A Guide on How to Get Rid of Spyware

Some things to keep in mind before starting. Disclaimer.

• Reboots galore - you will probably need to reboot at least 5 times if not more.
• Backup - You should already have a back up of all of your files just in case as your system might get to an inoperable state. Always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
• Time - At least 2 hours, but it all depends on how badly infected you are.
• Newbie - If you are a newbie when it comes to computers, you really shouldnt be doing following these steps. I'd recommend having someone more computer savvy doing it for you.

1. Clean out your system
The first thing you need to do is to try to clean up your system. This will help you get rid of all the unnecessary garbage on your computer. CCleaner is very safe as by default it only cleans up files that you really dont need like temporary browser or system files that are harmless to remove.

2. Uninstall
You most likely have some bad software recently installed on your computer. Check the 2 places. Click on Start-->Programs then you will find the most recent applications installed on the bottom of the list. Look for unfamiliar items. The next place is to go to the Control panel-->Add/Remove Programs. Review the list of applications and see which ones may be unfamiliar to you as well. After compiling a list of unfamiliar or strange items, use Revo Uninstaller to uninstall those applications. Revo Uninstaller will completely remove all traces of the program.

3. Control your startup
Windows has a list of items to launch or auto start when Windows starts say from after a reboot or turning on your computer. Spyware is notorius for adding unwanted items there. So even if you remove spyware by using antispyware programs, you can easily get infected all over again after a reboot. Use Quick Startup to view and remove any unwanted items. Pay close attention to the items that have a strong red rating. Keep in mind that these ratings come from other users who have had the same program start up. They also provide viewable comments that specify why they gave that rating and tell you why you do or do not need it. Be careful not to remove a program that is necessary for Windows to start up. Also, if you are not sure, you can always google the item to see if its safe to remove or not.

4. Install Microsoft Security Essentials
Install Microsoft Security Essentials and then perform a scan to get rid of the bad stuff. Continue to use MSE as it will actively monitor your system for threats. More Info

5. System Restore
As a last resort, you can try to think back to the last time when you felt that your computer was stable and normal. Then you can system restore back to that point. More Info

6. Start Fresh
As a last, last resort and a 100% method to get rid of any virus or spyware is to reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows.

The 10 commandments of Safe Computing

This is probably one of my most important blog entries as I have consolidated all of my computer security tips into a single post. Please take the time to read through it all as it has valuable information that will help to prevent any harm to you and your computer.

1. Thou shall not visit any unwholesome websites.
Gambling, Porn, and Illegal sites are such a few examples. If you ignore this commandment alone, then there really is no use following the rest of the commandments as infection is almost inevitable. Visiting these sites is like strolling through the ghetto and hoping that nothing bad will happen to you. In other words, you are asking for it. I hate to break it to you but most of the Internet is not safe. And even sites that ought to be safe might not be because they themselves might have been unknowlingly compromised or hacked by some bad guys. Nowadays, your computer can get infected by merely visiting a site versus downloading and installing a malicious program.

2. Thou shall not click on pop ups.
Im sure you are familiar with those annoying pop up ads as they seem to pop up everywhere. Some pop ups are really sneaky and evil. There are pop ups that tell you that your computer is infected and you have to click on them to perform an emergency scan to get rid of it. You then proceed to install a software program that is more often than not a spyware program. No matter how convincing they are, do not click on them.

3. Thou shall not click on links...
in emails, IM clients or URL shorteners. (ie. Tinyurl.com)You have to be 100% sure that the link is legit and safe. Most people think that if the link is from someone you know, then you can assume that it will be safe to open. WRONG. The problem is that your friends computer could be infected with viruses. These viruses can use your computer to automatically send out harmful emails to everyone in your address book. Even the buddies on your instant messenger program can unknowingly send you instant messages that say "hey, check this out!" accompanied by a harmful link. And im sure you've seen urls created by url shorteners (ie tinyurl.com/adwtud) in which you have absolutely no idea where they will direct you to. Emails in html format might display the url address but dont be fooled. Just because it spells out the full url, it doesnt necessarily mean that you will visit that site by clicking on that link. However if you hover over the link, you will be able to see the true url address in the status bar located on the bottom left hand corner. If you dont see a status bar, make sure to enable it in the browser. Next try to examine the "true" url displayed in the status bar. Does it look fishy? Why doesnt it match the address displayed in the email? Why does it display an address that does not look familiar to me? Why does it contain a website that is familiar to me but has a bunch of unecessary characters preceding it?

