Computer Viruses, Malware, Trojans

A lot of us have had computer problems lately. My computer has been running slower and slower and yesterday went all goofy! I did a Spybot search and destroy and found over 150 breeches..including AntiVius over ride, Firewall bypass, Firewall over ride etc. These come into our computers through infected downloads, while surfing the net, and through contaminated emails. ALL of your files, your credit card info you type when you order something, etc. can be accessed by whomever has gotten in. PLEASE run a scan on your computer to see if you are infected too!

You can Google Windows Defender, Free AVG download, Adaware etc to get scans and some fixes.These are free. (if you have Vista..you should already have Windows Defender) When I did the AVG scan it found 448 breeches. Only 20 of them could be fixed with the free version of AVG.

MY DS is an IT tech. He STRONGLY advised I get the expanded AVG. Yes..it costs money..but he says it's the BEST protection on the market right now..and much cheeper than having your identity stolen or your computer fried!

Thought I should give everyone a "heads up".

When I did my own I had mine covered real strong and ran scans twice a week unless I felt I might have been somewhere I didn't trust then I ran it an extra time. Now I have a security place take care of mine, have for over three years and I don't have to do anything, sure helps my worrying about it. It was offered through my provider and I jumped on it for $ 4 a month and I have support 24/7, and from Iowa with English speaking people on the other end!!! Can't beat that, but they are growing so much I bet there will be changes before long! All that crap sure can cause a lot of head aches too, and you can't be too safe either today. Norma

It's nice your IP has that service Norma. I bought the two year contract and paid just about the same as you. It was $90 for two years service plus a back up CD. I thought I was protected because I had anti virus software, but one of the worms, or Trojans..whatever it was disabled my anti virus! :affraid: I figure the money I just spent is a lot cheaper than trying to fix the damage that would occur if I hadn't cleaned everything up?

Since I installed the protection and did the cleanup this morning, my computer is running SO much faster!

Be careful out there!

All it takes is one nasty getting past your protection to make things really bad.

Ann any one can get this that I have and it has everything you need and they clean it them selves if anything does get through. Did they put everything on for you or did you have to pay for this yourself???This can be ordered by any one in the US, it costs more on your own but I still think its worth it and if something would get on that they can't get off they pay for you to have it fixed. I've never heard of this before but these guys are sure good and are so polite to talk to. I've had the boss come on and ask me if I was happy with their service or not and even gave me his name so I can call him if I have a problem with any of them. They do all the updates even on Windows. I really look for them to get higher but I still would stay with them. Norma

A friend sent me this today and it sounds like it should work, I'm giving it a try, just thought as much as we are online I'd pass it on to you. Norma

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!


I learned a computer trick today that's really ingenious in its simplicity. As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads straight for your email address book, and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates.
This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has gotten into your system.


Here's what you do:


First, open your address book and click on 'new contact,' just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list of email addresses.


In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in 'A'.


For the screen name or email address, type ' AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA'.


Now, here's what you've done and why it works:


The 'name' 'A' will be placed at the top of your address book as entry#1.


This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends.


But, when it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA, it will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered. If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected.


Here's the second great advantage of this method:


If an email cannot be delivered, you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately. Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAAAcould not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it!


Pretty slick huh?

THANKS... I put it in my address book...

That is pretty slick Norma! I'm adding that right away.

Well..it looks like that one's a fake solution? I sent it my DS..who promptly checked Snopes for hoaxes.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/quickfix.asp

Scroll down a bit. That one has been around a while. Rats!

I check snopes often when I get those kind of emails. There is an article on the founders of snopes in this months readers digest, it tells how the site came about. I found it interesting.

Norma has a good point in her message.......we all really need to limit the number of junk emails we send out. I am guilty of forwarding the occasional chuckle but some folk (my mother in law) sends me no less than 12 emails PER DAY all of them with long lists of other folks email addys. I have done all that I can to ask her politely to stop and she just DOESN"T get it!!
The saddest thing of all is that she doesn't actually "write me" any text it is 100% all forwareded junk.

CC..my SisIL keeps sending me bunches of stuff too. I especially don't like the ones that say I have to forward them to x number of people right away or I'll have some curse or bad luck. I've asked her not to send those to me because I don't have anyone to forward them to, but she keeps sending them.

I love my delete button for those, Ann...