Anti Virus Software - It's NOT 100%

Anti Virus Software - It's NOT 100%

Ever get a virus? And no, we're not talking about the kind you get from the kid down the street sneezing all over you. We're talking about the kind you get when your computer runs into some nasty vindictive hackers. These are people who have nothing better to do with their time but make other people's lives miserable. If you've ever been attacked by one of these things you know what I mean.

Enter the anti virus software. In short what this software does is detect a virus either on your computer or one that is threatening to slice your PC into little bits and bytes.

The most popular anti virus software companies are McAfee and Norton Anti Virus, the latter actually owned by Symantec. There are other companies and now even some ISPs like AOL are providing anti virus software. But McAfee and Norton are still the kings of the industry.

Before you can understand how anti virus works you have to understand how the virus itself works and how it infects your computer.

Contrary to what people believe there are other ways to get a computer virus other than to open an attachment in an email, though that is the most common way. Email virus infections occur when the user opens up an email with an attachment and downloads the attachment to the hard drive of the PC. What happens from there can vary greatly but in general what happens is the attachment, which is usually an EXE file, when saved, releases some code that performs an action on your computer. This can be anything from getting private information such as passwords and credit card numbers and transmitting it to the sender of the email to simply wiping out your hard drive to the point where it is beyond repair. There are debates as to which is worse.

Another way to get a virus, and this is the scarier one, is to go to a web site who's server has been infected with a virus. This virus can be passed along through the Internet connection and place a dangerous file on your hard drive. Again, the actions taken afterward by the virus can be just about anything.

So what exactly does anti virus software do about this? In simple layman's terms the anti virus software detects the intruding file and tries to do several things in this order.

First it tries to delete the file before it can ever even get saved to your hard drive. If it is successful, it is as if the file never existed and no harm is done.

Second, if it can't delete the file it tries to repair it, if it is a file that is actually yours to begin with and has been modified by the virus itself. If it can repair the file again it is as if nothing happened.

Third, if it can't repair the file then as a last resort it places the file in quarantine so that it can't infect any other files. Yes, viruses can spread. In this case some harm may have been done and you may have to replace the file that has been infected with a new copy. Sometimes this requires reinstalling the software the file came from. Other times the file is simply lost, especially if it is a user created file, though it may be possible to recreate the file depending on what kind of data it contained.

So how does anti virus software detect viruses? To put it simply, your anti virus software has a list of known viruses. It scans every file that you download to your PC and checks it against this list. If it finds a match it warns you of the virus giving you the name of it and then attempts to go through the steps I've outlined above.

So where does this list come from? Well, that's the hard part and the reason that anti virus software can never be 100%. The list comes from known viruses that the software company has either come in contact with itself or viruses sent to them from users who have been attacked. Therein lies the less than 100% effectiveness of anti virus software. There is always a chance that you will be the first one attacked by a new virus. You won't know it until something goes wrong with your computer and then after you report the problem to Norton or McAfee they will have you send them the file you think caused the problem and run tests on it. No, it's not an exact science but it's the best we have.

So since anti virus is not a sure fire prevention the best prevention is not to download attachments when you have no idea who sent them to you, make sure your OS has the latest patches and be very careful about what web sites you go to.

At least you don't have to drink your mother's chicken soup.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Anti Virus

By : Michael Russell
Keyword : anti virus,software

UnHack Your Computer

UnHack Your Computer

There's nothing new under the sun, and rootkits are no exception. In the early days of personal computers, in the age of the DOS command-line operating system, there were viruses that hid their presence from the users and anti-virus programs. They did it by intercepting some system calls that were responsible for reading the files, and lied to the system by filling these calls with fake information. You could view an infected file right in front of your eyes and see nothing but legit code! These viruses were called 'stealth' in those days.

When computers evolved, Windows replaced the DOS. Old viruses did not run under the new operating system, and it wasn't easy to develop simple hacks to intercept system calls in Windows. But time has passed, and now there's a new wave of viruses that can work on Windows and hide their presence even more efficiently than the stealth viruses of the old days. These new viruses are called rootkits.

Today, using an antivirus does not guarantee complete safety. A rootkit could install into your system and fool the antivirus system by hiding itself. The problem is that modern antivirus programs try to detect rootkits at the time when they are already active. Antivirus programs use the very functions that are intercepted by the rootkits specifically for the purpose of deceiving antivirus. It's a gun vs. armor race and your PC is the firing range.

Microsoft tried to address the problem by releasing their own Rootkit Revealer. While being a correct concept, this tool fails on too many levels. Microsoft Rootkit Revealer is intended for use by system administrators and software developers. The results of its work are not detections but rather hint that there's something in the system that's hidden. And of course, Rootkit Revealer does not remove rootkits, making its benefits questionable at best for a regular computer user.

Complement your antivirus with a rootkit detection and removal system and liberate your PC from rootkits! UnHackMe with Partizan technology is highly compatible and designed to complement other antivirus solutions instead of conflicting with them.

