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Computer
First Aid
Computing can be a difficult and even intimidating task for many people. One of the most troublesome problems with computing is when unwanted software (often called malware)is installed on the computer, causing it to slow down . The presence of malware (viruses, spyware, adware, trojans, etc.) on a computer can make computing very difficult, and unsafe as well. Often, end-users reach this stage and then give up--they just don't turn on the computer or surf anymore, because it is too tedious. This problem is very unfortunate, because with a few simple steps, most home users can clean up their computers, and keep them running in a very efficient manner. This is turn can save money, because a a cleaned computer that is already paid for is much cheaper than a new one that you would put on your Mastercard.
You would be well advised to know that there are three sections to this essay. If you have been experiencing problems with malware on your computer, it is important to take care of all three steps, because all three are essential for the continued safety of your computer.
A. Cleaning up your computer
If you are willing to put a bit of time and effort, you can most likely clean up your computer (and keep it clean), for free--there is no charge at all for any of the programs linked to, below. If your computer is running noticeably slower than before, or is having problems with a high amount of pop-up ads or even other problems, try the following steps, in order:
| Note: If your
computer has been seriously infected
(to the point that it is slowed to a crawl, or is otherwise unusable),
you should definitely take two extra steps: A. Run the antivirus and antispyware programs in Safe Mode. This is a stripped-down instance of Windows running, with fewer programs running, which make it less likely that the malware will be running as well. This in turn will give you a better chance of removing the malware. You can only get into Safe Mode by booting your computer into it: after you turn your computer on, but before the Windows startup screen appears, hit the F8 button. Choose to boot into Safe Mode (if you haven't been able to get online and update your virus or spyware definitions, then you should boot into Safe Mode with Networking, which will allow you to go online). B. Get a second opinion--after cleaning up the computer, get an online virus scan. Many of the antivirus companies provide them for free. You can find a few here: Norton Antivirus , Bit Defender, and Trend Micro (which work with Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP). If you are running Vista and want to take advantage of an online scan, you can try F-Secure. |
1. Get updated
antivirus and antispyware programs
If you don't have both types of programs, you
can go to free.grisoft.comand follow the links (on the left side of the page).
AVG offers excellent editions of both. Whichever one you don't have,
download and install. Do keep in mind that AVG Antispyware requires
Windows 2000, XP, or Vista to run. If you are running an
earlier version of Windows (the 9x series: Windows 95, 98, or ME), you
will need to use Spybot
Search&Destroy
as an antispyware program. Scan with both an antivirus and the AVG
Antispyware program, making sure to update each before you scan.
AVG Antispyware can be updated by simply opening up the program. In the middle of the window that opens up, click on a link that says "Update now." AVG Antivirus can be updated by simply right-clicking on the AVG icon in the System Tray (bottom right corner of the screen), and selecting "Check for Updates." If you can't find it in the System Tray, find it in the Programs menu. Click on the AVG--Test Center shortcut, and then in the window that opens up, click on "Check for Updates."
2. Scan for
viruses and malware
If what is being reported as malware, shouldn't be on your computer,
you can remove what the scans find. If you aren't positive about
removing some or all of the items they recommend for removal, both
programs give you the option of "quarantining" the spyware. Quarantined
malware will not be able to disrupt your computer. You can go back a
week later and delete the quarantined file, if nothing is going wrong
with the computer. On the other hand, if a problem is created by
quarantining those files, you can always restore them.
Quarantining with AVG Antispyware:
When the scan is complete all detected malware will be listed
on the
left-hand side of the Scan dialog. By left- or right-clicking on the
Action of the selected item in the list a context menu will appear
displaying the optional actions available. Select the action
Quarantine. Once you have set the required action for each item in the
list, click on the Apply all actions button.
Let me warn you about one particularly subtle type of malware. There are some programs that get installed on your computer, and then inform you that your computer has umpty-six infections, and that if you pay $20 to download a certain program, you will be able to clean up your computer. Don't ever go through with that and pay them money-it's a scam! Apart from some incredibly isolated examples, everything you need to get, to clean up your computer, you can get for free. If you think you might have some program on your computer that is malware posing as a good program (trying to scam you out of $20 or so), you should go to this anti-spyware site. This site will provide you with information on such rogue anti-spyware programs.
