This comes from a non-RPG message board I frequent, where the people were encountering this kind of problem. This is my solution.
A couple of weeks back, there were a couple of threads on the Announcements forum regarding virii, worms, and spyware on Windows computers. I mentioned a couple of items people could do, but I didn't mention everything in one place. This post is an information post with the sole purpose of putting all the information together into one place, along with some of the logic behind the choices. Some of this information appears in the January issue of
Maximum PC magazine. Referenced sites and programs are hyperlinked. In all instances, if an installed program prompts you to reboot your computer, reboot. Failure to reboot can cause unforseen issues.
This How-To also presumes for some steps that
Windows XP is installed. If running an older version, most of this information should still work, although I make no guarantee on this.
Step 1: Before you even think of going onto the Internet, go to
Windows Update and download
Windows XP Service Pack 2 and install it. Don't ask why, just do it. Reboot your computer once
Windows XP Service Pack 2 is installed.
Step 2: Return to
Windows Update once the computer boots up and download all critical fixes, all optional updates, and all drivers. Even with broadband, this process may take some time. Reboot your computer when directed.
Step 3: Download a different browser.
Internet Explorer has very significant flaws that not even
Windows XP Service Pack 2 can fix. Recommended browsers:
Firefox,
Opera (note that the free version of
Opera is ad supported, while
Firefox is not.) Whichever browser you decide to download and install, set it to be the default browser, as it would not do to download a more secure browser and not use it. In general, a message box should appear the first time you run the browser, asking if you would like to make it the default. Make sure you have selected the option to NOT have the browser ask you again, and then click "Yes" or "OK".
Step 4: Install your Anti-virus program, if you already have one. If you don't have one already, an excellent free option is
AVG Antivirus from
Grisoft. This program is very comprehensive, and frequently updated by
Grisoft. After installing it, the program will prompt you to update the virus definitions. Do this before proceeding further, as the virus definitions in the download are out of date. Another free virus program is
Avast Antivirus.
Step 5: Download a firewall. The firewall included in
Windows XP Service Pack 2 is very basic, only restricting incoming requests while permitting outbound requests (not good if you got a piece of spyware that phones home). Recommended firewalls:
ZoneAlarm (because it doesn't cost anything and works extremely well.),
Kerio Personal Firewall,
Agnitum Outpost Firewall,
Sygate Personal FirewallStep 6: Protect yourself from adware, spyware, and malware. Since no single spyware program works against all types of spyware, I take a multi-pronged approach to the problem and use the following three programs:
- SpywareBlaster differs from other spyware detection programs by actively preventing most spyware from being installed in the first place. Specificially, SpywareBlaster prevents installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted pests. It also blocks tracking cookies, and restricts actions of potentially dangerous sites in Internet Explorer. Since I use Firefox, that last one isn't so important to me.
- Spybot - Search & Destroy is the first of the two standard spyware detectors I use. Very effective, it actively works with SpywareBlaster in preventing spyware from being installed, but also does a fantastic job of rooting out other spyware programs.
- Ad-Aware is the heavy hitter of this grouping. Ad-Aware is designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. With the release of Ad-Aware SE Personal edition, Lavasoft takes the fight against spyware to the next level.
Step 7: Set up an email account using one of the free email services available. While not a flawless system, utilizing a garbage email account for those sites where you have to provide an email address allows your main email address to be relatively free of spam. I personally have three different email accounts. One is exclusively for ebay, as I buy on there. One is my
Yahoo account, which while it gets whacked regularly with spam, works very well because
Yahoo's spam filters are really quite good. The third account is the garbage account, where all the debris from my jaunts on the web gets sent. This third account when it fills, gets dumped.
Step 8: Change your HOSTS file. The Hosts file contains the mappings of
IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is it's ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, as long the the entry exists.
This is useful for blocking ad servers, adware sites, and other such junk. For more information, including how to put the HOSTS file on your computer, go to this page:
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File. If you already know what a HOSTS file is, and just wish to update yours, you can get it here:
HOSTS. This is a compressed file, so you will need either
WinZip or
WinRAR to uncompress the file. It's highly recommended that after you install the HOSTS file, you set its attributes to read-only. There is a pair of small files on the
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File page that will allow you to lock and unlock the HOSTS file as necessary.
