Easy ways to help stop malware!

Besides the normal methods of using good antivirus/antispyware protection and a good firewall, there are some other EASY ways to help combat malware infections....

Remove Adobe Reader. Use something else like Foxit or my personal favorite Sumatra (be sure click "Options" upon install and check all the boxes), or something else that suits your needs.

Unfortunately, for most people these days, Flash Player and Java are online necessities, and for whatever reason, there are no alternatives that are more secure. So, that means that if you use either of these (and you probably do but may not know it), you MUST keep them updated!! Do NOT rely on their built-in auto updaters. Adobe Flash Player came out with an update over a week ago, and I still have PCs at work that have not recognized this update, and I just realized that my home PC has not recognized the update either. This means that we should all MANUALLY check for updates at least twice a month. Simply visit www.adobe.com and scroll down a bit and click on the Adobe Flash Player link and install it, and visit www.java.com and click on the big red "Free Java Download" or whatever it is.

The reason I mention all of this, is that there is a new rootkit affecting both 32bit and 64bit Windows systems that takes advantage of a vulnerability in older releases of Java, and these vulnerabilities are being used to steal banking credentials and other personal private information. More info available here: http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/new-64-bit-rootkit-being-used-steal-banking-credentials-052011 Apparently, currently updated Java installs are not susceptible to this infection.

I strongly recommend running JavaRa to remove all the older Java installs before installing the newest version.

Oh yeah - keep Windows updated at all times. If you don't like using Automatic Updates, then be religious about checking for updates on your own EVERY WEEK!!!

Be safe.

:major

 

Like the new avatar. :cool

Those are good suggestions and maintaining security is never a stale topic.

I'd like to add that Adobe Flash Player and Java can be monitored and maintained through Control Panel.

For Flash Player use the Advanced tab to check the installed version and click the
Check Now button to immediately check the latest version available.

It takes you to the Flash Player -About page.

The Java applet's Update tab has an Update Now button that does an immediate check.

 

Great ideas, except I disagree with one thing -- getting rid of Adobe Reader.

It by no means should be the default PDF reader, but it's a must-have for anyone using certain PDF documents, usually work-related. I have it installed, but use Foxit as my default PDF reader... when Foxit can't handle a PDF like I need it to, I open it with Adobe Reader.

 

The same situation happend to me the day before yesterday , i had installed sumatra pdf but when they tried to print a prescription drug , the printer needed other programme like Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader !! In conclusion , sumatra and foxit reader are good programmes but in some cases Adobe reader is useful !! :cool

 

Really David?

Checkout the 2nd graph here. Outdated Java versions are a big target.



NoScript, OpenDNS and a good hosts file go a long way to providing good passive protection.

If you do get a popup from a browser telling you you have problems/malware/trojans, call up Task Manager and kill the browser - DON'T CLICK on any part of the popup. Then run MBAM and a good A/V to clear out any remnants in the browser cache.

 

Secunia PSI's fine except it requires Java I use it manually and recommend it to others. It does have a few annoying quirks or I'd probably set it to run full-time on certain users PC's.



To gain an idea of how some of these exploits work, read up on the qakbot banking worm here, there's a fuller breakdown of it (not too technical ) in the pdf linked at the bottom of the piece. I hope you all have a plan in place to detect and remove it

 

I swore off Adobe reader years ago, when it was a massive piece of bloatware that would take 5 minutes to open a simple PDF, and then inevitably hang and not respond for the next 10 minutes, sometimes freezing my whole computer, forcing me to do a hard off.
Since then i simply use CoolPDFReader . Works fine for reading PDF's, which is all I need, loads in an instant and doesn't ever hang .

 

Don't know much about the security issues, but for me, Adobe renders a PDF better than other readers I've tried.
The text is clearer, sharper and easier to read.
The load time is fairly quick and I do not use the pre-loader.

Another helpful security app is Patch My PC

 

Thx! I figured it was time for a serious change (hahaha! pun is intended LOL ) and Serious Sam 3: BFE is due out sometime this summer, but they've been threatening the new release for about 3 years, so we'll just have to wait and see (ueah - TOTALLY off topic :-o )

As to the comments about needing Adobe Reader- I have never personally had any formatting issues with Sumatra, but I only use it to read PDF files that I've downloaded, stuff like security threat reports, and user manuals for various devices. If you install the newest version of Sumatra (1.5.1) and click "Options", it adds itself to your web browser as the default PDF app, and I have always had it perform perfectly. However, I'm not surprised that there are some things out there that simply REQUIRE Adobe Reader, I'm not surprised at all! LOL

 

I'll never put adobe reader back on any of my puters. I used to DREAD those times I'd click on a google result and not notice it was a PDF until AFTER I clicked, meaning Adobe was going to SLOOOOOOOWWWLLLLLYYY load, load the PDF and even sometime (if i was lucky) display the PDF, then proceed to hang, not respond for a while, and IF it recovered from not responding, I would have had time to go gas up the car, go grocery shopping, come home, make lunch, drop a deuce, then MAYBE by the time I got back to the computer, adobe reader was closed or able to BE closed.
Don't tell me IM the ONLY person who had this problem with that software, I used to see TONS of complaints about it and I hate Adobe reader to this day with a passion because of those experiences years ago .