Symantec (the makers of Norton Antivirus) maintain a fairly up-to-date library of utilities and information on how to remove malware that is prevalent in the wild. If you have a particular bit of malware that is hard to kill, you would do well to see if Symantec has a tool to deal with it.Keep in mind that you should not consider your computer to be cleaned up (after you have become infected) until after you have rebooted and run a new scan. Believe it or not, a fair amount of malware has the ability to change its directory when a drive is being scanned, and thus even though the anti-malware program tells you that it has taken care of it, it will still exist on the hard drive. This is why it is good to reboot and do a new scan, even after your program has told you that it has disinfected your computer.
3.
Look in Add or Remove Programs
Most spyware will not alert you
to its presence by placing an entry
here, but some programs will. Go to
Start>Settings>ControlPanel>AddOrRemovePrograms
(in Vista, the
Start pearl>Control Manager>Programs). You will be
presented with
a list of programs installed on your computer. Be forewarned-- the Add
or Remove Programs menu is not a list of spyware or viruses-it is the
menu in which all regularly installed programs go. However, there is a
chance that malware is listed here. One type of malware that does
commonly list itself in the Add/Remove Programs menu is adware search
toolbars (anything that has the word search in it
is possibly
one of these). Don't uninstall anything until you are sure that you
don't want it there. Once you have determined that you don't need or
want a particular program, select that program, and then click on the
Change/Remove tab to uninstall. You may have to restart your computer
after the uninstall process is finished. Again, you should only
uninstall a program on this list, after you are sure it doesn't belong.
A Google search can help you decide if you want it on your computer.
Don't be surprised if your antispyware progam doesn't get rid of such a
toolbar. They are notoriously difficult to kill. If you have one, and
an antivirus and antispyware scan, or the Add-Remove Programs window,
in Safe Mode won't get rid of it, you'll probably have to look it up
online to see how to remove it.
4. Consult the
experts
If you have not been able to clean up your computer on your own, you
have two other choices: go online and get expert advice to clean up
your computer (still for free), or you can simply reformat your hard
drive and start over, if you have the original Windows installation
disks on hand. If you are unwilling or unable to reinstall Windows, you
can go online to the Techguy.org
forum and get very timely and expert assistance with your
computer problems.
B. Things to do once your system is clean:
1. Update Windows
It is important to update Windows itself. In Windows XP or 2000, just go to the Windows update site. If you are running one of the 9x series of Windows, you will need to go to another Windows update site. If you are using Vista, go to the Control Panel, and then use the Windows update function within that directory to update your operating system.
If you have XP, you should download both SP2 and Internet Explorer 7 (if you haven't already). To find out if you have SP2 installed, right-click on My Computer, then select Properties. The tab that opens up should be General. Look towards the top, under System (and above the identity of the person to whom the computer is registered) the version of XP you are using. There, you will see what (if any) service packs you have installed. There are so many security threats that were resolved with SP2 (defense against the Slammer worm, turning on the Windows Firewall, Active-X programs require user permission, etc.) that you should dowload this immediately. This is a huge download (depending on what needs to be downloaded, anywhere from 70 megabytes to 270 megs), so give it time. If you are on dial-up, and you just can't spare tying up your phone line, you might be better off ordering SP2 on a cd. In that case, you would probably be better off not getting online (or drastically curtailing the time you spend surfing) until that cd arrives in the mail. Go to this link, to order the cd (believe it or not, Microsoft will send you the cd for free, even without charging you for shipping. If you have a broadband connection, but haven't yet installed SP2, don't wait for the CD--download it immediately.
Also, if you have Windows XP, make sure that Internet Explorer is updated to IE7 (Vista comes with IE7 already installed). To find out what version of Internet Explorer you have, open it up, and then go to Help>About Internet Explorer. The window that pops up will show you which version you have. It should be installed along with other updates to XP. In case this hasn't taken place, you can download IE 7 here. Keep in mind that in order to download or install IE7, you will need to have SP2 installed, so take care of that first. If you have an older version of Windows (95, 98, or ME), you can't install IE7. In this case, you would be much better off, from a security standpoint,downloading the Mozilla Firefox browser, and using IE only for Windows updates from microsoft.com.
