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Security important issues-I (Fighting viruses)

Perhaps the best thing you can do for your computer -- and your peace of mind -- is to resolve to protect yourself from computer viruses. Viruses can cost you money and destroy your privacy. We've put together this special issue to talk about the latest in viruses and virus protection.Even if you own a virus-scanning program, we believe you'll learn something new.
So let's get started...

Note: This information isn't meant to scare you. It's meant to educate you, so that you can defend yourself properly.

WHAT IS A COMPUTER VIRUS ?

Like viruses that infect living beings, computer viruses infect your computer. They are software, and are often attached to other software or documents you might receive. When you run the virus's software or the file the virus has infected, the virus can infect your computer's software.

There are many types of viruses and terms for them, but we'll use the general term 'virus' to make things easy.

Like the flu virus, a computer virus must spread from host to host to survive. When we get the flu, we cough and sneeze, and tiny particles carrying the virus spread the flu to other people.

With computer viruses, the virus is designed to spread from your computer to other computers. Here are some of the most common ways they spread:

1. Once the virus has infected your system, it may automatically send out emails containing more copies of the virus using the address book in your email program. This type of virus is called an Internet "Worm," because it is a self-propagating virus. For example, an Internet worm crippled tens of thousands of computers and slowed down parts of the Internet on the weekend of January 29, 2003.

2. If the virus is a macro virus (attached to a Microsoft Word document, for example), it may attach itself to any document you create or modify. If you send another document to someone by email, the virus goes along with it.

3. Sometimes viruses masquerade as a fun program (like an electronic greeting card) that secretly infects your system. If you pass the program along, not realizing that it contains a virus, you will be transmitting the virus manually to your friends, family, or colleagues.

Trojan Horses are closely related to computer viruses, but they differ in that they do not attempt to replicate themselves. More specifically, a Trojan Horse performs some undesired -- yet intended -- action while, or in addition to, pretending to do something else. A common example is a fake login program, which collects account information and passwords by asking for this info just like a normal login program does.

Many computer viruses are malicious -- in other words, they can erase your files or lock up whole computer systems. Other computer viruses are more benign -- they don't do any direct damage other than by spreading themselves locally or throughout the Internet.

Regardless, computer viruses should always be treated.

What Kind of Damage Can Computer Viruses Do?

The damage a computer virus can inflict on your system depends on many things, including how sophisticated the virus is. Here is a short listing of the types of damage viruses can do to your computer -- they can really hit you where it hurts:

- Some viruses can delete or change files. Some viruses will delete all of your documents, or even reformat your hard drive, making your computer unusable.
- Some viruses can release confidential information like credit card information, account numbers, and passwords by emailing it to random email addresses or the address of the virus writer.
- Some viruses can slow down your system dramatically.
- Some viruses plant monitoring software or change security settings that allow hackers to enter your computer without you knowing about it and steal information or control it.

Other viruses, like the Internet worm that hit recently, also can have widespread effects on computer networks and the Internet.

Your Computer May Have a Computer Virus If...

How do you know if you have a computer virus? If you're not running an antivirus program, you may not know at all since many viruses are benign.

Some symptoms of a virus infection are:

- Your computer displays strange messages, plays music, or shows odd graphic displays.
- Your computer takes longer to boot up, operates more slowly than usual, and takes longer to start programs.
- Your computer has much less memory or hard drive space available.

Some legitimate software can cause these symptoms, so *the only way you can be sure your computer is virus-free is to regularly scan it for viruses using antivirus software*.

How Can You Protect Your Computer From Viruses?

As we've indicated, you need antivirus software to be safe. You should consider the cost of the software as part of the purchase of your computer -- it's that important.

Once you've installed the antivirus software, you will need to download regular updates that tells the antivirus software about new viruses and how to detect them. Most antivirus software comes with a year's worth of updates, and you can usually set the software to either automatically download the updates, or display a reminder for you to do so.

This is vital since there are over 500 new viruses discovered each month!

Kaspersky and McAfee VirusScan are the two best-known antivirus programs for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. For Macintosh users, Norton AntiVirus and McAfee's Virex for Macintosh provide protection. For Linux users, try RAV AntiVirus.
While the vast majority of viruses are written to infect Windows-based systems, Macintosh and Linux users should still also have virus protection.
All antivirus software lets you scan the computer's memory and hard drive for viruses.

Depending on the software package, the antivirus program may also be able to protect against:

- Incoming emails and email attachments with viruses.
- Viruses received through instant messaging, such as ICQ.
- Infected downloaded files, before you open the file.
- Attacks against your computer from outside (firewall software).

If you are strapped for cash, AVG Anti-Virus provides a free version of its antivirus program and free updates for Windows-based computers. And if you just want to scan your computer for viruses for free right now, check out Trend Micro's free online virus scan and McAfee FreeScan.
More information about antivirus software:

Norton AntiVirus: ==> Click here
McAfee VirusScan: ==> Click here
Virex for Macintosh: (free with a .Mac subscription) ==> Click here
RAV Anti-Virus (Linux): ==> Click here
Trend Micro's free online virus scan ==> Click here
McAfee's FreeScan (requires Microsoft Windows and IE 5.0 or later): ==> Click here

trojan horse - greek myth or computer nemesis?

