Malware / Trojan / Virus removal tips for NEWBs:
By Heather - Page 3
TIPS - continued
Watch what you install
Don't run or install anything that you are not (at least, reasonably) confident is legitimate. If you are not going to stick to this - for instance, if you or anyone who uses your PC installs things from bit-torrent and kazaa or visits sites like astalavista - you should raise your security awareness. Scan all files with your AV software. Be aware of what you do so that you have a better chance of targeting the source if problems occur.
Install updates and patches
A nuisance but really necessary
Block email attachments
Never open emails with file attachments, unless you are absolutely sure the sender is not only genuine but knows the source of the attachments. This is doubly true for any executable files (with extensions such as .bat, .exe, .vbs, .pif and .scr)
Block Javascript and Active X
As a general rule don't let web pages you don't trust run Javascript or Active X. Even trusting a site is no protection. For instance, in early 2005, the greyhat site showed how ActiveX could make you believe you were on paypal's site when you were at another.
2 A bit more hands-on
Educate yourself & learn from experience
This is the answer to life the universe and everything, anyway.
Look at your network traffic
You can do this at the Ms-Dos command prompt by running netstat. (In Windows XP: Start menu, Run..., type cmd in the box, Enter, type netstat at the prompt). Alternatively, you can download several programs that will show your network connections in some detail and let you change them without you needing any skills. TCPview from www.sysinternals.com is really good. It lets you end processes by right clicking on them.
Making sense of the lists you see is more difficult. I would suggest that you get to know what normal traffic looks like
When you run peer to peer programs, such as E-mule, you will see any number of connections. They should all go to the ports that are standard for the software. E.g. Emule uses 4662 TCP.
Continued on next page
Footnotes
7 - An executable (exe) file is one that runs a set of procedures , i.e. a program file. For example, Photoshop is executable. The psd files that you create and save while you are using Photoshop are not executable. You need to run the Photoshop program to open them.
