Your Home Computer Guide

In celebration of their 15th anniversary, Check Point Software will be giving away their ZoneAlarm Pro software for free!

This offer is only good for 24 hours starting at 6 AM PDT on Tuesday November 18th, 2008.

ZoneAlarm is excellent security software that includes a firewall plus identity theft and spyware protection. Normally they charge $39.95 for this software which includes one year of updates. 

Be sure to click here on Tuesday to get your free copy of ZoneAlarm Pro.

Thank you Check Point Software!

-Bert

A while back I posted about internet scammers  sending email viruses and trying to get your personal information while posing as fortune 500 companies like UPS and Northwest Airlines.

They’re at it again, but this time posing as the Better Business Bureau. They spoof the email address so it looks like the email is really coming from the Better Business Bureau.

Follow these three steps so you don’t fall prey to online email scammers:

1. Install antivirus software that checks your email if you use an email client like Microsoft Outlook. A very good free antivirus program that does this is AVG. Most of the major web based email portals like Gmail and Yahoo mail have antivirus software on their server that checks attachments.

2. Delete email from anyone you don’t know or the subject line seems strange. Don’t even open these email message.

3. Even if an email message appears to come from someone you know or a business be skeptical of it and don’t click any links or open any attachments unless you’re absolutely sure it’s legitimate. Even then, you’d be better off calling them then taking the chance.

-Bert

The world of free malware (malicious software) removers is constantly changing as does the number and complexity of malware. Even though the Malwarebytes company has been around since 2004 their anti-malware program has just recently become popular because it’s extremely fast and effective at removing malware.

This weekend I cleaned up a computer that was infested with adware/spyware (Zango, 180 Solutions, CoolWebSearch, to name a few) and a couple trojans.

For the past month or so, the first thing I download and run is Malwarebytes. The program is small so it doesn’t take long to download and the installation is fast and easy. The two things that separate it from most anti-malware programs though is its fast scan and effective removal of malware. 

Most programs take an hour or more to thoroughly scan your computer but using the Malwarebytes Quick Scan, that just checks the most important areas of your PC, the scan only takes a few minutes to run.

The second thing I like is its ability to disable any malware it finds. In fact, I haven’t run into any malware yet that it found and couldn’t remove.

You can often gauge the effectiveness of anti-malware software by looking at what the experts are using. When the excellent folks at sites like bleepingcomputer.com, daniweb.com, and majorgeeks.com are recommending it and using it in their forums you can feel confident that it works well.

That computer I worked on this weekend was cleaned up and running smooth in less than an hour, thanks to Malwarebytes..

Have a great day!

-Bert

There are so many different kinds of viruses, trojans, spyware, and adware they’re often all lumped together and just referred to as as malware (malicious software). By the end of 2009 experts predict that there will over a million malware programs trying to disrupt your computing experience and steal your personal information. 

The sad reality is that most people don’t use effective virus protection or follow my 11 steps to protect their computers from viruses and other malware.  Not only are most computers at risk but, until someone’s computer actually gets infected by malware, they don’t even think about it.

If you’re one of those people one day you’ll probably experience one or more of the following signs and symptoms of computer malware:

1. Lots of annoying pop-up advertisements.

2. Dialog boxes popping up telling you that you have a virus or other problems. 

3. New toolbars on your internet browser.

4. Your internet Home Page has changed.

5. New Favorites in your browser that you didn’t put there.

6. Your computer has slowed down or even crashes and restarts on its own.

7. Programs not working or files not opening.

If you ever get a pop-up window telling you that your computer has a virus or registry problem and telling you to buy some program to fix the problem, DON’T! 99% of these are viruses, trojans and adware just trying to sell you software that will just make things worse. All they want is your money.

This is exactly what you need to do if you’re experiencing any of the signs/symptoms above:

1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. (Save it to your desktop)

2. Close all programs and windows on your PC, including your web browser.

3. Rename the downloaded mbam-setup.exe file to mb.exe to help work around certain malware that will block it from being run.

