CompuClever Blog

Computer fixes: tips for avoiding malware on your computer

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Over the past month or so you may have heard about a threat to your computer called “DNSChanger”. As a result of this malware, millions of computers around the world could have potentially lost all connection to the Internet on Monday, July 11th. This is because the DNSChanger malware infected computers by modifying a computer’s DNS to point toward “rogue servers”.

In a nutshell, DNS is an extremely important service that is used to convert a website’s name (eg, www.compuclever.com) into a distinct IP address that is easily found by your computer.

In this case, DNSChanger malware infected computers to send web surfers to its own fake web pages, ideally to generate profit from ads and upload even more malware and viruses onto visiting computers.

The FBI discovered what was happening and actually hosted fake web pages of its own to analyze the traffic being sent to DNSChanger bogus websites. The crooks were captured (they were from Estonia, birthplace of Skype and Kazaa), and the FBI decided to pull the plug on its fake web pages on July 11, 2012.

As a result, owners of computers infected with DNSChanger have to figure out some way to reconfigure their DNS, because it will be impossible to surf the internet without it.

Thankfully, after July 11, most Internet companies in North America reported the total number of affected computers was relatively low (whenever the Internet isn’t working, people tend to phone up their Internet company), but that’s cold comfort for the poor folks who are affected by DNSChanger.

So, how to protect yourself from malware like this?

1. Be careful where you browse on the Internet
Most of us have used the Internet to know that, just like any town, there are safe place to visit, and places to avoid. Use your “Internet street smarts” and stay away from websites that seem suspicious.

2. Make sure your browser and your OS are up to date
Hackers are always searching for new vulnerabilities in your web browser and Windows. As a result, it’s very important to keep both up to date. Microsoft offers automatic updates for both Windows and Internet Explorer, and it may be wise to upgrade to the latest version of IE to remain perfectly safe.

Also, updating Java and Flash will help protect your computer considerably.

3. Don’t just download any software because it’s free
It’s really tempting to download free software such as games, useful tools, or even fun smiley icons. However, you have no way of knowing who made it, or what’s inside the software that can harm your computer.

The best thing to do is to read software reviews on a website like CNet. A lot of positive reviews means that generally the software is safe to use.

4. Make sure software has a proper digital signature
A digital signature demonstrates the authenticity of a software program; digital signatures are commonly used for software distribution, financial transactions, and in other cases where it is important to detect forgery or tampering. All CompuClever products feature a digital signature.

5. Download from an accredited source
It really reassuring to know that a particular piece of software has been accredited by a trusted third party organization. For example, CompuClever is a Microsoft Partner and Intel Partner and our Windows 7 Logo automatically assume the certified software is free of malware (both virus and adware).

Go the extra mile and get truly protected

If you really want to get protected, try installing a robust anti-virus and anti-malware tool. Two of the best products out there today are avast! and AVG Free.

Used by more than 150 million people, avast! is accessible and robust, with an impressive list of free features and strong performance benchmarks. It helps block malware and viruses from your computer, and also provides scans to make sure there’s nothing lurking in your hard drive consuming resources or worse.

AVG Free also provides the same real-time antivirus protection. If you have the time, compare how each works for you, and pay attention how each affects your computer’s performance, notably boot times. But they’re both great tools that will help with your peace of mind while surfing on the Internet.

Keep your computer clean

Finally, clean your computer of cookies and sensitive information. It’s possible for hackers to learn a lot about your web surfing and even banking habits by analyzing your cookies, so using PC cleaner products like PC Clean Maestro can provide you with some feelings of safety.

Speed up Internet Explorer

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There’s a couple of tips and tricks for both Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer that should speed things up.

If you use the IE browser and want instant access to your favorite websites, add a sub-menu from the Windows 7 Start Menu to get instant access to your Favorites. Here’s how you do it:

  1. Right-click an empty area of the Taskbar and choose “Properties”
  2. The “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” multi-tabbed dialog box should appears
  3. Click the “Start Menu” tab
  4. Click the “Customize” button
  5. The “Customize Start Menu” dialog box appears
  6. Check “Favorites menu”
  7. Click “OK” on the dialog boxes to close them

You now have instant access to your favorites!

A cool shortcut for Windows Explorer – use check boxes!

You can select non-adjacent files in Explorer using Ctrl-click, but there is an easier way using check boxes. In Windows Explorer, click Organize, then select Folder and search options.

On the View tab, under Advanced Settings, scroll down to select Use check boxes to select items. Now you can easily select multiple items using only the mouse.

How to create a safe password

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Practically every day we hear about email and bank accounts getting hacked, mostly because of  “password entropy”: we often don’t bother to change passwords frequently, the passwords we do have are easy to crack, and we often use the same password for multiple accounts.

  • Length: Passwords should incorporate 8 or more characters.
  • Complexity: Include letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.
  • Change your passwords often: Change the passwords for your email, banking, and credit card websites about every three months.
  • Variety: Don’t use the same password for everything. By cracking one password it’s easy to find out where you do your online banking etc.

How to create a strong password:

  1. Start with a sentence: Create a strong safe password
  2. Remove the spaces between the words in the sentence: Createastrongsafepassword
  3. Intentionally misspell some of the words: Cre@teas7rongs@fep@$$word
  4. Add length with numbers: Cre@teas7rongs@fep@$$word2112

Extra hints:

Try Microsoft’s secure password checker.

