics report showed that annual worldwide malware expenses increased by $10 billion (to $13 billion) over a recent 10-year span. Google Research suggests that one in every 10 Web sites is infected with “drive-by” malware. In June 2009, the Windows Secrets e-newsletter reported that such seemingly safe Web sites as Coldwell Banker.com, Variety.com, and even Tennis.com were exposing Internet Explorer visitors to the Gumblar exploit, which threatens to compromise visitors’ systems in order to propagate.
IT professionals must encourage their users to follow several security practices to minimize virus, spyware, and malware exposure. But many computer techs are too busy to spread the word, or they don’t have the time to build an appropriate memo or handout.
With that in mind, here’s a handy reference list of 10 steps end users can adopt to avoid infection (including when using home systems to read and send work e-mail, create, edit, and distribute documents and spreadsheets, access the corporate VPN, and perform other office tasks). Post this list on your Intranet, distribute it in an e-mail, or download the PDF version and pass it along to end users. Just be sure the word gets out. Otherwise, you’re likely to find yourself losing precious time cleaning and repairing infected systems or entire networks.
1: Install quality antivirus
Many computer users believe free antivirus applications, such as those included with an Internet service provider’s bundled service offering, are sufficient to protect a computer from virus or spyware infection. However, such free anti-malware programs typically don’t provide adequate protection from the ever-growing list of threats.
Instead, all Windows users should install professional, business-grade antivirus software on their PCs. Pro-grade antivirus programs update more frequently throughout the day (thereby providing timely protection against fast-emerging vulnerabilities), protect against a wider range of threats (such as rootkits), and enable additional protective features (such as custom scans).
2: Install real-time anti-spyware protection
Many computer users mistakenly believe that a single antivirus program with integrated spyware protection provides sufficient safeguards from adware and spyware. Others think free anti-spyware applications, combined with an antivirus utility, deliver capable protection from the skyrocketing number of spyware threats.
Unfortunately, that’s just not the case. Most free anti-spyware programs do not provide real-time, or active, protection from adware, Trojan, and other spyware infections. While many free programs can detect spyware threats once they’ve infected a system, typically professional (or fully paid and licensed) anti-spyware programs are required to prevent infections and fully remove those infections already present.
3: Keep anti-malware applications current
Antivirus and anti-spyware programs require regular signature and database updates. Without these critical updates, anti-malware programs are unable to protect PCs from the latest threats.
In early 2009, antivirus provider AVG released statistics revealing that a lot of serious computer threats are secretive and fast-moving. Many of these infections are short-lived, but they’re estimated to infect as many as 100,000 to 300,000 new Web sites a day.
Computer users must keep their antivirus and anti-spyware applications up to date. All Windows users must take measures to prevent license expiration, thereby ensuring that their anti-malware programs stay current and continue providing protection against the most recent threats. Those threats now spread with alarming speed, thanks to the popularity of such social media sites as Twitter, Facebook, and My Space.
4: Perform daily scans
Occasionally, virus and spyware threats escape a system’s active protective engines and infect a system. The sheer number and volume of potential and new threats make it inevitable that particularly inventive infections will outsmart security software. In other cases, users may inadvertently instruct anti-malware software to allow a virus or spyware program to run.
Regardless of the infection source, enabling complete, daily scans of a system’s entire hard drive adds another layer of protection. These daily scans can be invaluable in detecting, isolating, and removing infections that initially escape security software’s attention.
5: Disable autorun
Many viruses work by attaching themselves to a drive and automatically installing themselves on any other media connected to the system. As a result, connecting any network drives, external hard disks, or even thumb drives to a system can result in the automatic propagation of such threats.
Computer users can disable the Windows autorun feature by following Microsoft’s recommendations, which differ by operating system. Microsoft Knowledge Base articles 967715 and 967940 are frequently referenced for this purpose.
6: Disable image previews in Outlook
Simply receiving an infected Outlook e-mail message, one in which graphics code is used to enable the virus’ execution, can result in a virus infection. Prevent against automatic infection by disabling image previews in Outlook.
By default, newer versions of Microsoft Outlook do not automatically display images. But if you or another user has changed the default security settings, you can switch them back (using Outlook 2007) by going to Tools | Trust Center, highlighting the Automatic Download option, and selecting Don’t Download Pictures Automatically In HTML E-Mail Messages Or RSS.
7: Don’t click on email links or attachments
It’s a mantra most every Windows user has heard repeatedly: Don’t click on email links or attachments. Yet users frequently fail to heed the warning.
Whether distracted, trustful of friends or colleagues they know, or simply fooled by a crafty email message, many users forget to be wary of links and attachments included within email messages, regardless of the source. Simply clicking on an email link or attachment can, within minutes, corrupt Windows, infect other machines, and destroy critical data.
Users should never click on email attachments without at least first scanning them for viruses using a business-class anti-malware application. As for clicking on links, users should access Web sites by opening a browser and manually navigating to the sites in question.
8: Surf smart
Many business-class anti-malware applications include browser plug-ins that help protect against drive-by infections, phishing attacks (in which pages purport to serve one function when in fact they try to steal personal, financial, or other sensitive information), and similar exploits. Still others provide “link protection,” in which Web links are checked against databases of known-bad pages.
Whenever possible, these preventive features should be deployed and enabled. Unless the plug-ins interfere with normal Web browsing, users should leave them enabled. The same is true for automatic pop-up blockers, such as are included in Internet Explorer 8, Google’s toolbar, and other popular browser toolbars.
