The Windows XP Security Series Part 4 - Spyware

Spyware Protection is an absolute must. Spyware can sit on your machine and cause all kinds of havoc and you are left, for the most part, unaware. I'm gonna show you how to keep this stuff from getting on your computer in the first place and, even if it does get on, how to get it off.

First, use SpywareBlaster to fend off the unwanted. SpywareBlaster acts as a shield to keep your computer from from nasties. It runs silently in the background, so you should remind yourself to update it about once a week or so.

Second, you should install Windows Defender. This Microsoft made product scans your computer in real-time to keep spyware at bay. It also has a manual scan in case there was any that leaked through its defenses.

The third program you should get is Ad-Aware SE Personal. Ad-Aware is an excellent scan-only device (the pay version has real-time protection) that will find whatever might have gotten through the first two defenses. You should scan your computer with the latter two programs at least once a week or run Ad-Aware if your computer is acting sluggish or weird.

If there happens to be a bug that got through those three programs, it will probably get picked up by AOL AVS. It also scans for spyware along with viruses.
If you happen to find any spyware with these programs, then delete the spyware through whatever program found them and immediately restart your computer. This keeps the spyware from rewriting themselves if they have that ability.

Now, I bet you're wondering, “Why all the different programs? You only use one antivirus program, why 3 different spyware apps?” Well, there's some controversy as to what spyware actually is and there are so many different ways they can work and reside to your system that all spyware programs have different definitions as to what they are and how they remove them. “Why do you need all this when my Security Suite detects spyware?” I personally don't use Security Suites because A.) They cost money and B.) They don't protect as well. How? There's an unwritten rule about all-in-one software: The software does two things great and one thing not so well. You could have an excellent firewall and antivirus, but it doesn't do so well with spyware or vice versa. An audiophile doesn't buy an all-in-one system, he gets different components from differing manufacturers. That's why his stereo system sounds wonderful and yours just sound “okay”. The same usually can be applied to software, especially security software.

If you just don't feel safe enough, there's two final things you should try. One of those is to get Process Scanner by Uniblue. Uniblue's website is one of the best databases online for Windows processes. Process Scanner scans your computer locally to see if any of the processes that your computer can run are security threats (whether they're running or not). This app helped me track down a WORM hidden on my machine.

The second thing you should do is get Firefox with the following two Add-ons: CookieSafe and NoScript. CookieSafe I've talked about before but NoScript is awesome because it won't run JavaScript on each site you visit unless you say it can. Javascript happens to be a hacker's favorite way of distributing spyware and worse to your PC.

Well, there you have it. After following this guide, you shouldn't have a problem with spyware anymore.

A New Beginning

It's been a while since I've posted anything. If you are a regular visitor, I'd like to apologize for the wait. I've been more than dabbling with Linux (Fedora Core 6 to be exact), working extra hours at my jobs, and getting married (YAY!).

I want to explain my new direction for this blog/site. Free software is becoming abundant to me. I want to go beyond Windows and give tips and software of all kinds. I want to concentrate on Windows XP, but I don't wanna leave out Windows Vista or Linux. Free software and it's uses are incredible and you can say I've become "religious" when suggesting software to my friends and family. Converting people isn't easy...

So I've started my own "religion": My Church of Free Software (or CFS). I made sure that the name wasn't taken, but if it is drop me a comment.

The Windows XP Security Series Part 3 - AntiVirus

Welcome to part three of my little series. Today, I'm gonna point you in a direction that is virus free! Viruses and others of the like are very dangerous and can destroy your PC in seconds or over time. They can also act as backdoors for hacker or use your machine as a host to infect more PCs. So I got one question.

Do you have an antivirus program?

You probably do, but in case you don't (or want a free one), may I suggest AOL Anti Virus Shield, or Avast! Home Edition. Both work extremely well and are, of course, free. Read my past AOL AVS post here. Both have real-time and scanning features but AOL AVS (made by Kaspersky but branded by the evil AOL) is a tad better. The reason being that you can have yet another spyware protector in AVS along with antivirus capabilities.

While that's totally grand, I've learned that one is never enough. Yeah, having one antivirus on your PC is usually just fine, it never hurts to have a backup. For that, I suggest ClamWin Free Antivirus or it's USB drive portable brother: ClamWin Portable. Run AOL AVS's virus scan about once a week and ClamWin right after.