Step 9: If you want to automate the running of these programs, open up the
Windows XP Task Scheduler and add the following programs to the list at the recommended frequency if not already present:
NOTE: You may not have to manually add the antivirus program.
Norton Antivirus automatically adds itself to the task scheduler, and
AVG Antivirus version 6 (which I used on software installs until version 7 was released) had a built in timer, eliminating the need to use the task scheduler for that piece of software.
Step 10: Update, update, update. The operating system, the browser, the firewall, the antivirus program, the spyware programs, and the HOSTS file all need upkeep in order for them to remain effective. It's become second nature for me to check for updates on everything, which is why the original version of this post didn't mention it. Each and every one of these programs, except for the HOSTS file, has a routine within it that searches for updated components at the press of a button, and generally you can do the check before you actually run the program. I check the spyware programs on a weekly basis at the time I have them scheduled to run (step 9 above), check the browser on a monthly basis, and let the operating system do its thing automatically.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 has a special task scheduler specifically for updates. Advice on setting it is below.
Once you have done all these steps, your computer will have far fewer issues with spyware. Since I took this approach with the purchase of this computer I am typing this on, I've encountered at most 1 piece of spyware a week, compared with some computers I've seen where on cleaning them out I had some 350 different pieces of spyware on it, and that was just doing a routine scan with
AdAware!
After installing all this stuff though, I do recommend a few things to tidy up
Windows XP and to allow the system to run smoothly:
First, you should turn off all of
Windows XP's annoying little "features". Here's a short list of
Windows XP's worst antagonists.
- Disable the annoying search helper: Go to Start, then Search, and click "Turn off animated character."
- Resize the Recycle Bin and System Restore: Right-click the Recycle Bin and go to Properties. Move the slider from 10 percent-that's 40GB of a 400GB driveto a more reasonable 1 percent. The System Restore setting is in the System control panel. Right-click My Computer and select Properties, or - shortcut alert! - press the Windows key and Pause/ Break, then click System Restore. Move that slider until System Restore uses only about 600MB of space.
- Resize your pagefile. To change the size of the pagefile, right-click My Computer and select Properties, or press the Windows key and Pause/ Break, then click the Advanced tab, and click the Settings button in the Performance section. Click the Advanced tab again, and then click Change. Set the pagefile to 1 1/2 times the amount of memory in the computer then keep pressing OK until you're back at the Desktop. Reboot your computer.
- Set the Automatic Update interval: While you're in the System control panel, click the Automatic Updates tab. If you're not going to remember to install updates fairly regularly, you absolutely must set Windows to automatically download and install updates for you every week.
Second, before you start installing any other applications, it's a good idea to give your hard drive a powerful defrag. When
Windows XP is running, the pagefile and the portions of the drive reserved for System Restore checkpoints cannot be defragged, so before defragging, I always disable both System Restore and the pagefile. However,
only turn off the pagefile if you have more than 256MB of RAM. Windows XP will not run if this warning is ignored.
To disable System Restore, open the System control panel (Windows key and Pause/Break) and click the System Restore tab. Now check "Turn off System Restore". To temporarily disable the pagefile click the Advanced tab, and click the Settings button in the Performance section Click the Advanced tab again, and then click Change. Click "No paging file," then keep pressing OK until you're back at the Desktop. Reboot your computer.
When you reboot, open up defrag by opening My Computer and right-clicking your C: drive. Go to Properties, then Tools, then Defragment Now, and on the subsequent screen, click Defragment. After defrag finishes, go back into the System control panel and re-enable the pagefile and System Restore at the sizes recommended above. Reboot your computer, and it should purr quite nicely.
Hopefully this little how-to is of some use. It may not be applicable to everyone, and it may contradict what some of the pundits out there recommend. This is merely what I found to be a workable solution to the spyware problem on all fronts, as well as dealing a bit with the issue of spam and system optimization.
