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Skriven 2012-04-01 15:20:22 av Nick Kill (1:261/1406)
Ärende: Fidonews Vol 29 No 14 April 02, 2012 Page: 3
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Submitted by Roger Nelson, 1:3828/7
Computer Virus: How to Remove It
By Becky Worley
Posts By Becky Worley | Upgrade Your Life - 5 hrs ago
Ughhhh! If your PC has ever been infected - or worse, if it's infected right
now - you're probably groaning. Yes it's a pain, but the good news is: you can
remove viruses yourself, for free.
STEP 1: Back Up Documents, Photos and Videos. Save your important data to an
external drive. Be sure to scan this drive and its contents after you remove
the virus; you don't want to re-infect your computer after the clean-up.
[Related: Five ways to help your PC help you]
STEP 2: Reboot in Safe Mode You have to prevent the virus from running when you
try to remove it. To do this, reboot in safe mode. Safe mode runs only the
Windows operating system and a few key programs. It's a way to limit any
malware from launching. Restart your computer and hit the F8 key on the
keyboard repeatedly until you get to a black screen with the option of
restarting in Safe Mode. Choose "Safe Mode with Networking" so that you can
still get on the Internet.
STEP 3: Download Virus Scanner/Removal Tools I recommend downloading two to
three different programs to find and remove the malware. One may do the job,
but three will almost certainly do the job. These three have worked for me and
come highly recommended by PC Magazine and CNET:
Malwarebytes SuperAntispyware PC Tools
STEP 4: Run Virus Scanners Download, double-click to install, accept all the
defaults they recommend, and then run each. This will take a while. When the
programs locate a virus or any suspicious items, allow the programs to delete
the files.
STEP 5: Reboot Normally Reboot your computer normally; no need for safe mode.
You should be back to normal now. If you have files backed up on an external
drive, plug it in and use the security programs you downloaded to scan that
drive before you open or transfer any files. If the virus is gone, go to step
6.
**IF YOU STILL HAVE THE VIRUS** Many people will recommend you
reinstall Windows or try system restore or download a registry cleaner. I say
that at this point, most people should take the computer to a local PC repair
shop. Where I live, it costs about $120 to get the virus removed and a clean
version of Windows installed. It is a personal decision how you proceed from
here, but take into account the value of your time.
STEP 6: Add Security How did you get that virus in the first place? Even if
you don't know, it's clear you need more protection. PC Tools is a real-time
virus scanner that you can use as your ongoing protection, or install something
like Avast or AVG. All three are very good, free, anti-virus programs. Also
Microsoft's Security Essentials comes well recommended.
You should also go to the Control Panel of your computer, and in the security
section click Windows Update. Make sure that it's set up to regularly update.
And if you think someone else accidentally installed malware on your computer,
it's a good idea to give other members of the family their own sign-on accounts
that don't have admin privileges. This way, if the kids try to download
software that could harbor viruses, they won't be allowed to. And yes, this
means you should keep your admin password private. (Also, if they've installed
any file-sharing programs, now would be a good time to remove them. P-2-P music
and movie sites do expose you to a lot of junk.
STEP 7- Damage Control Viruses are a gateway to identity theft and spam. So
after you disinfect your computer it's a good idea to check your credit
(annualcreditreport.com is the credit report site that the Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act forced the credit unions to create for consumers to
access yearly free reports). You should also change all your passwords,
especially your email password and any passwords for your financial
institutions. Here's my method for creating easy-to-remember rock-solid
passwords.
Upgrade Your Life: 5 ways to make an easy-to-remember, ultra-secure password
Nobody wants to get hacked. But when it comes to choosing a password, there are
key steps you can take to reduce your risk of data intrusions from unwanted
virtual visitors. This week's edition of Upgrade Your Life will teach you how
to make a strong, safe password that's easy to remember - and how to reduce
your odds of being an easy target for hackers.
1. Worst Passwords In 2009, a major hack on social gaming site RockYou revealed
some troubling patterns in how we choose our passwords. The Imperva
Application Defense Center (ADC), a security research group, examined the
passwords of RockYou's clients to see just what went wrong. The study found
that more than 29,000 of the compromised accounts were using the password
"123456" - the most popular password. The second and third most common
passwords were also strings of consecutive numbers. And the fourth most common
password? "Password." Other popular passwords from the RockYou case include
"iloveyou," "abc123," and a handful of common first names like "Ashley" and
"Michael."
