Recently in Security and Spyware Category
The late Paul Sittler wrote an article for TnT back June of 2004 entitled, "Five Simple Things that Computer Users Should do to Prevent Problems." The article was and is a big hit with users because it gives clear guidelines on how to prevent computer problems. I encourage you to go back and read, "Five Simple Things that Computer Users Should do to Prevent Problems" by clicking here.
Following in Paul's footsteps, I thought it might be helpful to give you some do it yourself solutions for those times when your machine just seems to be getting cranky - like maybe it has a virus. These steps will show how to perform basic computer triage using Symantec AntiVirus, Spybot 1.4, Windows Defender, and ATF-Cleaner on a troubled machine.
As I travel around the area, I have noticed on several machines a little yellow shield with a ! point icon down in the Notification area. Like the one here.
With Windows XP, the system tray is called the "Notification Area" and is the area to the far right of the Windows taskbar that includes the Windows clock. Anyway a number of programs place icons in this area of the taskbar for easy access. The Notification Area typically holds icons that indicate network connection status, firewall activity, anti-virus protection, Windows Defender, and more.
Back to the little yellow shield with a ! point icon.
On May 10, I was attending a session at the NETC 2006 conference where a presenter, Vince Verbeke from PSU, demonstrated this cool temporary file cleaner titled ATF-Cleaner.exe. ATF-Cleaner.exe is a new freeware temporary file cleaner application. It will remove Windows IE and Firefox temp files with an easy-to-use interface that does the job safely and without removing files that are crucial to Windows.
The main dialog box allows you to either clean all temporary files or select files for cleaning. The program also knows if Firefox is being used, and gives you the option of cleaning the temporary files associated with this application too. Also, ATF Cleaner will provide you with a dialog box showing the total bytes freed upon completion of the cleaning. For more information about ATF Cleaner by Atribune, click here.
This OPS entry will walk you through the download and how to run this temporary file cleaner. Note - This program will run on XP and Windows 2000 only.
Note - For good and secure PC health, I would recommend that you run ATF-Cleaner at least once a month.
For the last year or so, I have encouraged many (all) of you to install Microsoft's AntiSpyware (Beta 1). It was a free program and worked pretty well at keeping Spyware off your machine. One of the nice features was the real-time protection and the scan scheduler. Well, I am sad to say but all things must end, and as of 7/31/06 the current version of AntiSpyware Beta 1 will expire.
Do Not PANIC!! There is a new solution, and I think you are going to like the price too! Microsoft has introduced a new product to take the place of AntiSpyware (Beta 1). The product is Windows Defender (Beta 2) and it is FREE! So please take a few minutes to download, install, and setup this new product. If you don't, you will be calling me in the near future with thousands of pop-ads and a machine that will be performing at a crawl. At that point it will potentially cost you a few hours to a days to clean up the machine rather than a few minutes.
Please watch this very informative video from Microsoft about Spyware by clicking here. This video only takes a couple of minutes and will help you better understand spyware and how to prevent it on your machine.
This OPS entry will walk you through the download, install, and optimal setup for Windows Defender (Beta 2). You must be using Windows 2000 or Windows XP to use this software.
Holy Moley!!! I have spent most of last month and this month traveling from County Office to County Office, District Office to County Office and County Office to District Office, and I have to say I have been shocked at what I have seen or better yet, not seen on workstations. I have seen it all - from workstations with no anti-virus protection, to machines with 35+ Windows Updates waiting to be installed, to a machine with 300+ spyware problems, to no backup of data of any kind, and everything in between.
With this is mind, I have come up with 5 New Year's resolutions for you and your computer to get in shape! Along with regular backups (remember the "EIT Two Step Workstation Backup"), if you will follow these 5 suggestions, I guarantee you will have a much better and safer computing experience.