Regardless, users should never enter user account, personal, financial, or other sensitive information on any Web page at which they haven’t manually arrived. They should instead open a Web browser, enter the address of the page they need to reach, and enter their information that way, instead of clicking on a hyperlink and assuming the link has directed them to the proper URL. Hyperlinks contained within an e-mail message often redirect users to fraudulent, fake, or unauthorized Web sites. By entering Web addresses manually, users can help ensure that they arrive at the actual page they intend.
But even manual entry isn’t foolproof. Hence the justification for step 10: Deploy DNS protection. More on that in a moment.
9: Use a hardware-based firewall
Technology professionals and others argue the benefits of software- versus hardware-based firewalls. Often, users encounter trouble trying to share printers, access network resources, and perform other tasks when deploying third-party software-based firewalls. As a result, I’ve seen many cases where firewalls have simply been disabled altogether.
But a reliable firewall is indispensable, as it protects computers from a wide variety of exploits, malicious network traffic, viruses, worms, and other vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, by itself, the software-based firewall included with Windows isn’t sufficient to protect systems from the myriad robotic attacks affecting all Internet-connected systems. For this reason, all PCs connected to the Internet should be secured behind a capable hardware-based firewall.
10: Deploy DNS protection
Internet access introduces a wide variety of security risks. Among the most disconcerting may be drive-by infections, in which users only need to visit a compromised Web page to infect their own PCs (and potentially begin infecting those of customers, colleagues, and other staff).
Another worry is Web sites that distribute infected programs, applications, and Trojan files. Still another threat exists in the form of poisoned DNS attacks, whereby a compromised DNS server directs you to an unauthorized Web server. These compromised DNS servers are typically your ISP’s systems, which usually translate friendly URLs such as yahoo.com to numeric IP addresses like 69.147.114.224.
Users can protect themselves from all these threats by changing the way their computers process DNS services. While a computer professional may be required to implement the switch, OpenDNS offers free DNS services to protect users against common phishing, spyware, and other Web-based hazards.
There’s no question that vocabulary is a problem in the antispyware business. The word spyware, which strictly speaking refers to programs that monitor user activity by logging keystrokes, sites visited, or other personal data, has come to encompass threats that don’t fall within those parameters. Adware, a class of software that delivers ads to users, is often subsumed into the spyware category, and the programs developed to fight spyware took on adware as well—in large part because the antivirus companies initially tended to ignore both. Further confusing the issue, antispyware programs also often tackle cookies, dialers, Trojan horses, and downloaders.
Each antispyware company has put forth definitions and standards indicating the types of programs it identifies and the actions it takes to deal with them. But such “proprietary” definitions have gotten companies in trouble, as in July when Microsoft reclassified several notorious adware programs to a less severe designation, asserting that its definitions required it. Under the new “low” threat rating for Claria’s GAIN, the recommended action would be to ignore the software rather than remove it. Microsoft’s published definitions aren’t detailed enough for third parties to verify or refute its claims, but users derided the reclassification.
This isn’t the first attempt to define spyware. An earlier industry consortium effort called COAST fell apart after it admitted an adware vendor. Almost all the same antispyware companies are part of ASC, but no adware companies are included yet.
So far, it’s hard to see what the ASC documents accomplish. Sunbelt Software stayed away from ASC because it argues that adware vendors have the most to gain from consistent definitions. The authors of adware and spyware are innovative and fast-moving, and they spend as much time trying to fool antispyware programs as they do trying to fool users. Giving them consistent definitions would help them work within the loopholes in those definitions.
Moreover, there’s a lot more to writing antispyware than just defining terms. Which threats, for example, should merit a default action of Remove? What language in end-user license agreements is proper? What information needs to be disclosed during installation? These are some of the important and difficult decisions in the antispyware business, and the ASC documents don’t address them at all.
The other potentially important ASC document describes a dispute resolution process for vendors who don’t like the way they’ve been classified. This process, however, also seems likely to be more useful to spyware vendors. And potential legal liability may dilute the way software is classified. For instance, faced with vendors who objected to having their products described as spyware or adware, the Internet security company McAfee created the term PUP (potentially unwanted program) to describe programs that aren’t exactly malware, but which users may download inadvertently and would probably avoid if they realized what was happening. Symantec entered the antispyware arena using a definition process that sounds more like a 12-step program.
So what do the ASC documents do for the poor end-user? Not a whole lot, it seems to us. Formalized definitions are more likely to constrain legitimate software than to limit the activities of spyware and adware vendors. In addition to relying on an antispyware vendor’s software and its judgments about the threat landscape, you should continue to cast a wary eye and be alert for signs that may indicate programs you’d prefer to avoid.
Windows XP/Vista store the DNS information of Web sites you’ve visited, to reach those sites faster each time you access them. The cache sometimes gets corrupted or stores a lot of unusable data, and that leads to slower Internet response times. To clear the cache, go to the command prompt and type ipconfig /flushdns. The command purges the DNS cache and restores your Internet access speed.
The obvious quick fix is to not leave your computer on for two or three days at a time. In fact, I’d give you this advice even if you weren’t having this problem. Windows tends to get unstable over time, and a reboot refreshes it. Besides, leaving the computer on all the time wastes electricity.
You should either shut it down or hibernate it at the end of every workday. Hibernating the computer won’t refresh Windows the way a full boot does, but it’s faster and lets you start the day exactly where you left off. From the hardware’s point of view (and I suspect you’ve got a hardware problem), there’s no difference between shutting down and hibernating a PC.
