For Virus Removal Virus Protection is Essential

There are many subtle signs of a computer virus that a casual computer user may not even notice at first. Some of those subtle signs can be like the computer starting to freeze up for no apparent reason or the screen appearing to blink all of a sudden. For many computer users these small clues can go undiscovered and the next thing they know the computer has locked up on them or is doing bizarre things. Programs closing without being prompted, screens popping up stating a specific removal virus program must be purchased to remove the virus they are saying the computer has and other bizarre and unspecified problems are just a few examples that may happen when a virus truly is infecting the computer. Some viruses are able to take control of the desktop locking the user out and taking away the control. Viruses of this nature can be very difficult to identify and even harder to remove.

Removal virus programs are available that can alert the user the virus has found its way on the computer and in addition to removal virus protection programs are recommended to prevent them getting on in the first place. Much of the time a new or refurbished computer when purchased will have a trial period for a computer security protection program giving the purchaser an opportunity to try out the software program and to realize the importance of having one.

Leaving a computer vulnerable to the internet and its capacity to pass viruses on to other computers undetected can destroy the computer and leave the owner wondering what happened. Protect your interest when getting a computer and make sure it has the same assurance of protection one would want for their automobile especially if running a business.

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From J. Pal, a freelance writer on a wide variety of topics.

While Surfing the Internet, Don't Send Your Personal Data Out to Sea

You're reading this article on the Internet, right? Probably been surfing for a while, checking a few blogs, maybe doing some online shopping. Fun stuff. Just keep in mind that while you're surfing the 'net, don't toss your personal data out to sea where it's available for anyone to view, or worse, use.

This article lists a few precautionary tips for keeping your private data private while using the Internet:

• When you register for an email account, don't use your home address, private phone number, or other personal information. Instead, use a personal mailbox address, a work phone number, etc. Keep in mind there are online services that sell people's registration information to anyone.
• It's a good idea to have a "throw-away" email address that you use for online shopping, forms that require an email address, etc. You can set up such email addresses at Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, others (although you're required to register your data at these sites, you can sign up as Mickey Mouse at 1234 Big Ears Circle for all they care). Hushmail is another option (check out hushmail.com).
• Choose an e-mail account that does not reveal unnecessary information about you, such as where you attend school. For example, an e-mail address from a free Webmail service might be preferable to one with a .edu domain.
• Choose unusual passwords and change them regularly. Make passwords at least 7 letters long and include numbers mixed with meta-characters when possible (for example, s*72wt#8%). Never share your passwords with anyone.
• Don't open unsolicited or unknown email messages, and especially don't open any attachments from unknown users.
• Consider using an anonymous web browser. This will make it impossible for your web-surfing to be logged by websites, thus preventing others to pick up any information on you. Information on this service is located at http://www.anonymizer.com.
• When you register for a domain (your website address), don't use your home address or other personal information. Anyone can look up the owner of a domain name by using a service such as http://www.checkdomain.com or simply typing "whois" and the domain name. For example, use your personal mailbox instead of your home address. Better yet, for a small fee you can select an option to make all registration information private.
• Use anti-virus software, a firewall, and anti-spyware software to keep your computer safe and secure.
• Set your privacy settings on social networking communities (such as MySpace, Facebook, etc.) so your photos and personal data aren't viewable by the public. Set options that filter who can be added as a friend, etc., to your account. Remember, if you choose to be public on these sites, anybody can read anything you write.
• Discuss your safety and privacy requirements with your Internet service provider (ISP) and enlist their help and advice. You're paying them to use their service, and you have a right to assistance.

By taking such steps to safeguard your personal data, you'll ensure your private data stays private. Now grab your virtual surfboard and hit the Internet waves!

Colleen Collins-Kaufman is a professional private investigator and multi-published author. She and her business partner run a Colorado-based private detective agency, Highlands Investigations & Legal Services, Inc., that specializes in asset/background searches, criminal/civil investigations, domestic relations, legal research/writing, financial fraud, personal injury, skiptracing, and surveillance. To read more about their services, go to http://www.highlandsinvestigations.com

Remove Soft Soldier - Perform a Soft Soldier Removal in Minutes

Look out for Soft Soldier. Looks can be deceiving, it "pretends" to be an antivirus program but it is not. In fact it does the opposite. The rogue program will install a bunch of viruses and infections throughout your system.

Don't let it stay on your computer. Not only will it slow down your system and mess with your settings, it can also steal private information right off your hard drive.

Before learning to remove the virus you should know how it infiltrates your system. Knowing the source, will help you avert future problems.

The most common methods of infection are:

• You installed a fake "video codec" from a multimedia file downloaded off the web or P2P network. Never install codecs from files downloaded off the net.

• Downloading shareware or freeware programs. Be careful you only download things from trusted providers.

• Checking out a malicious website that hijacked your web browser and snuck the virus into your computer. This can happen pretty often without active antivirus protection.

