Griffin Bain on 4/4/2009 at 23:37
friends, i need advice and hope that this could also bring up a good discussion on the topic for all.
i am going to be getting a computer for my new job but I want to keep it safe from the ohter people on the network who barely know how to use a computer and thus infect the network with malware, trojans or viruses. I suspect this happens because the office workers (being a small office) bring in thweir kids and then they F-around with limewire facebooks or bearshare or some dumb shit like that. i suspect some of these sites because right after a teenager hooked her computer up to the network it crashed the server and i had to run the diagostic tool to repair it and then the server tried looking up a beashare website even though that server was repaired that morning leading me to believe it came on the network because the teenager had it on hers.
I am not using kids and teenagers to piss anyone off. I KNOW 100% that the best computer operators are the teens and kids who know coding, programming and use computers for useful things. 'm talking abou the kind who go to idiot websites and research fashionable clothing and fill out internet surveys but I digress . . .
anyways I want to keep my computer safe, I have always (on my home computer) used the free versions of AVG and have gotten zone alarm and they work amazing and my computer is bullet proof, however, is there any other thing I can do.
Further, is there a way I can clean the network or help my new colleagues clean their computers and the network so the business owner doen;t have to pay for service calls. I'm the only one in the office that has a clue with computers and I just need advice on malware tools and virus and trojan destoyers that are user frendly and have a low risk of erasing something important. Plus, I was with the computer guy the last time he was in and the only thing he did to fix the internet was run freeware spyware scanners, removal tools and registry cleaners and that was somethiun I copuld have done had I known!
I really want to use combofix but have heard some horror stories, but I know it works because I;ve seen it find and defeat a trojan horse before.
I digress, hopefully sombody can g:eww::sweat::tsktsk:et some advice ideas or a debate started.
theBlackman on 5/4/2009 at 00:26
See if you can set up a blocker on the main firewall. Block all internet sites that aren't business related. And be selective about which Active X apps you allow them to use.
Make all sites that aren't in your network or business ADMINISTRATOR ONLY.
As for which spy/mal/virus blocker to use, there are a handful of excellent ones out there.
I'm sure some of our IT people here can have a recommendation that will steer you right.
Enchantermon on 5/4/2009 at 00:28
You mentioned you use AVG Free and Zonealarm. Neither of those have spyware or malware protection, so I'd recommend you pick up Malwarebytes. It's free (though there is a paid version), and worked wonders when I ran it on a friend's computer. She had a ton of crap that was denying her internet access and slowing her computer to a crawl at boot. One full scan with Malwarebytes cleaned the whole thing up and significantly increased performance; it found stuff Spybot didn't even pick up on.
Also, you might want to investigate some other antivirus tools. Avast!, I've been told, is better than AVG (I can't say, because I had to uninstall it due to a driver conflict), and uses far less resources than the hog that AVG has become. I don't know of any other good free virus programs, but I'm sure they're out there; someone else may want to chip in about that.
RavynousHunter on 5/4/2009 at 03:30
Failing those, you could always fandangle a good hex editor and just fuck with the malware... That's worked more times that one would think...
LeatherMan on 5/4/2009 at 03:35
If you are mainly concerned with network infections then you just need a good firewall and to disable file sharing. Also, using a Limited User Account is always a good idea.
Macha on 5/4/2009 at 11:02
CCleaner is one of the best applications for cleaning shite ever. In terms of performance, don't forget about the magic a good defrag can do. I use BitDefender 2009 suite, its pretty powerful but, like always, something slips through the net and my computer is getting pretty laggy.
nickie on 5/4/2009 at 16:23
I trained with (
http://www.greyknight17.com/) this guy so will recommend reading the entries under System/Security. I have AVG, ZoneAlarm, Spybot S & D Resident, SpywareGuard, and a Hosts file. The last three block sites from accessing your computer. Also I now have Malwarebytes as well as Ad-Aware. For cleaning etc. I was recommended and use Wise Registry and Wise Disc Cleaners and I use Auslogics defrag programme.
nickie on 5/4/2009 at 16:28
I trained with (
http://www.greyknight17.com/) this guy so will recommend reading the entries under System/Security. I have AVG, ZoneAlarm, Spybot S & D Resident, SpywareGuard, and a Hosts file. The last three block sites from accessing your computer. Also I now use Malwarebytes as well as Ad-Aware. For cleaning etc. I was recommended and use Wise Registry and Wise Disc Cleaners and I use Auslogics defrag programme.
I wouldn't use ComboFix without professional help. And never put any site in a Trusted Zone.
I'd also recommend GeekstoGo, BleepingComputer and TechSupportForum amongst a handful of others for all sorts of specialist computer help.
Griffin Bain on 5/4/2009 at 19:50
thanks mates,
this helps me a lot, i am going to save these posts in a text document so I can refer to them later as needed.
some of that stuff I am famliar with and some I'm not, i might just grab them all . . .