The Partizan technology is unique to UnHackMe. Microsoft states that there exists no sure way to know of a rootkit's presence from within a running system. Instead of trying to combat rootkits on their own ground, Partizan fools them by booting with the operating system and taking control before any rootkits can load. Being the first to load, UnHackMe can safely watch all stages of the Windows boot process, effectively detecting and terminating any activities attempted by the rootkits.

Once there's no rootkit in the computer's memory, detecting and removing one is a matter of routine. UnHackMe can remove known rootkits by itself or simply block the rootkit from loading into memory and pass control to your regular anti-virus.

Scanning your entire PC for the presence of a rootkit with a regular antivirus can take hours of time depending on the number of files and programs you have. UnHackMe takes scanning speed to another level by taking only a few seconds every time your computer loads.

by Dmitry Sokolov
keyword : UnHack Your Computer

An overview of spyware and adware - what it is, and how to avoid it

An overview of spyware and adware - what it is, and how to avoid it

Adware and spyware are two different kinds of malicious programs, and each have the ability to make your computer a mess. If you end up using the Internet for anything in your life, or if you rely on your personal computer for anything, it is a very important that you completely understand what these things are and how they work.

The first thing you need to know about protecting yourself from these things is to totally understand what they do. Once you know what spyware and adware is, you'll be able to take measures against it infecting your machine.

What Is Spyware?

According to Microsoft, "spyware" is a malicious type of program with the aim of collecting personal information or changing the configuration of your computer. Spyware is often unethical, in that it is often downloaded without your permission. Usually, you won't know it's even there when it enters your system, and you'll need to have anti-spyware software installed in order to remove it.

What Is Adware?

The difference between spyware and adware is not large, and they are essentially the same kind of thing. With spyware, it is possible that your personal information could be given to another source. In other words, someone is "spying" on you, hence the name spyware. With adware, however, the software is designed primarily to display advertisements on the user's PC.

Is It All Bad?

It is unfortunate, but several people tend to believe that all types of this software are harmful and definitely should be avoided. That's not always the case. Of course, in most cases spyware and adware are harmful and are not the kind of thing you want on your PC, but there are exceptions where you may actually want software like this on your PC.

Remember, to make it spyware it has to be downloaded to your computer without your consent. Spyware can sometimes be downloaded through such things as "driveby" downloads or through other exploits, so that the user never even knows it is on their machine. Any program that is downloaded with the users permission is technically not spyware.

Why would you want to have spyware that tracks your personal information and surfing habits running on your computer? And more importantly, why would you want those advertisements? Well, there may be some exceptional cases it may be useful. For example, you may actually sign up for a service online and when you do you may also agree to receive targeted ads.

Companies like this find it useful to track where you go online (monitoring your surfing habits) and looking at what you do, in order to provide you with ads that are highly targeted to your interests. For example, if you were to search for dog food, the spyware company may give you advertising from dog food companies. So, rather than seeing annoying ads that have no interest to you, you may instead see things that are targeted and useful to what you are searching for.

In most cases, though, spyware is damaging. Many programs such as keyloggers will steal your personal information, and adware is often an inconvenience that most people could do without.

by Dave Edwards
Keyword : spyware and adware

How to detect if you have spyware - symptoms and causes

How to detect if you have spyware - symptoms and causes

Spyware and adware are a malicious programs that may have a number of undesirable effects on your computer. Symptoms include changing search results when you do a search on Google, or changing your homepage. Other forms of spyware and adware will even change the configuration of your PC.

The main problem of spyware and adware is that they are very difficult to remove. Often, it will be impossible to manually remove spyware, and you'll need an anti-spyware program to remove it. Here are a few symptoms of a spyware infected machine:

Slowing Your Computer Down

A major annoyance of having spyware and adware on your machine is that they will significantly slow your computer down. Most of all, it can hurt you by being annoying. Pop up ads may happen when your surf the internet, as a result of having adware installed on your machine.

Often, your computer will begin to get slower and slower the longer you have adware on your machine. Moreover, if you don't realize that you have spyware when you first get it, you'll usually end up getting more spyware and this makes it even more difficult to remove.

Why does spyware make your computer slower? Well, your computer is basically made to do more, thus slowing it does. Not only does it need to perform the tasks that you want it to do, but (with spyware installed) it now needs to do a number of other things such as monitoring your surfing behavior or displaying annoying pop-up ads.

Things such as tracking what you're doing, recording information, displaying advertisements and running malicious programs all take up your computers processing power. Thus, your computer will run slower.

In rare cases, spyware can even cause your computer to completely crash.

Relaying Information

Some types of spyware go beyond just displaying advertisements. There are a number of worse types that are also common. Like adware, spyware can track what you're doing and where you're going on the internet.

In some cases, spyware can record the websites you have visited and the keystrokes you have entered. It may take this information and report it back to the company who makes the spyware.

