Howday Yawl

Whatsup, I am fairly new to the forumns. I knew about Tomcoyote and HijackThis for 4 some odd years now, but just recenty signed up here. In general I am looking for good practices tips and useful software. I dont know where to look here . Is any of that general kinda stuff available here? All I see is techincal problems looking for solutions wether its windows hijack this. Any direction would be great as I am intreged by this forumn allready. Thanks yawl.

Hi Proph. In the comments and suggestions area is a disscussion about getting some things stickied that pertain to software, tips, recommended programs etc. Check that out if you get a chance. Kinda new here myself. I have found WTT to be a great place. A Davis

It's been discussed and possibly eventually such a section that will be much easier to find will be made. What kind of programs are you looking for? I might be able to give you some help in this area.

thanks for the responses…. much appreciated. I will be sure to research that section. I am looking for nice free software for a better working computer…and even software that is great for XP modding or even..in general just good tools to have. heres what I have been using (assume latest versions unless otherwise noted) Symantec Corporate Edition (7 or 8 i forget its before the nice version 10) Spybot Adaware SE Spyware Blaster Hijackthis (ocasionally when needed) Spyware Doctor (older version that actually still deletes founded items) Regcleaner Pro (free and does…abotu 1% of found items [yes I know regcleaners truely arent that handy] ) AOL Security Center (not the best at all, and itsnow outdated due to the newer version having Mcaffe) Little tidbits that are a lil old and dont do much any more… for example Kazzabegone(and no I never had any P2P touch any of my computers I care about) I run defragmenter and disk cleaner every month. IMO my personal comp/work comp is in great shape. I turn off any non critical startup processes and have . I am computer savy.

You don't really need specialised programs like Kazaabegone unless you have a problem that it addresses, especially if you've never had something like Kazaa installed on your computer in the first place. Some of these programs can cause problems if run without knowing how they work and proper instructions. Therefore it's advised that at the very least not to download these kind of programs just to try them out or in case you might need them one day.

^^ i understand that, when first ran it it did find a few annoying items that I was aware of. IMO more the better Do you have any other suggestions in this realm of software. ?

^^ i understand that, when first ran it it did find a few annoying items that I was aware of. IMO more the better
Do you have any other suggestions in this realm of software. ?

Hi Prphecy99

And

I can't agree with "more the better". Often if one just download for the sake of downloading something that might be cool, you are also more likely to download programs that will conflict, slow your pc or having bloatware/ads in them (or worse). Instead, figure out what you really need and then investigate about the programs available. Holding that thought in mind, i would rather like to hear what you think you need and why, before advicing with regards to programs, instead of what i think is good/cool programs. Which may not be good/cool for your system.

For instance, having HJT isn't worth having if you can't read logs. You also need to be sure you always have the latest version, as updates on HJT is quite often.
Regcleaner i would be very cautious with. They tend to delete and remove more than good is. You might have been lucky so far using it, but are you 100% aware of what consequences removing any individual regkey has? Or if its used by more than one program? You are better off using Ccleaner instead, as it is not that aggressive, or ATF cleaner.

I say all this in good spirit, not wanna dictate how you run your pc. Just some advice.

Kind regards Abydos

Well here' s some programs that are very useful for computer security and are ones I use myself(except for the firewalls and antivirus programs mentioned later). All are either freeware or free versions of commercial products.

Firstly SpywareGuard, updates for the program haven't been made in years but considering it's there to alert you to BHO changes and such the update issue is not so important. It's made by the makers of SpywareBlaster. Also like SpywareBlaster is does not conflict with other antispyware programs or SpywareBlaster and it is a good idea to have both problems installed and running side by side.
To download SpywareGuard please go here

One thing I think you did mention in your list of programs that you're already using is Spyware Blaster, are you sure this is the correct name and it is not actually SpywareBlaster? The former product is bad news and should be avoided and has no connections with the makers of SpywareBlaster whatsoever.

Next, specialised Hosts files are a great way to stop you accessing sites that are dangerous, you may not know they are dangerous but if they are and you don't have a specialised Hosts file to block access to them you can possibly become infected simply by visiting such a site. My preferred Hosts file program is MVP Hosts file. You simply download its zip file, extract it to wherever you like, I suggest a permanent folder and the run msvp.bat, a screen will appear and you simply press Enter when prompted and you now are using its Hosts file. You can download the file and read about the program and how it works here. It gets updated every few weeks so if you choose to use it it's advisable to make a bookmark for it for easier access to check for updates. When updating the process is the same. I keep a copy of the most current zip file on computer and when downloading updates just overwrite the older file. Then I extract it's contents into a special folder I have set up just for it, I then run the program and when prompted press Enter and the program closes. Since I no longer have any use for the files I have extracted into that directory I simply delete them, with the knowledge that if needed I simply need to do the same process again since I have kept the zip file.(Sorry for all this rambling).

Next, do you have a current subscription to Symantec Corporate Edition and are you able to downloads updates for it? I used to use this very program myself but found that many free antivirus programs are just as good as usually don't use nearly as much system resources. They generally also have regular updates and come with many useful functions. Just a suggestion, I'm not asking you to change antivirus programs. However if you are interested in a free antivirus alternative, let me know and I will list some.

