Here is an example of one of these roguee programs. It is called Antivirus 2008 and there is another called Antivirus 2009 that looks identical to it but with the different year. If you have never seen anything like this… Then good for you! You are doing a great job at security (or you are using a Mac or Nix’ box!)

I’ve found a great free app that helps remove fake antivirus applications. It’s aptly called Remove Fake Antivirus. Check out the list of applications that it detects and removes. Each of these links will take you to the author’s blogspot which will tell you more about the threat.

1. Cyber Security
2. Alpha Antivirus
3. Braviax
4. Windows Police Pro
5. Antivirus Pro 2010
6. PC Antispyware 2010
7. FraudTool.MalwareProtector.d
8. Winshield2009.com
9. Green AV
10. Windows Protection Suite
11. Total Security 2009
12. Windows System Suite
13. Antivirus BEST
14. System Security
15. Personal Antivirus
16. System Security 2009
17. Malware Doctor
18. Antivirus System Pro
19. WinPC Defender
20. Anti-Virus-1
21. Spyware Guard 2008
22. System Guard 2009
23. Antivirus 2009
24. Antivirus 2010
25. Antivirus Pro 2009
26. Antivirus 360 and
27. MS Antispyware 2009

OK so I am assuming that you have one of these infections and you want to use Remove Fake Antivirus to fix your machine up. Let’s see how we can do that. First we start by downloading the application from here. That is a direct link because the download page is polluted with Google ads and confuses users as to what to download. The author’s site can be found here.

Run the application and you will first see its welcome screen listing the nastiness it can deal with and then you will see this screen:

Go ahead and hit ‘Yes’ and it will start scanning  your local machine for the fake applications listed above.

You can go ahead and click Show details to get a closer look as to what is going on:

As it goes through each possible infection you will see it listed on the console. Don’t be alarmed, this does not mean that your PC has the infections.

Up until now my only solution was Malware Bytes demo version. But now it looks like Remove Fake Antivirus 1.35 is going to be my go-to program. It took 6 minutes to run the full scan. I had originally located this application while battling Antivirus 2009 yesterday. And it worked like a charm!

Once the application has completed you will see this screen:

Click Yes and all the files that Remove Fake Antivirus could not remove because the files were in use will then be kicked to the curb. The author’s site also serves up suggestions for how to deal with and prevent these types of infections. Among them is to set the UAC prompts to the highest levels – I guess I should not have mine disabled, eh?

Remove Fake Antivirus – Download

For more information about fake antivirus software, read Ryan’s post “Detect Fake Antivirus software & Spyware Removal programs“. How do you deal with rouge or fake antivirus or spyware applications? Do you have policies that keep this type of stuff out of your corporate environments? What do you do or use? Please share with us in the comments so we can learn from each other!

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It’s true that a good anti-virus is designed to stop a malware in its tracks before it gets triggered. A firewall and a good anti-virus form the first line of defense. But wouldn’t you surf more peacefully if you had a few more deterrents on your hard disk?

When it comes to protection against virus or Trojan attacks, there’s nothing like too much defense. The more the merrier. So here’s one more for the merry bunch – Dr.Web LinkChecker.

Dr.Web LinkChecker is a browser add-on for Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer. It is a small tool for a big task; a way to scan files before download in order to protect yourself from potential virus threats. How often do we visit not-so-above board sites, torrents and file sharing sites for a juicy download? I get especially suspicious when the download size doesn’t quite match up with the nature of the software. Usually suspicion wins.

These days a lot many anti-virus solutions scan files on the fly without saving them locally. For instance, avast! has its Web Shield and AVG comes with its proprietary AVG LinkScanner.

Using Dr.Web LinkChecker, you can actively (but manually) scan files before download begins with just a right click. The added protection integrates with the browser’s right click menu and scans the link on Dr. Web’s servers with the most up-to-date version of the Dr.Web scanner and the latest updates of the virus definitions database.

Here’s how it works in Mozilla Firefox (and Thunderbird)…

1. Download Dr.Web LinkChecker from the Mozilla add-ons gallery or the Dr.Web website.
2. Install as you would any other add-on and restart the browser.
3. For any download link, right click and choose Scan with Dr.Web. Dr.Web takes a few seconds to a few minutes to scan the file before download against its online database.



4. The post scan report gives a summary of the results and a visual notification – Green for a clean file and red for an infected one.

Here’s how it works in Internet Explorer.

1. Go to the download page for MS Internet Explorer.
2. Download registry file drweb-online-ru.reg from the language choice among the seven given.
3. Double-click the file and confirm to add it to the registry.
4. Restart Internet Explorer and use with a right-click on a download link.

Here’s how it works in Opera.

1. Opera integration is slightly more arduous as you need to edit an Opera configuration file.
2. From Windows Explorer go to Opera’s default directory under C:\Program Files\Opera\defaults. The defaults folder is the location for all of Opera’s configuration files.
3. Open and edit (using Notepad) the standard_menu.ini configuration file.
4. The sections – [Link Popup Menu], [Document Popup Menu] and [Image Link Popup Menu] need to be edited with an item entry pointing to Dr.Web’s online scanner. The detailed instructions can be found here.

   

   Note: In the snapshot, I have used Notepad2 as the text editor.

5. A Scan Link with Dr.Web gets integrated in the right-click menu.

As a pre-emptive bullet quick online scanner which can be used with three popular browsers, Dr. Web is a handy add-on.  Dr. Web’s anti-virus solutions have existed since 2003. So it is fair to assume that they follow the products with constant virus definition updates as the site itself claims.

Maybe, the main chink is that the anti-virus scans files limited to a maximum of 12MB. As a featherweight solution, it could fill an important role of the third line of defense after the firewall and the principal anti-virus.

But a real test of an anti-virus solution comes with detection rates and that too over a long period. Do you use Dr.Web to scan files before you download them? Do you think that this can add-on to your main anti-virus solution?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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If you are facing a similar situation, here are a few steps you can take to make sure you get rid of the trojan horse/virus and most of its ill effects if not all.

Scan thoroughly with the antivirus

Sounds trivial right? Why would you get infected in the first place if your antivirus could detect the virus? Well there can be a few reasons, make sure you get them out of the way. It will save you a lot of trouble:

• Update the antivirus to the latest version, and update the virus signature database.
• Harden the scan options, check on heuristics, potentially dangerous applications, early warning system or whatever fancy names your antivirus uses. Set the antivirus to scan within archives and choose wisely when you specify items to exclude from the scan or leave everything out for scan.

Now perform a system scan, this way you give your antivirus a better chance to detect newer viruses.

Scan the system in safe mode

Very important to do this once before you get into manually removing the virus and its effects. Sometimes the infected files might be locked by the operating system when working in the normal mode. So to increase your antivirus’ odds to detect and clean the virus, you should restart the computer, boot into safe mode and then perform a thorough scan of your system.

Keep in mind the above mentioned points as well. You can generally boot into safe mode by pressing the F8 key during bootup and choosing the safe mode option.

Use special virus removal tools

Various antivirus manufacturers offer special tools for removing viruses once your system has been infected. Try McAfee’s Stinger or Microsoft’s Malicious Software removal tool or Kaspersky’s Virus Removal Tools. These are special tools that do a great work of removing certain infections.

So once your antivirus has detected the infection, make sure to Google it, this way you can easily find specialized solutions, removal tools and advice on your situation.

Take things into your own hands

There are times when, due to various reasons, none of the above methods works. Even in such cases everything is not lost, you can still rid your computer of viruses and trojan horses by manually deleting the offending file and attempting to nullify the effects that it caused.

The effects vary from changing mouse/keyboard settings to infecting all files in RAM, to infecting all files using a particular library to corrupting the MBR and so on. Your ability to rollback these effects no doubt depends upon how much of a computer nerd you are, but with Google, various forums and Twitter there is a good chance you can make things work for you without having to make that call to your technician.

Here are some tips that may help you:

• Check what processes are currently running. Use task manager, make sure to show processes from all users. If you see any suspicious process name or description just Google the name and you will get all the information you need. Make sure to prevent it from running again if you think you found the problem. You can use msconfig and manage startup items to do so.
• Use HijackThis to diagnose a problem and create a log in case you want someone else to help you with your problem.
• Try to find the nomenclature various antivirus products use to refer to the type of infection you have on your computer. Once you know that, you will be able to find detailed step by step instructions provided by various antivirus vendors to get rid of it. It also makes it easier to search for specialized tools to get rid of the trojan horse/virus. Here is an example of one such page.

