News and Announcements

**TimSchroeder** · 09-17-2004, 04:49 PM

The recent DDOS attack put on us is coming from Trojanned computers.

A Trojan is a program that enters your computer undetected, giving the attacker who planted the Trojan unrestricted access to the data stored on your computer. Trojans can transmit personal information and other confidential data in the background. Trojans are often not caught by virus scanning engines, because these are focused on viruses, not Trojans.

A trojan also lets that stranger hijack your computer to commit illegal denial of service attacks (DOS or DDOD attacks).

Trojans can be spread in the guise of literally ANYTHING people find desirable, such as a free game, movie, song, etc. Victims typically downloaded the trojan from a WWW or FTP archive, got it via peer-to-peer file exchange using IRC/instant messaging/Kazaa etc., or just carelessly opened some email attachment. Trojans usually do their damage silently.

I strongly advice any of our members who do not already have some some sort of anti-spyware protection to do so ASAP.

I recommend Web Root Spy Sweeper (there is a free trial or a free scan here) but other free solutions are ad-aware and or Spybot Search and Destroy (I use all three as some will catch what others might miss).

For those of you who have never run an anti-spyware scan on your pc, you may be amazed at how much JUNK (ad-ware, spyware etc) you might find on your pc.

Best Wishes!

**techwench** · 09-17-2004, 05:06 PM

Don't forget some Anti-Trojan programs, as some Virus Scanners still will not detect and remove Trojans.

TDS: http://tds.diamondcs.com.au/
Trojan Hunter: http://www.misec.net/trojanhunter/
BoClean: http://www.nsclean.com/boclean.html

And for further help with tough spyware/malware/virii/trojan problems, I highly recommend visiting the DSLReports.com Security Forum, AFTER reading and following their Removal Steps/Guidelines.

**Marc Timberlake** · 09-17-2004, 05:14 PM

A^2 (A Squared) is also a very good Malware scanner.

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/ (free version is halfway down page)

**praveen** · 09-17-2004, 05:20 PM

also, protect yourself with 2 spyware utilities..

dont trust with one.

use like webroot spysweeper and lavasoft adware.

**Republikin** · 09-17-2004, 10:23 PM

AVG by Grisoft is great and 100% free. Not adware or freeware but completely free to use on your personal computer. I have never had a problem with it and they update definitions often. I recommend this tool to everyone as good all around virus protection.

**ahmed** · 09-18-2004, 04:16 AM

i use spy sweeper regulary, and norton anti-virus, remember to always update virus definitions and windows security packages

to get spysweeper go here

**anno_domaini** · 09-18-2004, 11:53 AM

The following site lists both reputable parasite removers, as well as a whole bunch of 'questionable anti-parasite software' that remove Spyware... and then install some of their own!
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/ (not my site!)

Some (other) -appearant- baddies (not all listed on DoxDesk!):
Spy Wiper
AdWare Remover Gold
BPS Spyware Remover
Online PC-Fix SpyFerret
SpyBan
SpyBlast
SpyGone
SpyHunter
SpyKiller
SpyKiller Pro
SpywareNuker
TZ Spyware-Adware Remover
xp-AntiSpy
SpyAssault
InternetAntiSpy
Virtual Bouncer
AdProtector

Cheers,
Rob

**Ark** · 09-18-2004, 02:21 PM

Lavasoft Adware i a great one...

**toocool4u** · 09-18-2004, 04:10 PM

You can download lavasoft ad-aware , spybot , and Hijack This ! at http://www.steelcomputer.com

**DevelopedWeb** · 09-19-2004, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ark

Lavasoft Adware i a great one...

Make sure not to confuse Adware with AdAware. There's a big difference between the two... since Adware is something you (obviously) don't want and AdAware is something that you do.

Personally I don't think it was a good marketing idea by Lavasoft... I can't tell you all how many people I've told to "download AdAware to get rid of spyware" and they respond with "I was told by AOL support to never download any adware!"

**DaveMo~** · 09-19-2004, 10:31 PM

You may want to check out the threads in the Browser, Virus, Spyware, Website Related Problems forum of our partner site, Tech-Forums.

Dave

**mxlabs** · 09-22-2004, 02:41 PM

May I suggest TrendMicro's Housecall?
It is an online virus scanner that naturally always comes with the latest definition files. If you don't want a resource-wasting virus scanner on your system, you can connect to TrendMicro's via the web and scan for viruses, trojans etc. - for free!
http://housecall.trendmicro.com

**xzero** · 10-07-2004, 01:27 PM

I like PestPatrol program. I usually use it to remove GAIN spyware.

**Mrlinux** · 10-11-2004, 07:50 PM

SpyBot search and destroy is the best one use it with Spysweeper both of them works Great

**bhaktano1** · 04:33 AM

want to reduce spyware? because you know with IE you'll find spyware everyday on your computer. Firefox, has reduced the amount of spyware on my computer. Try it, its a great new and free browser. Over 5,300,000 ppl have downloaded it. So much better than IE, much safer. go here to rediscover the web

or if you already use firefox help spread Firefox

rediscover the web

**DevelopedWeb** · 10-20-2004, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhaktano1

want to reduce spyware? because you know with IE you'll find spyware everyday on your computer. Firefox, has reduced the amount of spyware on my computer. Try it, its a great new and free browser. Over 5,300,000 ppl have downloaded it. So much better than IE, much safer. go here to rediscover the web

or if you already use firefox help spread Firefox

rediscover the web

I just checked it out... that's a pretty worthwhile cause. Personally, I wouldn't mind if FireFox one day replaced IE as the standard. Until then, I am forced to yield to conformity as I strive to be compatible with my users. ::sigh::

**bhaktano1** · 10-20-2004, 06:40 PM

same here, I only use IE when designing to check that things work, but when I'm browsing: firefox all the way. I also find it effective to design with standards by designing for a w3c conforming browser like firefox, then when done, going to IE and fixing problems. I highly suggest using firefox, its the greatest and the mozilla org is all for a good cause. so get it if u haven't already.