Oh, wait! There's one more! Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool gets the last of anything that happened to get through that one-two punch.

With these 3 tools, you can't go wrong. There's no way any nasty virus, trojan, WORM, or otherwise, can get on - and keep on - your PC

Click the following to go to their respective homepages:

• AOL Anti Virus Shield
• Avast! Home Edition
• ClamWin Free Antivirus
• ClamWin Portable Edition
• Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

The Windows XP Security Series Part 2 -- Keep Hackers Out

Get a firewall .

Windows Firewall just doesn't cut it when you need protection and hackers are more proficient in knowing how to get through it. Windows Firewall also doesn't have as many security features as other, better firewalls and it doesn't watch for malicious software as well as most other firewalls can. If you have a router connected to your network, you should be fine (check its settings, though). A hardware firewall is the absolute best, but those are kinda expensive. WiFi users should turn on WEP and set up a good password so people won't leech off your network.

The firewall that I use is a software firewall – Comodo Personal Firewall Pro, to be exact. I swear by it. You can read my last entry about it and my adventure here.

The Windows XP Security Series Part 1 -- Initially Securing Windows Itself

Keeping your computer secure is vital. It should be the top priority in maintaining a healthy PC. No matter if you use dial-up , broadband , a network (school or office), WiFi , or what have you. It also doesn't matter what you use your computer for. If you are connected to the internet, you have to keep secure. Hackers and malicious software don't care who you are.

There is always something of value they can take or destroy.

The following series is a multi-part how-to on securing your PC for free. This is how I secure mine and I can tell you, any service technician in the world couldn't find malicious code residing on my machine. You do have to understand that, no matter how secure a PC is, if a hacker is determined enough, they can get into your computer no matter what you have installed. However, most won't do that; they're looking for less secure connections. Kinda the software equivalent of having an ADT sign in our yard – even though you might not have ADT service, a thief will probably pass on your house.

The absolute first thing you have to do, before anything else, is this: Make sure you have a legal version of Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed on your computer with Automatic Updates turned on and check the Windows Update site to see if you are up to date.

If you have a used computer or if you've had Windows installed by someone other than you or the computer manufacturer, it is possible that it is a pirated or copied Windows installation. It is very vital that your operating system is a legal copy. Use the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage software to see for sure. If it isn't, you're gonna have to buy it.

Yeah, I told you to buy something. Just the one time. If you have a Windows 98 disc, get an upgrade. It's cheaper. If you do have a legal version of Windows XP, good! You didn't spend any extra money.

Protect Your Computer with Comodo Personal Firewall Pro

If you can read this, you need protection while connected to the internet. An open port is a dangerous one and if anyone knows this, I do. While a lot of my friends will be shocked to read this, I no longer use the ZoneAlarm Free firewall. I've switched.

Why? After trying to manually install a new version of ZoneAlarm, I had some problems with it. It was actually telling me to install from an administrator account. Are you kidding? Other users have commented on ZoneAlarm Free's sharp decline in quality in the past year as a quality firewall, so what can be better (and free)?

While searching the internet(s), I came across a review of Comodo Personal Firewall Pro on PCmag.com (official website of PC Magazine, one of the best tech rags ever). It got PC Mag's Editors' Choice award, the only free firewall (that I know of) to get that kind of prestige.

You know what? I'm sooo glad I took the plunge with Comodo. The software is top-notch. It reminds me of ZoneAlarm Pro (ninety-nine times out of a hundred, "Pro" means "Pay" and we don't do that here) but way cheaper (and prettier). It has a simple but thorough interface that helps you feel like it's working, protecting, and giving you the sense of control. If I did have to pay for it, it would've paid for itself because it helped me find a WORM on my computer.

Here's the story: After giving up on ZoneAlarm and installing Comodo, I was asked if a ZoneAlarm service - the TrueVector service - could be released to the internet. I thought, "Hey, that's weird... I just uninstalled ZoneAlarm so there shouldn't be a ZoneAlarm service connecting to the internet." I went ahead and let it go to see what would happen.
I couldn't use my browsers or any other software that used the internet. Only this "service" (called vsmon.exe) could get on the internet. I made sure that somehow my other software wasn't being blocked by my new firewall, and they weren't.
I can't get online but my modem and my firewall said I was. It was time to see just what the hell was going on, so I popped in a Linux Live CD (Knoppix 3.9 to be exact, though it didn't matter which one I used) and saw that my network was fine! Knoppix's Firefox was able to get around on the internet so I looked up what the hell vsmon.exe was. Sure enough, it was a RBOT WORM disguised as a ZoneAlarm component. The reason why I couldn't get online was because the Worm was in the middle of a DoS attack. I went into Windows Safe Mode and deleted the sucker.