2. Turn System Restore off and then back on again.
System Restore often harbors the malware that goofed up your system to begin with, so be sure to turn it off (which deletes any of those files), and then back on again. In XP: Right-click the My Computer icon, then select Properties. In the new windows, click on the System Restore tab. Check the box that says Turn off System Restore on all drives. Click on OK, then Yes to any warning message. To turn it back on again, go to that System Restore tab. Uncheck the box that says Turn off System Restore on all drives. In Vista: Go to Start>Control Panel>System. On the left pane, click on System Protection. In the new window, uncheck the C drive (which is the drive where Windows and other programs are installed, unless it has been altered, in which case you would probably know). Click on OK when you get a new message asking if that is what you want to do. Then, click on the Turn System Restore Off button. To turn System Restore back on: go to the same location, but this time, check the box next to the C drive. Select OK or Apply.
Keep in mind that the fact that System Restore can harbor malware, doesn't make that function a bad feature. System Restore is a helpful feature in which can re-set many settings in Windows itself back to a previous "restore point." However, it isn't a complete, system-wide rollback machine--it will not restore deleted files or programs, nor will it remove any viruses. Its simply designed as a way to preserve some Windows settings, in the event that you (or some malware) goofs things up. You can't use it to combat malware, because System Restore doesn't delete anything, and also, any malware currently on your computer will typically be also inside a restore point (they are usually made every 24 hours in XP). But you can use it in case you have made some changes to your monitor, or to Windows itself that you wished you hadn't, and can't figure out how to unravel it.
3.Download an antispyware program that will provide resident protection (continual monitoring, instead of just a one-time scan) for your computer.
The AVG Antispyware that you downloaded in Step 1 of Section A will only do this for the first 30 days that you use it. After that, you can use the scanner (which is a wise thing to do, after updating it, of course), but it won't run in the background. For this purpose, you should download Windows Defender (if you are running XP), or Spybot Search & Destroy (which will run in the background, if you have Windows 95, 98, or ME). If you are going to install Spybot, then definitely make sure that the Tea Timer option is installed (this is the part of Spybot that provides resident protection . Users of Vista will have Windows Defender already installed on your computer. One problem with how Windows Defender is set up, is that automatic updates only occur before a scheduled scan. If you don't leave your computer on once a week or month all night to scan and get updates, you will either have to have this happen at some point during the day, or manually update it yourself.
A note of caution: some users have reported that two anti-spyware programs running at once, can cause system conflicts. The jury is still out on this, but if your computer has been having malware problems, it would be good to rule this out as a cause of any computer freeze--so you would be best off making sure that only one antispyware program is running at once. AVG is set to run in the background all the time, for the first 30 days. If you install Windows Defender within that 30-day period, you should configure AVG Antispyware so that it doesn't run in the background and conflict with Windows Defender. Double-click on the AVG Antispyware icon, and then click on the Shield tab. At the top of the window, you will see "Resident shield is..." Click the word "Active" to make it read "inactive."
4. Download the Firefox web browser and use it to surf the net instead of Internet Explorer.
Simply using this browser will make it less likely that your computer will be infected with viruses and spyware. You can download the latest version at www.mozilla.org. In addition to being more secure (it's security holes are patched faster than those of IE), the Firefox web browser offers other advantages, such as a password manager, tabbed browsing, and the option of using many different "skins" or "themes" on the browser (themes are the different colors and icons that you can use on your browser); finally, Firefox offers you a nearly unlimited number of "extensions," small programs that do one or two things for you.
