I use a cocktail of three adware/spyware blockers -- all of them free -- and have had no real problems with assaults from malware.

LavaSoft's Ad-aware utility (scans daily)
SpyBot Search & Destroy utility ('active' & scans daily)
Microsoft's AntiSpyware utility ('active' & scans daily)

I also have a router which incorporates a firewall as well as a software firewall on my computer. And I'm running anti-virus software which updates daily.

~ GaySatyr (ABB)

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Plus i must say i don`t have a firewall...do not have a router either.

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Download the free basic Zonealarm from www.zonelabs.com right now and install it. Then you can consider whether you'd rather use a hardware firewall (which is what the router should give you).

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I will also add a +1 to all of GaySatyr's suggestions as well.

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When somebody tries to access your computer from the outside, zone alarm tells you and blocks it..that's it.

If you have a network with two or more computers you have to configure zone alarm, so that the computers can see each other in the network.

There are websites out there, which tell you in detail about every process on your computer. I could tell you something about only 90% of the processes currently running on my computer,it's not that important.
If you see a process getting too much cpu, you can look up what it is and solve the problem.(virus, malware, spyware, trojan ..bug etc)

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Edited by - Endless Loop on 2/8/2006 5:43:08 AM

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I use the same 3 programs GaySatyr mentioned.

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Internet Explorer is like Swiss cheese, it's full of holes. Better to use Mozilla.

And really, after spending $60 to get your PC exterminated, is a new copy of Norton Antivirus -- with a years' worth of virus definition updates -- really out of line?

But if all that fails, do what I do: use a Mac for serious freebie downloads.

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for example, a D-Link 4 port router at new egg is $34.

good firewall software lets you know who's trying to get in as well as what's trying to get out.

important, read prompts before clicking yes.

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I use:

Ad Aware from Lavasoft
Spy Sweeper from Webroot
McAfee Anti-Virus

Also use Window Washer that is supposed to clean and then "bleach" cookies, history, etc.

When I browse the XXX stuff I'll also set IE to its highest security and cookie settings. No video downloading in that mode however.

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And you seem to all come to something, no video downloading, but its the best part, to see picture i can go on internet with my dreamcast that i used for internet from 2001 to 2004, sure its slow and all but it did the job in the past, but one point that i glad to get a cpu was movie downloading.

Thx for your comment, its apreciated.

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Like you I am a computer illiterate just trying to survive. I had Norton like you and then adware brought my computer to a halt. I added an award winning adware program "Spyware Doctor" which can be obtained at www.pctools.com or find the link by searching on "Spyware Doctor". I also downloaded the regular "speed maintenance" routines from the Microsoft website and have gotten more religious at following them regularly. I never open an email from someone I do not know .... never ever and I get 3 to 5 every day. If you do these simple things you will survive without a firewall ... I have none and am alive and well and still without a clue.

Edited by - dicknjane on 2/8/2006 6:50:53 PM

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Some more thoughts .... if you have personal files (not program files) you need saved on your hard drive, back it up regularly and if you crash you can reconstruct quickly. I have learned how to take my hard drive back to square one reformat and start over .... the process your computer guy did for $60. If you don't have your personal data files backed up you could lose them which in my case is a disaster from which I cannot recover .... the last time I paid $150 to recover my files from the hard drive and considered it cheap. You can always reload your software from your backup discs, but your data files are up to you to back up. If you are like me that's where the system breaks down .... doing what you are supposed to that no one else can.

Some other things I have learned the hard way .... every transaction I perform online begets an unsolicited email from someone who wants to infect my CPU which is related to those transactions. I have gotten urgent emails from Microsoft on virus protection that contained a virus. I have gotten funny sounding emails from "people in my email list" that contained viruses. The more you do on a computer the more attacks will be made on your computer by hackers. I have challenged all of the people I do online business with and they swear they have not shared my info and I believe them so it is this adware stuff that counts each move we make and shares it with the hack attackers. If you use your computer, you must either be smart (we're not) or very suspicious and careful. Always delete if you have any doubts .... things you really need will get to you. Hope this helps .... been there ... done that .... its like having your wallet stolen ... its a mess to clean up, shut down, save your identity.

good luck .... i understand your dilemma dicknjane

Edited by - dicknjane on 2/8/2006 8:26:56 PM

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An alway-on internet connection gives attackers plenty of time to search out weaknesses in your computer. A firewall provides the best available defense in that it can make your computer invisible to the hackers. It also closes all the 'windows and doors' onto the network that you aren't using so that, in the event a hacker does discover your PC, there are fewer avenues of attack available.

What a firewall won't do is protect the doors that you tell it to leave open. That's why you also need antivirus software, along with anti-spyware and anti-adware tools.

Patches from M$ are nice but let's not forget that they're from the same company that brought you the bugs in the first place.

