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Free, Near-Foolproof Way to Evade Windows Spyware
adam wenner writes "I have typed up instructions for 'non-computer people' on how to remove spyware and malware (and viruses for that matter). I have tested this procedure on about 40 computers and have never had any problems with any of it. Most people would say a nice 'format c:' would solve the problem, but for most people, that isn't good, and it's a headache reinstalling and migrating stuff over to a freshly formatted machine." I could have used this a few months ago while trying to mitigate malware damage to a friend's system.
Remove network card and modem.
Considering this is a /. article, I figured the perfect method to do so would be installing Linux. It fits the description perfectly!
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
Because we're focused on helping 'non-computer people.'
They might not be able to understand the command line interface to type such a command, nor find the format option in the menu and successfully slection the right options from the dialog box.
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups. -- 0 1 My two bits
this article gives new information how exactly?
Also, if adware/spyware/virus infections are really that big of a problem you can always switch to a better designed system. Like linux (yeah i know).
Still, the best solution would be simply to educate users, specifically educate enough users so that spam/virus infections would not reach critical mass to be able to survive.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Run windows on a livecd.
Just reboot, and POOF! all the spyware is gone.
Stop the world; I need to get off.
a) The good thing about the linked list is that it gives a step-by-step for those not much familiar with Windows (like me), but sometimes asked to help with someone else's crippled machine.
... what's the problem? :)
b) Not everyone's ready to give up Windows; the grandmother whose machine I (very slightly) helped clean up this winter likes Windows well enough, when it's working, and she brings home work from the office to do on it. Her husband's machine, though, I just replaced with one running Knoppix. Progress, progress. They both like the card games that come with a typical Linux install (and there are more than come with Windows).
c) This *is* educating users.
So
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
This list is nice and all and while laughable to those with a clue it could work for an idiot. Except for two tiny little errors he makes.
The first is that his foolproof solution contains words. Multiple words some of them longer then one syllable. It even runs of the bottom of the page. Lets face it the average spyware attractor can barely read a newspaper headline without a rest.
Second is that his solution is no magic bullet. Those who attract spyware want a shiny sparkly button to click. Not think or have to remember things.
This list is ONLY of use to completly new computer users. Those who already been infected have already proven that they lack the mental skills to survive online. Only way to fix them is take away their internet OR just realize that techs worldwide are feeding their families by fixing those spyware infested computers.
As long as I can remember consumer organisations have warned against pyramid schemes. That hasn't gone away and people can loose real money with them. There will always be stupid people. Don't hate spyware. See it as a sign so that you know the person you are dealing with is slightly denser then your cat. Now if only we could convince stupid people they can get a something free by wearing a sign.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Mozilla Firefox is an open-source web browser that has been taking the internet by storm, it is the fastest browser out there, and is devoid of software holes that previously allowed spyware onto your system in the first place while you surfed with Internet Explorer
Firefox has zero bugs???
No, honestly. Firefox is some of your best protection against spyware.
I've used dozens of computers since 1999, and have received less then 5 pieces of spyware in that time-- all of it was injected into my system on those rare occasions that I used Internet Explorer. I've used Mozilla or Firefox as my primary browser since 2000 or so.
My 60 year old parents used IE for years, and got spyware on his system every couple months. He switched to Firefox a year ago because he read an article Kiplingers or some other business magazine (No encouragement from me) and hasn't had a single piece of spyware since.
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
1. Don't run as administrator. Create another account as restricted user for daily use. Most spyware requires administrator rights to install.
s oftware/default.mspx . Sure is is still beta but it works pretty well. For those anti MS types out there, MS bought this software from Giant Software.
2. Download and install Microsoft Antispyware http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/
Any other tips?
In a world that is Free and Open, who needs Windows and Gates?
While I agree that all of those steps are useful, how is this different than the advice that people have been giving since spyware became a problem? People always recommend spybot: search and destroy and ad-aware since they came out. And I'm certain that I've read more complete guides than this (although I understand this makes it harder for regular users to follow)
The writeup's got some decent steps and has potential, but it seems written towards someone who already knows something about computers (eg doesn't need the info). I hate to say it, but it needs dumbed down for non-computer weenies. Maybe add a quick, non-technical explanantion here and there and throw in some pictures.
