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Posts: 2361
| We have had repeated problems with addware and viruses because my spouse and two children cannot seem to understand the problems with downloading and opening attachments to mail.
I personally almost never open an attachment unless their is some message from somebody I know, so I trust the source or recognize it as a picture file. Recently last couple of days we have had a popup that claims an unidentified computer is on our "network" and I have pulled one address and supposably blocked access. The computer has no "known address" other than an IP number etc. and the report identifies it as a "router".
When I see stuff like this I generally pack up the bugger and take it into the computer people to have new security stuff put on it which protects it for another 6 months or so it seems. Can anybody tell me what a router is and what it does and how it works off your computer? I am assuming it goes into our computer and utilizes it in some way and obviously if one can get in many can get in. I freely admit I am too stupid or too lazy to deal with today's technology and a telephone and TV are about the limits of my williingness to understand technology. I like the computer but it seems to me they could create a safer system than what we have. |
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Posts: 82
Location: Owatonna,MN | Do you have wireless internet? That might be the cause of the router error. If so you can set it up to be password accessible only. Go on www.downloads.com and find a add/spyware program and download it. I use spyware doctor and have had no problems.Also I hear spybot is also good.A lot of the pop ups and add/spyware problems come from sites like MSN andYahoo and similar sites especially if someone on the computer is using the messenger service.
I am no computer expert by no means,but maybe it will help.
Good luck |
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Posts: 32951
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Buy the Panda Anti Virus program and it's IMPOSSIBLE to open an infected email, or other infected file. good software. I have the Platinum. |
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| go get something like what was said above
try xcleaner www.xcleaner.com
i would def. at the minimum run that every week and run spybot every week.
if u have virus protection on your computer but it's out of date or expired, bite the bullet and go get panda or mcaffee......i've had both and norton...i hate norton....but it works too....just slightly more clumsily than P or M.
also, go to pcpitstop.com and run some checks...u can pick up some useful info on how to securely configure your computer.
u can also create a guest account for both ur kids and wife to use...that way, they won't be able to do anything other than what u designate...someone a little more versed on multiple logins can help you there though.....i'm lucky enough that my S.O. knows for the most part not to be a downloader.
one last thing...go get the free version of zonealarm and try it..if you like it, buy it...it's worth it if you'r on dsl or anything higher....not worth the headache if u'r on a 2 or 3k dialup IMHO though.
good luck man.
G
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | First i've dealt with alot of viruses. Most of time it's best to backup what you need and reinstall. Start Fresh, but if that's not the case my suggestion to you is:
Download "highjack this" (link) and open up the findings in a wordpad doc and paste them here, or email them to me: [email protected]
http://www.download.com/HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html
Next Run Trend Micro-housecall: That's a great online scanner.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
If that's able to quarantine your harddrive. Download AVG antivirus: This is a free anti virus program, i've been using it for about a year now and haven't had a problem. Just have to make sure your definitions are up-to-date. (see link)
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/Get+AVG+FREE/lng/us/tpl/v5
-Click on free download in the middle of the page. Then run a scan on your pc once you updated your definitions.
If you're having problems with adware/spybots then download and run spybot (link)
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Spybot_Search_and_Destroy/1043...
Hopefully this will help to get rid of nasties, but sometimes it's just easier to format and reinstall. Oh and to answer your question, a router is a device that hooks to your computer that allows mulitiple computer to run through a network. Are you running a firewall? A router will provide your computer with a masked IP so that outside computers aren't able to find as easy, very similar to a firewall program. If your running XP turn their firewall on, it's not the best but it's free and will provide you with a good level of security. Go to start>>Control Panel>>(make sure you in Classic view, upper left corner)>>> Windows firewall icon>>>Select on.
OH And one other thing, don't use internet explorer for surfing the web... ...Go get Mozilla Firefox (link), you're not as likely to get popups/adware/spyware. Set it as your default browers and stress to the family to use that while they are on the web. You won't regret it.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Let me know if you're still having problems.
-Scott
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Posts: 335
Location: Pulaski, WI | Assuming you are running XP, you should set up the spouse and kids with limited accounts. Don't make them Admin. Without Admin priviledges its almost impossible to install malware. The flipside is that you will have to install almost all software for them.
-John |
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