VIRUSES, SPAM? Here's the help you need. FREE! Courtesy of I Hate Dialysis.com

[Epoman]

To ALL members of IHD.com I do not endorse ANY other programs mentioned here by other members. IHD.com ONLY recommends the programs listed here in this first thread. Use "other" programs at your own risk.  - Epoman, Owner/Admin

Ok, so I created this thread becasue I have heard some of you are having problems with spam and viruses, well trust me when I say I'm on the web alot and I never have problems with viruses or spam, and I browse the net several hours a day. I only use 5 programs and these programs are FREE, It's the only programs I use. These programs are rated better than some of the programs that cost money. Plus these programs have FREE updates.

It is advisable to only use 1 anti-virus program and as many anti-spam programs as you like. I have found after many discussions with other tech guys that these 5 programs are all you need. 1 is a anti-virus and 4 are anit-spyware. And best of all they are all FREE and the updates are free as well.

All the programs you will ever need:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition A great free anti-virus, it's all you need. FREE

Ad- Aware SE Personal A great program that finds spyware. FREE

Spybot Search & Destroy A great program that finds even harder to find spyware. FREE

Spyware Blaster A must have if you use Interent Explorer. FREE

Microsoft Windows Defender If you use IE then this too is a must have. FREE

If any of the links above do not work, please do not search google because there are spam sites out there pretending to be the actual product but they are full of spyware, malware. If a link does not work let me know and I will correct the link for the actual product. None of these programs contain any spyware and are reccomended by computer technicians everywhere. Trust me when I say you do not need to pay for anti-virus or anti-spyware programs as these work just as good, if not better.

Also many of the problems can be solved if you use an alternative to Internet Explorer such as Firefox which is a very good web browser and is used by me and millions of people around the world, if you wish to stop alot of your problems with spyware plus goto our links section located here: Click Here and click the Firefox banner. To install Firefox with the google toolbar.

I am telling you these programs are all you need. And I highly reccomend them to all of my users. I am not getting paid to endorse these programs, I use them everyday (see picture below for a screenshot of a section on my desktop, showing the 5 programs.).



Here are some definitions explaining the threats computer users experience:

• Spyware - A type of program that watches after what users do with their computer and then send this information to a hacker over the internet. Spyware can collect many different types of information about a user. More benign programs can attempt to track what types of websites a user visits and send this information to an advertisement agency. More malicious versions can try to record what a user types to try to intercept passwords or credit card numbers. Yet other versions simply launch popups with advertisements.
  
• Virus - A computer virus is a file designed to replicate itself while avoiding detection. A virus may cause problems and make the computer work in a diffrent way. Viruses are often rewritten and adjusted by diffrent hackers so that they will not be detected. Anti-virus programs must be updated continuously to look for new and rewritten viruses. Viruses are the number 1 method of computer vandalism. Viruses can be intentionally destructive, for example, by destroying data, many other viruses are fairly benign or merely annoying.
• Malware -  Software that is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system, without the owner's consent. The term is a combination of the word "mal" malicious and "ware"software.
• Worm - A self-replicating computer program, similar to a computer virus. A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program; however, a worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another program to propagate itself. They are often designed to exploit the file transmission capabilities found on many computers. The main difference between a computer virus and a worm is that a virus cannot propagate by itself whereas worms can. A worm uses a network to send copies of itself to other systems and it does so without any intervention. In general, worms harm the network and consume bandwidth, whereas viruses infect or corrupt files on a targeted computer. Viruses generally do not affect network performance, as their malicious activities are mostly confined within the target computer itself.
• Trojan horse - A malicious program that is disguised as or embedded within legitimate software. The term is derived from the classical myth of the trojan Horse. They may look useful or interesting (or at the very least harmless) to an unsuspecting user, but are actually harmful when executed.
  
• Pop-up ads - Are a form of online advertising on the World Wide Web intended to increase web traffic or capture email addresses. It works when certain web sites open a new web browser window to display advertisements. The pop-up window containing an advertisement is usually generated by JavaScript, but can be generated by other means as well.

