How do we catch malware? And how can we prevent it?

Everyone has heard of malware.  And many have no doubt been affected by malware.  I have personally been affected by it, and I have helped out many friends and family who have also been affected.  To put it plain and simple.  Malware sucks.

Malware by definition means: malicious software.  Software that can do anything from slow your computer down to preventing it from booting altogether.  And how do people get malware on their computers?  That answer is a rather simple answer in principle; however, learning to prevent catching malware takes a conscious effort on your part (as the computer user).

So we will list a few, simple, common sense ways you can prevent malware (or at least lower your chances of catching it).

1- Only use web based services and sources that you trust...
This is pretty self explanatory.  If you shop, bank, and pay bills online; then you are trusting these services to handle your personal information with the highest cautions.  Being locked down and secure.  So instead of online shopping using 'Billy Bob's Online Wholesale' which looks suspicious; find an official online store or service you can purchase from.  Or even use a service like Amazon which allows people a old, Billy Bob a reputable place to market their goods.  In the long run, you'll be glad you did.

Why?  Because oftentimes, malware is delivered by suspicious or shady looking sites.  And they try to position themselves in a manner that you'll click their link and install that plugin to run a slideshow or play an audio file.  One of the common things I'm seeing quite a bit of now are fake media players.  One website in general I bumped into on a friend's computer a few months ago, looked like a site that let user's stream last week's episode of some television shows.

But when you click a link to watch a show, you are prompted to download their 'media player' which will install itself, wreak havoc on your computer and still not let you view your show.

2- Don't run around the web downloading every program that claims to keep you safe.
This is a big one for me.  There are many 'programs' out there that claim to keep you safe from a particular virus or piece of malware.  And they want you to download them.  And often, they are malware themselves.  Your best bet will be to find a good anti-virus program with malware protection.  In my case I run AVG 2012 and MalwareBytes.  Both are great solutions and they are free.

I worked on a PC a few months ago for a friend who happened to be attempting to run both McAfee and Norton Security suites.  Thinking they were doubly protected.  However, what had happened was both programs were detecting each other and causing conflicts slowing their computer down to a crawl.  On top of that she was running a web filtering program which had restricted 99% of her web traffic not allowing any outbound surfing.  What it did allow, was only for taking you to the software developers website.  My advice, find a security solution and stick with it.  Keep it updated and run scans regularly.

3- Watch where you surf!
This is one of the biggest pieces of advice that I can offer.  Watch where you surf on the web.  Just because a site is the number one hit on Google, doesn't mean that it's a legitimate website offering a legitimate product.  Always be skeptical.  Google and your anti-virus software does a pretty good job monitoring search result links for issues.  And when using search engines like Google.  Look at all the information following a result.  Especially the outgoing URL, which is in green under the site description.  See:

This information is here for a reason.  And it's a great way to make sure you are going to the site you want to go too.  If you are looking at a search result that doesn't look kosher, don't click on it.

4- Don't download programs you aren't familiar with!
This is the last common sense rule for protecting yourself against malware.  If you visit a website and you get a prompt asking you to download a program or plugin from their site; don't do it without educating yourself about what you are downloading.  For example, if I visit a website and it asks me to install Adobe Flash Player and a download prompt kicks up for me to download it from them.  Then the first thing I do is visit Adobe.com and visit the Downloads section and visit the Flash Player portion of their site.

If it plays a little animation and tells me I'm up to date.  I know I'm getting prompted for something that isn't Flash Player on that particular website.  Remember, to get a malware infection the bad guys are expecting your to download and in most cases run something to spread it.

These four rules will not protect you 100% from malware.  But they will help decrease your chances of catching any of the bad stuff.  And if you do happen to get some malware, it's not the end of the world.  There are ways to fix it.  If not, you can always reload and OS in extreme cases.

read more

Reader Question: My Vista Networking Stopped!

Another question from a reader:
"Techie,
After removing a minor malware infection from my laptop running Windows Vista Ultimate, my laptop no longer see's any network connections (wired or wireless).  I have tried to reset the network configuration by reset the TCP/IP stack, and that didn't help either.  What has happened?

Painfully Offline"

Dear Painfully Offline,
First, you may want to run the SFC (System File Checker) to make sure there aren't any file corruption issues going on.  In the case I bumped into the SFC scan came back clean.  Here's how to do that:

1-Click the Start orb.
2-In the search box type: CMD and hit Enter.
3-At the command prompt type: sfc /scannow
4-Let it run, it will report any issues found/repaired.

I have seen this once before on a Vista based machine.  What had happened in that situation (and every malware/virus situation can be unique); is that the Services permissions somehow got screwed up.  What I ended up doing was venturing into the Services in the Microsoft Management Console.  Here is how to access that:
1-Click the Start Orb on the task bar.
2-In the text box (where you can search or do "Run" commands) type: Services
3- You should see a "Services" listing appear towards the top of the menu listing.
4-I had to run it as Administrator to get this to work, so right click on Services and choose "Run As Administrator".