We have all heard the term Trojan Horse, but what exactly is it? A Trojan Horse is a destructive program that masquerades as a harmless application. Unlike viruses, Trojan Horses do not replicate themselves, but they can be just as destructive. One of the most dangerous examples of a Trojan is a program that promises to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses into your computer.

The Trojan can be tricky. Who hasn't been online and had an advertisement pop up claiming to be able to rid your computer of some nasty virus? Or, even more frightening, you receive an email that claims to be alerting you to a new virus that can threaten your computer. The sender promises to quickly eradicate, or protect, your computer from viruses if you simply download their "free", attached software into your computer. You may be skeptical but the software looks legitimate and the company sounds reputable. You proceed to take them up on their offer and download the software. In doing so, you have just potentially exposed yourself to a massive headache and your computer to a laundry list of ailments.

When a Trojan is activated, numerous things can happen. Some Trojans are more annoying than malicious. Some of the less annoying Trojans may choose to change your desktop settings or add silly desktop icons. The more serious Trojans can erase or overwrite data on your computer, corrupt files, spread other malware such as viruses, spy on the user of a computer and secretly report data like browsing habits to other people, log keystrokes to steal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, phish for bank account details (which can be used for criminal activities), and even install a backdoor into your computer system so that they can come and go as they please.

To increase your odds of not encountering a Trojan, follow these guidelines:

1. Remain diligent - Trojans can infect your computer through rogue websites, instant messaging, and emails with attachments. Do not download anything into your computer unless you are 100 percent sure of its sender or source.

2. Ensure that your operating system is always up-to-date. If you are running a Microsoft Windows operating system, this is essential.

3. Install reliable anti-virus software. It is also important that you download any updates frequently to catch all new Trojan Horses, viruses, and worms. Be sure that the anti-virus program that you choose can also scan e-mails and files downloaded through the internet.

4. Consider installing a firewall. A firewall is a system that prevents unauthorized use and access to your computer. A firewall is not going to eliminate your computer virus problems, but when used in conjunction with regular operating system updates and reliable anti-virus software, it can provide additional security and protection for your computer.

Nothing can guarantee the security of your computer 100 percent. However, you can continue to improve your computer's security and decrease the possibility of infection by consistently following these guidelines.

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how to remove trojan horse - kavo.exe

my laptop was infected by a trojan horse called kavo.exe these few days. i kept searching for solutions online and try to remove the infected files by using anti-spyware tools. however the kavo.exe and kavo.dll files still been auto generated when i reboot my pc.

i decided to format my laptop but the problem still exist after format!!!! all partitions of my laptop's hardisk were infected by the trojan horse. 3 hidden files had been created in these partition include C drive. the worst thing is the view hidden file function was disable by the Trojan Horse!!!!

at the end, jiotao found a good solution from a website. here are our suggestion steps in order to solve the kavo.exe trojan horse problem.

1. Install anti-spyware tool. I'll recommend you to install "PC Tools Spyware Doctor", you may go to this website to get a free starter edition in google pack which can help to scan and remove Rootkit.Agent.Qv : http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/google_pack/

2. Run a scan using the Spyware Doctor. It will help to detect all the infected files, e.g. kavo.exe, kavo.dll, Rootkit.Agent.Qv in the system.

3. Remove all the infected files using Spyware Doctor.

4. Since the "view hidden files" function was disabled. Go to command prompt: Run-> cmd.

a. Type command to view all the .exe, .inf and .com files (include hidden files) in all partitions in your hardisk (e.g. C, D, E, F) :

F:\>dir /a *.exe *.inf *.com

Directory of F:\
05/19/2008 07:42 PM 117,805 lgnaqil.exe
Directory of F:\
05/20/2008 12:49 PM 455 autorun.inf
Directory of F:\
05/17/2008 08:21 PM 116,826 w2qagd.com

3 File(s) 235,086 bytes 0 Dir(s) 21,613,600,768 bytes free

we can see that there are 3 hidden files which are the source to generate the kavo.exe and kavo.dll files: lgnaqil.exe, w2qadg.com and autorun.inf

b. Type the following command to change these hidden files to visible files (because we can't run the delete command for hidden files):

F:\>attrib *.exe -r -a -s -h
F:\>attrib *.inf -r -a -s -h
F:\>attrib *.com -r -a -s -h

c. Type the delete command to remove these files permanently: lgnaqil.exe, w2qadg.com and autorun.inf :

F:\>del *.exe *.inf *.com

5. Reboot your pc.

Hope these steps will help others who had the same problem.

"Prevention is better than cure". I'll recommend everyone to install PC Tools Spyware Doctor to protect your computer from trojan horse attack. It is better to have both antivirus and antispyware software in your pc.

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Thursday, 27 August 2009

Security important issues-I (Fighting viruses)

trojan horse - greek myth or computer nemesis?

Escalada: Fiesta de Mísil Children en Escalada - Sábado 9 de mayo

how to remove trojan horse - kavo.exe

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