Breaking, Entering Your PC (Windows Scumware And Parasiteware Alert)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 11/26/04 | Terry McDermott

[goldstategop]

The site has multiple forums for various computing problems, but the overwhelming number of inquiries in the last year has dealt with spyware, which on the site has a variety of less neutral names, "scumware" being one of the more polite. Scumware had been an epidemic; in the last year it grew into a pandemic, said Steve Wechsler, one of those drawn to Eshelman's site.

Wechsler was tending bar at a public golf course in South San Francisco when he bought his first computer less than a decade ago.

"I brought it home and turned it on, clicked on Netscape and expected something to happen. I still think about how dumb I was," he said. That ignorance makes him empathize with other casual users, people who expect their computers to be tools, not obligations.

The muting of the usefulness of those tools is what motivates him most. "I hate bullies. I've hated bullies my whole life. They prey on people. I'm not going to sit by and do nothing," he said. "It's your computer. They have no right to assault it."

[goldstategop]

This is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG article about scumware and parasiteware on people's computers and how to fight it. Its a long war. It also includes a discussion of http://www.auha.org Sounds Sanskrit but as a site, Jim Eshelman's encyclopedic knowledge of the dark side of the Internet is unrivaled. There's some nifty freeware links on his website to help you fight the plague that keeps you from enjoying the World Wide Web. This stuff is getting worse by the day but as the old saying has it, "knowledge is power." Here then is one reporter's experience with malware and tips on how to keep it off your PC - for good.

[YoungHickey]

"It used to be [information technology] knowledge was like drugs — if you had some, you shared it with friends," he said.

ROFL!

[visagoth]

I spent yesterday at the folks house fixing computers after turkey... I offered to fix anyone's machine who brought it with them to dinner -- (that was a mistake)

Every box I touched (7 of them) had no less than 100'ish pieces of spyware in them. Each had a couple of virii, and NONE of them had visited windoze update.

I need to stop volunteering - or get one of these:

[Elle Bee]

bump for later

.

[studly hungwell]

I tend to believe that most problems have very simple solutions.

The solution to spam, spyware, etc IS simple:

Once the perpetrator is found, publish his name, photo and home address on the Internet.

Problem solved! : )

[TXBSAFH]

I know what you mean, I work in systems support and my wife complained to me last month that her new laptop was slow. I loaded a spybot and found over 250. No viruses, I keep nortons on my machines for that.

[backhoe]

Help for viruses and malware:

 

 Ad-Aware ... Spybot ... Peper Uninstaller ... HijackThis... CWShredder ... Spyware Blaster ... IE Spyad ... Free online Virus scan ... AVG AntiVirus ... LSPfix ... How to Show Hidden Files ... How to boot into Safe Mode ... How did I get infected in the first place?

---

Things you need--(all FREE)
Anti-Virus
AVG Anti-Virus version 7 (free) release available...

 Avast
Firewall
Kerio(Direct Download) Zone Alarm

 If are using zone alarm it may slow your PC. Try Outpost Firewall http://www.agnitum.com/products/outpost or Sygate Firewall http://www.sygate.com/, both have FREE and Pro versions and are heads above ZA.
Misc.
IE Spyads SpywareBlaster Spyware Guard
Windows Update- you must keep updated, it is the start of a secure system-
get all CRITICAL Updates

Things you want(Still Free)
 

  I use Firefox PR1 and IMHO, beats the sox off MS Explorer. Life is good with tabs. Click the link and give it a try.

Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D

SpywareBlaster
MS MVP Hosts file

Mike Lin's Homepage and get the Startup Control Panel and Startup Monitor tools.

 

The best forum for malware removal:

 http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?s=262d844129208feb8b0cf5b0186a32f6&act=SC&c=4
SWI Forums--

[MediaMole]

If you are stuck fixing your relatives' PCs, make sure you download the IT version of SP2 from Microsoft Technet. You can burn it to a CD and easily install SP2 onto multiple XP systems. It is a huge download, but can be a real time saver when working on multiple systems.

[beezdotcom]

bump for later

[hsrazorback1]

self ping

[error99]

correcting your link:
it is
http://aumha.org

[LadyLiberty86]

I offered to fix anyone's machine who brought it with them to dinner -- (that was a mistake)

You are much too kind! By the way, where do you live?

[Salo]

http://www.aumha.org/ is the address. You want to be safe(r):
1. Use Firefox 2. Install all Windows updates 3. Use spybot search and destroy. Overkill (effective, but using a nuke to kill roaches): turn off directx at your firewall - only turn it on to do your Windows updates.

[visagoth]

If you are stuck fixing your relatives' PCs, make sure you download the IT version of SP2 from Microsoft Technet. You can burn it to a CD and easily install SP2 onto multiple XP systems.

Heh... I have my handy 'geek disc' with it loaded on it for the one and only XP box I fixed... the other 6 had either WinME (The Mistake Edition) or Win98.

[visagoth]

By the way, where do you live?

Ummmm... er - Alaska - yeah that's it. On one of the islands.

[Cicero]

It's amazing. My kids are reasonably computer literature, but none of them seems to understand updating, either of the operating system or of the various anti-spyware programs I put on their computers.

At least they could clean some of the easy spyware off. The hard stuff sometimes requires messing around with the Registry, which I'd rather they didn't try.

[softengine]

Studly,

I love your screen name. Read your post.. snickered... read your screen name and laughed out loud. Too good.

[Clypp]

ping

[DollyCali]

thanks for post/article. I join the FReeper list that have been plagued with spyware/virus infections this past few weeks .. all with firewalls; spy sweepers; antivirus; and caution to NOT open anything form 'unknowns"

perps are terrorists & when caught should be handled as such as such = shooting the next day would be a good idea in my estimation

[KoRn]

Same thing happened to me at my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. I spent 3 hours fixing her PC while everyone else was having fun watching the Cowboys game :(.

Her PC was totally hosed, and after trying to for an hour to clean up the mess, I decided to reformat and reinstall Windows.

As for the original article, no problems with that stuff here....I'm on Mandrake 10.1 Official running Firefox for Web browsing. Mandrake 10.1 is the best Linux desktop I've seen, and I ain't going back to Windows.

I would advise anyone using Linux, or thinking about using Linux to give it a try, it's super!