4. Thou shall not open attachments.
This is probably the oldest trick in the book. If you fall for this one then shame on you. If you want to open an attachment from someone make sure that its one that you are expecting instead of receiving one out of the blue one day. In gmail, you can preview most files within the browser. So if you are not sure what the attachment is then previewing the contents would be a safe way to see whats inside. You can also use an antivirus program to scan the attachment before opening. Lastly, you should never open a file with a .exe extension. There arent too many cases whereby someone would send you a .exe file as an attachment.

5. Thou shall not commit a typo.
Be very careful as there are domain names out there dedicated to catch you. They take advantage of the most common mispellings. Most of these dummy sites take advantage of all the hits they get by putting up advertising that may be related to the correctly spelled website. For example, just imagine how many hits amazan.com (note the mispelling) gets if amazon.com get millions of hits per day. But there also can be malicious sites set up whereby you might get infected with a virus or spyware merely by visiting the site. All because you made a typo.So what can you do to prevent this? For one thing you can use open dns which filters out a large portion of bad sites from there database. Click here for more info. Another thing you can do is install a browser plugin which will help prevent you from visiting bad sites. Lastly, instead of typing the url directly, just type it into the google search engine. Google does a pretty good job of knowing which site you want to visit. And it will offer appropriate (Did you mean?) suggestions, if you happen to mispell a websites name.

6. Thou shall keep your software updated.
ie. Windows, Web browsers, Flash player, Acrobat Reader, etc. Make sure you enable the Windows automatic updates so you dont have to always remember to update Windows and Internet Explorer. Firefox auto downloads the update in the background when you are using it. You can tell because it will ask you if you want to update Firefox when you launch it. Flash player has its own standalone upgrader and should prompt you automatically when an upgrade is available. Acrobat Reader uses the general Adobe upgrader which is used for all Adobe products. No matter how annoying and obtrusive these upgraders are, just remember to let it do its thing. There is a software program that manages all software updates on your system, but I forgot what its called and never used it before.

7. Thou shall use wireless security.
Always use the highest encryption possible (ie. WPA2) in your wireless router settings along with a password Never leave your wireless network open. Leaving your wireless network unsecured is like leaving the front door of your house open. Anyone willing can easily get access to all of your files. Also, remember to change your default router password. More info

8. Thou shall not memorize passwords.
Use a password manager. Dont store your passwords in some text or Word file on your computer as anyone can easily steal them.Dont create unsecure passwords.Dont use the same password for all of your sites. More Info

9. Thou shall turn off your computer.
If your computer is off (ie. Standby, Hibernate, Shutdown), then it is essentially unplugged from the Internet. Therefore, it would be impossible to get infected or hacked. More info

10. Thou shall use a antispyware/antivirus software.
You might be wondering why I placed this commandment last. Most people use this as their first line of defense, however it should really be your last. I highly recommend Microsoft Security Essentials.

System Restore

If your computer ever gets into a bad state, the first thing you should do is find out how it got into that state. What was the most recent change to your system? Did you install a new piece of software? Did you change some system settings? After identifying the cause, try to revert the change (ie. uninstall the program).

If all else fails, dont fret. You can use the handy dandy built in System Restore where you will be able to restore your computer to a previous working state. Go to Start-->Accessories-->System Tools-->System Restore and follow the simple wizard. Your system will be reverted to an earlier state but dont worry; your files and documents will not.

Another good time to use system restore is when get infected by viruses or spyware. Instead of spending countless hours trying to get rid of them, just use System Restore.

Bottom Line
Try to do some initial investigation at first so you can avoid troubles in the future. But if all else fails, try using system restore.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware/Malware software program that is surprisingly receiving great reviews. Surprising because it comes from Microsoft, but if you think about it, who knows more about viruses and spyware infections more than Microsoft itself? The program not only monitors your computer but can also perform scans to remove viruses or spyware.

