malware muddle

[mondhasen]

One of the most common complaints by new users of the library computers is that their home pcs are 'broken.' This is more frequent than we more savvy users might be aware of.  I say savvy but I could also say 'fortunate' or 'lucky.' It astounds me how many people click bad links and fu@k up their home computers. It amazes me more that there are so f''ing many bad links out here. The malware people have gotten very sophisticated, and it's scary.

I've opened infected email, and luckily I had antivirus software that jumped all over it before anything seeped out. For the most part I can generally spot junk prior to clicking, but there are those mouse over nasties and redirects that sneak in regardless. And then there's that CryptoWare running around the net extorting users to retrieve pictures and files.

I've been backing up my system more frequently and keeping programs patched and updated, but I don't feel as secure as I could. I'm considering buying Faronics Deep Freeze for home (we use it at work, and it is one of the best tools in my kit. And it has that cute bear!).

I spent approximately five hours this week trying to clean up my sister's pc. Spybot, MSE, System Restore, and good old fashioned sleuthing still didn't pull everything out that I would have wanted to eliminate, but it runs faster and cleaner than before. After the first round of cleaning she made the error of clicking a damned java look-alike link and flooded the system with redirect programs and the like. I got to the point of googling every unknown file in the processes and tossing out what files would allow me to dump them. Nasty, invasive stuff.

But I got a nice gift out of it for my helping (aside from some gas money): a Wilton Cake Decorating kit! I also got a bunch of cookies and candies she didn't want as she is on a diet.

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

When a PC is riddled with malware, there's probably nothing you can do to get rid of it other than wiping it completely and reinstalling everything (after backing up your data, of course).

Keeping it clean after that is another task that's probably even more difficult, given the average Joe's abilities. I'm not ragging on the average Joe, mind you, but as you say, the things that are obvious to you and me, the things we do to keep our systems clean, these things are out of reach for many.

Cookies and candy and cake decoration kits, though — that's nice. :)

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

I would flatten the disk but don't have the backup discs to do so. This was a Vista os based Dell my brother bought maybe in 2008, and recycled down to my sister. He had 'his people' fix it once (he manages a computer lab at the local college) but they did little more than transfer the data to a new drive. I was lucky to have tuned it up for her that time.

The junk got into her browsers, and I cleaned up IE successfully with a reset and tweaks the first two times: this time it has some clingy junk in the add-ons. FireFox I've reinstalled three times and looks okay.

My sister is getting better with this. She runs the scans and I'm helping her obtain a portable drive for backups. She wants a new pc and I'm thinking maybe it would be better for her as we could set it up better to deal with these little problems.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Aye, a new PC would be ideal; it'd save you the hassle of reinstalling everything, too, although the important thing'd not just be to obtain a clean machine but to keep it clean, too.

[lepaggoth.livejournal.com]

When I still was a student, every time I went to read my e-mails at the department's computers, I had to teach some fellow students NOT to click any e-mail attachment ending in .exe and doublecheck addresses from mails that seemed to be from their friends - especially if that mail had only attachment sans text. And usually same people repeated the same mistakes over and over again. I guess the situation nowadays could be even wilder with Facebook and "liking-hijacks" that seem to be posted by friends.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

The link I stupidly hit was for an e-card. I knew better, as we all say, and thankfully Norton blocked it.

I've gotten caught by Facebook, as well. Now I just look at others' "likes" but try to never touch them.