help please! pc re-directing online banking to dodgy site

Richie-from-the-Boro

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

And that is the best bit of advice I've had all day

Thanks again to everyone, I am now up and running again.

In fact, the re-install was so painless that I am tempted to do the same with my netbook, which has a lot of programmes and downloads that I no longer use. It almost seems easier to back up the stuff I want and then just take it back to factory settings.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't do this?

Thanks

Daisy

- none whatsoever, if it's something you feel comfortable and more confident with, then that's precisely why you should adopt it as your personal solution.

- decide what is important back it up to a 2 £uid flash stick each Friday
- that way you will have learned a competence, and you will be in control
- all machines become clogged [ with carrrp ] over time, your factory solution will keep it as lean as it can be !

macman

But remember that after you do a Sys Restore you will need to run Windows Updates to bring everything back up to date again.

zzzLazyDaisy

macman wrote: »

But remember that after you do a Sys Restore you will need to run Windows Updates to bring everything back up to date again.

Actually I wouldn't have known how to go about running windows updates, but the first time I switched on after returning it to factory settings, it flagged up that updates were needed and loaded them when I logged off, so even that was practically done for me.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but it seems to me to be the most painless way of keeping the machine clean and running smoothly.

But yes, I do also need to get into the habit of regularly backing up my netbook to the laptop (since I only normally use the netbook when travelling) and also the laptop to my external hard-drive. I'm the first to admit that I'm sloppy about backing up, but this has been a big lesson for me, it could easily have been SSOOOOOO much worse!

tronator

macman wrote: »

And most importantly, don't lend your laptop to your sister again...

Why not just creating a separate restricted user account for her?

zzzLazyDaisy

tronator wrote: »

Why not just creating a separate restricted user account for her?

If I created a separate user account and she then did something stupid like clicking through a link in an e-mail to a dodgy website (which is what I think she did) would that confine the virus/trojan/whatever to her user account? So if I then deleted her user account the infection would disappear with it?

Sounds too easy, somehow?

JustPassingBy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

If I created a separate user account and she then did something stupid like clicking through a link in an e-mail to a dodgy website (which is what I think she did) would that confine the virus/trojan/whatever to her user account? So if I then deleted her user account the infection would disappear with it?

That's about the size of it. Make your own account limited too and enjoy a massive increase in security.

zzzLazyDaisy

JustPassingBy wrote: »

That's about the size of it. Make your own account limited too and enjoy a massive increase in security.

Okay, that sounds like a plan.

Could you talk me through making separate limited accounts, please?

Thanks a lot :beer:

Edit - so I could create two different accounts for myself - one for work, and one for web-browsing, say, and in that way I'd keep my important documents safe?

tronator

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

If I created a separate user account and she then did something stupid like clicking through a link in an e-mail to a dodgy website (which is what I think she did) would that confine the virus/trojan/whatever to her user account? So if I then deleted her user account the infection would disappear with it?

Sounds too easy, somehow?

Not quite, it's not the additional account which makes your laptop safer, it's the "restricted" as in "restricted user account". A restricted user doesn't have the permissions to change any system files or install programs. So you wouldn't delete viruses etc. by deleting the user account, you wouldn't get them so easily in first place.

I'd say 9x% of all problems with a Windows PC come from the fact that these 9x% are logged in with an administrator account. No software should need administrative rights to run, if it does, then it's broken by design. You only need administrative right to install it.

VoucherMan

tronator wrote: »

No software should need administrative rights to run, if it does, then it's broken by design. You only need administrative right to install it.

A few years ago I set up Limited accounts for the kids on my pc. There were so many programs that wouldn't run I ended up changing them to administrator

JustPassingBy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Could you talk me through making separate limited accounts, please?

Post #41 at

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=181375&page=2

helped me on XP.

Edit - so I could create two different accounts for myself - one for work, and one for web-browsing, say, and in that way I'd keep my important documents safe?

Not something I'd do myself but It's certainly an idea. Either way you'll be unable to compromise system files. Which may prompt you to think about what place AV and other security software has on your machine.