Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
August 26, 2007

Volume 3, Number 11 — Sunday, August 26, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 

4.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

For your anti-virus needs (and, yes, you do have anti-virus needs!) I recommend anti-virus software from Trend Micro (PC-cillin Internet Security, if you want a combination package) or ESET (NOD32, my choice).

I'm glad to see that Trend Micro has taken a major, user-friendly step with their PC-cillin Internet Security 2007 by licensing it for up to 3 home users. (You can also get a 3-year license.) TrendMicro provides an easy-to-use product that is from one of the big names in the anti-virus world.

I'm often asked about several other popular anti-virus or anti-virus combination packages. Yes, I realize that they are not in my recommendation list. "Enough said..."

My personal choice is the ESET's small, fast NOD32 anti-virus program, which offers a FREE 30-day evaluation license. I consider NOD32 to be the cream of the crop in anti-virus protection. Unlike some of the others, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, including updates to the program in the multiple-year license.

Many antivirus programs will offer you an anti-virus signature subscription renewal when your subscription renews. I strongly recommend against this option. Vendors routinely improve the capabilities and speed fo the programs also.

If you update only the signatures, you miss any program improvements. Fortunately, NOD32's subscriptions include both program updates and signature updates.

Read more about anti-virus programs on my web site.

Firewall Software

If you get the PC-cillin Internet Security package above, you are covered from a firewall point of view.

While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall at all, don't count on the Windows XP firewall to meet your needs. You need a two-way firewall, which the Windows XP firewall is not!.

The Windows XP firewall does not control outbound communications originating from your computer — and you should want to have control if adware/trojans/spyware or even commercial products want to talk to the Internet.

Do you want Windows Media Player to call home every time you play something? It does! Do you use the Search function in Windows Explorer to find things on your hard drive? Did you know that every time you search, Windows Explorer talks to Microsoft — I didn't know that when I ran ZoneAlarm, but the Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall flags that for me, and I can stop or allow it to happen.

Many other programs call home when you run them, too.

If you don't get either of the above multi-function packages, I recommend my choice for a firewall program is Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Personal Firewall free for 30 days — after that, you can register it or, if you're using it on a home non-business computer, you can let it revert to the free, lesser-function license. Sunbelt Personal Firewall is $19.95 (with discounts for multiple computers!) for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.

Related articles:

• The Internet Versus You
• Do I Need a Firewall Program? articles.

Anti-Spyware / Anti-Adware Software

CounterSpy, from Sunbelt Software, has received many kudos from the computer press for its always-running and periodic full system scans. It is also my personal choice for my PC's and my family's PC's.

Sunbelt released their CounterSpy v2 in early February and I promptly updated my computers to it. Version 2 greatly improved CounterSpy's performance and reduced its load on the computer when it was scanning.

Recently (late July, 2007), Sunbelt released v2.5 of CounterSpy, which again both improved CounterSpy's performance against malware and reduced its impact on system resources and responsiveness when its scanning.

Anti-spam Software

In today's Internet world, the question is not "if" you will get spam, but "how much will you get?"

I use and now I recommend POPFile as my first choice for handling spam. POPFile sits on your computer, between your email program and your ISP mailbox, and handles emial as it downloads.

POPFile uses a different approach to handle spam than some other programs do — it does nothing to reduce spam. It is designed as an email classification tool — you train it to recognize spam and any other type of email that you want to classify. These classifications can help you sort your emails into appropriate folders in your email program.

Sunbelt Software, who makes the anti-spyware program CounterSpy (which I use and recommend) and the firewall that I use and recommend (Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall) also has a well-regarded, award-winning anti-spam program called iHateSpam for Outlook and Outlook Express. Since I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, I haven't tried iHateSpam.

Mailwasher Pro is my first choice to handle spam before it ever gets into your computer's Inbox. Mailwasher Pro uses on-line Realtime Black Lists mail servers sending spam recently, "training" by you of what you think is spam, and your own "friends" and "blacklist" lists.

Mailwasher Pro can even bounce spam messages, as if your email address was not valid, although the usefulness and appropriateness of this is questionable. There is a free version called "Mailwasher," but it omits the functions that I consider critical for this purpose -- such as safely previewing the emails safely before they ever get to your email inbox.

Cable/DSL Router

If you have a cable modem or a DSL modem, you need to have another layer of inexpensive protection between you and the Internet. A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily request your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not initiate a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.

Even if you only have one computer to connect to your cable or DSL modem, I recommend that you purchase and use a cable/DSL router because of the protection it can give you against attempts to attack through some flaws in Windows itself.

A router isolates your local network, whether it is only one computer or several, from the Internet by actually making it a separate network. The router gets the "public" IP address and handles all your outbound communications and the responses to them. But, it blocks computers on the Internet side from being able to initiate communications with your computer! This will prevent you from falling prey to many worms that try to attack security holes in Windows itself.