Never create passwords that incorporate:

  • Plaintext or “dictionary words” in any language (that’s why we modified our password with numbers and symbols).
  • Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
  • Sequences or repeated characters such as 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).
  • Personal information: Your name, birthday, driver’s license, passport number, or similar information.

Where do you keep all this information?

  • Some people rely on pieces of paper to store passwords, but this can be inconvenient.
  • You can also store passwords in a text file on a USB drive
  • There are also password storage services and programs, but these have some drawbacks:

Desktop password managers and browser based password managers are convenient, however often do not provide any protection for stored password. If the computer is on, it is possible for another individual to access the password manager and read the user’s password. This situation is improved slightly by requiring the user to enter a password to access the repository, however if the passwords are stored in an unencrypted fashion, it is still generally possible to obtain the passwords given local access to the machine.

How to protect your online identity

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Have you ever Googled your name online? If you haven’t, try it out: you might be surprised at what you discover. It’s possible that your home phone number, address, family photos and even birthday may appear as search results.

Thanks to the killer combination of social networks, bad passwords, and highly personal information stored on our computers, we’re all at risk at some point of having our online identity hijacked, sometimes with disastrous results.

Social networks make it easier for hackers to learn more about us

Facebook has 800 million active users worldwide, and marks the biggest cultural transformation of the past 5 years – social networking is here to stay.

We love to share everything online, from pictures of our children to birthdays and other celebrations. Often we use social networks to connect with former classmates, or broadcast where we went to school.

The visibility of personal info makes “identity theft” an increasingly common problem.

For example, it’s quite easy for a determined hacker or even prankster to pull together various pieces of your identity together to potentially access your bank account, or other accounts containing your credit card information such as iTunes.

How many times have you been prompted for your mother’s maiden name in order to get help with a credit card bill?

And how can you be sure that that information about you isn’t stored someplace online?

Bad passwords are a major threat to your internet privacy

Besides relying on personal information available on the internet, hackers and fraudsters also take advantage of human nature to hijack your Amazon or iTunes accounts, or even your online banking information.

We rely on a variety of passwords to login into a variety of websites. Human nature tends to make us very lazy – often we use the same password for more than one website.

If a clever hacker discovers the password to one of your online accounts, he or she might try out your other accounts such as iTunes to see if they use the same password.

For example, LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, was recently hacked, and several hundred thousand passwords were made public. The passwords were linked to email addresses, and, in quite a few cases, these email addresses used the same password as the LinkedIn account.

Although the security breach was quickly discovered, it’s quite possible that, if undetected, hackers around the world could have accessed the passwords and accessed credit card and banking information, or even hijacked email and social media accounts.

Identity theft can be catastrophic.

The risk of personal information stored on your own computer

Our computers carry a treasure trove of personal information that can really cause us problems in the wrong hands. Every time we enter personal information such as our name, address and phone number into an online form, it will be stored as a “cookie” on our computer.

Sometimes, through no fault of our own, we will surf on the Internet to a website that has been compromised by hackers, and will download a “Trojan” or similar malicious program onto our computer. This “malware” is often programmed to scan for personal information, including credit card numbers, and send it to a hacker.

And a very obvious risk is that someone may actually steal your laptop or home computer from your office or home.

It’s potentially game over for your Internet privacy.

How to safeguard your online identity

There are a number of ways to preserve your online privacy and make sure you are not hacked.

1) Lock down your social networks

Make sure you understand how to lock down privacy settings on Facebook and other social networks. Don’t display your birthday, your street address, your email address or your telephone number to ANYONE on Facebook or other social networks, even if they are friends (what happens if your friends get hacked?).

2) Use different passwords, and change them often

Make sure that you never reuse the same password for different social networking sites (and make sure you use a strong password). On top of that, change your passwords at least once a month. Hackers are always probing the defences of any login page you can imagine, from your email account to your utility bill.

3) “Clean” your computer on a regular basis

To make sure no one and snoop around your computer, make sure you delete Internet cookies, browsing history data, and privacy files pertaining to email and instant messaging on a regular basis. Also, erase all personal information such as personal ID, passwords, credit card data and banking information.

 

How to create a system repair disk

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blue screen of deathIt’s inescapable: there will come a time in the life of your computer when you will not get it to start properly. It could be caused by a virus or malware, a hard disk failure, or a corrupted registry.

The end result is the same: your computer will not start, and you will be unable to access any of the programs you’ve paid for, including, for example, Microsoft Office suite or even Windows itself. Replacing the software from scratch can cost hundreds of dollars, and sometimes it’s even necessary to replace the computer itself.

At the very least, you’ll be saving yourself hefty computer repair fees, which can run towards $100 an hour!

How to create a System Repair Disk

If you have one of those bad Windows days where you can’t boot up your computer properly, what you really want is something you can quickly use to get at a command prompt so you can properly troubleshoot.

Windows 7 now includes the ability to create a system repair disc, which is essentially a CD-bootable version of Windows that just includes the command prompt and a suite of system tools.

The trick is to create a system repair disk *now* rather than later when you’ll need it. Here’s how:

how to create a system repair disc1) Navigate to the “start” button in the bottom of left corner of your desktop

2) Click the start button

3) Type “system repair disc” in the Start Menu search box, and you’ll be led to the utility.

It’s a good idea to create this system repair disc BEFORE you have problems, otherwise you’ll end up with no way to create one when you need it most.