All of these methods will surely help your cause. However, your ability to completely rid your computer of a particular virus would depend on how early you are able to detect it, the type of the virus and the harm it was intended to cause (sounds a lot like cancer, isn’t it?).  Always take regular backups in case something goes wrong while attempting a clean up.

Do you have your very own ‘Get Rid of a Virus Workflow’? We would love to know about it in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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How exactly Immunet does so using the cloud is the first part of the Immunet story. How effective is its clout, is the second part.

To those who have come in late, here’s the Internet nuance of the term – cloud computing.

The term ‘Cloud’ is basically a figure of speech for the Internet itself. It generally covers services which can be hosted and delivered over the internet. The user just needs the hardware (a computer) and bandwidth. The software and services are provided by the vendor. This allows a user to interact with the software/service from anywhere. The term cloud computing came symbolically from the cloud drawing that’s commonly used to indicate the Internet in graphics and diagrams.

The Men behind Immunet

A critical cloud antivirus product like Immunet needs a stamp of credibility. That’s given by its developers – Oliver Friedrichs (former Director at Symantec) and Alfred Huger (former McAfee and Symantec executive). Both are gurus in the field of internet security.

The Premise of Immunet

Cloud computing is not a new fangled concept anymore. Google Apps is perhaps the most in-our-face example we have today. Or even the online games we enjoy. Though cloud computing has its own set of pros (scalability, maintenance free) and cons (security, privacy), it is starting to offer new ways to do hitherto desktop based tasks.

Immunet takes this approach one step further by bringing the web community on board in the defense against malware and viruses. Citing the fact that a collective defense against virtual scourges is better than a standalone rearguard fight, it best defines what it does –

Imagine for a moment that you could link to the computers of your friends, family and a global community to harness the collective security of all these systems put together. Every time someone in this collective community encounters a threat, everyone else in the community gains protection from that same threat in real time.

Immunet works on four fronts –

• Cloud computing
• Community based protection
• Collective wisdom
• Coincidental with installed antivirus

Immunet in Action

• Immunet (ver1.0.10) is free, light and hassle free to install. The 4.25MB application can be downloaded and installed in a flash. Ideal system OS are – Microsoft Windows XP (SP2 or later), Vista and Windows 7 (RC 32Bit only).
• The Immunet interface is clean and minimal sans complicated settings. The application loads and exists without noticeable lag.
• Immunet can run alongside Norton Antivirus (versions 2008, 2009 and 2010). Also supported are AVG Pro (v8.5) and MacAfee 2009. Other antivirus software are not specifically mentioned but it’s assumed that they can be run unless bugs crop up. (For instance, I am running it with Avast!)
• On installation Immunet starts off with a Flash Scan. Flash scan is a rapid-fire initial system scan.  This is not a comprehensive system wide scan. On my system, completion of the Flash Scan showed 2804 files checked in 1 minute 39 seconds. A later, full scan went over 3300 files in 3 minutes 12 seconds.



• Immunet features only one type of scan. Individual files or drives cannot be scanned individually. But Immunet does offer one feature – Protection Settings when enabled allow you to monitor application installations and starts. An Active Protection Mode takes a few seconds to check and block program installations unless they are deemed to be safe. You can switch these settings on-off from Settings.



• CPU footprint is very minimal.  On my system it was around 25 – 27KB while scanning.

Circle Your Wagons with Immunet

The sum of parts is greater than the whole. The Immunet cloud is at the center of the harnessing this community power. With your internet connection you are always connected to the cloud (i.e. the data center). The cloud aggregates virus definitions and every user taps into this security umbrella. This is Immunet’s version of collective immunity.

If one user in the social chain gets threatened by a virus, this information passes through the cloud to the others in the circle. The threat is identified and neutralized at the central server. Immunet protection thus kicks in for the entire community. This inter-linked detection and cure happens in real time. Thus every user shares in the collective wisdom gathered from each virus attack.

The community is built up through your existing Facebook account or a new Immunet account. (The Facebook button wasn’t working for me though).After logging in, the community building process works similar to social networks. Invite others from your Facebook, Google, Yahoo accounts or using Email. A broader based group should translate to more effective protection. Even if you do not log-in, you get the default protection offered by the Immunet global community.

So, will you bet on Immunet?

Cloud computing has inherent advantages and some prominent drawbacks as well. With the server doing the bulk of work, you don’t have to worry about updates. Centralized updates removes the risk of bloatware. The software is light and low on system resources. The community based protection is a good idea in theory. Its real power will be realized only when greater numbers log-in. Its early days…last figures suggest 1,800 users were logged in and were protected from 3.5 million threats.

The real disadvantage of Immunet is true for everything that’s on the cloud. Dependency on bandwidth comes at a premium in some places. For a high-priority need such as an antivirus, effective protection is the absolute bottom line.

The one singular feature (though traditionally people advise against it) of Immunet is that it can ride along with our existing antivirus solution. Thus, when it’s time to circle the wagons, Immunet can gallop in and along with the other antivirus, give double barreled cover.

If industry experts reckon that more than two million viruses will be created in 2009 alone and established protection has a 50-50 chance of catching all of them, then Immunet becomes a vital addition to our defense armory. The numbers may not match up, but even if a few sneak in they can become wreckers in chief.

With the first version label, it’s early days yet. But will you be a part of the community?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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So let’s talk about the essentials. An incredibly small installer, clocking in at 5-7 MB depending on the platform, it gives you anti-virus and anti-malware functions, free updates, scan scheduling, all wrapped into an incredibly simple, elegant user interface, that even a 5 year old could manage to use.

The interface is separated into 4 tabs:

1. Home assesses the current safety level by monitoring the real-time protection and updates. On the right, the Scan Now button lets you sweep the computer with a manual scan – either Quick, which only looks at a small number of critical system files and known malware locations, Full which scans every file and Custom which let’s you chose the location.
   
2. Update displays information about the signature database: date of creation and version number. The button on the right labeled ‘Update’ will start the automatic update process. No further input is required from the user.
3. History presents potentially dangerous applications that were either detected, quarantined or manually allowed by the user.
4. Settings will allow you to change various parameters of the application such as default actions, excluded file types and real time scanner options.

Detection rates are on par with OneCare, the now discontinued for-pay security application also developed by Microsoft.

In a Windows 7 virtual machine, MSE detected 17 out of the 23 malware/viruses, preventing their installation. Rootkits and keyloggers scored the poorest marks with 2/5 and 1/4 recognized.

Performance is comparable to other modern security suites, with 40MB of memory used when idle. An additional 3MB is taken when opening the user interface. The full system scan appears to take longer than other products, finishing a 120GB hard drive in 1 hour 32 minutes for a SATA 1.1 hard drive spinning at 5200RPM.

Overall, I noticed a visible increase in the system’s speed when compared to Kaspersky’s Anti-Virus.

Microsoft Security Essentials is currently in beta. The downloads were limited to 75 000 copies – but it is mirrored on many websites and does not require a license key or registration. It does however check to see if the copy of Windows is legitimate.

There’s nothing wrong with the application itself, the concept behind it screams ‘paradox’. It’s created by the same people that made Windows. Releasing a security product is essentially admitting that the operating system you market as ‘the safest’ – is flawed to start with. Otherwise how can you justify its creation? Like O.J. Simpson giving a signed confession.

Secondly, it’s going to kill revenues for all the other security companies like Symantec and Kaspersky from the home and small business users segment. If the European Commission was worried about Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, how do you think it will react to this, especially if retailers or even Microsoft bundles it with new computers? I can already imagine the headlines: “Microsoft fined $100 million for making Windows secure”. Coupled with a responsible behavior and Windows Defender, Microsoft Security Essentials is the way to go, especially for people on a tighter budget.

What do you think about Microsoft Security Essentials? Do you think it’s a threat for other security companies? Are you ready to ditch your for-pay Antivirus?

Talking about security, you might want to read 10+ Best Firefox Security and Privacy Addons, 10 Free Online Malware and Virus Scanners or articles related to Microsoft or security.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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How Does Fake Antivirus Software Work?

The irony of these fake removal software packages are that while they advertise and promote themselves as product that will help you remove malicious software from your computer, the moment you download and install it, you’ve just been infected by one of the worst trojans you could have on your computer. The moment it’s installed, you start getting pop-up windows that say you’re horribly infected and to click on a particular link so you can download the full version of the antivirus software to thoroughly clean your computer. Another version presents itself as a legitimate antivirus software and fakes a “full system scan,” which results in a long list of horrible viruses and other assorted nasty-looking infections. However, when you click on “remove,” you’re informed that you only have the trial version and that you need to buy the full version to remove the viruses. Few people realize that the scan results themselves are fake.

