| Remember
how I said before that there is a good chance that, even if
you take all precautions, you will still download something
nasty? Well, this section will show you how to protect your
computer so that there are fewer negative effects, and also
how to clean it up.
The most common
things that you will come across are spyware, adware, and
viruses. What follows is an explanation of each. Note that
I recommend taking these precautions if you are connected
to the internet, whether you download files or not.
Many peer-to-peer
networks are under constant attack by people with a variety
of motives. Fortunately for Mac users, this isn’t much
of an issue and they can disregard this section.
Examples include:
• poisoning attacks (providing files whose contents
are different than the description)
• denial of service attacks (attacks that may make the
network run very slowly or break completely)
• defection attacks (users or software that make use
of the network without contributing resources to it)
• insertion of viruses to carried data (e.g., downloaded
or carried files may be infected with viruses or other malware)
• malware in the peer-to-peer network software itself
(e.g., the software may contain spyware)
• filtering (network operators may attempt to prevent
peer-to-peer network data from being carried)
• identity attacks (e.g., tracking down the users of
the network and harassing or legally attacking them)
• spamming (e.g., sending unsolicited information across
the network- not necessarily as a denial of service attack)
Spyware
Many people are
unaware that their PC is often used as a server without their
knowledge or consent. In a nutshell, Spyware records all of
your online behavior and reports it back to various companies
that send you targeted advertisements.
Spyware / Adware
uses up system resources, CPU time, memory, disk space, and
Internet bandwidth, making your system slower. Spyware is
a way for freeware software authors to make money from the
software, rather than selling it to the users for a fee. It
is good practice to scan your computer once a month for Spyware
/ Adware using the tools discussed here.
How does Spyware make its way to my computer?
1. Spyware programs can be secretly installed when installing
freeware programs. Freeware programs are computer programs
that cost nothing to use, but earn revenue bundling Spyware
into programs.
2. When installing a computer program on your computer, it
is important to pay attention to the options presented when
installing. Many times people click “Next, Next, Next”
and bypass additional software includes, one of the ways Spyware
finds a home on your computer.
3. Websites can run scripts that install browser Spyware or
cookies to track web statistics.
Common Spyware
• Hotbar
• CoolWebSearch
• I-lookup
• n-case
• Savenow
• Lycos sidesearch
• Gator
• Mysearch
• Xupiter
• Comet Cursor
• Eates
• OnFlow
• Bonzai Buddy
• Brilliant Digital
• Comet Cursor
• CommonName
• Gator
• Trickler
• WebHancer
Adware
Software delivers targeted advertising to the end user. The
most common found Adware delivers pop up advertising to users
of a computer. Have you ever been on your computer and suddenly
a message pop ups on to your screen? If you have, you have
some form of Adware installed on your computer.
Spyware & Adware Removal
Using a program
called Ad-aware,
you can delete most of the commonly used Spyware programs
from your computer. Ad-Aware is a tool that scans your computers
memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known
data-mining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components
also known as Spyware / Adware.
1. Install the program.
2 . Double click the Ad-aware icon on your desktop. This will
open Ad-aware and you can start find those annoying programs.
3 . Click start
4 . Click next
5 . You should see Ad-Aware scanning your computer for Spyware.
The scan will take about 1-10 minutes.
6 . If you had your speakers turned on you probably heard
a buzz sound, that sound indicates your computer has Spyware.
A little icon will now flash when the scan is complete. Click
next
7 . The next screen should display a list of know Spyware
programs on your computer. Right click on the list and choose
“select all objects”. Verify all the items have
checkmarks and click next.
8 . This will confirm you want to remove all this resource-wasting,
privacy-invading Spyware. Click OK
9 . You should now see a screen that shows Ad-aware is deleting
all the objects from your computer.
Once you have completed
all the steps, and your system is clean of Spyware, restart
your computer for the changes on your system to take effect.
Spyware
& Adware Prevention
There are a number of free tools available that will scan
your computer on startup to determine if you have any unwanted
programs installed. Programs are also available that act as
a firewall to these types of unwanted computer programs, when
a program is found on the system it is deleted immediately
after confirmation. For virus scanning I recommend using Norton
System Works or McAfee. I also use Zone Alarm personal firewall.
You can find it here.
DownloadAnythingFree.com
does neither endorse nor condone the sharing of copyrighted
materials. You should only share and download files
which you are legally allowed to or have otherwise received
permission to share. |
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