ZoneAlarm didn't detect this while I had it because it thought it was its own component. Comodo's firewall would have. It even asks you if Comodo's own components and services can access the internet. Who knows how long I've had this WORM doing god knows what.

If you happen to still be using ZoneAlarm Free (or any version of any of their software) after what happened to yours truly, uninstall their software, reboot and press Ctrl+Alt+Delete. In the processes tab, if you see vsmon.exe, you have the WORM. Now look in C:WINDOWS\System 32\ZoneLabs and see if you can locate vsmon.exe. If it's there, go into Windows Safe Mode by restarting your computer and pressing F8 at the beginning of the boot process. Go to the aforementioned folder and delete it. Your computer should work as normal. The reboot should've deleted ZoneLabs' processes and system files, so there shouldn't be anything left running.

Between Comodo Personal Firewall Pro and ZoneAlarm Free, the winner here is definitely Comodo. Without a doubt. Check Point (the new owners of ZoneLabs and ZoneAlarm's products) doesn't seem to care much for its free firewall. They left it kinda difficult to find on their own website.
How sad...

To download the Comodo Personal Firewall Pro, click here.
ZoneAlarm knows about the RBOT WORM and has some info about it here.

Free Worldwide Calling and Instant Messaging

I've written about Gaim before, but one of the features it's truly lacking is voice over IP (VoIP) calling. Most instant messaging clients use it now-a-days but you usually need the other caller to have the same app installed on their computer, too.

I have seemingly found the answer to all those hang-ups (wacka-wacka!). PhoneGaim is an all-in-one messenger/VoIP phone (using something called the SIPphone protocol). Sponsored by Linspire, PhoneGaim can be used as a replacement for all of the major IM clients. The icing on the cake is that you can call any phone number to anywhere in the world for absolutely free. Kinda like Skype but way cooler (and cheaper). All you need is a USB headset.

There's only a couple of hitches. First is that I haven't used PhoneGaim myself 'cuz I don't own a USB headset. Secondly, this is beta software , meaning it's in a sort of "testing phase" before it's released officially. It can foul up and possibly do things to your computer or software you may not like, so proceed with caution! I have used many beta programs myself, though, with minimal hiccups.

If you get a hold of this marvel, lemme know how it worked out.

To download PhoneGaim for Windows, click here.
To visit their forums, click here.

Reference Anywhere with AnswerTips/1-Click Answers

Answers.com is an amazing reference site that draws from many, many resources including Wikipedia and Google. If you're a Firefox user, chances are you've used it since it's one of the defualt engines in your search bar. For those that just can't get enough of Answers.com or just really like learning about everything (or you're just stupid), do I have the app for you!

It's called AnswerTips™ . This is a default feature of Answers.com that allows you to double-click any word on their site to get a small pop-up window with quick results for that word while not really interrupting your research. But, hey! What would it be like if I could use it all over my computer?

AnswerTips can be downloaded as a program called 1-Click Answers that allows you to use AnswerTips on any word you see on your computer. Any word. No matter if you need a quick spell-check, a thesaurus at hand, or just wanna make sure you're using a word correctly and need a fast definition. It also integrates with Internet Explorer via a toolbar (optional). If that's too much for you, there's even a Firefox Add-on available (but that, of course, only works on Firefox and no where else).

While this is great and all, it's got one major flaw: resources. Not the resources it draws from to get the info you need but computer resources. It was using up 13 Mb while running and slowed my startup time significantly, so I wouldn't suggest this unless your running a system with RAM to spare.

To get 1-Click Answers, visit Answers.com or go directly to it here.

Burn Your Media for Free with DeepBurner Free

Sure, your computer probably came with Nero Burning ROM or Easy Media Creator -- but what if it didn't? How do you burn your favorite files to CD or DVD?

