Pensacola Computer Help Technoblog

Lately I have been seeing more computers infected with the Vundo Trojan, which as one of the ill effects constantly bombards users with Antivirus 360 messages that their computer is infected. This program should not be confused with Norton’s 360 (which in my opinion is almost as bad, but not malware). The infections it tells users are on their machines are bogus, and are often critical Windows Files. Of course they want you to buy their product in order to ‘clean’ your system, however what you buy is actually more spyware/malware. Unfortunately, in many cases if your computer is infected with this, there is a chance that you also have other infections, and while there are tools such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Spybot S&D that can help remove some of these, they often cannot get everything (it is a hit or miss kind of thing).

The best thing of course is not to get infected in the first place, which can be done by keeping up to date Windows updates, a good antivirus, and usually a couple anti-spyware products, and of course not downloading anything that you aren’t sure of what it is. Many of these spyware products are installed when you install supposed ‘video codecs’ or by viewing infected videos and even music files (stay away from the file sharing sites). You can also be infected by malicious code that can attack your computer from social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook (never click on a link that you aren’t sure of, nor download any kind of ‘media viewer’ from these sites).

If you do get infected, you can try a system restore (hopefully you have a restore point that is before you got infected), as well as run full antivirus and anti-spyware scans. Many times it is best to run these scans in Windows Safe Mode (press the F8 key when the computer is first booting). Safe mode will load only essential drivers and services and often the antivirus/antispyware software will have better success at killing these pesty infections. Of course, before attempting any cures, it is a good idea to make sure you have critical data backed up (and make sure you scan your backups for viruses/spyware before putting it back on your system once it is cured!)

Social Networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, while abundantly popular have also proven to harbor quite a few nasty dangers for those who are unaware. The latest is a variation of a Worm program that first appeared in July, the Koobface Worm . This worm spreads from friends messages that appear to be video links, when you click the link, you are asked to download or update your software to view the video – of course the software you download is actually a Trojan horse downloading program (that can install other bad things without you even knowing), as well as a keylogger program that can steal all your login and password information.

Virus and spyware writers take advantage of the popularity of such social networking sites as they are a prime target area to reach a mass amount of people. The biggest problem is that these sites are used by a lot of younger people who will often just click things without understanding what they are doing. One day your teenager is using their MySpace or Facebook, and the next your bank is calling about all kinds of charges on your credit card because someone got your banking information from a virus/spyware that was planted on your computer.

So what can you do to avoid these things? Well the best is to just not use such sites, as they will constantly be attacked and are vulnerable to all kinds of malicious software. If that isn’t an option, then make sure you have up to date antivirus and antispyware software, and be especially careful to NOT download any software or active X controls. Many times these items will appear to be legitimate software (such as Adobe Flash player), however if in fact you need an update to this software, instead of clicking on a link that may appear when you visit a webpage that says you need to update the software, go to the source (like Adobe.com) and update your software directly from there. If you go back to another site and get a pop-up saying that it is still out of date, then more than likely it is malicious software trying to infect your system.

The majority of viruses and spyware infect peoples systems because people give them permission to – most of the time inadvertantly because they are misled, or don’t read what they are installing. So be careful! If you aren’t absolutely sure about something, then don’t install it!