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The number one problem we see by far is ‘malware’ or malicious software.  Software is considered malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. It includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, and other malicious and unwanted software.    Within this group, the number one problem is spyware and rogue anti-spyware.

The ASC (Anti-Spyware Coalition) drafted a definition of “spyware” in August 2005. The ASC defines spyware and other potentially unwanted technologies as those that “impair users’ control over material changes that affect their user experience, privacy, or system security; use of their system resources, including what programs are installed on their computers; or collection, use, and distribution of their personal or otherwise sensitive information.”

“Spyware” is something of a grey area, so there’s no consistent definition for it. However, as the name suggests, it’s often loosely defined as software that is designed to gather data from a computer and forward it to a third party without the consent or knowledge of the computer’s owner/operator. This includes monitoring key strokes, collecting confidential information (passwords, credit card numbers, PIN numbers, etc.), harvesting e-mail addresses, or tracking browsing habits. There’s a further by-product of spyware where such activities inevitably affect network performance, slowing down the system and thereby affecting the whole business process.

The reason “spyware” is such a grey area is that it is really just a catch-all term for a wide assortment of malware-related programs, rather than a defined category. Most “spyware” definitions apply not only to “adware”, “pornware” and “riskware” programs, but also to many Trojan programs: Backdoor Trojans, Trojan Proxies and PSW Trojans. Such programs have been around for almost a decade, when some of first AOL password stealers appeared. However, at that time the term “spyware” had not yet been used.

Another reference to spyware is “adware”. In this case, spyware can exist in the form of malicious backdoor programs that open up ports, initiate an FTP server, or collect keystroke information and transmit it back to the attacker. Spyware can exist in the form of legal and desirable commercial applications that give network administrators a great deal of power both over what they can affect, and view their managed systems.

Although such programs are not new, their use for malicious purposes has increased in recent years and they have received much greater attention, both from the media and from “spyware”-only vendors.

Home Page Hijacking

Home page hijacking is when malware changes the Internet Explorer home page, and then locks down a system so that the user cannot change their home page back to his/her original choice.

Search Engine Games

Internet Explorer has several built-in search facilities that use well-known, legitimate, search engines. There is the Explorer Pane that appears to the left of screen, as well as the ability to search from the address bar.  One of the most popular forms of malware is search engine hijacking. Suddenly your well known search engine in Internet Explorer will disappear to be replaced by an unfamiliar stranger.

Toolbars

Another common symptom of malware is the appearance of a new toolbar that invariably claims to provide a Web search or other service. It may appear at the top or bottom of the screen and sometimes cannot be turned off.

Pop-Up Advertisements

Pop-up advertisements can be a normal part of internet surfing. Many sites use them. However, pop-up advertisements that appear even when we are not actively surfing the web are not normal, nor is it normal to see so many advertisements that normal Web surfing is hampered, or our systems collapse under the load. Nor is it normal to see non-family friendly pop-ups during casual Web surfing. Nor is it normal to see pop-up windows that fill the entire screen and cannot be closed.

Crashes/Boot Failures

Ok, programs can crash. They always have, and although crashes now are rarer than they were, a few years ago,  consistent crashing of your system or browser is not OK or normal.  So what is a normal crash, and what is a malware crash? Well, first of all, malware crashes often involve unusual file names such as aodxyz3256.dll or may refer to unknown modules (files).

Secondly, malware crashes may occur when you are not actually doing anything. Your PC may be turned on, but idle.  Finally, and the worst events are, when your system crashes on boot-up.  If you notice this after you have been experiencing other malware symptoms, it is likely that you have a serious infection, but do not fret; most, if not all, of your data is likely to be safe or recoverable.  But your system needs serious repair work.

By far the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to fix an infection is to prevent it from ever happening in the first place.  How?  Use a reputable anti-malware product that contains both anti-virus and anti-spyware.  All the other tools that some anti-malware contain are like spices in a soup.  Not needed, but sometimes nice to have.

What is the best?  That answer can vary from month to month, and we test differing products regularly, but we currently use Kaspersky Internet Security in our shop, but as it tends to be a bit ‘technical’ for most folks, we recommend AVG Free edition as a good all around defender for most everyone.  We always recommend using the trial that most products have to be sure it fits your system and your style of use.  Also be sure to remove one before installing another, as too many protectors can be worse that the malware itself.

Be aware, none of them are perfect, and even with the best installed, you can get infected if you are not careful.  Avoiding infection is kind of like avoiding getting mugged.

1)      Be aware of your surroundings.   (It is easy to look safe on the web, trust sites by reputation.)

2)      Stay out of ‘bad’ neighborhoods. (There are ‘strings’ to that free music and software.)

3)      Do not act like a victim. (Since you really can’t do that, have a good protection software.)

Now it becomes complicated...  In our shop, to completely remove all the malware requires up to 7 scans including 3 proprietary scans available no where else.  We also complete a manual clean-up of the registry and hard drive.  All totaled, that is 2-5 hours of time in front of the system, and 15+ hours of scan time.  When your system leaves the shop we guarantee there are no detectable infections left.  What!  Did we just qualify that statement with 'detectable'?  Yes, because there are new bad guys every day, we have to use that qualification.

IS MY DATA GONE??!  Not likely, even if we have to reinstall Windows due to malware damage.  Hardly anyone ever looses data to malware, just programs and the OS, but even that is rare.  Our record infection was 15,480 infections cleaned from a single system with NO data loss, and still only $125.00 for the entire service.

We now know that unexpected home page and search engine changes, new toolbars, pop-up windows, and some Internet Explorer crashes are not normal and can be caused by malware. What do we do now? Well, we check our system for infections.