4. On your Desktop double-click mb.exe to install the removal program. Leave the default settings.

5. Update the program if asked and begin the Quick Scan.

6. After it’s finished running click the Remove Selected button.

7. When finished you can close the program.

If you’re still experiencing problems, run an online scan at Eset.com. 

To keep from getting infected in the future, follow my 11 steps to computer security.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

I’m a firm believer in not having to pay for top-notch virus protection for your computer. Prior to AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 I would install AVG on some computers I’d repair while I’d use Avira’s AntiVir on others. Both were free and worked great.

I upgraded to the free AVG 8.0 in July 08 and really like the enhancements. AVG added spyware protection along with its superb virus protection in this version. Since many virus infections are delivered via website drive-by downloads AVG included LinkScanner technology that checks websites when you do a Google, Yahoo or MSN search. LinkScanner doesn’t work yet in Google’s new Chrome browser but it does work in Internet Explorer and Firefox. AVG continues to include free email scanning for Microsoft Outlook as well.

The bottom line with any antivirus software (free or not) is how well does it protect your computer and, nearly as important, does it use up all your resources slowing down your system? On both points I’d give AVG top marks. According to other reviews it does a better job of preventing virus infections than it does cleaning up infections but in most cases it will leave nearly all viruses non-functional. AVGs scans are fast and its real-time protection won’t slow down your computer like a lot of bloated (and expensive) security software suites.

Download.com gives AVG Anti-Virus 5 stars and over 16,000 users have given it an average of 4 out of 5 stars. Personally, I give the new version 5 stars and have installed it on 3 of my home systems and have started installing it on every system I repair. 

For a complete review of AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 check out the excellent review by Neil Rubenking at PC Magazine.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

Since the dawn of the internet there have been people writing malicious programs intent on ruining your computing experience.

In the beginning viruses were like teenagers spray-painting walls. They seemed to arise out of boredom and had no other purpose than to bother you. For the most part these early viruses were pretty easy to get rid of.

As time went on and the internet became more popular the people writing the malicious code had only one thing in mind, using their programs to steal your money.

Recently I read that creating spyware, viruses and trojans is a very profitable business. Seven billion dollars a year is stolen from people like you and me by people who can’t seem to make a living any other way. They certainly aren’t making a positive impact in the world in which they live.

Emailing their destructive code has been their method of choice for several years. They figure, all they have to do is get you to open your email and they win. How much easier is it for them now that they’re able to spoof their email address so it looks like it’s coming from a Fortune 500 company.

In the past couple weeks there have been two very large companies who have put out warnings to not open email from them. First there was UPS who put out the following warning:

We have become aware there is a fraudulent e-mail being sent that says it is coming from UPS and leads the reader to believe that a UPS shipment could not be delivered. The reader is advised to open an attachment reportedly containing a waybill for the shipment to be picked up. This e-mail attachment contains a virus. We recommend that you do not open the attachment, but delete the e-mail immediately.

And just yesterday Northwest Airlines issued the following warning:

Northwest Airlines on Friday warned e-mail users to watch out for phony messages using the company’s name that may be infected with a computer virus. The Eagan-based carrier said the e-mails contain fake ticket confirmation and enrollment information and infect the user’s computer when attachments are opened. The e-mails thank the recipient for using the new service “Buy flight ticket Online” on the airline’s Web site. It states an account has been set up and gives the e-mail user an account number and password.

For a long time email users have been warned about opening email attachments. The first virus I ever encountered was from a friend who emailed me a cool video. I thought it was so cool I forwarded it to my parents. Unfortunately we all got infected with a computer virus… Thankfully it was pretty easy to rid our computers of it and we all learned a valuable lesson.

Unfortunately, people are still learning this same lesson every day and are more likely to have lost some money in the process.

Thankfully, there are some pretty simple ways you can protect yourself.

1. Install antivirus software that checks your email if you use an email client like Microsoft Outlook. A very good free antivirus program that does this is AVG. If you’d rather pay for antivirus software, use Eset’s Nod32. Most of the major web based email portals like Gmail and Yahoo mail have antivirus software on their server that checks attachments.

