Combating Spyware/Malware and Personal Identity Theft ( Part 2 )

So you think your infested... your computer is behaving strangely, crashing , popups odd web pages you didn't request. Computer doing things when it should be idle... Computer seems really slow... Ok what to do... Lets assume you already have an infestation...

1) First using your browser navigate to www.google.com goto the more selection and download and install the googlepack that contains free versions Norton Antivirus and Spyware Doctor.
Run these two utilities before you do anything else. Infact I would suggest running Spyware doctor several times. I.e scan , reboot, scan, reboot until no more spyware is detected.

Now that you stand a chance of having a clean machine which you still might not we need to build up some protection to stop this kind of thing happening again.

If spy-ware/mal-ware was found on your machine the best thing to do is to wipe your machine and reinstall windows again I say this because you cannot really besure if the spy-ware is still on the machine lurking. This is because it might be smarter than the software your using to find and remove it. However that said , personally I dont like to reinstall so lets assume your software "Spyware Doctor" and "Norton Antivirus" have killed the nasties.

2) Ok make sure you have Microsoft updates turned on

3) Check to make sure that your firewall is switched ON XP service pack 2 ( required ) Control Panel->Windows Firewall

4) Turn on Hardware DEP ( Data Execution Prevention ) available in XP service pack 2 Control Panel->System->Advanced->Performance settings->Data Execution Prevention. Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select. This help prevent malware getting into your system.

5) Ok now where going to stop using Internet explorer and install Mozilla's Firefox which seems to be less likely to get infested by spy-ware and BHO's. Ok download and install Mozilla Firefox.

6) Ok now we are going to install two plug-ins for Mozilla Firefox called:
NoScript and CookieSafe. These will help prevent Mal-ware getting into your system
and also will help your personal details being grabbed by cross site scripting exploits.
http://noscript.net/
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2497

You will have to sometimes enable access to cookies and Javascript to allow some sites to run correctly. Personally. When i run into difficulties i just enable access to cookies/Javascript on a temporary basis.

7) Hosts file you can download and replace your existing hosts file with one that has been specially modified. These modifications prevent your computer from talking to bad sites out on the net. A good hosts file can be downloaded from this site: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Ok now the computer is starting to become a safer place but where not done yet. If you want to go further then do the following although not essential will give you even more protection.

8) Install a Hardware firewall or NAT Router. This will stop bad people from accessing your computer from the outside and is much safer than just the software firewall alone that is built into XP.

9) Disable UPNP or Universal Plug and Play on your router firewall. This allows software inside of the firewall to alter its protection settings. This is bad because if you run a bad program by accident it can open up your system.

10) Install a program called SandboxIE. Configure it to run firefox within a sandbox. Now If anything gets past CookieSafe, and NoScipt! it will be erased from your hard disk once you close and reopen the browser.

11) Create an administrator account for administration use only for installations ( don't surf with it!!! ) etc and remove administration privileges from your main account. If something bad manages to get into your system, this will stop bad software from altering system files when running under your main account privileges.

12) Ultimate protection is to use virtualisation. This is where you run a virtualised windows setup you can surf and pick rubbish up upon a reboot everything is started from a good image you originally saved. Problem with this setup you cannot store any data but neither can any nasty software.

Important suggestions for safer browsing:
1) Never open emails that are from people you do not recognise and don't expect to be sending you email. They could contain nasty exploits that can open your computer to allow personal information to be leaked to the Internet. Often mal-ware/spy-ware infested machines will go through your email list and email your friends with infected emails which when opened will do the same to your friends PC's etc etc.

2) If your accessing your banking information at home , never start opening emails at the same time. Better to sign out/logout. Before opening any emails as this prevents cross site exploits. Which means the nasty people wont be able to grab your account information.

3) If you must sometimes use an public computer terminal and I don't advise it. Especially if your accessing your banking information never forget to sign out/logout and always clear the cookies and temporary cache

4) Never run programs that you have downloaded from fringe/untrusted internet sites. These bad sites are usually Free Porn sites or sites that advertise Serials and License Key Generators. Often bad sites can look very convincing so be very careful.