I've been trying it out for the past couple of months and its been pretty quiet. What I mean is that, I dont notice it even though its always running in the background. Many other virus programs may bother you or bog down your system's performance. Sometimes, I dont even know if its even working, but I guess thats a good thing. Not to brag or anything ;), but I take so many preventive measures on my computer that I rarely ever get any viruses or spyware. So for me, a virus/spyware monitoring program is my last line of defense whereas for most people, it is the first line of defense.

Bottom Line

There are 2 things I look at in an antivirus/antispyware program. Number 1 - It doesnt bother me. Number 2 - It has to work. Microsoft Security Essentials seems to cover both quite nicely.

Put Your Computer to Sleep

Do you leave your desktop computer ON all day and night? Or do you shutdown your computer everytime you are finished using it?

You should consider using Windows "standby" (sleep) mode instead. Here are some advantages:

1. Save Electricity - Why waste all that energy when you arent using your computer? When you use standby mode, it barely uses any electricity whatsoever.
   
   
2. Safer - When you leave your computer ON all day, that means your computer is online all the time. Therefore, your computer can be susceptible to malware or virus attacks. Whereas when your computer is on standby, your computer is essentially sleeping and not accessible or seen from the outside.
   
   
3. Faster bootup - If you shutdown your computer, you'll have to wait at least a minute or two for your computer to boot up. Whereas it only takes seconds when booting up from standby.
   


4. Easy - You can have your computer go on standby mode automatically after a certain period of time of it being idle, so you dont have to do anything. When you are done using the computer, just leave. To wake up your computer from standby mode, you just need to move the mouse or press a key on the keyboard. No need to bend down and reach for the power button all the time. To enable this option go to Control Panel --> Power Options.

If your computer doesnt seem to go to standby mode automatically, there is probably something running on your computer that is preventing it to do so. Its difficult to know what it is, but you can try closing all of your browsers and any other open applications. If that still doesnt work, then you might have some programs running in the background in which you'll need to disable or uninstall. You can also try a nifty program called "Close All Windows". With one click it will close all of your open programs. It will be the same as if you clicked the close button (x) on the top right corner of all open programs. But dont worry, if you have an open program that has unsaved work (ie. MS Word), it will still prompt you to save your work. In otherwords, it will not perform a "force quit" of your programs.

Bottom Line
Make sure that if you do use Standby (or Hibernate), remember to always save your work! Never leave unsaved documents or projects open no matter what. Other than that, using Standby should be a no-brainer.

How to maintain your computer

Like a car, your computer needs routine maintenance. I highly recommend performing the following 3 steps on a quarterly basis. Not only will this increase the longevity of your computer but will also make your computer healthier and faster.

1. Ccleaner - Clean up temporary and unecessary files.

2. Quick startup - Clean out unwanted applications that automatically start when you startup your computer.

3. Auslogics Disk Defrag - Reorganize and optimize your hard drive. If you are too lazy to install this program, you can use the Windows default Disk Defragmenter. Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->System Tools

You can also find these programs in the Free Downloads section on my site located on the right hand side.

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OpenDNS

Do you want a boost in your Internet speed? Do you want a safer way to surf the Internet? Read on...

Each ISP (ie. AT&T DSL, Comcast High Speed Internet) has its own set of DNS servers. The DNS server will contain a huge list domain names and their corresponding IP addresses. The IP address specifies the exact location of the website's server. A DNS server is like the yellow pages phone book which contains the names and addresses of local businesses. When you type in a URL (ie. google.com), that request is first handled by the DNS server. The DNS server will perform a look up for that domain name and send your browser the ip address. All of this happens in a fraction of a second.

Unfortunately, each ISP maintains their own DNS server for their users. Therefore, if it goes down or gets corrupted or is slow, the user will be directly affected. So thats where OpenDNS comes into play. OpenDNS is a central DNS server system that is reliable, fast, and safe. What exactly does that mean for the end user?

