Baytown Computer Tech
Software, Computer Help
Archive for August, 2006
Viruses and Spyware cost users $7.8 billion
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
“It’s hard to tell who’s losing the money — the insurance company, the credit card company or the consumer — but it’s coming out of someone’s pockets,” said Dan Hubbard, vice president of security and research for Websense Inc.
Consumers paid as much $7.8 billion over two years to repair or replace computers that got infected with viruses and spyware, a Consumer Reports survey found.
That figure was down from a similar survey a year ago. Still, it suggests that people are paying large sums to cope with the flood of malicious viruses and other programs that can slow computers or render them inoperable.
“There is a very high national cost to this,” said Jeff Fox, technology editor of the consumer magazine. “People think they’re invincible, even when this kind of money is involved.”
In a nationwide survey, the magazine found that unwanted commercial e-mail, known as spam, is the biggest computer-security problem. But viruses are the most expensive, with people paying $5.2 billion in 2004 and 2005 to repair or replace afflicted machines, the survey found.
Infections of spyware, a type of software that can track computer users’ habits or collect sensitive information about them, declined slightly in the past six months, the survey found. But such infections caused almost 1 million U.S. households to replace their computers, the survey found.
Losses from phishing scams, which are fake e-mails and Web pages that request sensitive data such as bank-account passwords, increased five-fold from the previous survey, with people telling the magazine that such scams cost them $630 million in 2004 and 2005. That’s an average loss of $850 per incident.
“Phishing scams are worse than they’ve ever been,” Fox said. “The bad guys are getting very sophisticated.”
Some experts caution, however, that surveys in which people are asked about financial losses can produce overestimates.
“The numbers could possibly be inflated by the way the questions are phrased, especially in an area in which most people aren’t very articulate,” said Robert Lichter, who runs a statistical center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Other organizations that monitor Internet fraud complaints also point to growth in cybercrime. Internet-related complaints made up nearly half of all fraud complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission in 2005, with people claiming losses of $335 million.
And financial losses reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a joint effort of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, tripled in 2005, to $183 million, compared with the previous year.
“It’s hard to tell who’s losing the money — the insurance company, the credit card company or the consumer — but it’s coming out of someone’s pockets,” said Dan Hubbard, vice president of security and research for Websense Inc.
While attacks used to be mostly nuisances, they have become more threatening, said Dave Cole, director of security response at Symantec Corp., a leading computer security company. Many of today’s spam and phishing attacks target consumers’ personal information with the intention of stealing money or in some cases, identities.
The Consumer Reports survey of 2,000 households found that 20 percent of respondents didn’t have antivirus software and that 35 percent didn’t use spyware-blocking software. Source
Pic of Me
Posted by kglee | Filed under Home stuff
this is a test of Windows Live writer
Possible explanations for the slow computer:
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Possible explanations for the slow computer:
- Memory (RAM) is almost filled with startup processes/programs
- Swapfile is too small
- Disk cache flushing competing for CPU time
- Hard Drive is extremely fragmented
- Hard Drive is near-to-full, and there’s no room for larger swapfile
- Resources low
- Adware/spyware interfering somehow
- A computer virus program is messing with the system
- Video drivers are flawed
- Video resolution is higher than need be (e.g., 32-bit)
- Too much interface “fluff-stuff” active (e.g., shadows, smoothing, animation)
- Subcomponents of Windows conflicting versions
Strategies to Improve the Responsiveness of the Computer:
- Adjust the size of swap file
- Set the role of computer to “Network” (System Properties|Advanced|Performance|File System Properties)
- Turn off “search for new floppies each time computer starts”
- De-frag the hard drive
- Convert hard drive to FAT32 if it isn’t already (be careful)
- Open the System.ini file and add these two lines
- MinFileCache=4096 (or 25% of RAM present, whichever is higher)
- MaxFileCache=4096 (or 25% of RAM present, whichever is higher)
- Reserve more memory for DOS programs (System|Memory|General Memory Settings)
- On machines running Win 98, install Resource Monitor (Add-Remove Programs|Install Windows Components) or Free Monitor
- Install X-Setup 6.6; check startup programs–eliminate unnecessary or undesirable ones
- Install Ad-Aware; check for adware/spyware–eliminate nasties
- Install Spybot S&D; clean registry; clear temp files
- Install and run Microsoft AntiSpyware
- Run your virus checker–update if necessary before running.
- If no virus checker, install one (AVG Free or FreeAV), update it, and run it.
- Uninstall any software that’s not being used
- Download and install latest video drivers
- Turn off video fluff-stuff (Display Properties|Effects in Visual effects section OR X-Setup)
- Check computer components (using MSInfo or AIDA32), go to vendor site and get all BIOS and driver updates. Install them.
- Run Version Conflict Manager; fix any files that need fixing
- Run System File Checker (SFC); fix any files that need fixing
- Visit Windows Upgrade site; get and install all upgrades
- More…
How do you get rid of that Malware?
Posted by kglee | Filed under Software Fixes
Installation Instructions
Order Of Operations
Settings for SpywareBlaster 3.5.1
Settings for CCleaner 1.31.325
Settings for CWShredder 2.19
Settings for About:Buster 6.2
Settings for Windows Defender 1.1.1347.0
Settings for Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06
Settings for Spybot S&D 1.4
Settings for ewido anti-spyware 4.0.0.172
Settings for HijackThis 1.99.1
Conclusion
| Browser | Firefox |
| Firefox Tweak | Firetune |
| E-Mail Client | Thunderbird |
| Anti-Virus | Avast Home Edition Free |
| Online Anti-Virus | Kaspersky, Trend Micro, & ewido |
| Firewall | Comodo Personal Firewall |
- Install SpywareBlaster 3.5.1
- Install CCleaner 1.31.325
- Install Windows Defender 1.1.1347.0
- Install Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06
- Install Spybot S&D 1.4
- Install ewido anti-spyware 4.0.0.172
Be sure to update to the most recent definitions and then run a full system scan with the configurations below.
- If you want a fast reply when getting your HijackThis log cleaned; please follow these directions:
- Boot your computer into Safe Mode (F8 before the Windows logo screen on bootup).
- Run SpywareBlaster 3.5.1. (Instructions)
- Run CCleaner 1.31.325. (Instructions)
- Run CWShredder 2.19. (Instructions)
- Run About:Buster 6.2. (Instructions)
- Scan for viruses. (Recommended Software)
- Run Windows Defender 1.1.1347.0. (Instructions)
- Run Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.06. (Instructions)
- Run Spybot S&D 1.4. (Instructions)
- Run ewido anti-spyware 4.0.0.172 (Instructions)
- At this point you should reboot your computer and run HijackThis to post a log on our forums.
- Run HijackThis 1.99.1. (Instructions)
- Run Windows Update.
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