The Top Antivirus and Spyware Removals to Avoid Like the Plague

At the end of 2008, ComputerWorld reported on how the latest version of Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) discovered and removed “Antivirus 2009,” from a reported 394,000 PCs in just the initial nine days after it was released. What this reveals is that the scammers who write this fake software are successfully taking advantage of the fear computer users have regarding computer infections, and also their lack of computer knowledge. Thousands of people click on the link to download fake antivirus software and essentially voluntarily infect their computer with a trojan.

1. The Infamous Antivirus 2009

These days, Antivirus 2009 (and Antivirus 10 or Antivirus 360) is so well-known as malware that you most likely will not find the scammers using legitimate websites to promote the product using its actual name, instead scammers are resorting to setting up sites to help people remove Antivirus 2009. If the user clicks on the link, and downloads and installs the software, they’ll find themselves infected with the malicious software.

“Removing” the viruses from your computer entails signing up (and paying for) a full version of the software. If you fall for this particular trap, all you end up with is a charge on your credit card and bogus software. Fortunately, there are now a plethora of websites throughout the net that tell people how to remove this particular trojan. Unfortunately, there are also a variety of websites that the scammers are producing, that portray themselves as an “Antivirus 2009 removal tool,” while they simply install and run the same sort of bogus software. How do you tell the difference between a legit site and a bogus one?  Check out listing number 7 on Aibek’s list of essential security downloads. The Web of Trust is a great tool to identify dangerous fake antivirus sites.

2. Conficker Worm Installs Spyware Protect 2009

Do you remember the recent Conficker worm fiasco that had IT folks around the country scrambling to patch PCs before they could get infected? Well, an April 10th, 2009 article on CNET reports that investigators finally have a clue behind the motives of the Conficker worm creators. Apparently the motive is to make money using fake antivirus software and they attempted to do so by having the Conficker worm install antivirus software called Spyware Protect 2009 on target computers.

The technique used is essentially the same as the other fake antivirus applications. The software provides users with a list of nasty infections that their computer allegedly has, and the only way to remove them is by visiting the website and submitting your credit card information in order to buy the full version. Apparently the whole point of the Conficker worm was yet another fake antivirus scam. Obviously, if your computer ever displays the window above, you’re likely infected with the Conficker worm.

3. PC AntiSpy Returns Fake Spyware Results

Another application that returns bogus results, listing some of the worst known spyware applications as infecting your computer is PC AntiSpy, a bogus spyware-fighting application that is nothing of the sort. Instead of helping you keep your computer clean, this application uses scare tactics to get users to click on a link to pay for a version of PC AntiSpy that can remove the nasty Spyware that supposedly exists on the computer.

As you can see, some of these software packages appear pretty authoritative and legit. Unfortunately the only real functionality they have is acting as a trojan. Like many other fake applications like this one, a multitude of helpful websites and forums post instructions on how to remove it. Scammers are becoming sneakier — they too start their own “how to” web page in order to target people who are already infected and looking for help.

4. WinDefender – The Copycat Class of Fake Antivirus and Spyware Removals

Another significant group of antivirus applications are those that attempt to copy the names of legitimate, well known applications. For example, SpyWareBot and TheSpyBot both attempt to copy SpyBot Search and Destroy. These applications depend upon computer users who aren’t technically savvy and aren’t sure exactly what the legitimate software is called. Another example of this is WinDefender, which attempts to copy Windows Defender.

The success of these applications comes from the fact that so many people are, in fact, fooled by the similarity of the application names to legitimate antivirus software. The most important rule of thumb to follow when you’re looking for good antivirus or anti-spyware software is to only shop at websites that you know are reputable. Whenever an antivirus ad automatically pops up unexpectedly on your computer screen, under no circumstances should you ever click the link to “run a scan.”

Final Words – Use Caution and Common Sense

Nothing says that you need to use only Norton or Symantec for your antivirus needs, but if you’re going to branch out and try other software companies, it’s important that you understand the legitimacy and integrity of that company.  The examples above are only four of the hundreds of fake antivirus and anti-spyware applications out there – and their names change just as fast as people can figure out that they’re fake. If you need some advice for legitimate antivirus software, check out Aibek’s 2008 poll where MUO users chose the best antivirus software available.

Have you ever been infected by any fake antivirus trojans? Which one was it, and how hard was it to clean it off your computer? Share your experiences in the comments section below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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This lightweight antivirus application caters to your system without having to take up half of your PC resources. Panda Cloud Antivirus is based on cloud computing, and is only partially installed on your computer and keeps core files on a dedicated server on the Internet.

The graphical user interface is very easy on the eyes and is actually one of the top interfaces I’ve found for free antivirus software’s.

Features and Reliability

One of the key features of this antivirus software is that you don’t have to manually update it. Complicated configurations and having to download new signature files is pretty much a thing of the past this Panda Cloud Antivirus. However, this doesn’t mean you remain unprotected when disconnected from the network: this antivirus app features a local cache that keeps the program up and running, continuously working at 100%.

When I ran a quick scan, the scan itself lagged a little at first, however it quickly picked up after 30% of the computer had been scanned. For the most part, the speed of Panda Cloud Antivirus is dependent on how much free memory you have, how many apps are installed, folders, and a variation of stored data. You should expect a regular scan to take an average of 40-70 minutes to complete.

Once the program has been installed, if you ever wish to open up the task manager to check on the effects of Panda Cloud on your system you’ll be able to find it listed in your task manager under PSANHost and PSUNMain. One thing that I can say is that during the scanning there were very few apps that were noticeably acting sluggish, even the Internet connection and PC speed where up to par.

This new program should take up around 50 MB on the hard drive and eats around 17 MB of RAM when in use.

Conclusion

All in all, besides lightness as its main attribute, Panda Cloud Antivirus is quite a simple antivirus tool that can’t be scheduled to run automatic scans. It would also be beneficial for this antivirus software to include effective filters for web, email, or support to detect any spyware. However, as a software that’s very much still in beta, it’s what you’d expect.

Panda Cloud Antivirus was designed fo Windows XP and Windows Vista, with Windows 7 support in the near future.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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I had a machine that was badly damaged and infected after being without antivirus for a bunch of months. When I got it I wouldn’t even connect it to my network. I was going to boot to Knoppix and have at it but I decided to give Avira’s AntiVir Rescue System a Go.

The images below are not from my actual rescue but I went back to capture these images for the article. I was not able to capture the screenshots in my normal manner due to not being in Windows. So the shots are either from my digital camera or from Avira’s website. Please bare with me.

I downloaded the days current ISO. This ISO contains your bootdisk and virus definitions. Once you burn the ISO or disk image (you may use one of free Nero alternatives for that) you can boot your computer to it. To boot to your CD-Rom you will need to have the burnt cd in the drive and then restart your computer. When the bios screen shows up you should see something in the upper right hand corner that says press F12 for boot menu or something similar. Hit F12 and then choose your CD-Rom as the boot device. You will see AntiVir load. Then you will see a screen similar to the one below. The date after the version number should be today’s date. The date on the shot below is 10/9/2009 from 10:43:09.

I hit 1 and then enter. AntiVir Rescue System will continue to boot. You would hit 2 if you just want to boot into your normal operating system.

Once the program starts it will be in German. Simply hit the UK flag to change the language to English. In case you don’t know what the British Flag looks like it is the second one, it is Red White and Blue. You can see it in the image below.

Hit the configuration button on the left and choose your options. I selected Smart Scan and allowed it to clean my files. If it can not be remove it will rename them.

You can also choose if you want it to remove dialers, jokes, games or spyware.

Next we need to tell it what to scan. Do you see the directory box at the bottom? I circled it in red below. You need to hit that and browse to your Windows Installation.

For this machine it is in SDA1. Simply look at each of them and try and locate the Windows directory or Documents and Settings. When you find those folders you found your Windows Installation. Then hit Virus Scanner on the left followed by Start Scan.

Your scan will run with your options and in the end hopefully it will turn out as well as it did for me.

Do you have another Boot Tool on Windows to clean infections? If so please share with us. Show the community how smart you are today!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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And these days, we rarely see “viruses”. They typically fall into the spyware category. Pop-Ups, porn and fake AV products seem to be the most popular of malicious material presently. While your AV sits in the system tray hanging out and doing absolutely nothing to protect you.