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And what is bizarre is that i used an old cpu for 1 year, a old 95 model with 56k connection and a combination of 2 HD , one of 1.5 Gig and one of 1 gig...very old and very slow etc, but never got these probleme and i was downloading porn all the time, sure a 30 sec movie took 15-20 min to download, it was long but well it did the job in the line(im talking about free stuff here) So when i got my new cpu, since last one did not have a burner(of course due to his age) i had to transpher picture by the 3 1/2 a: lol , very long but i did it, i wasent able to get back all my free movies, but i found most of them again on the net etc, and finally the old cpu crash down after all was completed. Weird cause it did not have any more stuff on it, so well now i have put it aside, but well i think the reason why it crashed was his age and not a virus etc, the piece where old etc and it was a free gift of a friend. But the thing is that with a windows 98 56k etc i was able to go 1 year over the net without any probleme, weird how it work...

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So far I haven't seen anyone recommend Hitman Pro , maybe because it isn't internationally known that much? I've been using this for over a year now to full satisfaction!
It's a very powerful all-in-onde proggie that automatically downloads, updates and runs all the known anti-spyware programs including: AdAware, SpyBot, Spy Sweeper, CWSshredder, etc. etc.

Running the program takes a while (even on a fast PC it may take up to 20 minutes), but it does a very thorough cleaning!
I run it every ~2 weeks, or as soon as I suspect I may have contracted something malicious.

Really, I recommend this to anybody! It's freeware, you can download it here (and believe me, the proggie is a whole lot better than the babelfish-english on the site:)

To keep your computer clean, stick to these rules:
rule #1: always use a firewall
rule #2: do regular checks for spyware
rule #3: surf wisely! - you need to develop a sense for which links/pages/files are safe and which aren't.

(when I find the time, I'll elaborate on rule #3)

Edited by - Braad_Spitt on 2/9/2006 9:40:20 AM

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Software

Browser

First off, you may want to consider using Firefox as a browser. It's an excellent piece of free, open-source software, and it acts just as a browser, not as a piece of software that's embedded in your operation system. I'm not claiming it is perfect, but it's faster and has many very nice features.
If you're hesitant about this, realise that you do not replace Internet Explorer with FireFox! You can use both browsers at the same time. Do yourself a favour: give it a try, and once you got used to it (it operates virtually the same as IE), decide whether you wanna keep it or not.
Generally, FF is way less sensitive to malicious software than IE. Partly because IE's security holes are more targeted simply because it's currently the most used browser.

Media players

Second, consider using another media player. There are many (free) alternatives for the default Windows Media Player, that just work as a movie player and is not trying to act as your new best friend.
Some movie formats, like .wmv/.asf and .mov files, can contain meta-data, meaning they are able to make contact to malicious pages on the internet. Players like WMP and Quicktime allow this type of behaviour, the alternatives I suggest don't!

The VLC Player is a player that looks like shite but it plays virtually anything! (anything apart from Real Media files). I haven't got a clue how it exactly works, bu tit even plays movies if you don't have the right codecs installed.
But, it has one major drawback: if you're fastforwarding through your movie, it is really slow. This can be particularly annoying when your trying to find the bit where she's takin' it in the ass, for example. :)
Personally, I use this player to play quicktime files (.mov) and movies that for some reason won't play on any other player.

The BS player is another free movie player, and nothing but a movie player. It won't play quicktime files, but it plays AVI, MPG and WMV/ASF movies. It doesn't have the issue with slow fastforwarding. This is my default player for those types of movies.

*there are more and more DRM protected movies (DRM = Digital Rights Management) that will only play with the password given to you by the (pay)site where you DL'ed them. Those files can ONLY be played with a WMP v10. In my opinion that really sucks!

WinPatrol

WinPatrol is a proggie that will warn you if something is trying to install itself (without your permission) on your system. Scotty the watchdog will bark! Use this next to your firewall and anti-spyware software as an extra tool.
Scotty saved my butt more than once!

Some useful tips

>Watch out for asf/wmv and mov files!!
They can contain evil bits of malware, especially when played on WMP and/or Quicktime Player (see above). Of course, all you angels and choir boys stay away from p2p software, but if you do use those programs, be very very careful! It doesn't matter whatever you use as a search term, there are evil bots on the other end of the line that will return movie files with your exact search words in their title! They are pretty easy to identify, but still, be very careful not to accidentally click on them!