How to avoid bad passwords:
* Don't use any part of your name or email address: These two
pieces of information are easily obtained about you.
* Avoid any other personal information: Don't use your birthday,
family member or pet names, street addresses, or anything else that could be
public knowledge for prying eyes.
* Don't use consecutive numbers: These are extremely easy for a
cracking program to decode, and as you can see from the ADC study, they're also
wildly popular.
* Avoid words in the dictionary: This includes random sequences
of words and slang terms too.
2. Best Passwords: Uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Nowadays, many websites encourage good password practices by forcing you to
input a mix of numbers, letters, symbols, and mixed capitalization. This
approach is definitely the right idea: mixing it up can pay off, statistically
speaking. Why? Most password hacks you'll be warding off use a technique
called a "brute force attack." This flavor of hack uses automated computer
software to guess every possible combination to crack your personal code.
According to the ADC study, automated hacking software combined with poorly
chosen passwords means a hacker can break into 1000 accounts in just 17
minutes. If you introduce more variables into your password - namely numbers,
symbols, and a mix of lower and upper case letters - intrusive software will
take longer to crack your code.
Make passwords more secure:
* Add letters: Since there are 26 letters in the alphabet, one
additional letter can make your password 26 times harder to crack.
* Use a mix of lower and uppercase letters: Mixing up your cases
adds complexity and safety to your chosen password.
* Add numbers: Using letters, words, and phrases for your
passwords seems both natural and easy to remember, but it's much safer to
diversify.
* Add symbols: Symbols are the real secret ingredient to
security. Since there are over 1500 symbols a hacking program needs to run
through to correctly lock down one character of your password, adding one extra
asterisk or exclamation point can make it 1500 times more difficult for
intruders to pry open your personal accounts.
3. Password length = Password strength
Most websites prompt you to create a code with a minimum and maximum amount of
characters, often between 8 and 14. Since each additional character increases
your odds of staying safe, be sure to max out the length of your password. If
you can enter 14 characters, don't stop at 10 - those extra 4 characters will
work to your statistical advantage.
Here's an example: compare the passwords m00se44 verses m00se44!.!.!.!
Sure m00se44 might be faster to type, but m00se44!.!.!.! is a far safer bet.
How much safer? According to a handy online brute force simulator, hackers
could crack m00se44 in less than a second. What about m00se44!.!.!.!?
Assuming that the hacking software is guessing one hundred billion combinations
a second, believe it or not, it could take the same software almost 200,000
centuries to crack it.
4. Password padding: Symbols are your secret weapon
Much of the basis for this article comes from the research of a noted security
expert named Steve Gibson. His most recent practical advice involves a simple
technique called "password padding." It used to be that a random password like
Pr5^w4''t3F was perceived to be the best password. But the reality is that
people can't actually remember those totally random passwords, so they don't
end up using or sticking with them.
To solve this dilemma, Gibson wanted to create a memorable password strategy
that would be equally secure. He stumbled onto the idea that long passwords
loaded with symbols can be both ultra-secure and yet also easily memorized. He
came up with the following example to prove his point.
Which of these is easier to remember? Which is more secure?
D0g!(!(!(!(!(! PrXyc5NFn4k77
The more memorable password is D0g!(!(!(!(!(! since it looks like the familiar
word "dog" and ends with a repeating pattern of symbols. And according to
Gibson, D0g!(!(!(!(!(! is also the more secure password because, while it too
has numbers, letters (upper and lowercase), and symbols, the first example is
one character longer than the random second password - and it has more symbols.
Want to see this effect in action? Play around with Gibson's password security
calculator yourself.
5. Store passwords in one place with a password manager
If you're a little concerned about juggling all of the lengthy, ultra-secure
passwords you've dreamed up, you can have a program do the heavy lifting.
These programs and apps, known as password wallets or password managers, lock
down your cache of codes by encrypting them, which translates them into a
secure language that hackers can't parse. If RockYou's data had been
encrypted, that security scandal could have been avoided altogether.
While no method is infallible, well-regarded password managers like LastPass
and 1Password are great options. With a password manager, you'll use a master
password to access the program or app, and it will auto-fill password entry
fields for you as you log in around the web. Both LastPass and 1Password
feature mobile and desktop versions, so you can keep both computer and your
phone locked down safely.
FIDONEWS Vol 29 No 14 Page 3 April 02, 2012
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