The majority of the time you end up relying on on another product to get the annoyingware off of your machine. So now you’ve got a $60 bloated product eating up resources on your machine and doing absolutely nothing to protect you.

In order to be preventative, it would be nice to maybe give some of these products, which usually have a trial version, a run for their money before making the plunge and purchasing the full product. I’ve found a few tools to give each of these a test run, and see how well they actually are protecting you.

Testing your Anti-Virus

An IT security group based in Europe called Eicar has come with a few different tools to test the effectiveness of your preferred AntiVirus application. There a few individual files to download and run, along with a ZIPPED file that will test your AV software and their ability to scan for viruses deeply embedded into other files. I should point out that Eicar does have a disclaimer:

Important note: EICAR cannot be held responsible when these files or your AV scanner in combination with these files cause any damage to your computer. YOU DOWNLOAD THESE FILES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Download these files only if you are sufficiently secure in the usage of your AV scanner. EICAR cannot and will not provide any help to remove these files from your computer. Please contact the manufacturer/vendor of your AV scanner to seek such help.

So, in other words, unless you have complete trust your in prevention, I would use either a virtual machine or another test machine besides your main system to do this test.

Testing your Anti-Malware

Malware is a whole different ballgame, and is much more common and prevalent in today’s “internet” world. A common, everyday search can easily ring in loads of pop-ups, adware, and deeply buried malware, spying on keystrokes, monitoring cookies and just being down right annoying. The problem is that it’s always evolving, and many protective products can’t always prevent malicious activity. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to block it.

Spycar attempts to hijack your system, similar to typical malware activity and gives your protection a test. Spycar does not include any “exploits”, so you do have to click OK during the process for the test to take affect. If your preventative software is successful during the process, a built-in TowTruck application responds with a rating on your prevention and then returns your system to it’s original state.

There are several different tests to run through. All attempting to try and take advantage of all the various activity that normal malware would. These tools are fantastic. Especially for a brand new system you may be setting up in a business or enterprise environment.

Although not mandatory on all PCs, having some type of protection on your computer today is almost always a must. The problem that most tech savvy users have with them, is that most, just don’t work and most eat up way to many resources. Having a way to actually test some of the options out there, is a fantastic way to make your final decision. So you try it out…Download the latest AVG, Symantec or NOD32 trial and see which comes out on top with each of these tools.

Have any good sites to audit your pc for free? What sites are guaranteed to attempt to hijack your machine? What anti-malware apps do you use?

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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It looks like Microsoft has wised up a bit and offers a little service called OneCare Safety Scanner, it is located at http://safety.live.com. When I tell some people about it they roll their eyes and give me that look, you know the look that says I do not want to give Billy Gates anymore of my hard earned money! Well if that was the case you would not be reading this on MakeUseOf… Are you following me?

Good! So long story short this is a free service that any authenticate version of XP or Vista can use to get a cleaning. It does not just look for spyware and viruses…

It also checks for registry mis-configurations and errors as well as other system issues like fragmentation. It will check on your firewall and antivirus programs as well. This program will also NOT let you shoot yourself in the foot. You will NOT be walking away with a busted computer when you are finished. Everything is un-doable via restore points as well. The one short fall of this application is that it MUST be run in Internet Explorer.

Let’s take a look at Microsoft’s Onecare Safety Scanner. Navigate on over to http://safety.live.com and you will see this. (I am working on a XP machine but I will show you what you need to do for your Vista machine as well.)

Simply click on the Full Service Scan button or you will see a link to the beta edition of the scanner for Vista (and possibly Windows 7!) It will start to download the scanning tools. This window will be in a pop-up so make sure pop-ups are enabled for this site or this instance. You will see a screen that looks like this below and you might get a security box asking you if it is alright to install the executable.

When the tools finish downloading you will be greeted by this screen:

I always choose the Complete Scan – it takes a bit longer but it will fix everything and even make sure your internet browsing experience is secure…. Or at least as secure as Microsoft Internet Explorer can be! You can find more information on which scan to choose by clicking on Help Me Choose or visiting this link here.

Once you start the scan it will start to download it’s scanning tools:

And then it will start initialing the scanners.

And finally it will start scanning your system. This can take a long time. I have had instances take up to 5 hours and I have had instances take less than 20 minutes. It all depends on how much crap you have on your system.

Once OneCare is done it will provide you with the results. In the instance below a virus was discovered and OneCare did a great job of cleaning it. My machine was recently de-fragmented and all my ports are straight so I did not see these items come up in my results but every machine is different!

I suggest scanning your machine before going to sleep and repairing it in the morning. Do you use OneCare? How about something similar? We would love to hear about it in the comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Below, I would like to share my favorite essential security downloads that have helped me keep my system secure over the last 2-3 years. Check them out and tell us what you think in comments.

1. AVG Anti-Virus (Windows)

AVG is a free anti-virus program, also a really good one. In the past I have tried Norton, Kaspersky, NOD 32 and several others but finally settled on AVG. It’s been my preferred anti-virus program for the last couple of years. MakeUseOf readers seem to agree as well.

We have already reviewed the AVG on MakeUseOf before so if you want to know all the details check out Mark’s AVG review here.

To get an idea here are some of the things you get with AVG:

* real time virus checking
* automatic daily updates
* scans incoming/outgoing emails for viruses
* removes malicious tracking cookies from the browser
* scans search results (ex. Google) and warns about non safe links.
* option control the speed of virus scanning process

2. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (Windows)

Malwarebytes is an easy-to-use and effective anti-malware application. With over 8 million downloads MalwareBytes is ranked as the 6th most popular software download on Download.com and second in spyware removal category. The users ratings and reviews are pretty good as well.

Malwarebytes’ claims to detect and remove malware that many of the other well known spyware removal programs fail to detect. I can’t really confirm that but after using it for about 2 months it has become my primary spyware removal/scanner app. I must admit I haven’t been using this one long enough yet but so far it has done a pretty good job.

While MalwareBytes doesn’t offer as many features as other tools in that category, it has a comprehensive library of threats to protect against. It’s also very light on your system resources.

The program does have a few more options open to you. For instance, it adds a contextual right-click option to scan individual files. This second option is handy for times when you have to download a file that you think is suspect or need to open someone’s flash drive.

There are some other handy addons as well. You can read more about MalwareBytes in a previous MakeUseoOf article Stop & Delete Spyware With Malwarebytes.

The Basic version which consists of a spyware scanner and removal tool is free. The Pro version costs $24.95 and comes with an additional Protection Module that can detect malware before it can do any significant damage.

3. Spyware Terminator (Windows)

I use Spyware Terminator as my secondary spyware removal tool.

I first heard about it from Bill Mullins, a security expert and MakeUseOf author who recommended the app for real-time spyware protection. In his own words:

As you can see, Spyware Terminator is my current application of choice in the spyware protection/removal category. Having tested virtually all of the major anti-spyware apps over the last year or more, I’ve settled, for now, on Spyware Terminator.

The program is easy to setup and customize, for both less experienced and expert users alike. One noteworthy feature of Spyware Terminator is its ‘Real-Time Shield’ that silently runs in the background and offers strong active protection against both known and unknown threats.

Moreover, there is a simple option to schedule automatic updates and fast spyware scans on a daily basis to ensure your computer is clean.

4. Comodo Firewall Pro (Windows)

Firewall has an essential role in safeguarding your PC. It can block unauthorized remote attempts to access your computer as well as attempts to transfer data by locally installed programs. Unfortunately not many people know about that.

Windows XP and Vista users already have the default Windows Firewall but based on my past experience I don’t find it effective and prefer Comodo Firewall instead (and so do many others).

Just like the above mentioned AVG, Comodo Firewall also came out as the best Firewall in our poll. It’s also probably the lightest one when it comes to your precious system resources. For me it takes only about 3.2 MB on average.

Comodo automatically monitors your connection and alerts you whenever some remote computer or locally installed program tries to initiate an unauthorized connection.

In many cases it also gives you advice on how to react to the alert.

Moreover, Comodo Firewall also comes with something called Defense + Host Intrusion Prevention System. This security addon helps to further secure your computer against malicious craplets before they can do any harm to your system.

Note: Like with any extensive security software if you haven’t used a Firewall before you might find Comodo alerts a little overwhelming. So, keep in mind that it takes some time to get used to.

5. NoScript – Firefox

With over 42 million downloads NoScript is the most popular Firefox addon out there. So if you haven’t tried it before it’s time to do so now.

To put it simply, NoScript makes web browsing safer by blocking everything that can potentially be used to harm your computer. The includes JavaScript, Java, Flash and other executable content.