Now the Services console will pop up.  BE VERY CAREFUL USING THIS TOOL.  It's easy to screw up other permissions while messing around in here.  The first thing I did was scroll through the list of services until I found the easiest way to start was look for the Networking based services.  I started with WLAN Autoconfig service and click the Dependencies tab.

What you need to do is go through the dependencies for these Services and make sure they are started.  In most of my cases, all of these networking services should have been started and set to automatically startup.  However, most were disabled.  After stepping through these services and checking them (which was a tedious task), both my wired and wireless networking came back to life.  Sure, this took a little while to work through, but it saved the time from doing a Operating System Restore and kept me from loosing any valuable customer data.

Given the fact that there was a malware infection in my case as well; I ran numerous virus/malware scans and ran MalwareBytes scans repeatedly until all came back clean.  Though I can't say for sure what happened in the case of our reader, in my situation the malware messed with Symantec Endpoint Protection.  Which would throw a "Symantec Endpoint Protection is malfunctioning" error.  After removing the Symantec application with Clean Wipe (available from Symantec), the problems seemed to clear up.

Hopefully, this information is able to help you (Painfully Offline), and to other's who may be in dire straits over a similar Vista issue.  Remember, every function your Windows Operating System utilizes has a service attached to it.  If it doesn't register or suddenly stops working, there is a good chance you need to look at whether or not the service is started or disabled.  Not to say this will fix it every time, but it has been my experience that some troubles can be permission based.

Happy Troubleshooting!

read more

Software of the Week: MalwareBytes

Continuing on our Anti-Malware/Anti-Virus recommendations this week I have picked MalwareBytes to be our software of the week.  So what is it?  Why would you need it?  How much does it cost?  Does it work?  Read on for more information.

The word Malware is becoming more wide known with each passing week.  In my day to day dealings with people from both my work and personal friends, I am quickly understanding that this is a word being used almost more than 'virus' nowdays.  So to begin, what is malware?

To define (per Wikipedia): "Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming (code, scripts, active content, and other software) designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, gain unauthorized access to system resources, and other abusive behavior.^[1] The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code."

So by definition we know malware basically sucks...Ok, to move on.  If you get bit by Malware how do you get rid of it?  A malware infection isn't necessarily the easiest thing to get rid off.  Since part of what makes malware what it is, is that it is malicious.  It's a trouble maker.  Everything from a piece of code that can highjack your web browser to spamming pop-ups and slowing down your computer.  This type of bug is a trouble maker.  To get rid of it, you'll often have to use 3rd party software or even a rescue cd (not the same a restore or recovery cd).

The common ways to avoid picking up malware is to never open URL's in your email, visit only sites you trust, and exercise a little computing common sense.  Even if you are a stickler for protecting yourself, you could still get infected.  But it won't be because you didn't try.  Malware happens to good people.  That's were tools like ComboFix from last week and Malware Bytes come into play.

A great place for any virus/malware removal research to start should be: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/

The forums over there are filled with a great and helpful community of people with a lot of knowledge documented.  I almost always start by reading up on my issues over there.  You'll probably even find some stuff on MalwareBytes over there too.

MalwareBytes is a free program that handles detection/removal of virus, worms, rootkits, and spyware (and everything bad in between).  I have been using MalwareBytes for some time and have been thoroughly pleased with it's results.  It's interface works just like your Anti-Virus software.  And it's extremely user friendly.  

There are essentially three types of scans available via MalwareBytes:

-Full Scan-scans all files on the computer.

-Quick Scan-scans everything, but quicker than a "Full Scan"

-Flash Scan-only scans memory and autorun objects (must be a licensed user for this feature).

The software itself is free for the home user.  It doesn't cost a penny and it works like a charm.  There is a 'Pro' version that you can access for a one time fee of $24.95 that unlocks some extra stuff.  Personally, everything the average user absolutely needs is free in the software.  When in doubt I usually start off with a full scan in MalwareBytes.  A lot of issues I have encountered can easily be resolved with a dose of MalwareBytes and a good Anti-Virus scan using a trusted scanning software.  This app is not a 'cure-all' for all malware and virus' floating around out there, but it certainly makes life a little easier for the computer tech and home user alike.

This program has found it's way into my rescue toolkit and has been an essential help to some of the repairs I have done.  It's friendly with other software, so you'll not experience it trying to fight against your anti-virus software.  Updates are pretty regular, and the scanning module is pretty sensitive meaning, if it's there, chances are good the scan will find it.

Compatibility is also great for Windows machines.  Especially since support for MalwareBytes ranges from:

-Windows 2000

-Windows XP

-Windows Vista (32 & 64bit)

-and Windows 7 (32 & 64bit)

Do you have to have an infection to run it?  Nope.  I run a regular scan with my anti-virus software and a MalwareBytes scan to be on the safe side. And it hasn't let me down yet.

To check it our for yourself or download it, visit for more information:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

read more