I have been promoting users to use the same tools for a while with the exception of AVG.(I use free AVAST and I do use these tools on my windows machines. One correction, to get free AVG virus protection, goto this site, on main site it is hard to find the free version.
I just forwarded this to my Dad, who is "not the most computer savy" guy. For him, these detailed instructions are exctly what he needs.
:)
Side note:
I received a paniced call from my mother: your father's computer is dead--when you come home to visit do you think you can look at it?
great. just what I want to deal with... ok mom, find me some windows install cd's--sounds like this sucker is toast.
ahhh... my dad. when I get home I turn the computer on and hear the familiar "click-click-click" of a floppy accessing! Once I ejected his "Calvin and Hobbes screen savers" disk the computer came back to life.
His computer was "dead" for a couple of weeks mind you
These instructions will be perfect for him.
"I have typed up instructions for 'non-computer people'" and "Slashdot - News for nerds"
I believe these statements are slightly in conflict.
About point b), i agree, although i think that c) missed the target audience. Also i would like to point out that there are much better written articles, checklists existing already.
Don't get me wrong, i wouldn't care if i would see 5 stories about this topic next week, i'd just skip them over, the only reason i posted is that i felt a little bit let down. I read the title and i expected that someone came up with a new, experimental, seems-to-be-working, wickedly simple way to do so. Sure, it is maybe new for my grandma but not to 99% of the people here.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
While cleaning a relative's computer recently I noticed that browsing was still painfully slow even after the machine appeared to be clean. I finally discovered that one of the spyware apps had installed a proxy configuration script URL in IE's settings -- effectively routing all internet traffic through the spyware company's site without any installed software. I installed Firefox, but I wonder if it's possible that such settings could be imported into Firefox's Connections Settings if left unchecked.
Joel
http://www.geektv.net/
I blogged basically this same stuff months ago. It's not new, and it's not exciting. As though any nontechnical people are going to read an article on /. anyway.
step 2: spend an entire day trying to configure your hardware
step 3: realize that you can't play games with Linux
step 4: figure out that Linux is not ready for the desktop
step 5: format harddrive and install Windows, the best desktop OS
Someone else has already mentioned this, but I really think that for now, it needs to be added to the steps. I'm leery of trusting Microsoft in the long run, and how they can make this worse, but for the time being, when I run it on spyware-infected systems, it finds a LOT more malware than Adaware and Spybot do.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
It's called BartPE. There are many Plugins available. People involved with this seem to all be members of the CD Forum.
- An Active Desktop background which displayed an ad for spyware removal. This was a pain since it was locked into place using the Group Policy security system, the tools for which aren't available on an XP Home system.
- A couple of processes which managed to get themselves into Safe Mode. I had to use a Bart-PE Windows LiveCD to kill them
- About 20 Browser Helper Objects, including one which inserted its own referrer links into Google results and 3 toolbars, and 50 startup processes that neither Spybot nor Adaware found
While automated tools are useful, and will likely become more useful as the market matures, they are certainly not a panacea. These days, the only way to eliminate spyware is to not get it in the first place; that's where we, as computer professionals, should be focusing our efforts.That's it. I'm no longer part of Team Sanity.
And it's nice to have Mike Lin's StartupMonitor and Startup Control Panel installed. Helps to keep things from being added to start without your knowledge, and lets you disable them after the fact.
I think I should point out some practical experience here, that suggests the opposite. A number of months ago, I helped clean spyware off my parents' PC. Installed Firefox, and my dad agreed to set it up as default browser, so that URL's opened by other programs use Firefox too. Don't underestimate the significance of this; if you can convince grandma to use the safer browser by default, make it so. If you need to, rename the "Firefox" icon as "Internet".
Installed recent versions of common plugins (Flash, Java & QuickTime IIRC), and asked my dad NOT to agree/install any other plugins after that, only make a note of what's felt as 'missing'. So you have Firefox, you have all common plugins (working! and recent versions). Not enough? Then either that site is badly designed and should be avoided, or additional 'plugins' may mean 'malware'. If I overlooked some popular plugin, my dad will let me know on my next visit.