Now there is one thing to keep in mind here, while you do get a safety net with this addon, as a novice user at the beginning you might find it annoying to constantly add sites to your “trusted sites” list. For instance, when you visit Youtube for the first time after installing it the videos won’t load unless you add Youtube to your trusted list.

But the good news, adding sites to the trusted list can be accomplished with a click of a button and you need to do it only once.

Also for the websites that present information from several sources you might have to “allow” several sites before you are able to view them in full. In such cases you can simply select “Allow all this page” option.

To sum up, NoScript does take some time to get used to but is definitely worth it. Just like like the Comodo Firewall. If you have any questions check out their FAQ page here.

6. Lastpass (Firefox / Internet Explorer)

LastPass is that one password manager you have been waiting for. Unlike Internet Explorer and Firefox’s built in password managers, data in your LastPass Vault is encrypted. The encrypted login details are stored on LastPass server which are then accessible from your browser or any web-enabled computer that you have Lastpass installed on.

It takes about a minute to install and setup.

Once you have set it up, you can start adding your accounts by simply going to sites and login as usual. When Lastpass asks if you want it to remember the login details for the site, click ‘OK’ and done. Next time you visit the site lastpass will fill the login details automatically.

You will only need to know one password, that is the the password to your Lastpass account. You will have to enter it everytime the browser is restarted.

Once logged in you’ll be able to access your web accounts with a single click. Other lastpass features include:

- auto online form filling
- ability to access your account details from multiple computers
- password generator
- and more …

7. WOT (Web Of Trust) – Firefox

Another extremely popular Firefox addon. I have been using WOT for about 4-5 months and so far it has been great. The purpose of WOT is to warn users about unsafe websites before they actually enter them. These unsafe site can mean a site known to scam visitors, deliver malware, send spam etc.

WOT uses color-coded icons show ratings for over 21 million websites – green for safe, yellow for caution and red for stop. Screenshot below shows WOT safety icons on Google search results.

As you can see from the screenshot above WOT warns about the first two entries. So I would skip them.

Do you use any of the the above tools? Any others you would want to add to the list? Please share them with us in comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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All of these are great browsers, and they stand out for different reasons. Different features and different ways of browsing. However, although content has changed drastically throughout the years, the basic principles of browsing has remained pretty much the same.

HHOTT View means to change all that. It’s a plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

HHOTT View

HHOTT View gives us fast and safe surfing, ideal for those paranoid folk out there, and perfect for those without a firewall (software like that tends to irritate me more than viruses do).

So How Does It Work?

The concept can be divided up into two parts; the warning icons and the preview browsing.

Warning Icons

Each and every link will be provided with a small warning icon when you hover over them. These will tell you if the link is safe or not.

There are four possible icons.

The green icon indicates a safe link. You ought to be able to visit the other side without harm done.

The red icon indicates an unsafe link. The site might contain viruses and spyware. It’s highly advised not to proceed.

The grey icon can indicate a number of things, but all comes down to the fact that there is insufficient information available. This can be because of the site in question, there are still some sites that need to be reviewed, or because the service is unavailable due to update or program failure.

The blue icon indicates that the safe browsing feature is currently turned off. How to enable it is explained below on the page.

Preview Browser

Now, if you want to know exactly what’s behind the link, you can use the preview browser.

Hover over the warning icon to trigger a pop-up with the contents of the link. This way you can view what’s on the other site without needing to browse there. You won’t even have to leave your current page!

This pop-up interacts just like a normal browser, and will allow basic surfing. You can scroll through the pages, click through to other pages, watch embedded media, and even save favourites! The only things that are missing in my opinion are the warning icons and further page pop-ups.

Installing HHOTT View

You can download the HHOTT View installer from this page here. This one works for both Firefox and Internet Explorer. After choosing your language and running the installer, you need to enable the HHOTT View toolbar in your browser.

To do so, click with your right mouse in the toolbar area, and make sure that HHOTTView is checked.

Sometimes the HHOTT toolbar won’t be available until you restart your browser or – in drastic cases – your computer.

Using the toolbar, you can also adjust the settings of the HHOTT View plugin, like enabling or disabling the safe browsing feature.

HHOTT View is a really great plugin that can aid you in browsing both quicker and safer. If you’re up for a new way of browsing, you must definitely give it a try.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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Boot into safe mode and it got stuck again. We couldn’t just get there. Luckily I had HijackThis in my USB drive and it helped analyse the problem and eventually we cleaned it to the point that he could deliver his presentation.

The moral: No matter what security software you have, you will have to get your hands wet one day so you’d better be prepared!

So what is HijackThis? An anti-virus? Malware removal tool? Anti-spyware? Well nothing fancy, actually its a tool that gives you a log (or dump) of your system’s present state. You can then analyze it yourself or post it at a vast majority of forums that will help you with your problem. In fact a HijackThis log is the first thing they ask for when you discuss your problem on forums. Lets see how you can Make Use Of it!

HijackThis Download and Install

First off you must have HijackThis on your system. Download here and run the executable, then fire up HijackThis. You will be greeted with not much of a fancy but nevertheless a pretty powerful tool.

What can you do?

• You can scan your system and save a log file.
• Simply scan your system.
• Undo the changes you made earlier.
• View the running processes and perform some actions on them.
• View the system Host file.
• Set it up to delete locked files on next system reboot.
• Delete services, open AdSpy and open a powerful uninstall manager.

Let us begin with a system scan and then I will tell you how to interpret the log (it’s not for the faint hearted!). Click on “Scan and save a log file” or simple “Scan”. You will see a plethora of information in a window like the following, this can seem frightening as none of this makes sense at first but lets take a closer look.

First thing to take note of is that towards the left (region 1, marked with red) you will see some codes like R1, R2, R3, O8,O9 etc. All these codes have special meanings (refer table). Towards the right (region 2, marked with green) you will see the details of the file in question.

Now let’s say you notice something fishy with IE or Firefox then you will see the lines marked R0, R1, R2, R3 and N1, N2, N3 and N4 and see if they contain something you don’t think is correct (like free pills!) or don’t remember installing. After confirming that, you can place a check mark on that particular entre and click “fix selected”.

You can also highlight the entry and click on “Info on selected item” to get some more information about the entry, and then you can decide if it’s indeed causing trouble. If you find yourself stuck click “analyse this” and you will be taken to a help page or alternatively you can post your log on forums and get help.

Some quick tips

All of this information may please a geek but not all of us is one! So I present some personal quick tips from my experience with Windows and the problems it has thrown at my face:

1. First and foremost check out the automatically starting applications (the entries marked O4) , If anything looks suspicious just Google for the file name and you will know if it’s legitimate or not. Remove it if it’s not legitimate. You can also check at Process Library or visit here and download the list for use in offline enviornments if you can’t get to the Internet.
2. Use the Process manager from HijackThis or the Windows Task manager to view the processes currently running. Again Google the suspicious filename and end it and remove it from automatically starting by combining this and the previous point.
3. Make sure you remove the actual file from the computer once you have verified that its harmful. (You might have to show contents of system folders and hidden files to achieve this, or better use the command line).
4. Check out the entries with the code O23, you will have to Google most of them if you don’t know what they mean but the entries here could be potentially harmful to your system. Remove the non legitimate ones.
5. Check out R0 – R3 and N0 – N3 if you find your browser misbehaving and redirecting somewhere else where you didn’t want to go.
6. Boot into safe mode, turn off system restore and do a scan with your antivirus and clean the system. You can also try the latest version of Stinger to find and remove infections from an infected system.
7. Be careful the next time. I don’t find many users doing this but please if you are using Windows XP then please create a separate limited account and do your routine work from within it. Occasionally log into the administrator account to do maintainance and software installs etc. This is very important because even if you get infected while logged in a non administrator account, the malicious files don’t have enough rights to do as much damage as they can when you are logged in as administrator.
8. If you can’t make sense of something then visit forums and take help. After doing so once or twice you will gain confidence and will be able to make use of this wonderful tool.

HijackThis is very powerful if you just master how to read and use it. It has a built in uninstall manager to remove misbehaving application. A process manager, backup utility to backup the changes you are going to make, ability blacklist or whitelist items. I planned on giving more information on each and every type but think it will get advanced and long (it already is!) so I am having to limit this.

Do let us know if you will like some more information, or would like to know more about Hijackthis in detail? Or perhaps you know of another tool that does a better job?

