Computer Security : How not to get Infected.

In my [intlink id=”3999″ type=”post”]previous blog post[/intlink] we talked about how the computer would get infected with Malware. Now on this blog post we will discuss how you can prevent most to all of these from ever happening again on your system.

Now let’s face it we are more and more going to be on the internet.   This is almost a necessity for a business or individuals.  You see Businesses have built there product around the internet and that is why it is necessary to be on the internet.

What program not to use to Surf the web

You should consider getting away from Internet Explorer,  I don’t say this lightly.   It may take Microsoft Months to fix a hole in something that involves [intlink id=”2301″ type=”post”]ActiveX or Something like that[/intlink].  We know how Microsoft will only[intlink id=”1951″ type=”post”] push out the really big security holes[/intlink] out of Cycle but keep the minor ones in Cycle.   [intlink id=”2301″ type=”post”]Hackers have jumped on exploits[/intlink] before when it comes Internet Explorer and use them on Black Wednesday, not less than 24 hours after the patches have been released.

Although these examples I showing doesn’t mean that they haven’t been fixed they are showing you how long it takes sometimes to fix them.

What you should use to Surf the web

One of te ways to prevent getting infected is keeping your browser up to date as quickly as possible, and I believe Mozzila Browser which is called FireFox is the answer.   One reason I recommend this to anything else is it is a community based browser and that means there is no waiting for a fix to come out when you know about it they have been working to fix the security hole.

They don’t wait till next month to send out a patch they usually only take a week or two to come up plugging the hole.   So that is why I always recommend to my clients to use FireFox instead of Internet Explorer.

I have 3 Addons that I would recommend along with FireFox, these addons help stop some of the most common ways to exploit your system.   The first one is called NOSCRIPT it is good to prevent scripts from being used on the web or on your system.  The next Addon I would recommend is Bit.ly Preview this is good for any shorten URL that is out there and will show you where it is really going.    It will also work well with Twitter web interface really well and let you know were a url is actually going to easily. Finally the last on I would recommend to my customers is AdBlocker Plus, this one is really good to use for like Facebook or other social sits where there might be a scareware redirect advertisement.  This will prevent some of those Notorious attempts at getting you to click a fake ad.

Also you may want to consider also installing some [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Firewall and Antivirus[/intlink] software to better protect your system from getting a virus in the first place.

On my next post I will talk about some common ways to trick you into installing a virus or scareware on your system. So stay tuned.

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5 ways to get more followers in Twitter

I’ve been doing something different in Twitter and I would like to talk about it.   I have learned so much today it and yet after the end of the day I’ve gotten even more followers.   I’ve gained over 123 so far today alone and I want to share with you some ways to increase your followers.

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  1. Provide Great Value — This one I learned today finding some great articles and retweeting the good articles.  This is essential Twitter tactics.   If you don’t do this your just going to be keep who you have and not grow.
  2. Be Funny — Don’t be funny just to be a class clown, that will draw followers but it can also hinder your likely hood of engaging in good conversation.   Twitter is a stream of Conversations that doesn’t do well with constant funniness  and if your always being the class clown, you will have a hard time keeping a conversation.   Now that being said it doesn’t mean to not be funny but to be funny in your way.  People like to laugh people are drawn to people who want to communicate about the topics at hand.
  3. Ask Others question — This is important because if you ask people question that means you want to start a dialog and will grow to understand how people react.   Sometimes it is good just to ask something provocative and see what your followers have to say about it.  This gives your followers a chance to feel like they are important and gives you a chance to learn something new today.
  4. Retweet Other’s People stuff —  This is sometimes the most obvious but if you retweet others stuff they will reciprocate and thank you.  In turn their followers will see what you did and maybe want to start receiving your updates.  All you have to do is add “RT @Username” and then the message.  This makes those users feel important and helps provide great value to others.
  5. Answer people questions — Just like asking if you know something that will provide value to a user this will get them to notice you and follow you.   I have some search terms up and running in Tweetdeck in case someone tweets something that I can answer.  This will provide those followers who are interested in stuff you are interested in.  Also it helps create a connection with that user and also opens up a dialog for even more great stuff.