2. Delete email from anyone you don’t know or the subject line seems strange. Don’t even open the email message.

3. Even if an email message appears to come from someone you know or a business be skeptical of it and don’t click any links or open any attachments unless you’re absolutely sure it’s legitimate.

Sorry that I haven’t had a chance to write in a while. I live in a place where you only have a few months to enjoy the nice weather outside :).

Happy computing!

-Bert

AV-Comparatives.org just published the results of their most recent Anti-Virus testing. They tested 16 different Anti-Virus program’s ability to proactively detect malware threats. New viruses, trojans and other malware are being created at an alarming rate of 1,000 - 2,000 new threats every day!

This recent test is important because it tested the ability of the anti-virus programs to detect malware that hadn’t been added to the program’s virus definitions files. AV-Comparatives took 11,509 new threat samples found in a period of one week and only used the on-demand function of the various programs to see how many threats were detected.

The only two programs to get the highest rating of Advanced+ were Avira and Eset’s Nod32. AVG, Mcafee, Microsoft and AVK received the second hightest rating of Advanced.

You can read the full report at AV-Comparatives.org.

If you’re looking for free anti-virus protection Avira and AVG can’t be beat. And if you insist on paying for anti-virus software Eset’s Nod32 is a great option.

If you think you have a virus on your computer get a free scan at http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

In a recent article I wrote about the importance of protecting your computer from viruses, trojans and other forms of malware. Once a computer gets infected like attracts like and you can quickly find our PC so badly infected that getting back to a clean state will either be a time consuming or costly experience.

When it comes to our computer security there is no silver bullet. There’s not a single product on the market that can detect or clean 100% of the known malware.

Most antivirus programs use a database of signatures to identify malware. ThreatFire, on the other hand, looks at the behavior of the programs on your PC and effectively identifies the malicious ones and stops them in their tracks. With the number of new threats increasing daily using a behavior based anti-malware is essential to catch the ones your antivirus program doesn’t have definitions for yet.

There are a lot of things I really like about ThreatFire. It literally takes about one minute to install, the default settings are more than adequate to stop the bad guys, updates are installed automatically, and it has a very small footprint so you won’t even know it’s there until you need it.

Although ThreatFire does an excellent job of stopping malware from installing on your PC it shouldn’t be used to clean up an infected computer, nor should it be your only line of defense. Using a firewall and having a definition based antivirus program running will do well to round out your PC security. See my Computer Security article for suggestions.

WARNING: Since publishing this article I’ve installed ThreatFire on 4 PCs with Windows XP Home edition and in every case it caused the PC to lock up continuously. All of the PCs had to be restarted several times and the problem was only resolved by uninstalling ThreatFire. I tested ThreatFire on Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista and didn’t run into any problems. I reported the problem to the ThreatFire developers but haven’t gotten a response from them.

I won’t be loading ThreatFire on any more computers until I’m satisfied the issue has been fixed and I can only suggest that you do the same.

I’m currently evaluating the new version of AVG and will give it a review soon. If you’re currently using AVG and have been told you need to upgrade, getting to the free version can be a little tricky. Use this link to save some time & confusion: Download AVG Antivirus.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

According to Symantec’s recent Internet Security Threat Report  the number of malicious software (malware) detected has surpassed the one million mark. Unfortunately the number of new viruses, trojans and spyware is increasing at an alarming rate, with nearly 70% of the existing malware being created in 2007. Trojan Horses lead the pack of infections by a large margin.

Not only are malicious programs on the increase, they’re also becoming more tenacious. It’s becoming harder for the average computer user to clean up their computer after it’s been infected. In many cases malware quickly multiplies from one infection to dozens, making restoring the computer to a clean state extremely difficult without professional assistance.

In the past the most common way your computer could become infected was by opening an email attachment. Today, the most common way to get infected is by visiting an infected website. Since most people own a computer to surf the internet and email the chances of your computer becoming infected are very high. Panda Security, in a recent test, found that 23% of computers with up to date security solutions are infected with malware. Depending on the source, anywhere from 70-90% of computers that aren’t running a current antivirus program are already infected.