Some users might prefer a slightly different browser, akin to Mozilla Firefox--called Seamonkey . There are two advantages of using Seamonkey. Seamonkey is compatible with Windows 95, so if your computer is running Windows 95, you can safely browse with Seamonkey (Firefox requires Windows 98 or above). Additionally, Seamonkey has an email client built in to its program. If you have used Netscape Navigator in the past, and like the built-in email cient, then Seamonkey is for you. Simply wanting an email client doesn't mean you have to use Seamonkey, however. If that is your only concern, you can use Firefox for web browsing, and its sister project, Thunderbird, to read your email. To summarize: if you want separate web browser and email client, you can use Firefox and Thunderbird; if you want them both rolled into one program, then you would want Seamonkey. If all you are interested in is a browser, then by all means take Firefox--it represents the future of the Mozilla project, and is more actively maintained than Seamonkey is.
5. Make sure you have Spyware Blasterinstalled, if you are going to be doing most of your surfing with Internet Explorer (I don't--the only uses I make of IE are when I go to microsoft.com to update Windows, or on a rare occasion that the site I'm surfing doesn't work right with Firefox). Spyware Blaster isn't a program, so much as a set of registry settings that ensure that malware using Active-X technology won't be installed on your computer. This program is designed primarily for those who surf with Internet Explorer, becasue IE is the only browser that uses Active-X technology that some sites use to install malware on your computer--(the technology is proprietary, owned by Microsoft).6. Update Microsoft Office.
Believe it or not, there are security updates not only for the Windows operating system and web browsers (such as Firefox and Internet Explorer), but for Office programs as well. These do not offer functionality so much as protection from breaches in security, so it would be very wise to install these. Whether you use Microsoft Office 2000, Office 2003, or Office 2007, if you have never updated your office software, you can search for a Service Pack, which is a large collection of individual updates. Downloading and installing a Service Pack will save you time (instead of downloading these updates individually). Just go to www.microsoft.com and search for "Office 2003 Service Pack 3," or whatever you need. Both Office 2000 and 2003 are up to Service Pack 3, so you can download that. Office 2007 has just had Service Pack 1 released (as of December 2007). After downloading the Service Packs, you can easily update MS Office through the regular Windows update feature within Windows itself. If you are running XP or 2000, you can update Office XP, 2003, and 2007 at the same site you went to update Windows: update.microsoft.com. If you have Office 2000, or are running Windows 95, 98, or ME, however, you will need to go to the separate Office 2000 update site to get your updates. To check which version of Office you're using, open any Microsoft Office program. Click Help, and then click About (program name).
C. Best Practices (to keep your computer clean)
Now that you have cleaned up your computer, there are some things that you can do to keep your computer from getting infected to begin with.
1. Make sure that you have an antivirus and antispyware program running in the background at all times.
2. Make sure that Windows itself is updated regularly. The best way to do this is to let Windows download and install updates automatically. If you are runing Vista, go to the Control Panel>Security>Windows Update. To configure XP for automatic updates, right-click on the My Computer icon, and select Properties. Then, select the Automatic Updates tab, and check the top button, Automatic Updates. If you choose not to use automatic updates, then use the same method that you did in Part B (to update Windows), to update it manually.
3. Use the Firefox web browser to surf, instead of Internet Explorer. And be sure to get Firefox updated automatically. Make sure that your version of Firefox is the latest one (2.0), and that Firefox is updated regularly. Now Firefox is set up by default, to update itself automatically. If you aren't sure, you can go to Tools>Options>Advanced. Look at the Update tab, and make sure that the "Automatically Check for Updates to" Firefox and Installed Add-ons boxes are checked.
4. Don't install toolbars from unknown companies! These are a very common form of malware. If you really do like the functionality that search toolbars provided, get one from a reputable company: Google, Yahoo, or MSN. Now this doesn't mean that these three are the only legitimate toolbars. If you would like to install another toolbar, just google that toolbar's name and "+uninstall," and see if others are having problems uninstalling it.