This isn’t even hitting the mark but is a good starting point.   Now I want to talk about some good tools to help you manage your newly joined followers.   These tools will help trim and help you find those who might be of interest to you:

  • Huitter — Is good for following everyone or unfollowing those who aren’t following you back.  You can also unfollow all if you like.   This is good for those accounts that aren’t following you back or if you have a bunch of people who are following you and you don’t have time to go through and follow them manually.  This little tool will help automate the follow process for you.
  • FriendOrFollow — This is good to sort through the number of followers who you aren’t followering.  This little will show the number of Fans, Friends and Followers.  You can use this to find those inactive accounts by sorting through there last tweet.   You can also figure out who you want to follower or who your want to unfollow.   There are so many good uses for this that you will just have to play with it to find all the good stuff.
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  • Mr. Tweet — This one is one of my favorites because it will find those recommendations based on your friends response to people in there group.   If you have someone who you talk to alot this will help you find out who else talks to this someone and gives you a chance to follow them.  This will help you find relavant Twitter users to follow and gives you a chance to offer recommendations to your followers.  This is great for the power user because it shows who has recommended who and why.   You can do so much with little tool.
  • We Follow —  This isn’t really a tool you can use but is one of those you should put your name in because it allows people to find other people who are interested in what they are interested.  You only can put up 3 tags but this is really to allow people to find you so they can follow you.

I am sure someone else can come up with others but these tips and tools will help you develop those followers who have so much in common with your ways.  If you follow these suggestions you will start to grow you Twitter account to even more.  I am going to keep doing what I am have done today to see how fast this will grow my account but only time will tell.   If you like what you’ve seen hear please tell people about this post and encourage them to visit.

trojan.zlob removal tricks!!

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Aliases:
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qyl (Kaspersky)
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qzs (Kaspersky)
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qzn (Kaspersky)
Trojan.Zlob.CPP (BitDefender)
Puper (McAfee)
SystemDefender (Symantec)

Trojan:Win32/Zlob.G is a component of Win32/Zlob that downloads rogue security programs, adware, and additional Win32/Zlob components.

[Via Windows Live OneCare]

[ad#ad2-left]This one just popped up today on my radar it seems to be a very low threat on everyone’s radar according to my sources say “Trojan.Zlob.G is a Trojan horse that may download and execute remote files and redirect the Internet Explorer home page and search page.”  So to remove this little Trojan you would want to download one an Anti-virus and firewall.   Once you install the software the program should fix the problem for you.   This one seems to be really easy to fix.   So Please read my post on how to better protect your self if you want to prevent this in the future.

Avg detected Trojan Horse Generic 12.htc?

Just got a warning from AVG about, trojan horse generic 12.HTC, haven’t heard of it, anyone out there hear if this one? apparently it infects explore.exe, and after months of explore.exe crashing I’d say it’s a legit virus.

[Via Answer Bag]

Some tricks and tips to remove this little virus is quite simple. It is embedded in your system so how do you remove this threat? Easy follow these steps and you will have a better chance of getting rid of the virus:

  1. Find out all you can on the virus — Finding out the extent of where the virus lays is really a good idea.  Just because you found one place doesn’t mean it isn’t also hiding some other place.  Some good ways to figure out where it might be is to download Hijackthis and Then onces you download it and install.  Run it, and when you get the LOG file you will want to go to HijackThis Log Analysis Site 1 and HijackThis Log Analysis Site 2, and see what it says.
  2. See if you can remove the Hidden Virus — After you find out what the extent of virus may lay.  You will need to download these programs.  Run whichever ones you like to see if you can locate and delete the virus.  You may also consider using one of the several onine services to see what they might suggest or see if they can find this virus.
  3. Check your services and reboot sequence — After you think you’ve gotten rid of the virus, reboot and do a rescan.  Usually the Virus will respawn after you reboot, some of them have a command in the reboot sequence.   You may want to check your reboot sequence, by check with MSCONFIG.  Sometimes it is hidden but if you check through the MSCONFIG for any files that might not need to load.  Also check the services tab and see if there is any services that may not be needed.  The best bet is to google search each service or program that is in there and see if that might fix the problem.
  4. Might be time to re-install Windows — Although this is the hard for people, this can sometimes fix the most challenging virus.  You need not have to loose your important data.  The only thing to remember when you back up is when restore you data after you re-install windows.  Just remember one thing, if it is  an .EXE, .COM, .BAT, and .MSI extensions than that might risk you getting the virus all over again.  Although remember that you will need the other tools I talked about on #2 to keep from getting the virus again.

These are some tricks I use to get rid of a virus and now I’ve shared them with you and now it is up to you do the work.  If you have any tips or tricks to get rid of a virus leave a comment.