(By) Varun Kashyap – A tech enthusiast, programmer and a blogger, who personally loves tools like Hijackthis. Know about such tools and more at his TechCrazy blog.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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According to Panda Labs, Panda Security’s laboratory for detecting and analyzing malware, every single day in 2007, it received and analyzed more than 3,000 new strains of malware, an increase of 800% over 2006 . Malware epidemic anyone?

Of particular concern is the installation of malware based on social engineering, which seems poised for a major increase in activity; an opportunity created with the boost in user participation on MySpace, FaceBook, and other social networking sites.

More and more, cyber crooks are using malware to infect computers with the objective of turning the infected machines into zombies, which working together with other infected machines, operate as a powerful networked computer system.

Many computer security analysts are now convinced malware, phishing attacks and other cyber crimes from these powerful botnets can be expected to increase in frequency.

Statistics on the number of botnets are difficult to come by, but according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, there are at least 1 million botnetted computers in the U.S. Worst, some security companies estimate that currently there are as many as 10 million botnetted machines worldwide. Indeed, some researchers believe that this may just be the part of the iceberg that we can see above the waterline.

For your own benefit it’s obviously important to keep your computer from becoming infected and becoming a part of this problem. Perhaps it’s less obvious that we all share a responsibility to help protect other computer users on the Internet from becoming infected. The way to do that is to ensure that you are part of the solution; not part of the problem created by running an insecure machine, or by engaging in unsafe surfing practices.

In effect then, it’s up to individuals to keep up as best they can; which means installing as many levels of functional protection as possible.

Trend Micro, a leader in Internet content security, has released a beta of RUBotted, a small program that watches for incoming bot-related traffic which is worth considering adding to your security toolbox.

The following program description has been obtained from TrendSecure.

Trend Micro RUBotted (Beta) is a small program that runs on your computer, watching for bot-related activities. RUBotted intelligently monitors your computer’s system behavior for activities that are potentially harmful to both your computer and other people’s computers.

RUBotted monitors for remote command and control (C&C) commands sent from a bot-herder to control your computer. Additionally, RUBotted watches for an array of potentially malicious bot-related activities, including mass mailing – a common activity performed by a bot-infected computer.

RUBotted co-exists with your existing AV software, providing advanced bot specific behavior monitoring. RUBotted does not rely on frequent, network intensive updates to ensure your computer’s continued protection.

Operating Systems:

Windows 2000 Professional (Latest Service Pack Installed)
Windows XP Professional or Home Edition (Latest Service Pack Installed)
Windows 2003 Server (Latest Service Pack Installed)
Windows Vista (32 Bit with Latest Service Pack Installed)

(By) Bill Mullins is a Blogger who writes on Internet Security, System Tools, Free Software, and provides downloads links. Check out his Blog at Tech Thoughts

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Get Geeky and Fix your PC with HijackThis (12)
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BufferZone adds another layer of protection to your browser by setting up a sandbox (an isolated “virtual directory” on your hard drive). As Trustware puts it, the program “transparently redirects modifications in your PC to a virtual, isolated environment, so that unauthorized modifications cannot be applied to your actual PC.” Malicious apps can’t write changes to your actual system files or registry – only BufferZone’s virtualized versions. Anything you download – temp files, images, executables, you name it – gets sandboxed. Why is that a big deal?

Well, it only takes a split second for a malicious app to burrow its way into the deep, dark crevices of your operating system.

How does BufferZone help?

The sandbox keeps these nasties from going resident on your system and gives your malware defenses time to obliterate them before they can cause any harm. If I click on a link to a key generator, the hosting website redirects me to another page that spawns a browser hijacker installer. If that happens, BufferZone neatly puts it in the virtualized directory, and my anti-virus software kicks in and nukes the threat within two seconds.

To top it all off, there’s no appreciable difference in the rendering speed of your browser and no real impact on resources. On my system, the hit was 0% on the CPU and about 9MB of memory.

Slick. Very slick.

The program comes in both free and paid versions (which offers customization and protection of multiple browsers), but I’ll only talk about the free one here.

Download the 9MB .msi file and install it, and BufferZone sets up a protected, virtualized directory in c:\virtual\untrusted\. All activity from your selected browser will now be redirected here and isolated from your “real” operating system.

Before I go any further with this, I’ve got to tell you to NOT knowingly visit any sites that are likely to infect your computer. You’re asking for trouble. I was, too, but I had to find out whether this app was the real deal or not. I also tested BufferZone Free on IE7 from a bare Windows XP SP2 install with no other patches applied.

To put BufferZone through the paces, I decided to go on a little jaunt around some of the most nefarious sites I’m familiar with. I headed over to a keygen site, did a few searches, and watched BufferZone spring into action as it popped up several alerts for items that were landing in the sandbox. The beauty of it: my anti-virus software caught every single one of them and removed them with ease. I surfed around carelessly for a while longer and exited Internet Explorer at which point some other evildoers tried to invade my system, but BufferZone and Avast! once again tag-teamed them into submission.

After a reboot, I ran a full scan with Ad-Aware and HijackThis and couldn’t find any traces of anything remotely malicious. Wow. I’m impressed!

Here’s the kicker. Even in the free version, the app will protect not only your browser, but any process spawned by the browser. Download an attachment from your Gmail account and launch it with Word, and Word automatically inherits the BufferZone protection. This is huge; even if your webmail provider automatically scans attachments, no scan is perfect.

The program worked beautifully in my testing and it’s footprint wasn’t even noticable. For a free application with such terrific security potential, BufferZone Free is definitely worth a download. If you’re still not convinced, try out Trustware’s proof of concept.

If you’ve tried BufferZone, what do you think of it? Got something better that you’d recommend? Let’s hear about it!

(by) Lee Mathews is a blogger who writes to share downloads, links, and tech advice with other slightly frustrated people at Unsightful.com.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Detect Fake Antivirus software & Spyware Removal programs (14)
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• SteadyState – Mess up, Reboot & Everything Is Fixed! (20)

In this post, I want to cover a few apps that will make managing your USB drive easier. In essence, I’ll talk about tools that can be used to make things easier if you’ve got a USB drive – not about apps that work from your drive.

So here we go – five applications to make things easier if you’re using a USB thumb drive.

1) Prevent Virus Infections on your USB Thumb Drive with ThumbScrew

If you’re working on a system that’s probably infected with viruses, you wouldn’t want to see your USB thumb drive get infected by the same – they probably have some backups of your data that you cannot afford to lose. However, if you’re in an inevitable situation where you really have to access the USB drive, do so after you install ThumbScrew.

ThumbScrew can be used to write-protect your USB drive so that malware from your computer doesn’t spread to it. Download and launch the app, right click the System Tray icon and choose ‘Make USB Read Only’. Nothing could be written to the USB Drive, you’re completely protected from infections spreading to your disk from your computer.

2) Eject USB Devices Quickly with USB Disk Eject

Let’s admit it. Windows does give you options to eject your USB drives – we all use that by clicking on the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’ option in the System Tray. But have you ever thought it’s too cumbersome and the list confuses you more than helps you remove that particular device?

People who’ve got multiple USB Devices connected to their system will have really felt this annoyance as the hardware remove dialog doesn’t make it clear which option removes what device.

Here’s the way out: Download this tiny but functional app called USB Disk Eject. Just double-click when you need to remove a USB drive and a window will pop up listing the devices connected to your system via USB. Each device is labelled clearly and legibly. Just double-click on the one that you want to get removed and you’re done. Much quicker, I’d say.

3) Access USB Drives Quickly with Desk Drive

DeskDrive is somewhat similar to the above application, but it’s for keyboard junkies. Mark just mentioned it a few days ago here on Make Use Of. I’ve been using it since yesterday, and I couldn’t help thinking why Windows doesn’t have this feature by default.

Here’s a summary of the app: DeskDrive puts shortcuts to your USB drives on your desktop immediately after you insert them. Quick access. That’s pretty much it. For more, head on to Mark’s post or download the app directly from here.

4) Autorun Apps from your USB Drive with USB Autorun Maker

How many times have you browsed through those myriad of folders to launch that one particular app that you always run from your USB drive? Why not make it autorun so that the application launches immediately when you open the drive icon?

Yep, that’s possible, thanks to a utility called USB Autorun. Download USB Autorun (direct link), and use the options in the system tray icon to build an autorun.inf file. You’ll have to specify which app should be run automatically, and click ‘Build’ and the autorun maker will create an autorun.inf file that tells Windows that a particular app should be launched. No big thing to do here – you just need to specify the path where the app is present. Please note that this software is shareware, so there are some limitations.

