Comments on: Knowledge equals paranoia UPDATED

By: jnb

jnb — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:21:03 +0000

One of the best programs for all kinds of malware removal is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. This is the program anti-virus programs recommend for the removal of super-nasties. That’s how I found out about it. There is a free version (or at least there used to be), and a purchase version, which, in my opinion, is worth every penny. It has removed junk from my computers that other programs didn’t detect. It is NOT an anti-virus program. It is specifically designed to remove malware, so you use it in conjunction with and not in place of an anti-virus program.
Another place to go if you have a problem is bleepingcomputer.com. (Just imagine what this site would be named if Joe Biden ran it .) Lots of good help and info on malware removal, including rootkits, a particularly nasty variety of maliciousness that inserts itself into your operating system, making it invisible to ordinary anti-virus programs. Malwarebytes can take out some of these, but apparently no program gets them all.
One purpose of a rootkit is to allow your computer to be taken over, and they do this by periodically “phoning home.” Malwarebytes Pro (the purchase version) has a feature which will alert you to unauthorized outgoing messages. This is one clue that you may have a rootkit in your system trying to contact its home base. Guess how I know this!
Keyloggers also typically “phone home” periodically.
(I have a small business, and so I asked for and got a slightly cheaper corporate rate for several computers. I don’t know whether or not they still do that, but it is worth a try.)

By: MacG

MacG — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 04:05:15 +0000

I have Norton Enterprise and I could not get rid of a win32 somethingorother virus. I ran the free Avast!’s boot time scanner and it found it and quarantined it, I have no idea if I have a key logger or not but did find a church key for my lager

By: nuqlv9ol7u

nuqlv9ol7u — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:13:56 +0000

Computing security is not much different from home security. The user is the most important layer. If you do not practice safe computing, everything else will have limited effectiveness. If you are infected, you can format the hard drive or re-create the partitions. A boot sector virus can be cleaned, but it is not going to affect anything else. You should check the BIOS, and make sure you are only booting from the hard drive.

Most hackers are not very interested in an individual user. Their time would be more profitable hacking into large databases. They are interested in turning an individual computer into a zombie or bot. They use zombie computers to attack other computers.

Anti-virus software does not protect the user from stupid. I use KeePass for password management, but a Word document would also work. Do not name it something obvious, and nobody is going to find it. I think anything online will be hacked at some point. If financial companies are being hacked, online password management sites will be also.

I use a different password for every site, and I use unique usernames where possible. I have multiple Gmail and Yahoo email accounts, and these also have gibberish for names. If somebody gets your usual password and email address, they will begin trying to logon to bank websites until they find yours. Whoever said to junk the whole computer is an idiot. There are numerous detect and repair disks available. You can create a boot disk using a CD or USB thumb drive. You boot from it, and you scan the hard drive. There are other utilities to fix other problems.

Chrome does use flash. It is included in the browser, and Google has customized it to make it safer.

By: Spartacus

Spartacus — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 10:14:25 +0000

1) Junking the whole machine is serious overkill. Take the hard drive out to the range and drill it with a .30-06 and some Tannerite if you really need a sense of closure, but repaving the hard drive with zeroes should do the trick, and save you $80 (although it’s significantly less dramatic and less fun).

2) On Firefox, I have recently started using the NoScript add-on (Tools -> Add-Ons…). Handy: it turns JavaScript off by default, although you can add specific websites (and component parts thereof from different domains, e.g. bookwormroom.com has a wordpress.com component) to a permanent “trusted” list, or just a temporary one, depending on how much content from each site you really want to see and how much you trust it. Bonus: you no longer have to wait for a cascading pyramid of domains comprising what seems like about half of the entire Internet to respond in order to load one stinking web page. Drudge, for example, loads many times faster.

3) Also for Firefox, I would note that Flash can be disabled (also at Tools -> Add-Ons…).

By: Danny Lemieux

Danny Lemieux — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:33:38 +0000

You meant, “religion of pieces”, right?

By: Bookworm

Bookworm — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:33:14 +0000

Whoops! I have more problems creating posts on my iPad.... I'll fix that.

By: kitty

kitty — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:42:00 +0000

Those who accept that Islam is a religion of piece. You mean as in… “A little piece of Poland A little piece of France A little piece of Portugal And Austria perchance” http://www.heavy.com/comedy/2010/03/to-be-or-not-to-be-hitlers-musical/

By: MorowbieJukes

MorowbieJukes — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:07:07 +0000

And the inverse of “knowledge equals paraonoia” is “ignorance is bliss”, the bliss lasting up to that very last instant before the Titantic strikes the iceberg. Knowledge of course permits one to see the iceberg in the distance and steer the ship away.

Comments on: Knowledge equals paranoia *UPDATED*