Fed up with getting viruses/Malware

I_luv_cats

Tyler_Durden_UK wrote: »

Best free anti virus at the mo is Microsoft security essentials

Which gave it a lower score because of infrequent updates and less features.

closed

Manual scans from a resident virus scanner is a waste of time, if your infected, the av will pick it up on access.

Some people like firefox, Firefox used to be ok, but then they decided to make it a bloated monster, constantly updating, constantly adding bugs and memory leaks, and adding features that noone really needs.

Sanboxie is a wrapper around any browser or any program, that just undo's any changes that browsing session makes to the pc when you close the browser.

Antivirus can sometimes misdetect good files as bad, including operating system files, which can stop a system working - impossible to guess what happened on your machine now.

Factory restore from a restore partition is not completely foolproof backup, and doesnt cover any of your data, what happens if the disk fails - the links to a foolproof backup method are in post 17

if you have (or have created) the operating system/recovery disc, then providing the hard disk is working, you should be able to put any machine back to factory settings

kerrypn

Thank you closed, I will download malwarebytes and ccleaner, I will think about avast vs bitdefender, I have had avast before to be fair.

I will also use sandboxie in that case, thanks for that about firefox, not worth the effort then?

Thanks closed for all your time

i luv cats- I do sometimes, ot the games or anything but I do on articles and things. I will just stop going on facebook. I am not overly bothered about it, I only go on to keep in touch with someone close who I cant trust to have my phone number or address(long story lol)

Feel a bit more clued up now, I am still trying to make sense of what i need to do with the host file(I havent got that avatar for no reason you know lol) but I am sure i will figure it out.

Thanks everyone

closed

you save the hosts file in

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc

overwriting the existing one

thats it

the filename is hosts , not hosts.anythingelse, there is no extension

if your browsing or back button slows up as a result - install homer and run at boot.

debitcardmayhem

closed wrote: »

dcm - tried the back button on a site with blocked contents?

Yep , no problems , only problem I get is if a forum (no names) says you are blocking our sponsored spammers so you can't post various bits eg smileys :cool:

kerrypn

Have now installed sandboxie, malwarebytes and ccleaner, all seems to be OK

Will need to re read the host file thing, I can't get it into my head, sorry if I am being dense, but will definitely do this too.

Thanks so much for the advice

debitcardmayhem

kerrypn wrote: »

Have now installed sandboxie, malwarebytes and ccleaner, all seems to be OK

Will need to re read the host file thing, I can't get it into my head, sorry if I am being dense, but will definitely do this too.

Thanks so much for the advice

The MVPS hosts will replace your HOSTS file on your PC, and will stop some sites if they use names e.g.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com but it will not stop malicious sites which use http://213.129.82.46 which is the internet address of MSE

Edited: for completeness if you click on the two links above you will find that the first one with the name you will see it still says welcome debitcardmayhem (well ok kerrypn) but the second one will think you are not logged in since the cookies on your PC are pointing at the "named" address rather than the IP address one

kerrypn

I have done it! Host files done followed instructions on website and all went to plan, thanks for your patience with me

debitcardmayhem

kerrypn wrote: »

I have done it! Host files done followed instructions on website and all went to plan, thanks for your patience with me

Well done , it will help , but will not guarantee the end of your troubles , but will hopefully lessen your exposure to drive by attacks. Read my post before your last one for a bit of more info, I hope it may help with your learning curve, mind you I ain't no guru:D

elektra

kerrypn wrote: »

I am not keen on changing the OS because we have a touchscreen and it has certain apps on it like finger tapps which the kids use and I would lose them, which is a shame because the ubuntu looks good.

gonzo127 wrote: »

in some ways it would be better to see the 'type' of virus's your getting as they could just be tracking cookies which some anti virus software flags to make you feel that its doing something but which are not actually doing any harm.

otherwise as much as i hate to say this, i feel if you are getting a lot of proper virus's on a regular basis, someone is lieing to you about what sites they are visiting, as although people do get some virus's from the sites you have stated get used, you shouldnt be getting them on a regular basis

You know what you and OH use the computer for but are you sure what sites the kids are visiting ?