Once your personal information is relayed back to the company or individual running the spyware, your personal information, such as your credit card information, your addresses, paypal account and other sensitive information will be in the hands of the spyware owner. They will then have your username and password for all accounts you have logged into online.

If you have heard about identity theft before, this is where it comes from - malicious spyware programs who record what you do and where you go. Unfortunately, this is alarmingly common and many people do not recognize how serious the problem actually is.

by Dave Edwards
Keyword : detect if you have spyware

How to remove spyware from your computer

How to remove spyware from your computer

Once you know you have spyware infecting your PC, it is crucial that you remove it before it does more damage. There are a number of ways to remove spyware infecting your machine. Fortunately, if you have a knowledge of spyware and adware, then it is not that difficult to remove once you have the right tools.

Spyware and adware can be found in the same way as a virus is detected. This is done through a spyware and adware scan, from a piece of software with that scans your hard drive for known traces of spyware and adware. This is the same way as viruses are found. The software will then delete the spyware from your machine once it is detected.

If you suspect you have very large amounts of spyware or adware on your machine, then it may not be so easy to clean your PC. Many spyware programs are very sophisticated and are difficult to delete. In this case, you may need to reformat your entire computer, and reinstall windows. This will involve backing up your entire hard drive and installing windows from scratch as if it was a new computer.

Fortunately, you won't always have to reinstall windows and start from scratch unless your spyware infection is exceptionally bad. There are a number of other things that you can do first.

It's Gotten Bad

It is important to understand that spyware is extremely common, and not just something that happens in rare circumstances. In fact, it is estimates that over 90% of computers connected to the internet are infected with spyware.

You have to consider this a strong risk as you would a virus. Thanks to the sophistication of many spyware programs, you may not even need to download it to get infected. Spyware can get on your computer through "drive by" downloads and other exploits, and chances are you have spyware already on your computer right now.

There are a number of programs around that claim to remove spyware. Some of these programs are spyware programs themselves, and so you need to be careful when downloading software that promises to scan your computer. Make sure you check to see awards, reviews or testimonials for an anti-spyware program before installing it.

In order to remove spyware, you will definitely need an anti-spyware program. Professionally made spyware programs are often very difficult to find and delete, and it is often difficult to get rid of spyware infecting your machine unless you have a program that can recognize it. Good anti-spyware programs will not just scan for spyware, but will also give you instructions for deleting it.

Anti-spyware software can cost you. Also, if you currently have no anti-spyware software on your computer now, then you will need to invest in it, because the odds are overwhelming that your computer will get infected.

by Dave Edwards
Keyword : remove spyware

What is Data Recovery?

What is Data Recovery?

Data Recovery is the process of retrieval of inaccessible or corrupt data from digital media that has become damaged or has been corrupted in some way. Data Recovery can be used to recover data from devices as varied as Hard Disk Drives, Memory Cards, Tapes, Mobile Phones, Personal Digital Assistants, Floppy Disks, CDs, DVDs, Data Cartridges, Xboxes and many more items.

If knowledge is power, then after you have finished this article, you will be feeling like Mighty Man when this subject is brought up in casual conversation.

facts Recovery may be wanted for reasons which could embrace issues as diverse as hardware fiasco, (the fasten has been 'chain' up, the hard disk constrain has botched, it could have suffered fire or flood harm, or sensible fiasco, there can be corruptions in firmware, semiconductor fiasco, or accidental fiasco/deletion, a storeroom symbol could have been dropped, a hard disk constrain may have been 'accidentally' formatted). All of these instances will imply the military of a professional data recovery band if the data was of such estimate (be it sentimental or fiscal) that the expense of the military are excluding than the perceived estimate of the data which is no longer accessible.

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As we continue, we will take a look at how this new information can be implemented in very special ways.

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Once you have found the band that you are joyful with, if the data storeroom symbol doesn't work, there is a high likelihood that the digital media will imply standby parts. There are specialist organizations which promote standby parts for old and hard to get grasp of disk constrains to facts Recovery Companies enabling them to get the earliest data accessible for long enough to view the data against a committed storeroom symbol, enabling that data to be duplicated again which in transform allows a sound recovery stab to be achieved.

The data recovery job is usually perfect when a tilt of all the improved documents is sent to the client. Once the client approves this sleeve tilting, they are then shipped the data on an appropriate media. This can be a hard disk constrain, floppy disk, CD or DVD. Alternatively, if a sleeve is considered risky, it can be encrypted and then emailed to the client.

It should be renowned that in excessive luggage it may be impossible to recover any data.

The best guidance I can deal the client is this:

"As shortly as you have gone data you should poor off your symbol and propel it to a professional facts Recovery party to optimize your odds of a successful recovery".

What you have learned while reading this informative article is knowledge that you can keep with you for a lifetime.

By : Heero Yu
Keyword : What is Data Recovery?