Another great little program I use to protect myself from pop-ups and also have some other useful features like a GREAT spellcheck for use on this board or any other website is:

Google Toolbar -  An Internet browser toolbar available for Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (with slightly different features). The two versions include: a Google search box (for different Google sites, the current site, or other added sites), phishing protection, feed subscription, spellcheck, AutoLink, AutoFill, translator, PageRank display, address bar browse by name and pop-up blocker.

You can download the Google Toolbar as part of the Google Pack. You can decide to just download the Google Toolbar or the entire set of programs included in the Google Pack. You can get the Google Pack by visiting our links section Click Here and click the Google Pack banner (right below the Firefox banner). To install. Be sure to add or remove the components you wish or just download them all.

Below is a picture of our links section showing the Firefox banner and the Google Pack banner:



So to recap make sure you download those programs above and if you want more security download Firefox and Google Pack.

Click here to download Firefox: Click Here and click the Firefox banner.

Click here to download the Google Pack: Click Here and click the Google Pack banner (right below the Firefox banner).

I hope you all stay safe out there in cyberspace and if I can help you with questions about security I will, just reply here in this thread.

- Epoman
Owner/Admin

[kevno]

Well I have four of you five Epoman. Two more ZoneAlert also free. A very good firewall. Well up to now. Plus avast. It's like Fort Knox to get into my computer. But they always manage somehow. I am on the net a lot too. I have seven programmes. Some are set to run on there own early mornings. Say 2am. You can never have enough protection on your computer if you are on the net for long time at once.

Kevno

[SpeedFleX]

Here's another cool programs it's called  Site Advisor even works with google! It's a program which tells u if the site has been testen and if its trusted or not. The buttom of the browser when u go to a site will be green or red depending on the Trust Level it has, if u click on the button and then Show More Details it brings you to a site and tells if there's something wrong with the site what's wrong if it has Viruses, Spy Ware or something else. Well I hope I made sense^^

http://www.siteadvisor.com/


oh and you have to use either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

But ya'll should try Firefox which is the best browser in my eyes!


http://www.mozilla-europe.org

[angieskidney]

Here's another cool programs it's called  Site Advisor even works with google! It's a program which tells u if the site has been testen and if its trusted or not. The buttom of the browser when u go to a site will be green or red depending on the Trust Level it has, if u click on the button and then Show More Details it brings you to a site and tells if there's something wrong with the site what's wrong if it has Viruses, Spy Ware or something else. Well I hope I made sense^^

http://www.siteadvisor.com/


oh and you have to use either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

But ya'll should try Firefox which is the best browser in my eyes!


http://www.mozilla-europe.org

Thx I am getting that now!

[BigSky]

You can go to this website where you can check the performance of your Firewall http://www.grc.com/default.htm

Go to the "Shields Up" link and click "Proceed" then click "All Service Ports".

[angieskidney]

McAfee's site has a free cool Site Advisor utility that I installed Let's me know if a site is known to have bad things on it and let's you know if that site sends lots of spam emails or not Before you actually go to the site and get screwed It protects  you

[Foxys-Boy-Toy]

I use Avast antivirus, it's free for home users. I tried Norton and McCafee the last time I knew my mom had a virus and they kept telling me she  was clean. I installed Avast and it found and cleaned 8 viruses they missed!

[Sluff]

Just bumping this thread for the newbies. 

[donnia]

I use Avast too.... it found 5 trojans that Norton didn't protect me from or find.  As my friend says... it gives your computer an enema.

[G]

I've had AVG on my home systems for 10 years. User friendly, small footprint and automatic! Good stuff!

[mtaylorbrown]

Folks

     As an Internet security professional (CISSP), with one exception, I can endorse Epoman's applications. Funny there is actually a central console for McAfee security tools that is called EPO. The only exception in the list is 'Spyware Blaster', last I heard it was a persistant application that worked very hard to keep itself installed, even after uninstalling it. It may be good, but anything that is designed to stay installed gets my suspicion. Some say that it takes a good spybot tool to make an good anti-spybot tool.

     I can't say enough about Symantec's 360 for workstations. The problem is that it doesn't work on spam and it could be more effective with spyware/adware. It is an all-in-one type tool and even comes with a backup scheme for important files with network diskspace over the Internet at Symanatec as part of the annual cost.

Regards,
Matthew