DISQUS

odd time signatures: Computer Security, Malware and Botnets

  • kmilyun · 2 years ago
    I run full versions of anit virus and have my router and my computer behind firewalls. I I scan with both Ad-Aware and SuperAntiSpyware. Every once in awhile something sneaks by - usually my bad caused by clicking the wrong button.

    The lastest emails that have gotten by my spam guard have the title "your photo". I assume this is to lure me in thinking it relates to Flickr - I dunno and I sure did not open it to find out.

    With all the virus variants and bored folks out there creating them I sometimes wonder if crossing my fingers for luck is not one of my better defenses.
  • Doug · 2 years ago
    There are six computers in the house (one per person plus a notebook), all as protected as they can be... and yet two of them have been seriously zapped within the past year. One of them was the PC of the most careful of the kids -- and I still don't know how it got nailed by a very nasty bug. That's the unfortunate reality of the world today -- it can and will eventually happen, even if you are relatively savvy and careful.
  • Marie · 2 years ago
    I can't sit down at a computer without checking its health. When I started my job about a year ago, my boss had just gone into business for herself. I never asked her, but I believe the computer I use came from her previous employment where they were sort of careful to remove the data files before letting it out the door. But, not the junk.

    Anyway, I spent that first day updating Windows, installing Firefox, firewall, and anti-virus software (it had none), and cleaning out about 90 cases of spyware and 400 instances of various other forms of malware. There was one super evil search bar type thing attached to IE that took a couple weeks to finally get rid of. This thing made even the simple act of closing IE launch pop-up ads for porn sites.

    The one so-called expert said that Julie was in fact computer literate because she had an AOL account, etc. Well, whoever had this particular computer before me was also computer literate. But still managed to get a tangled up mess on her computer.