Re: anti virus programs

From: Bruce Chambers (bchambers_at_nospamcableone.net)
Date: 02/22/04 

Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 10:58:21 -0700

Greetings --

    Norton AntiVirus, like any other antivirus application, is
designed to help protect your computer from virus, worms, and Trojans.
It is not intended to protect you from yourself by combating the sort
of malware (ad-ware, spyware, and browser hijackers) that you (or
someone else using your computer) have deliberately downloaded and
installed by heedlessly clicking on every free offer and "cutesy" link
that appears on various web pages.

    Spyware and adware does not simply ".... somehow get onto the
computer," nor are most of such intrusions the results of deliberate
attacks. Such programs are most often installed by unwary and
uniformed computer users who thoughtlessly click pretty links or
download and install the "brightest and shiniest" new, "free"
utilities and games without bothering to read the fine print in the
accompanying license agreements, which usually explicitly give these
unscrupulous utility/game distributors permission to install
additional "features," or without checking to see if this new
utility/game comes from a legitimate source. Another great source of
this malware are email attachments that many people open and execute
without a thought, simply because the subject line is "catchy," or it
claims to be from someone they know. The installation of scumware (a
collective term for adware and spyware) is also part and parcel of
using some peer to peer file sharing programs, Kazaa being the leader
in this field. In plain language, all too many people simply do not
bother to practice "safe hex."

    Firewalls and anti-virus applications, which should always be used
and should always be running, are important components of "safe hex,"
but they cannot, and should not be expected to, protect the computer
user from him/herself. These programs cannot prevent the computer
user from deliberately, if unknowingly, installing such malware.
Ultimately, it is incumbent upon each and every computer user to be
fully aware of the potential consequences of clicking download links
and license agreement buttons.

    To deal with issues caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Xupiter, Bonzai Buddy, or
KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but without
understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions. It's even
possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system
against most future intrusions. I use both and generally perform
manual scans every week or so to clean out cookies, etc., but they do
not need to be running constantly.

    To learn more about practicing "safe hex," start with these links:

Protect Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp

Home Computer Security
http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/

Home PC Firewall Guide
http://www.firewallguide.com/

Scumware.com
http://www.scumware.com/

Bruce Chambers 

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"Lorie" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:149b601c3f968$8863e930$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> My home page was changing everytime I started Internet
> Explorer.  So Dell told me to run History Kill which
> seemed to have done the trick.  I have Norton Anti-Virus
> running on my computer.  Do I need to keep History Kill
> running.  I will have to purhase it because it was a 15
> day trial.  Do I also need to have Ad Aware running too.
> I thought Norton anti-virus was to take care of
> everything.  Why do I seem to need other programs and what
> are the difference between them?  I have also heard of
> spybot, what is this?   How many of these programs do I
> need running at once?    thank you