>free, FREE, ABSOLUTELY FREE, *BLINK*FREEEE*BLINK*
probably needless to say, because it's very obvious to anyone with more than one braincell: on the internet 'FREE' means: we want your money. 'Abolutely FREE' means: after you payed us you still won't get anything.
'Free membership' means exactly what it says.. literelly. You can become a member for free; if you want to see something you'll have to pay up!
But, of course you knew all that. Also, you'd never your precious real email address, nor your credit card number 'just for verification'. It's not worth the risk.
Sites that have something to offer don't ever have the word 'free' in their URL. Not that all of them will try to effect your computer, but it's simply no use clicking on them.
(Of course, as always, there are a few exeptions to this rule, like http://www.freeones.com/ which has an excellent collection of direct links to pictures and short clips of virtually every pornstar)

>Avoid sites with 'blind links'
Whenever you go over a link with your mouse-pointer, the URL will show up on the bottom bar of your browser. It's a good habit to keep an eye on that to see if the address where they SAY they're gonna take you is the same as where they try to direct you.
There are many sites where they block that function; you can no longer see where a link is gonna take you. Of course, there's only one reason to do such a thing- they're trying to hide the fact that they wanna re-direct you to some place else!
Again, not in all cases will they direct to a link that tries to install malware on your PC, but at least they are not entirely honest with you; why would you trust them?? Be safe, stay away from such sites!

>Look carefully at your Google results
It's not very easy to find the 'good sites' through google searches, mainly because most of the porn sites are total crap or false promises. Of course they try to get as high as possible in the search results.
Apart from looking at the URL -which usually will give you some clues - also look at how your search words appear on the site. For example: if you use a pornstar's name, and in the results you see that that name only appears in a list of other pornstar names or some mumbo-jumbo of general porn search words, it is very unlikely that such a site contains material (pics or movies) of the girl you are looking for.

Well, these are just some points to consider, but no matter how careful you are, there's always a risk you're PC might get infected again. That's why it is important to protect yourself!
Don't be too afraid to try some links, just be aware of what might happen, learn how to estimate how big the actual risk is, and how to solve things when something does go wrong. Use common sense and learn from your experiences!

(My apologies for bad sentences and misspelled words. Me no native speaker.)

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In addition to all that, try one of the free online scanners occasionally, too, because sometimes malware can disable or mask your security software to look like it's working when it's not.

Try Housecall at Trend Micro, for one. Wait, I've got a list. Hang on:

ONLINE VIRUS SCAN UTILITIES:
Trend Micro Housecall
Panda Activescan
Bit Defender
RAV antivirus
Symantec security scan (scan only)
Computer Associates

Add SpywareBlaster to that list of crap you should install.

Also, I personally don't and haven't used Ad-Aware in years. I think Ewido is far superior, but ymmv.
Get it here:
Ewido Security Suite
The auto updates and the real-time scan expire after 14 days, but come on, you can click a little ol' update button now and again, right? And use the Tea Timer real-time protection in Spybot. or, use Spyware Guard:
Spyware Guard

Or fuck it, load them all and let them battle it out for resources. You may have 1 MB of RAM left and your CPU stays tacked out at 75% all the time, but at least you're safe! Unplug the Internet cable, that's the only safe bet.

Just for giggles, and not for kicks, I might come back and link all these for you someday, but I doubt it. Google is your friend.

FREE ANTI-VIRUS, ANTI-SPYWARE AND FIREWALL PROGRAMS:
AVG, AntiVir, ClamWin, ZoneAlarms, Kerio, Ad-Aware, SpyBot, Spyware Blaster, Spyware Guard, Ewido
(I've used AVG, Antivir and Clam all with great success. I suggest Clam if you need something free that will install on servers.)

FREE DEDICATED HARDWARE FIREWALL ON AN OLD PC WITH LOTS OF NIFTY FEATURES:
SmoothWall Express

FREE MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE, PLAYERS, ETC.:
WinAmp, Media Player, Real Player, iTunes/QuickTime, mPlayer, VLC, foobar, Audacity, VirtualDub, VirtualEdit, The GIMP, Inkscape, Blender, IrfanView, ... this list could get out of hand quick.

FREE UTILITY SOFTWARE:
7-Zip, Adobe Acrobat Reader, DeepBurner, CDBurner XP Pro, CCleaner, Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, G4U (nifty free disk cloning - bootable ISO - I use it at work all the time)

FREE WORD PROCESSING/SPREADSHEET/DATABASE/PRESENTATION SOFTWARE:
OpenOffice.org 2.0 (fuck Microsoft Office up its overpriced bloatware turdcutter)

Good luck, Dude.

Edited by - cobalt60 on 2/15/2006 2:49:52 PM

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On P2P well i don`t know if its ok to talk about that but well i use only one and i now know it a lot so i never catched shit on it, its in my opinion the safest.

As firefox yeah i should give it a try, if its free then why not? will check that.

But the other spyware prog i have to be carefull i have not a lot of raw, 550 i think, my cpu did not cost a lot because i did not have money to take a better one, and i also have only 20 gig space of HD so i have to check up on what i get etc

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