• Reliable - its highly available and more stable than the ISP DNS servers.
  
  
• Fast - You are more likely to receive a faster response from OpenDNS, therefore, you will get to the website you want to go faster.
  
  
• Safe - They have a large database of bad or malicious sites. Therefore, they will help to filter those sites in order to protect you. For example, if you accidently made a typo in the URL (ie. gooogle.com) it will catch it and warn you before allowing you to enter that website. This is a good thing as there are many bad people out there who register mispelled domain names on purpose in order to attract many visitors or potential victims by bombarding them with ads or spyware.

For those of you who are using routers, the instructions are simple. Just login to your router and look for DNS settings. Instead of "Get Automatically from ISP", specify the Primary DNS and Secondary DNS with the following IP addresses:

Primary - 208.67.222.222
Secondary - 208.67.220.220

That's it, you're done. I told you it was easy. For more specific instructions, visit the OpenDNS website.

Bottom Line

OpenDNS is easy to use and will make your surfing faster and safer.

Spyware: Hijacked Search Results

I had to battle it out again with yet another spyware infected laptop (my friend's laptop, not mine). This nasty spyware targeted a user's search results. Not just Google but any search engine results. It seemed to only affect IE browsers.

This spyware was a real sneaky one. Basically if you performed a web search (ie google, yahoo) you would be presented with a valid list of search results. But if you click on any of the search results, you would be redirected to a bad site. Naughty, I know. At first, I thought that someone had hacked into the router and changed the DNS settings that wasnt the case.

I was able to fix the issue using HijackThis. So now that makes it...Roger 8 Spyware 0.

Comcast High Speed Internet is FAST

Today, I upgraded my internet to Comcast High Speed Internet which gets up to 12mbps as opposed to my previous AT&T DSL which gets up to 3mbs. I definitely feel the speed difference and its going to be difficult going back to DSL. Entire web site pages load between 1-2 seconds.

Every year for the past 7 years, I've called AT&T DSL to give me a promotion and I was able to successfully to get an average price of $15-20 per month. But for the first time, I wasnt able to get a decent promotion this time around. So I ran across a comcast deal for new customers only and took advantage of it. Im getting it for $19.99/month for 12 months. By "new customers", I guess they are referring to new high speed internet customers because Im an existing cable customer and there were no questions asked. Just called the 1 800 comcast number and since I was an existing cable customer, it took 5 minutes.

One of the major differences between Comcast and AT&T is that they use different types of modems:

AT&T --> DSL modem --> Phone line

Comcast --> cable modem --> cable (coaxial) line

So the setup is much easier for DSL because phone lines are much more abundant around the house as opposed to cable lines. Also, AT&T gives you the DSL modem for free, while Comcast charges you a rental fee of $3 per month. That is why I bought my cable modem on ebay for $30.

I chose to get the Comcast self installation kit since they would charge me $25 for a person to come install it for me. The kit contained an install cd, ethernet cable, and coaxial cable. I mainly got the kit because of the 20ft coaxial cable that I needed because my current cable line was across the room. It usually comes with a cable modem as well, but I purchased that elsewhere. The installation went pretty smooth, but since I was using a router, I ran into a small issue in which I to call Comcast tech support. Surprisingly, they were very knowledgeable and not from India (no offense). In any case, all I had to do was power cycle (unplug router for 10 seconds) my router to recognize the new internet connection.

When I tried cancelling my AT&T DSL, the person warned me that if I cancelled, I would lose my DSL email account. And I said, "Oh know! Please dont take away my coveted sbcglobal.net email account". Just kidding. Its funny because I remember this same tactic that AOL used to try to keep their customers from leaving. But this tactic actually worked back in the day because as an AOL subscriber you get an AOL email account. And that was one of the only ways of getting an email account. Remember, that the Internet was just a baby and free web mail providers like gmail and yahoo did not exist yet. You could get an email account only from your ISP.

The bottom line

1. Comcast High Speed Internet is blazing fast but much more pricey.

2. Purchase a cable modem from ebay or craigslist instead of renting it from comcast.

3. Save $25 by installing it yourself. If you need help, just call comcast support.