5) Backup Files to your USB Drive with SyncToy

How many times have you copy-pasted those folders in Windows to back up your most important data and got fed up copy-pasting back and forth? Just relax, and get the SyncToy tool from Microsoft.

Install the Synctoy application, specify what directory should be copied to where – it’s called a ‘folder pair’ in Synctoy (here in this case, the directory where your files should be put in should be somewhere in your USB Drive) and then just press the Run button for the backup operation to take place. For an in depth guide, check out our previous guide on syncing your USB Drive. I bet this software will probably save you from a lot of frustration.

What other apps have made working with your USB devices easier? Let us know in the comments. I’m all ears!

(By) Shankar Ganesh, a 16 year old Blogger and Freelance Writer from India. He blogs about computers and software tips at Killer Tech Tips.

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Anti-Virus

AVG Anti-Virus

AVG Anti-Virus – AVG has been around since 1991, and have been updating their program since then. This program as well is definetely one of the best anti-virus programs out there. (See MUO Poll on Best Antivirus Software). AVG has numerous features that most certainly assist in keeping your computer secure, including periodic scans, built in email scanner, the ability to heal some virus infected files, and a “virus vault” that holds virus’.

Mark previously wrote a review on the new AVG 2008 Antivirus here.

ThreatFire

ThreatFire – ThreatFire is an extremely sweet Anti-Virus application. It does not only do all of the things many Anti-Virus applications do, it also addresses problems differently. On a regular Anti-Virus application, numerous different steps need to be taken to find and destroy a threat, unlike ThreatFire which automatically detects threats and malicious behavior, and addresses them automatically in the background while keeping logs of this.

On their website it states that ThreatFire has 243% more protection then traditional Anti-Virus applications in tests and that ThreatFire has examined 17,836,589,477 programs for suspicious behavior!

Avira

Avira Anti-Virus – Avira AntiVir is one of the highest rated Anti-Virus applications out there.

It runs in the background checking for malicious behavior and runs occasional checks, while checking opened and closed files.

Anti-Spyware

Windows Defender

Windows Defender – Microsoft created Windows Defender which is an incredibly awesome Anti-Spyware application built into Windows Vista and is available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

It includes many features that make it one of the best applications out there, including: Monitoring start up applications as well as system configuration and Internet Explorer, monitoring applications as they run, etc. Again, check out our poll what’s the best spyware removal.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Spybot Search and Destroy – This program has been around for a while now. I use it for many things as a general security suite as well.

Spybot removes Adware, Spyware, keyloggers, trojans, usage tracks, shreds malicious programs, the option to get back the programs that have been removed, etc.

Secure File Erasers

Eraser

Eraser – Eraser is one of the most used file removers. It can erase files and folders, password protected files, temporary files, internet cookies, paging files, internet cache, compressed files, etc. It adds an option to “Erase” something to the right click menu when you click on a file or folder.

You can check previous MakeUseOf review of Eraser here.

UltraShredder

UltraShredder – UltraShredder is another one of the most used secure file shredders. It overrides files with random characters, while saving it to the disk, and then removes the file without the recycle bin of course. Thus, if a file recovery service attempted to access the file, all they would find is random characters. See our earlier round-up on free file shredders here.

Keeping your computer fast

CCleaner

CCleaner – CCleaner is one of the most essential tools for keeping your computer fast. It takes up an extremely small amount of space and should be used often. The specific use of it is to remove and/or fix temporary internet files, cookies, other types of temporary files, fix the Registry, and fix applications.

It includes an extra start-up list to allow you to edit and an uninstall option to replace the standard Windows Uninstaller.

Defraggler

Defragger – This application is from the same company that created CCleaner. It is an incredibly awesome disk defragger that replaces the standard Windows Defraggler. Unlike many defragging applications, Defragger allows users to defrag a certain file or folder, and not an entire drive if you like.

The actual application is small, around 1 MB, and thus can be put on a flash drive. After it is done, Defragger creates a map of your hard drive showing the parts that were fragmented and how much space they take up, etc.

Defraggler is a great disk defragmenter, though some people may prefer something else, for other disk defragmenting tool check out earlier article on 5 Disk Defragmenter Programs to Defrag your PC.

Startup Control Panel

Startup Control Panel – Startup Control Panel is one of the most effective applications for speeding up your computer out there. It gives you a list of applications and other things that start on startup and allows you to remove those to speed up your computer start time.

Be sure not to uncheck your Anti-Spyware or Anti-Virus software, yet there are many things you can remove. It comes with the option to download the full program (59 kb) or a single executable (34 kb).

WinPatrol

WinPatrol – WinPatrol is another extremely helpful small program, that assists in not only speeding up your PC, but also keeping it secure. It runs in the background and monitors system changes to find added and taken away registry keys. Mark briefly covered it in an article last year.

Is there anything I have forgotten? Anything in the list you disagree with? Let us know in the comments!

(By) Will is a complete computer nerd and geek and currently works on his website at Advanced Tech Solutions and his blog at Online Free Tech Tips.

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New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The Cut Out and Keep Guide to Essential Software Programs (25)
• 10 Most Downloaded Free Security AND PC Care Programs (24)
• 3 Tools to Test Run your AntiVirus/Spyware Program (10)
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• Stop & Delete Spyware With Malwarebytes [Windows] (29)

To give you an indication right off the bat of how good it is, a friend of mine has Norton Anti-Virus (for which he pays for) and it failed to detect a virus. On my recommendation, he downloaded AVG Anti-Virus 2008 – and it detected the virus immediately. My friend is now so disgusted with Norton that he has uninstalled it from his computer and he can’t stop raving about AVG 2008.

AVG does everything that a virus checker normally does – real time virus checking to begin with. When a virus enters your computer, AVG immediately flashes a warning sign on your screen with the location of the virus and it asks you what you want it to do. Obviously you want the virus moved immediately to the secure virus vault and once you make that choice, AVG moves away to do it and you can then continue with what you were doing before *cough* looking at naughty websites *cough*.

Secondly, AVG also scans your incoming and outgoing emails if you download your emails to an offline client such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. It quarantines and zaps suspicious attachments, especially if it has a file type “exe”.

So far, nothing to make you go “WOW!”. It’s all fairly standard stuff so far. So let’s see what Grisoft has done to the 2008 version that has impressed me personally :

First of all, they have radically re-designed the interface. The designers have really gone to work on it to make it aesthetically pleasing. I like companies that go that extra mile to make their products look nice.

Secondly, they have introduced some new features. I can now tell it to remove malicious tracking cookies from my computer. This was not available in its predecessor (at least not in the free version of AVG). What it also does is real-time monitoring of malicious tracking cookies whenever you visit a website. So when you visit a site and that site tries to put a bad cookie on your computer, AVG will instantly flash a warning sign on your screen asking you what you want to do. You are given the option of looking up the cookie in the online AVG database for more information before deciding whether to nuke the cookie or ignore it.

Also, when I make searches on Google, AVG tells me if the search results are safe to click on or if the pages have spyware in them.

The green arrow indicates a safe site (I presume a bad site is a red cross). My only complaint about this is that the checking process can take a while (thereby slowing down my searching) so I may eventually switch this feature off in the AVG options.

The next new feature is that you can control the speed of the virus checking process. You can choose between “slow scan”, “automatic scan” and “fast scan” :

But regardless of this feature, AVG 2008 overall is MUCH faster than its predecessor. You will notice a much improved scanning speed. It’s like the older AVG on steroids. I don’t know what the AVG engineers are feeding their virus scanner to make it go so fast but it must be good!

If you have the older AVG, I strongly recommend you upgrade (you will need to uninstall the older version of AVG first). If you don’t have AVG, I strongly recommend you uninstall whatever it is that you’re using and you start using AVG instead because this little beauty is the King of the Anti-Virus Jungle.

(By) Mark O’Neill is a blogger and professional freelance writer. Visit his blog at BetterThanTherapy.net

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• MUO Polls: Top Antivirus Software. What’s your Favorite? (71)

If you don’t have a favorite antivirus program and you’re using the one that came with your PC then you can see what others have to say about it. If you decide to give something a try then check the antivirus download links right below the poll.

So here you go …

Download Links

• Avira Antivir (FREE) *
• Avast Home Edition (FREE) *
• AVG Antivirus FREE Edition (FREE)*
• Bit Defender (not free)
• Eset Nod32 (not free)
• F-PROT Antivirus (not free)
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus (not free)
• McAfee VirusScan Plus (not free)
• Norton Antivirus (not free)
• Panda Software (not free)
• PC Tools Antivirus Free Edition (FREE)
• TrendMicro / PC Cillin

* Among top 5 most downloaded security software on Download.com.