5. Use a cleanup utility to clean up temp files and browser cache. Malware can look in these files and get information that you have viewed or typed in to your keyboard. Now for a cleanup utility you have a choice. If you have decided to use IE for your surfing (and this should only be IE7--if you are using an older version of Windows [95, 98, or ME] you cannont download IE7 and for security reasons, should be using a modern browser: Firefox or Seamonkey), you can easily use Windows' default Disk Cleanup utility. In XP, go to Start>Programs>System Tools and select Disk Cleanup. Tell Windows what drive you want it to clean up (usually the C drive), and then make sure that Disk Cleanup has checked: Downloaded Program Files, Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin, and Temporary Files. I would recommend that all other options be unchecked. Then, click on OK and Windows will delete these files for you. If you are running Vista, you can run Disk Cleanup by going to Start>All Programs>Accesories>System Tools, then select Disk Cleanup. Select the drive you want to clean up (again, if you don't know, just select C). In the Disk Cleanup tab, check all the boxes EXCEPT Hibernation File Cleaner and the three three Windows Error files at the bottom. Click OK, then Delete Files.
Now if you are using another browser (besides IE7), you can still use Windows' Disk Cleanup, but then you would also still have to delete the temp files (cache) in your browser as well. If you download a small but potent program called CCleaner, you can have it do everything that Disk Cleanup does, plus it can delete the cache in other browsers as well, saving you a few clicks and one more thing to remember. If you choose to use CCleaner, I would recommend only the following boxes to be checked:Windows Tab
Internet Explorer: everything but Autocomplete Form History
System: Empty Recycle Bin, Temporary Files, Clipboard, Memory Dumps, Chkdsk File Fragments only
Nothing else under the Windows tab
Applications
Nothing but the cache of the browsers you use (if you want it to delete the cookies and history of the browsers, you can of course have it do that as well).
There are other system files that CCleaner can delete, but these files either: would be deleted by Windows anyways if needed, or might be needed at some point in the future. Do be careful with CCleaner, though: when you install a new application, especially a browser, it will assume that you want it to clean up lots of files, so before using it, I always look at that Applications tab to see exactly what it is going to delete.
6. Be careful about what you click on. Don't click on links to financial institutions that you get in your email. Any financial institution that you want to log in to, you should keep links to in your bookmarks. That way, if you get an email saying that your account has had some suspicious activity, you can simply click on the bookmark and login and see, instead of clicking on the link in the email, and wondering if it was a phishing attempt to get your login credentials.
7. You should not have your browser remember any sensitive passwords (via a cookie, when you check the "Remember me when I sign in again" box, or through the password manager). One of the problems with not writing down passwords or having software remember them is that they can get pretty hard after a while.If you go to a few financial sites and you aren't comfortable using the same password, try using the same basic password, but then adding a character or two that youc an easily remember--the first letter or two of the name of the institution, or the type of account, etc. I have Firefox remember all my non-secure passwords (such as website forums), and I enter in manually those for banks and my email.
8. Set up a regular schedule (from once a week to once a month) for maintainance tasks, such as scans and updates for programs that you don't have set to update automatically.
To aid this, you might want to make a folder in your Start menu, that gives you shortcuts or links (either to programs on my computer, or to websites) to every task you need to do in your maintainance program. You can do this easily by setting up a folder in your Start menu; right-clicking on any folder you want to get into, or program you want to run, and then dragging the icon onto this folder. When you let up, Windows will ask if you want to move or copy a shortcut. Copying would be fine, and still allow you to leave the links where they originally were.
For example, you would place
links to any programs
that aren't set to update automatically in this folder. If you want to
do backups of your data, or defragmenting, you can also place
links/shortcuts to those programs as well. You will want to do at least
the following, every time you perform your maintenance. First, update
the definition files for any malware programs that aren't configured to
update automatically, including Spyware Blaster (if you have it
installed). Next, run a scan with your antivirus and spyware programs.
After that, you can clean out old files by running a disk cleanup
utility, and then defrag the hard drive. Finally, update Windows. You can see an example of such a folder that I
used a while back, in the graphic below. To
make this all easy, I created a folder in my Start Menu with shortcuts
to those tasks; I simply start at the top and go down the list until
its all done. In this
folder, I have shortcuts
to 4 Windows folders or programs (Prefetch, System Restore, Disc
Cleanup, and Disk Defragmenter). I also have shortcuts to 2 programs
(and MS AntiSpyware), as well as a link to the Windows Update site.