For a wireless router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I'm using the relatively new version 6 of this router.

If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR41 wired router. Either way, based on my experience, I recommend Linksys routers for price, reliability and Linksys' habit of releasing updated firmware for their products..

See these related articles:

• Wireless Security
• Wi-Fi Hotspots and Computer Security
• Wireless Networking Problems & Wireless Networking Security

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5.  Adware Ties into Internet Explorer

This week, I received a query from a reader about a warning message he was receiving:

Hi Terry , I was wondering if perhaps you can help me , I have this very annoying adware that occurs EVERYTIME at startup .... not-a-virus:Adware.Win32.BHO.cr Now althugh this doesn't appeato be causing any problem on my PC and I get delete it , it is still annoying to do this everytime . Is there anything you can suggest to REMOVE this adware from startup . Pls note : I am not computer savvy and my experience is limited , so I would need exact steps If you could help me , it would be greatly appreciated Regards

I'm not familiar with this particular message, but a little quick searching via Google showed that a number of people had posted similar questions on forums — and they all seemed to use ZoneAlarm.

Like many other companies in the Internet security market, ZoneLabs is expanding its reach into related markets. ZoneAlarm began as a firewall program. Their new Zone Labs Internet Security Suite includes anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall and more.

By the name of the item its reporting "not-a-virus:Adware.Win32.BHO.cr", ZoneAlarm is apparently flagging that this is a Browser Helper Object (BHO). It's also identifying the item as Adware. Adware typically this means that the program installs without warning, without idenfitying what it will do, and either delivers new ads to you via popups or overwrites web site ads with its own ads. Finally, it's specifically noting that this does not fit the definition of a virus, e.g. self-replication.

Browser Helper Objects are a special type of Windows program that are started automatically when you start Internet Explorer. IE7 provides some control over BHO's via Tools > Manage Add-ons > Enable or Disable Add-ons...

My preferred way to deal with Browser Helper Objects is to use the IE Helpers tab in WinPatrol. But, take a look at IE7's Add-on controls — they show more items, or perhaps break the helpers into smaller distinct pieces.

Unfortunately, while both of these tools work fine for controlling normal Browser Helper Objects, like Microsoft's "Related Items" that re-installs with every update and patch to Internet Explorer, malware takes a reinforcement approach. Adware and spyware programs often install multiple programs that run all the time and monitor to make sure each other are installed and running — that way simple removal techniques don't work effectively.

As I mentioned in last week's newsletter, when you're solving a malware problem, you need to turn off turn off System Restore.

Sometimes you have to boot into Safe Mode in order to make repairs to malware infections. If you don't know how to get into Safe Mode, read how in the next article.

Once you're in Safe Mode, run your anti-spyware/anti-adware program again. At this point, it may be able to uninstall all parts of the BHO and its supporting programs. That's because Safe Mode prevents many auto-starting programs from running. Unfortunately, not all.

If you run a manual scan with your normal anti-spyware / anti-adware program in Safe Mode, you'll probably solve the problem.

If not, consider trying CounterSpy V2, which is the anti-spyware / anti-adware program that I use. CounterSpy has a free 15-day trial period during which it is fully functional.

Tech Tip
I don't use ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite or any other suite, although Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security is the suite I recommend for suite users. My choices are CounterSpy V2 for anti-spyware & anti-adware, NOD32 for anti-virus and Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

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6.  HOWTO: Boot Into Safe Mode

Sometimes you need to boot into Safe Mode in order to solve a program or driver problem. You may also need to be in Safe Mode in order to solve a malware (virus, adware, spyware or trojan) problem.

As your computer starts to boot, the motherboard goes through a series of Power-On Self Tests (POSTs). That's followed by the motherboard starting to figure out what's connected to it and reacting accordingly in its configuration.

After that happens, the motherboard tries to boot the operating system on your hard drive or CDROM drive, floppy drive or even flash drive. Your settings, which you can change, in the BIOS control what tries to boot and in what order.

The important part with respect to getting into Windows Safe mode is that the POST and initial motherboard configuration happens first. Then, the screen typically blinks or goes black for a split second — and returns with a Microsoft Windows splash screen.

Between these two points is where you'll find the Windows Safe Mode.

The trick is to start clicking on the F8 key at a rate of 2-3 times per second before the first splash screen vanishes. Continue clicking on the F8 key until either the normal Windows splash screen shows up (in which case you started clicking too late or didn't click fast enough) or until a text-based menu shows up that allows you to pick Windows Safe Mode.

Select Windows Safe Mode. Windows will continue booting into this special mode. In Windows XP and earlier, Safe Mode has a "Safe Mode" label in the four corners of the screen and the screen itself is displayed in an ugly 640x480 format.

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Part 1 | Part 2 

Volume 3, Number 11 — Sunday, August 26, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.

 

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