It looks like a job for DeepBurner Free (cue superhero music here), a freeware app that burns everything - CDs, DVDs in every format - and has some handy features.

First of all, there's a portable version available from the website. Secondly, besides doing a more than commendable job burning all your files and media, it also burns ISO image files. ISO files are usually what you download in order to burn an operating system to CD or DVD for boot and installation. (If you don't happen to know what an operating system is, take your computer back to the store and get a refund.) I like to play around with different types of Linux OSes and live CD s (live CDs are operating systems that run directly from the CD-ROM drive) plus there are recovery programs that have to be burned from an ISO file and run straight from a CD-ROM. Not many of DeepBurner Free's costly competitors can burn an ISO file correctly.

While the interface isn't the prettiest and there's an ad for its pay version - DeepBurner Pro that runs in the top toolbar, it sure beats paying thirty bucks or so. Plus the homepage has a program called DeepRipper that rips music to any format (any format!) to store on your hard drive.

If you want a little more from your media burning software while paying a whole lot less, DeepBurner Free is my personal recommendation.

Download DeepBurner Free and DeepRipper here.

Firefox Add-on: Download Statusbar

When using Firefox, you can have a sense that its download manager sucks. What can one do to resolve this? Install Download Statusbar.

Sitting atop Firefox's statusbar, Download Statusbar is a much, much better way to manage your downloads. Only visible while downloading, this Add-on can open your new download from its containing folder or can completely delete the newly downloaded file from your system. You can also stop downloads and restart them in your next Firefox session or close the browser and keep it (or them) going. My favorite feature is that it doesn't get in your way like Firefox's default downloader.

If you want a better, feature-rich and customizable Add-on that can better your internet downloading sessions, this is a keeper.

To download Download Statusbar from its homepage, click here or here or its listing on the Mozilla Add-ons site.

Media/Music Player Rundown - QuickTime (Stand Alone)

Boy, how the world of computing has changed. I remember the good ol' days when you had to use QuickTime. There was no way around it -- you couldn't watch .mov files without it. The added bonus of that being QuickTime movies usually had better quality and the browser plug-in was also a must-have. My only beef with it was whenever you started the QuickTime client up, you would get a pop-up annoying you into buying the "Pro" version.

Now it's 2007 and what was once a shining star on the media player forefront is now the afterthought of a small fart. QuickTime is now so non-essential and unnecessary that it's beyond fathomability. Yeah, I think I made up that word.

C'mon! If you have iTunes, you have QuickTime. If you don't have QuickTime, well... who cares? It doesn't do anything but play .mov files; lots of other players nowadays have way more features than the bland Apple media player. VideoLAN's VLC Media Player, for example, can play QuickTime media formatted files and so much more without a "buy this better crap" pop-up ad. The only saving grace for Apple's QuickTime software was it's browser plug-in, especially for Firefox. These days, though, it's no longer a necessity.

There's absolutely nothing wrong or bad about QuickTime. It's just that it's hard to justify it as a default player anymore. After all these years, that pop-up is still annoying.

To download QuickTime (stand alone without iTunes or with iTunes), click here.

Happy New Year! Give Yourself The Gift of Free Storage

AOL sucks. AOL owns Xdrive. Xdrive doesn't suck. AOL bought Xdrive and made it free. That rocks!

Xdrive is 5Gb of secure online/backup storage. Sure, there are other services like this out there, but Xdrive is the best I've seen so far.

So why would you need it? Since it's online, you can access your stored files from any broadband enabled computer (and if you're reading this on dial-up, you'd better get with the friggin' program and switch to high-speed).
Another reason you might need Xdrive is to backup your files in case of computer crash disaster doom. Trust me, it WILL happen. Pics, music, videos, office docs, the like. You can't, of course, backup your programs; but you can save your setup files for them. Plus, Xdrive was featured on the Discovery Channel show It Takes a Thief. They were showing that Xdrive can be used to backup important data in case of computer theft.

Xdrive is simple. The desktop client will enable you to drag-and-drop files through a network drive. A network drive works exactly like a hard drive on your computer except that it's connected to your Xdrive account.
The Xdrive client even has automatic back-ups of file types you specify, PDA support and bunches more!

So, if you're in the need for more storage. This is the way to go.

To use Xdrive, go here. (Registration is required)