How to Avoid Malware: Good Practices to Follow and Tools That Can Help

How to Avoid Malware: Good Practices to Follow and Tools That Can Help: "In today’s computer world, PCs are becoming the target for a lot of different scams. Your personal information is being constantly tracked in new and more creative ways every day. One of the most common is the advent of spyware or viruses. These two together make up what computer administrators call “Malware”. Here are a few simple ways to reduce your chances of being infected.

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Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection | Microsoft Security Essentials

Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

What Are Bots, Viruses, Malware, and Spyware?

What Are Bots, Viruses, Malware, and Spyware? Jimmy Ray Purser explains. http://www.cisco.com/smallbusiness

Geektionary: What is Malware?

vIn this Two Minute Miracles, Geek Squad Agents Daniel Campbell and Gerald "Chip" Underwood will define the "geektionary" term malware, and what kind of forms it can take.

How to Avoid Malware on Facebook and Twitter: 8 Best Practices

How to Avoid Malware on Facebook and Twitter: 8 Best Practices: "Thanks to the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it's a given that malicious hackers will devise ways to exploit the sites' numerous users in order to infect their computers with malware. This unwanted software is designed to do a number of terrible things ranging from identity theft to turning computer into remote-controllable 'zombie' machines.

Without sufficient anti-virus and malware protection programs installed, social networking users can easily become victims to these ever-evolving attacks. However, the best way to avoid becoming a victim yourself is to be aware of what's out there and what sorts of things you should avoid. Below are the best practices which you should use on Facebook and Twitter in order to keep yourself safe.

One of the most common vectors for attacks are malicious links posted either to Twitter or to your Facebook wall. In the past, such as with the malware known as Kooface, the troublesome links could be easily identified because they would often use a consistent phrase followed by a URL. For example, in August, Koobface was posting links that read 'my home video :)' which was followed by a URL and then a random component on the end such as 'HA-HA-HA!!', 'W.O.W.', 'WOW', 'L.O.L.', 'LOL', ';)' or 'OMFG!!!'

Although the end piece changed from tweet to tweet, the message itself remained the same. However, security researcher Costin Raiu of Kaspersky Lab tells us that easy-to-identify messages are not as common anymore. Today, it's much harder to identify malicious links thanks to two newer techniques being used by hackers. Below those two newer methods are described in more detail as is the tried-and-true method of spreading malware via email.

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Five Best Malware Removal Tools

Five Best Malware Removal Tools: "On Thursday we asked you to share your favorite tool for purging malware from your computer. We've tallied the votes and we're back with the top five contenders for best malware removal tool.

The internet—unfortunately—isn't a never-ending buffet of secure open-source software and Bollywood-style musicals starring LOLCats. There are people and organizations that delight in stealing your personal data, hijacking your computer, and making a general nuisance of themselves through malicious software. This week we're highlighting the top five tools for removing software with ill-intentions from you PC.

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Malware: what it is and how to prevent it

NerdBoyTV NOTE: Got a BAD case of malware the other day! Slowed my web browsing down to a crawl. Thought it was the COMCAST Internet modem—wrong. Then, thought it was my new Netgear Dual Channel N Router—wrong. Then, I thought it was Windows 7 holding on to a bad IP adresss—wrong. As it turned out, it all came down to finding 27 (yup 27) objects infected with various Trojan horses and malware. Thought it might be timely to post this about what malware is and how to rid your computer of it. Be sure to click on the link to read more.

Malware: what it is and how to prevent it: "Along with viruses, one of the biggest threats to computer users on the Internet today is malware. It can hijack your browser, redirect your search attempts, serve up nasty pop-up ads, track what web sites you visit, and generally screw things up. Malware programs are usually poorly-programmed and can cause your computer to become unbearably slow and unstable in addition to all the other havoc they wreak.

Many of them will reinstall themselves even after you think you have removed them, or hide themselves deep within Windows, making them very difficult to clean. This guide will detail the different varieties of malware along with basic preventive measures. In a follow-up article, we will examine the removal process and review a set of spyware removers. Although also considered to be malware, programs such as viruses, worms, trojans, and everything else generally detected by anti-virus software will not be discussed here, and the use of the word malware will only explicitly refer to software that fits in the categories listed below.

You can get infected by malware in several ways. Malware often comes bundled with other programs (Kazaa, iMesh, and other file sharing programs seem to be the biggest bundlers). These malware programs usually pop-up ads, sending revenue from the ads to the program's authors. Others are installed from websites, pretending to be software needed to view the website. Still others, most notably some of the CoolWebSearch variants, install themselves through holes in Internet Explorer like a virus would, requiring you to do nothing but visit the wrong web page to get infected.

The vast majority, however, must be installed by the user. Unfortunately, getting infected with malware is usually much easier than getting rid of it, and once you get malware on your computer it tends to multiply.

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State govs saying 'No thanks' to mystery laptops

Yahoo! News (CLICK to read more)

"Even during tight budgetary times, a growing handful of state governors are proving too wary to accept laptop computers that have shown up at their offices this month, unsolicited.

Officials in West Virginia, Vermont, Wyoming and Washington state have reported receiving between three and five laptops, each over the course of two separate deliveries — but none had ordered any of them.

'They immediately raised a red flag,' said Matt Turner, spokesman for West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin. 'No one said, 'Hey, we got a free gift.''

The laptops were made by Hewlett-Packard or come from its Compaq brand. The world's leading PC maker intercepted a shipment to at least one other state, according to a bulletin issued by the National Governors Association in response to the suspicious deliveries.

'HP is aware that fraudulent state government orders recently have been placed for small amounts of HP equipment. HP took prompt corrective action to address the fraudulent orders and is working with law enforcement personnel on a criminal investigation,' the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said in a statement, declining further comment."

How to tell, what to do if computer is infected

"Computer-virus infections don't cause your machine to crash anymore.

Nowadays, the criminals behind the infections usually want your computer operating in top form so you don't know something's wrong. That way, they can log your keystrokes and steal any passwords or credit-card numbers you enter at Web sites, or they can link your infected computer with others to send out spam."