Soft Soldier Removal

To get rid of the virus you need to access various directories and and do the following

1. Delete EXE, BAT, or other process files (example Soft Soldier.exe)
2. Delete DLL and LNK files that are silently operating in the background
3. Delete registry entries that have been infected.

Make sure you delete the entire virus at once. Otherwise these sneaky infections will just regenerate themselves when you reboot.

I only recommend manual removal for folks who have are computer experts. It can be quite challenging and dangerous to remove Soft Soldier if you do not know precisely what you are doing. Remove the wrong files from the registry and you can cause further damage to your system.

What you need is a Soft Soldier removal software. A program that can eliminate the infection automatically with a few clicks of the mouse. Not only have I found software that can remove Soft Soldier, it also offers real time defense against potential threats. You can try a free scan below and see what it comes up with.

Tired of viruses infecting your computer? Want to surf the web with the peace of mind that your computer is safe and secure? Get your free scan from the top virus protection and remove Soft Soldier.

Jim Marshall is an expert computer technician with fifteen years of experience in the industry. Since his own computer was destroyed by malicious software, he has been studying antispyware, adware, and malware systems for years. His website details the comprehensive results of this research, ranking the best antispyware and antivirus programs available.

http://www.spyware-fix.net

How to Protect Personal Information on Your Computer

With more people using the internet everyday, there has been a significant increase in the threats of online criminals attempting to steal personal information. When you use email, surf the net, and provide financial information to retailers, you have to make sure no one can steal your information. Fortunately, technological improvements in computer security and implementing safety precautions can drastically reduce the chances of having your information stolen.

The following tips are designed to help you protect personal information on your computer:

• Acquire Security Software: It is important that you have the appropriate security software to protect your computer from viruses, hackers, worms, spyware, spam, identity theft, and Adware. A quality and renowned security software program will protect your computer from a variety of security risks. Some software provides a combination of protection methods while others provide just one security function.

• Implement Wireless Security Protection: If you access the internet through a Wi-Fi network, make sure you have the appropriate protection from hackers. With wireless networks, the radio waves travel in the surrounding area, so a hacker sitting nearby can access your connection and hack into your computer.

• Use a Firewall: A firewall adds a security obstruction between a personal computer and the internet. It helps prevents hackers from accessing your computer. It will block any suspicious and unauthorized entry into a computer system.

• Email Encryption: When you use email encryption, it reduces the chances of someone intercepting and accessing your information.

• Beware of Phishing Scams: Many online criminals will send fraudulent emails and use fraudulent websites to gather a person's personal information. Never provide personal information to unknown businesses. Confirm the site is legitimate by either checking with the Better Business Bureau or online sites that expose fraudulent sites and emails. Purchase products from sites that encrypt transaction payments. Encrypting payment information will code your personal and financial data after you submit the payment.

• Beware of Certain Free Download Programs: Some free download software can contain harmful programs. They can allow the person who sent it access to your computer. Security software can prevent these programs from installing. Adware and Spyware are software that can contain these malicious programs.

• Backup Information: Back up and store your information in case your security barrier is breached so you will not lose important information. Store it on a CD or an external hard drive.

• System Security Configuration: Configure your browser or operating system to manage pop-ups, delete cookies, and block specific web sites.

• Change Passwords Regularly: Change your passwords at least every 30 days to reduce the chance of a hacker accessing your online personal and financial information.

• Monitor your Credit Report: You should regularly check your credit report history. This will let you know if anyone has been using your financial information.

When you use the internet for shopping, banking, emailing, and sending instant messages, there are shady people who may try to access your computer to steal your information. Using the latest security software and practicing safe security practices, will reduce the chance of having your personal information stolen and used for illegal purposes.

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Internet meltdown threat: Conficker worm refuses to turn

The brightest minds in technology and government are finding it "almost impossible" to defeat the Conficker worm, which has infected more than 5 million computers and, experts say, could be used to knock down the internet in entire countries.

The worm, first detected in November last year, spreads rapidly to computers through a flaw in the Windows operating system.

Infected machines are co-opted into a "botnet" army, which can be controlled and used by the hackers to launch unprecedented cyber attacks.

"The general agreement in the security world is that Conficker is the largest threat facing us from a cyber crime point of view ... it has proven to be extremely resilient. It's almost impossible to remove," said Rodney Joffe, a director of the Conficker Working Group formed to defeat the worm.

"The best minds in the world have not managed to crack the code behind this yet."

The scale of the threat has forced the world's largest computer security companies to join together with government around the world in an unusual alliance to pool their resources and solve the problem.

Microsoft has offered a $US250,000 ($290,000) reward for information leading to the identification of the individuals - or rogue governments - behind Conficker.

Those behind the worm can do anything they want with the infected machines including stealing users' banking details or flooding government servers to knock them offline.

"This could be used to launch the mother of all DDoS [distributed denial of service] attacks, it could be used as the basis of major financial fraud, it could be used for major spam runs," Joffe said.

"Even a small portion of the infected machines from Conficker have the ability to actually take away the usability of the internet in an entire country like Australia."