One thing I see missing from your list and that I feel is very important is a firewall. You're probably just using Windows Firewall but I feel this is quite an inadequate firewall(if you have Windows XP, the version included in Vista is much better). It only monitors incoming connections and not outbound ones and doesn't give you as much flexibility and features as some other 3 party firewalls that are free versions of commercial products.
These are the ones I routinely suggest, either would be better than Windows Firewall.
FREE Comodo Firewall Pro
Outpost Free Firewall
Just be sure not to install more than one firewall as having more than one running at a time may cause conflicts.
Once either of these programs has been installed Windows Firewall will automatically switch itself off

Another useful program that I just recently discovered is KeyScrambler Personal. It is designed to protect your login details from being readable by Keyloggers or people who have access to your computer remotely via a Backdoor Trojan for example. It encrypts what you type in login box fields so that the information for what you typed if sent to someone trying to steal your login details gets gibberish that they can't use to access to login to your accounts. It works for both Internet Explorer, Firefox, Flock and Netscape, the latter three have plugins to download for the program to work with those browsers but I didn't need to install one for Firefox, I think the current version includes built in support for it. It is activated when you open either browser and closes when you close either browser(however it wont close unless all supported browsers have both been closed). It can be downloaded here. If you use either Flock or Netscape please go here(for Flock) and here(for Netscape) for plugin installation instructions.

For instance, having HJT isn't worth having if you can't read logs. You also need to be sure you always have the latest version, as updates on HJT is quite often.

I don't agree with this, no offence. For a start having HJT installed or an non installed version is a good thing as long as you don't attempt to fix anything with it yourself unless you are trained in malware removal or have enough malware removal training to safely no what to fix and what not to. It's good to have in general for when you need to visit a site like this and need to post a HJT log. Secondly updates for this program are more sparse than you may think. Before Trend Micro took over the program the updates were generally years apart and Trend Micro has only just released their stable version of the program and most likely they will not be releasing new versions each month or so. However it's a good idea before running HJT to check for the latest version and if you don't have it, download and install(if you choose the installer download) it and then remove any older versions of the program you have.

Hello Prophecy99,

Welcome to WhatTheTech.


Backup, have you got your system backed up?

Other advice given has been mostly firm and sound, but in my opinion having an image backup for your system is the most important of all in the long run as you can have your computer running just as you want it with all programs installed you need. Then out of the blue your HD fails and where are you?

So I would advise either of these two software image backup software. They are not free but neither is recovering all your data if your HD fails.

I run both Acronis Image Software and Ghost image software on different computers, therefore I can recommend both as I have had them for some time now.

Please read up about them and post back with your opinion or information if you have some other backup for your system you did not mention in your posts.

HERE and HERE are both forums covering only about the above software for your perusal and information.

HERE is another link for your information regarding the above software and what another WTT member was inquirying about and their replies.

Please post back and tell how you go with your decisions as they are always yours to make, we are only here to help you with information that may assist you.

kind regards,

I use a very good freeware computer image backup program called DriveImage XML
So if you don't want to shell out money on a decent backup program this is a good choice. It of course probably doesn't have all the extra functionality of the products tallin mentioned(and they are good products) but at least it's free.

For instance, having HJT isn't worth having if you can't read logs. You also need to be sure you always have the latest version, as updates on HJT is quite often.

I don't agree with this, no offence. For a start having HJT installed or an non installed version is a good thing as long as you don't attempt to fix anything with it yourself unless you are trained in malware removal or have enough malware removal training to safely no what to fix and what not to. It's good to have in general for when you need to visit a site like this and need to post a HJT log. Secondly updates for this program are more sparse than you may think. Before Trend Micro took over the program the updates were generally years apart and Trend Micro has only just released their stable version of the program and most likely they will not be releasing new versions each month or so. However it's a good idea before running HJT to check for the latest version and if you don't have it, download and install(if you choose the installer download) it and then remove any older versions of the program you have.

Hi Enigmachick

Well, i can see we are of different mind here. The reason i think HJT is "useless" to have lying around, is that how often do you need it? Personnally i have only had two reasons for posting HJT-logs on a danish site specialized in malware removal (Spywarefri.dk) in all the time i have been using PC's. I can see why, someone who is using it on a day to day basis, even within weeks, have it. But it only takes 10-20 sec's to download, about the same to install….
If i had the need to have it, for being able to post HJT-logs on malware removal forums, i would seriously reconsider my surf and download habits.

HJT updates i thought were updated on a regular basis or is it ComboFix?? (Think i got those two mixed )

Kind regards Abydos

You're getting it confused with ComboFix, that's updated very regularly. Well have you noticed that people handling logs don't ask the user's to delete it after the topic has been resolved like they do with specialised tools? Also what if a user is having Internet problems that prevent or make it hard for them to download it again, it actually can happen? Well I guess we're just going to agree to disagree.

wow…MUCH thanks to everyone posting thier responses…sorry I was out for a while…just quite busy this month. I am going to go and get Spyware Guard. In terms of back up…. I would love to have a back up of my system. I am on a 5 year old Dell and the time is now to just back all my stuff up incase. I currently have a maxis 200gb external harddrive…but it that ever went…i would…completely be devastated. image backup software….I dont know much about them but..im guessing…you need another completely seperate computer to run the image software….. ….msvp.bat sounds great and I will look into that… either way…I really appreciate everyones responses and help thanks eveyone..

yes i have a firewalll.. its under aols security center….mcaffe based I believe. I need to check my version of Symantec Corporate but…know its not the most current one. AVG would be my…second choice….