[SpamCop-List] Re: Cleaning up and preventing malware (was mypctuneup.com)

[Pete Stephenson]

In article <df0lt2$90c$1 at news.spamcop.net>,
 Brian <SC.10.myspamgobbler at spamcowboy.net> wrote:

> 1. Firewall. First line of defense. I mean more than Windows Firewall. I 
> like Sygate, but they are in the process of being bought by Symantec, so 
> my recommendation is likely to change soon.

For most casual users, the Windows Firewall is probably more than 
adequate. It's pretty seamless, so it doesn't present odd messages to 
users.

Otherwise, I really like ZoneAlarm, which can be downloaded for free 
from Download.com. You can get it from ZoneLabs.com, but they hide the 
link to the "free" one in relatively small print. Download.com is easier.

For most users with firewalls like ZoneAlarm, I strongly suggest using 
MyNetWatchman.com -- it examines the firewall logs, sends them to MNW, 
who analyzes logs belonging to you and other MNW users, determine what 
traffic is legitimate or not depending on various properties, then send 
reports to those responsible for those systems. Very much like SpamCop, 
only more automated. No real human involvement is required.

Obviously, the more MNW users there are, the more accurate and sensitive 
the network becomes. Definitely something for people to have running. It 
even will accept logs from various hardware firewalls like Linksys 
routers and so forth.

> 2. An up-to-date Antivirus. Keep it up to date and scan your computer 
> daily. My recommendation is AVG by Grisoft.com

Seconded. http://free.grisoft.com/ is the link directly to the free 
version.

> 3. Adaware, Spybot Search & Destroy, HijackThis, SpywareBlaster, 
> SpywareGuard and WinPatrol for finding and keeping spyware off your systems.

On my cousins computer I have SpyBot set to automatically download new 
updates, install them, run a scan, and clean any detected malware 
automatically on launch. Then I have Windows' Scheduled Tasks feature 
run SpyBot weekly at about 4am on a Sunday.

I'm playing around with Microsoft's AntiSpyware Beta, and it seems to be 
all right. No real opinion yet.

> 4. Update Windows regularly. This is very important. So many people 
> ignore the alerts to update because they don't want to be bothered, but 
> are instead bothered by the exploits that are caused by not updating.

Strongly seconded. If you have WinXP, ensure you get Service Pack 2. 
Make sure it's configured to automatically download and install updates 
on a regular basis. Even then, manually check for non-critical updates 
every so often (I check about once a week).

-- 
Pete Stephenson
HeyPete.com