So far the international effort to find a solution has yielded few results, and the number of infected machines has remained fairly stable at 5 million. They include home, business and Government computers.

Joffe, who is also a senior technologist at US communications company Neustar, explained that the remarkable resilience was because Conficker had built-in mechanisms to prevent people from scanning their computers with anti-virus software. Even for those who wipe their computers clean and start fresh, if they back up any important data on a portable hard drive, the clean machine is reinfected when the drive is connected to the computer.

The worm also spreads automatically between computers on a network and infects machines without the user having to do anything other than switch their computers on.

"If you've been able to disinfect 99 machines out of 100 and one is still infected, it will begin to try to reinfect the others," Joffe said.

Most other botnets can be destroyed by disabling the server used to issue commands to infected machines, but with Conficker the location of this sever changes every day and state-of-the-art cryptography means it's almost impossible to crack.

Every time the security gurus feel they are on to a solution, the hackers send a new version of Conficker to the infected machines that stops them in their tracks.

"Conficker has proven to be the gold standard for botnets. It's rock solid, it's steady and it has mechanisms built in that have made it impossible for us to actually crack," Joffe said.

"As of today we have not been able to crack the cryptography behind it in order to disrupt it by authenticating ourselves as the command and control."

So far the "botnet masters" have been biding their time as the media buzz around Conficker dies down, but they have already sent malicious code to infected machines that co-opts them to send spam emails. Users of infected computers have also been conned with offers to buy fake anti-virus software.

In July, Manchester City Council in Britain was prevented from issuing hundreds of fines after Conficker knocked out parts of its IT system. The infection cost the council £1.5 million in total.

In January, the French Navy had to quarantine its computer network after it was infected with Conficker, forcing aircraft at several air bases to be grounded.

Joffe said that people who are not yet infected and have installed the latest Windows patches and anti-virus software should be safe, as long as yet another version of Conficker is not released.

But he said it was rare for people to have all the relevant patches installed on their computers, and anti-virus software would be of little use to those already infected.

"We're some ways away from being able to take any action, which is what is really concerning us," Joffe said.

Source: http://www.watoday.com.au/technology/security/internet-meltdown-threat-conficker-worm-refuses-to-turn-20090922-fzlh.html

I Haven't Done Anything to Be Infected With Spyware! Why is This Happening to Me?

It wasn't many years ago that hardly anyone had heard of spyware. They vaguely knew that there were computer viruses out there, and that they could wreck your computer, but most people thought that it would never happen to them; as for spyware - the word hadn't entered their vocabulary. People would get very defensive if you suggested that their computer was 'infected'! It was as though it was a personal insult, or a suggestion that they had been doing something 'dodgy'!

One of my first customers when I started helping people with their computer problems was a lovely couple who ran a local church. Their computer was absolutely stuffed with viruses and spyware, and worst of all - for a church computer - they kept getting pop-ups of busty ladies with little or no clothing! They were in a terrible panic and felt that they would be blamed for this happening. They had teenage sons and were worried that their sons had been looking at adult content sites to cause this to happen. It was very hard to calm them down and explain that spyware can affect ANYONE who browses the internet or receives email. The only 100% guaranteed way to keep your computer clean is to never browse the internet, never send or receive email, never use a flash drive (or - as was more usual in those days - a floppy disk) or install software other than supplied by a reputable dealer in a sealed box! That would really limit your computing experience, wouldn't it!

It is absolutely vital to have an up to date virus detection/removal software - these are very good, and can also detect and remove some spyware infections. If you want to be really safe, though, you MUST also have spyware remover software. this will not only detect and remove existing instances of spyware, but will go a long way to preventing future infections.

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How to Prevent Computer Viruses from Attacking Your PC?

Do you want to know how to prevent computer viruses attacking your PC? The first thing that you will want to do is to be careful when you use the Internet to surf various websites and download media files. The best prevention method would be to download and install an antivirus and antispyware software to run frequent scans on your system. It really is not as difficult to protect a computer from virus attacks as what most users would make it out to be.

1. Do You Really Need to Protect Yourself Against Virus and Spyware Attacks?

It is important that people know what these parasites are capable and how to protect against them. This is due to the fact that the majority of people today know how to use the web and their PC and personal information are constantly being exposed to the threats in the online world. Since research has shown that a majority of users who access the Internet have had their computers infected, it is crucial that you learn how to defend against them before it is too late.

2. What is a Computer Virus and What is It Capable of Doing?

A virus is a program that is capable of destroying folders, registries and files and finally aiming to wipe out the entire hard disk. It attacks and infiltrates the system without any knowledge from the user. Some viruses and spyware are also capable of deactivating any existing computer protection software installed to allow the hacker to use unauthorized means to access the system.

3. How to Prevent Computer Viruses from Attacking your PC?

The fastest and easiest way is to download virus removal software to run a scan and fix on your system. They are capable of reading signatures from all the files and registry entries in a system before finding all the erroneous and infected files. It is able to repair or remove them within minutes to leave your PC running like new again.

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