Next, I setup separate user accounts, without passwords. I felt that asking my dad to enter a password each time was too much hassle, but he agreed that clicking on his name, once during bootup, was OK (you take what you can get). Account setup was easy, my dad knows how to use admin account if he needs to install something, but normal work is done as non-priviliged user.
Ofcourse I enabled automatic updates (WinXP), and in this case ignored the firewall setting, since there's a hardware-based firewall box between the ADSL connection and my dad's PC. Regardless of quality, a harder nut to crack than any software-based firewall (decent password set, and any outside-access options disabled on that thingie). A hardware-based firewall also makes OS reinstalls safer/easier.
The only changes my dad sees: a single click on his name on bootup, and a slightly different looking browser program. A couple of months later, I asked my dad what he had noticed lately. Only comments along the lines of 'one or two programs complaining about being unable to install something, but nothing that got in the way of normal use'. I explained him that there was a good chance, that these programs complaining where likely stuff he wouldn't want/need on his PC anyway, so these rare 'unable to install something' dialogue boxes could be regarded as positive signs. ;-)
It produces way more headaches than it solves (..)
Assuming the above scenario could work for many Joe Sixpacks and grandma's, your claim is obviously flawed. A priviliged admin account is needed either for installing software, running applications with special needs, or performing special tasks. Exactly the sort of thing Joe Sixpacks and grandma's DON'T DO (or SHOULDN'T be doing!). So they'll be fine with a non-priviliged user account.
For folks where this is not the case ('advanced/power user'), you can assume they know what they're doing. If not, those users only have themselves to blame for not RTFM.
So as you state, a couple of simple steps like this can prevent 99% of the problems. Read: not producing, but preventing headaches. All of the above was easy and took little time, and I don't expect to spend much effort on cleaning virus/spyware crap from that machine in the future. If anything, the next step would be buying a "Linux for dummies" book, and installing a newby-friendly distro a la Mandrake or Ubuntu. My dad already tried to install Linux once, so he's definitely interested. ;-)
It's possible for systems to be so infested that it is difficult or impossible to download and install software. In these cases it may be necessary to stop the malware processes before cleaning them up.
An easy way to do this is to run the "msconfig" program from the command prompt. Click the "Startup" tab and uncheck the startups that correspond to malware (compare the list to a clean system to see what's abnormal). Then reboot and proceed with the cleanup...
At a local computer store I work at, our tech cd's have batch files that install, update, and run scans with these programs. We also have other programs we run such as hijack this, and some program specifics like About Buster or others to get the real nasty ones. After we do the cleanup, we don't see many of the same customers back for spyware problems by telling them to run spyware scans regularly. I usually install Microsoft AntiSpyware as well if I'm not feelin too lazy. Also don't forget to clean out temporary internet files and other temp folders after cleaning, otherwise you will likely some if it back very soon.
Tell all your friends and family that you charge $500 per hour, 2 hours minimum with cash payment up-front, for your professional services. That will guarantee you never have to deal with their spyware again.
I don't usually do this, but:
l _2005_web_server_survey.html
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/04/01/apri
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Dude,
Are you trying to troll me or what? I'm talking desktops here! Who in their right mind would run Apache on Windows XP? It's simply too unstable. And who would right a virus for an Apache server (most likely running Linux) when they could easily control and army of Windows boxes that dwarfs the number of Unix boxes by a mile.
No. I've been talking Apache vs. IIS, you misunderstood me.
This is the classic counter-example for the "has large marketshare so it must have security issues" and the "linux has small marketshare thats why the small number of vulnerabilities".
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Systems "cleaned" with this procedure may still be infected with a "root kit", so the entire operating system is compromised, and Windows hides relevant files from SpyBot, Anti-virus scanners, and similar tools.
A "Rootkit Revealer" was mentioned on slashdot recently http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/23/13
Otherwise you could end up with a PC that seems to be running fine, and shows no visible signs of trouble, such as popup ads, yet is quietly spewing massive quantities of spam. A PC that is obviously infected may be less evil that one that looks clean but isn't.
regards,
michael.
In the words of Shaun Ryder, "You're twisting my melon, man".
Stuck down a hole! In the middle of the night! With an owl!
Want encryption? Supply a master password to Firefox.
Thanks for the tip. The Firefox development team seems to be experiencing problems.