Stay tuned for Mark’s AVG 2008 review tomorrow.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Trustware Bufferzone Has Your Browser’s Back (31)
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• Poll Results: The Best Software and Shortcuts According to You! (8)
• Panda Cloud – The Antivirus Like No Other You Have Seen (27)

During these times I would normally use the trusty SpyBot – Search & Destroy application because it’s superior in many ways, but if I don’t have it with me or feel like just doing a quick online check without having to install a client application, the few choices below provide a good alternative.

BitDefender – Easy on-demand virus scanner using powerful BitDefender engines. It scans system memory, files and drive boot sectors. It also automagically cleans infected files. Uses ActiveX components (IE Only)

CA – Online virus scanner. Just agree to a little ActiveX component and you’re scanning with ease in just a brief moment. Uses ActiveX components (IE Only)

ESET – Online malware scanner. With just an acceptance of ESET’s TOS, you can scan your PC for known malware including viruses, worms, Trojans, phishing, and spyware.

ewido – Simple cleaner for malware. Uses ActiveX components (IE Only)

F-Secure – Simple virus scan from web. Uses ActiveX components (IE Only)

Jotti – Simple file checker. Jotti uses several scanners to look into the file you upload to determine if it’s infected.

McAfee FreeScan – McAfee FreeScan is a great virus scanner using the award-winning McAfee Scan Engine. Uses ActiveX components (IE Only)

NanoScan – Great, fast scanning application previously covered by the MUO Directory.

Panda ActiveScan – Get a free Panda scan that checks for viruses, spyware and other various internet threats. Current count over 185,000 viruses, worms, and trojans. Uses ActiveX components (IE Only)

TrendMicro – Scans for Viruses and Malware. It also scans for vulnerabilities and and fixes them to prevent re-infestation.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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So for all the newbies, parents, grandparents, techno-phobes and computer doofs out there, here’s what should be on your computer.

1. THE BASICS

A good firewall – my personal preference is ZoneAlarm

A good virus checker – why pay through the nose for Norton when you get the free and excellent AVG Anti-Virus?

A good spyware checker – despite their 2007 version not quite being up to scratch as its predecessor, I still recommend Ad-Aware for ease of use and efficiency at finding those nasty spyware critters.

I covered AVG and Ad-Aware in a previous MakeUseOf article which you can find here. They were also mentioned in our round-up of free security programs .

2. BROWSER AND EMAIL

You’ll obviously get Internet Explorer as the default browser but you should definately shun it in favour of Mozilla Firefox. If you prefer, Opera is also excellent but Firefox is (in my opinion), the top browser. But don’t try to uninstall Internet Explorer. Best to keep it on the PC, at least to get the Microsoft security patches downloaded (Microsoft doesn’t allow you to download their patches using the Firefox browser. You also cannot use Firefox to access the Microsoft Office templates.)

If you want to have your email downloaded to your PC, Microsoft will naturally push you in the direction of Outlook but again, you can shun that in favour of Mozilla Thunderbird. Similarly to Firefox, Thunderbird is full of useful extensions. If you decide on Thunderbird and don’t want Outlook cluttering up your computer, you can remove Outlook (and any other Microsoft product for that matter) by inserting your Windows set-up CD into the CD drive of your computer then go to the start menu then Add/Remove Programs –>>Add/Remove Windows Components (on the left side). You can then uncheck what you don’t want and they will be uninstalled for you. But you need the original Windows installation disk for the programs to be uninstalled properly. You will also need the Windows installation disk if you want to re-install anything later. So keep that disk safe!

3. THE REST (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)

Winpatrol – alerts you when programs secretly try to burrow their way into your start menu. You can also customise and control your other computer functions as well as set up scheduled tasks. You can see the MakeUseOf review here.

Winamp – for playing audio and video. Customisable and easy to use.

7-Zip – for zipping and unzipping files. There’s also the previously reviewed Universal Extractor but that is only for unzipping files. To zip them, you would also need something like 7 Zip.

TrueCrypt – for encrypting those files you don’t want anyone else to see. See the MakeUseOf review here.

Picasa – one of the best photo management tools out there. I like how you can set up photos on the page before printing them out on photo paper.

Skype – the best VOIP telephone program on the internet. Also has an excellent chat function, and is highly customisable.

Pidgin – got more than one chat ID? Manage them all with this alternative to Trillian. Constant upgrades being put out.

The Google toolbar – I am not normally a fan of toolbars but the Google toolbar is the exception. Highly useful with quick access to the search engine and most Google services. The Firefox version can be found here.

Unlocker – helps you to stop any system processes that may be stopping you from deleting, moving or renaming a file on your computer. See the MakeUseOf article here.

Google Earth – this is my time-wasting application. I like to zoom in on people’s houses!

FileZilla – for moving bulk files from my PC to my website. See the MakeUseOf review here.

CDex – it’s perfectly legal to make private backup copies of your CD’s and keep them on the computer. I use CDex which is an easy CD ripping tool.

CCleaner – clean out all the junk that has accumulated on the computer. Cleans out temp files, cookies and much more. See the MakeUseOf review here.

Auslogics – along with CCleaner, use Auslogics to get your files defragged and in order. You can see the MakeUseOf review here.

eBay Turbo Lister – if you sell on eBay, Turbo Lister can help you to write and list your auctions offline. Totally invaluable, although sometimes it is a little buggy.

That’s the basic list but of course there are other programs based on your needs. For example, I find a video editing program called VirtualDub totally invaluable but unless you deal with a lot of raw video footage, VirtualDub will be not much help. I also use a paid program called SnagIt but some of you may not want to pay for a screen capture program (does anyone know of a free screen capture program?). Oh and if any of you have a website and need to make thumbnail pictures, a good program is Easy Thumbnails.

So that’s the total sum of my PC at the moment. What do you think of the above list? Do you agree with my choices or do you have better alternatives? Let’s hear it in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

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TOP 5: Free Security Programs (Antivirus, Spyware Removal, etc.)

(1) AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition Memory-friendly free antivirus program that comes with lifetime free access to virus definition updates. Highlights include automatic update, real-time protection, free virus database updates, and some more. With nearly 1 mil. downloads (926,832) last week alone, this gotta be a good tool.

(2) Ad-Aware 2007 – Free utility to remove Spyware, Adware and whatever Crapware you may have. Scans your RAM, Windows Registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components. One of my personal favorites. Note: After installation, it will ask you for a registration code. Just hit Cancel and you’re good to go. (Nr. of downloads last week: 864,874)

(3) Spybot – Search & Destroy – Yet another spy/ad/craplet removal tool. Also lets you clean-up program and web-usage tracks, and even fix spyware-caused Registry inconsistencies. I have been using it for more then a year now and love it. (Nr. of downloads last week: 184,292)

(4) Advanced WindowsCare Personal – Comprehensive PC health maintenance utility that offers one-click clean-up and repair wizard. Features include: Spyware removal, security warnings, privacy protection, Registry fix, temporary files clean-up, Windows repair and more. (Nr. of downloads last week: 101,321)

(5) Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic – By far less popular than above AVG, also some users report rather slow scan process. Nonethless, with 85,154 downloads last week still remains listed as the second most popular free antivirus software.

TOP 5: Free PC Maintenance / Optimization Programs (Disk Defragmenter, Registry Cleaner, etc.)

(1) Advanced WindowsCare Personal – see above (Nr. of downloads last week: 101,321)

(2) Auslogics Disk Defrag – Faster, more efficient and dead-simple alternative to Windows Disk Defragmenter. Looking at it’s feature set the only drawback I can think of is lack of auto-run scheduler. Other than that, seems like an excellent program. [Note: Disk Fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startup/shutdown and sometimes to system failures] (Nr. of downloads last week: 44,967)

(3) CCleaner – Extensive and rather fast registry fixer + browser junk clean-up tool. Includes registry backup feature. Make sure to back up your registry before running CCleaner cleanup. (Downloads last week: 36,940)

(4) XP SafeGuard – XP SafeGuard lets you alter and disable several Windows settings to boost system performance. Disable questionable services, remove windows messenger, performance tweaks, disable windows automatic update, and lots more. (Downloads last week: 21,777)

(5) WinDirStat – Handy piece of software that offers an informative visual display of your hard-drive usage. Lets you quickly figure out what occupies most of your disk space (movies, documents, pics, those hidden videos , etc.) Downloads last week: 11,566.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

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