The importance of scanning for malware more often.

Something interesting happened to me yesterday. While at work, an SMS beeped in to my mobile, from my ISP. Reading: "Your internet access has been restricted due to suspicious and irregular traffic."

Oh crap. Have they started cracking down on filesharing all of a sudden? They've always been pretty cool about that before. So I phoned them up immediately of course. The guy I spoke to said that they've noticed a lot of traffic going out to other computers, that appears to be like that of a spambot. So they'd blocked my computer from accessing SMTP and FTP servers. So I explained that that's not very likely, that I got a pretty up to date virus-checker (Avast) and shouldn't be able to be infected with such things. And then I flat out told him that I'm a filesharer, using torrents quite a bit. So that there's traffic going out to a lot of other machines isn't strange at all. His response? "Ah, cool. I'll just remove the block then."

Did not bat an eyelid. I love my ISP. :)

Anyhow, when I got home I did think that I hadn't scanned my computer for malware in a while, and might as well go ahead and do that just to be safe (the guy I spoke with had asked me to do that as well). So I fired up Ad-Aware.

"The currently installed definitions are 241 days old, would you like to update them?"

Er..oops. Ok I guess.. *click* :unsure:

So, some updating and a scan later, I was staring at the result in disbelief. "found 1 W32.trojan.spambot"

I hate spammers. With a passion. I think there should be a special place in hell reserved for spammers. A very special place. And now one of the bastards has been using MY comp to spread their crap around, just because I got lazy with protecting myself from it. :mad:

This is going to give me nightmares for half of an eternity, I just know it. Don't start trusting that your virus-scanner and firewall will stop everything (though you'd think they would, wouldn't you?), and forget to scan your computers for this crap every now and then. Apparently it's as important as it ever was.

My father did no scans and got the malware Zapchast on his PC. I managed to lock it, but it's still lurking on his PC until I find a method to remove it completely.

Spammer trojans seems to be the biggest thing going around at the moment. It's what the hacker kept putting on the classicamiga server when it was being hacked! The server stats showed over 50,000 emails managed to be sent via the server before we managed to catch it had been hacked and block it!

Virus, trojan, spyware, malware... call it what you will, but it is all coming from the same scum bent on making our lives a misery. I learnt the hard way years ago that you need to keep your virus scanner up to date and working as I contracted a very nasty virus that infected every exe file on my system and a complete system format was the only way to remove it. Since then I've been very good at maintaining my virus checker, firewall, spyware definitions etc...

And although I have a spyware scanner running all the time as part of Outpost and it automatically updates its definitions I don't fully trust it to catch everything. Once a month I like to run a full system scan using Spyware Doctor. I used to use Adaware but it doesn't seem to catch them all compared to Spyware Doctor. I am paranoid though so actually scan the whole system with both!

I try to run my spy-ware scanners regularly but often time I just get lazy and forget. I do keep fairly recent backups of my installed software but all my mp3's and games are just too much to backup and I'd be pxssed if I lost those.

I also run Spybot from time to time, once a month or so, but it doesn't find anything special, well, until now, I hope this will stay like this.

I've been pretty slack with this too recently (a mixture of laziness and complacency I guess).

Probably I should be more careful as I've downloaded a lot of, uh, stuff recently :evil:

Hmm, I should really invest in a proper version of Ad-Aware or Spybot. Which is better? I am actually going to have to buy the sucker :pirate3:

Neither are the best any longer. I currently recommend Spyware Doctor. It's a commercial scanner but it is the best one around at the moment.

But do you think I actually purchased it? Just download the trial version and crack it!

I meant to say Spyware Doctor :P

I already heard good things about Spyware Doctor, maybe it's time to switch. Found torrent, d/l now... I saw that it is from PC Tools, I already have Registry Mechanic, which is a great program to keep your PC clean.

The thing that impressed me the most about Spyware Doctor is the speed of its scanning compared to other spyware scanners. And it's results and options once complete are easier to look through and use too.

Hmm. Ad-aware has always worked fine for me, but I think I will have a look at this Spyware Doctor anyway. Sounds good. :)

I tested Spyware Doctor. Kaspersky goes mad when launching the program, and SD takes 30-60 seconds to start. Annoying. After scanning, it found some infections, nothing fatal. After exiting, the SD task stays started, and takes almost 80% of my CPU. I had to cancel the process everytime. But I think that's if you switch on the ON GUARD feature, not sure about though.

Oh dear after reading this thread i thought to myself when was the last time i updated my spyware stuff, it had been 3 months since i got the latest update lol, i guess id better run some checks.

At Pirate Bay they have a torrent called Malware. It's updated almost every 1-2 month. I have version 5, but saw yesterday that a version 6 and a version 2007 have already been released. Currently downloading latest one.

The torrent consists of hundreds different software programs regarding malware. The 2007 version has actually about 170MB. To search for the torrent, just enter Malware.

Using ZoneAlarm, Spybot, Adaware, AVG anti Spyware AVG anti virus and Avast.
It's beyond a joke really.
Not even my machine, it's the other halfs.
Couple of months back, a bit of spyware still managed to get onto the machine.
This software, switched on your webcam and directed the images back to someone.
Spyware literally.

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This software, switched on your webcam and directed the images back to someone.

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Hopefully you're not sitting naked in front of your cam ;)

I have still never used a spyware scanner, and have never had a noticable problem (expect for on my dads computer at the moment. I think I got rid of the software but not the problems it caused which i assume are in the registry)

There's probably no one who wants something from you, just like in real life ;)

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Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner

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This software, switched on your webcam and directed the images back to someone.

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Hopefully you're not sitting naked in front of your cam ;)

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Liar

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Originally Posted by Stephen Coates

I have still never used a spyware scanner, and have never had a noticable problem (expect for on my dads computer at the moment. I think I got rid of the software but not the problems it caused which i assume are in the registry)

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That's the point of spyware - if you noticed it, then it would be a crap spy :rolleyes:

Exactly. If you have never run a spyware scanner Steve then there is no way of knowing if you have ever had any infections on any of your computers.

Spyware infections are not just annoying because they steal information and send it back to their source. They also cause a lot of other strange behaviour on a system. Certain things suddenly crashing more often, not running at all, the OS doing odd things, some of the hardware not functioning correctly etc... That is the real reason you need to scan for spyware.

As mentioned many many many many times before, only an idiot would think it clever to state they never scan for spyware, let along not running a firewall or having a virus scanner installed and running. But surely such a person cannot exist in this day and age! Can they? ;)

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Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner

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This software, switched on your webcam and directed the images back to someone.

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Hopefully you're not sitting naked in front of your cam ;)

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Uh oh........

*puts away fleshlight*

:evil:

fleshlight? :unsure:

I suppose he meant the light to see some naked flesh :p

Google it.

Not at work though.

A mate bought one for a work secret santa once. Disgusting.

Yet hilarious.

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Originally Posted by J T

Google it.

Not at work though.

A mate bought one for a work secret santa once. Disgusting.

Yet hilarious.

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Ho ho ho, this is just weird.

Strange indeed. Seen those advertised in the back of newspapers and always wondering who actually buys them. Didn't know they were called Fleshlights. Learn something new every day. :lol:

Lol, could you imagine opening that at work...lol "uh this flashlight doesnt work..." :unsure:

It could be a great pratical joke thing..... get one and swap it for a mate's actual torch in his tool box. Hilarity would undoubtedly ensue next time he opened up the box at work or to do a little DIY (Hey, unitentional filth implied there also, bonus).

:lol: Hey Teho, you work in construction! Great practical joke in the making here for you.

Lol. So true JT

:D Will have to keep this one in mind.