The dangers of an infected computer are scary. Besides the annoyance of pop-up windows and a slow computer much of the current malware is designed to monitor your surfing habits, display advertisements for bogus software promising to remove viruses, and record your login usernames and passwords for sites you visit, including banking and credit card sites. “Increasingly, Symantec has observed that malicious activity has moved away from targeting computers and towards targeting end users themselves. Specifically, attackers are targeting confidential end-user information that can be used in fraudulent activity for financial gain.”

Many people are quick to degrade Microsoft because most malware targets their operating system and web browser. But since 90% of computers in use today run a Microsoft Operating System it’s obvious why they’re the main target. That being said, if you have no intention of insuring your computer is protected from malware you should either buy a Mac or switch to one of the popular Linux Operating Systems, like Ubuntu.

If you continue to use a Microsoft Operating System, like Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, then your only choices are to either insure you’re properly protected or become a victim of malware. Here are some things anyone running a Microsoft Operating System should do:

1. Turn on Microsoft Automatic Updates and set them to install automatically.

2. Insure you have System Restore turned on in case you need it.

3. Back up your important computer files like tax files, resumes, etc..

4. Run antivirus software with current updates. If you’re antivirus definition updates have expired the program is useless. Here are some great options.

Free Programs - Use AGV Free Edition or Avira AntiVir.

Paid Programs - Use NOD32 or Avira Antivir.

5. Run antispyware software with current updates. If you’re running a free antivirus program or your antivirus program doesn’t protect against spyware make sure your running one of these free programs as well. Spyware Terminator or Windows Defender.

6. Consider using Firefox or Opera instead of Internet Explorer for web surfing.

7. Don’t open email from people you don’t know. Even the pictures shown in emails can infect your computer.

8. Never respond to an email that appears to be from your bank or credit card company asking you to go to a website to verify any personal account information. If you get an email like that delete the email and call them using a phone number you have on file for them.

9. Insure you have your Windows firewall turned on, or an even better option is the free Comodo firewall.

10. Don’t install free programs unless they’re from a reliable source like download.com.

11. Don’t use P2P file sharing programs like BitTorrent, Limewire, Morpheus, etc..

The stakes are high when it comes to your computer security and protection. There are now over one million malicious programs out there intent on stealing your identity and financial information, invading your privacy, and destroying what should be an enjoyable computing experience. Following these 11 computer security tips will help you to be safe and not become a victim.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

You can find free software on the internet to do nearly anything. From cool free screensavers to free games to free antivirus software and just about anything else you can think of.

I learned a hard lesson several years ago. I’ve always liked car racing games (yes, that should tell you something about the way I drive) so I went to my favorite search engine and typed in “free car racing game”. Today nearly 5 million results turned up when I did that search! Anyway, back then I went to the first sight I found and downloaded and installed the game.

Besides the fact that the game was lousy I got a lot more than I bargained for with that so-called “free” game. The next day my wife and daughter were on the computer and using the internet when my wife asked, “Bert, why are there pornography folders in our Bookmarks?”.  Yikes!

So after a lot of unnecessary communication with my wife and some research I realized that free software is often packaged with Adware, Spyware and Viruses. So I paid for some anti-adware/virus software and found several other malware (malicious software) programs had been installed as well. So my free program ended up costing me in my relationships, my pocketbook and my time!

After that experience you’re probably thinking I’d never install any free software ever again… but the truth is I love free software! Although most of the free programs you download off the internet are either malicious or worthless the small percent of excellent programs is well worth finding and using.

In fact, on my home PC I use free software for my:

• Antivirus
• Antispyware
• Firewall
• Internet Filter
• Picture Editor
• Internet Web Browser
• Media Player
• CD Ripper
• etc….

The best tip I can give you today is to only download free software from a reliable source! In fact, I’d recommend only downloading free software from download.com. They have thousands of free and shareware (free for a limited time, then you pay for it) programs and guarantee that you won’t be getting any malware included. Even download.com has some worthless software though so I’d also suggest looking for programs with a lot of reviews and either a 4 or 5 star user rating.

Regards,

-Bert