Beware of Trojan and Hijacker programs.
What is the biggest hole in your computers security? YOU
Trojan writers take advantage of this and try to trick their way onto your computer.
What is a Trojan?
A Trojan program is named after the wooden horse used to trick the city of Troy. Clever programmers use a decoy program to trick you into installing their malicious program on your computer. They use a variety of tactics from pop-ups that tell you they have scanned your computer and found a virus to “free” utilities to install on your computer. The big problem with this type of program (trojan) is it can bypass all your security because you have given it permission to install. Once installed trojans can do a variety of wicked things. Trojans have been known to disable your anti-virus and download viruses to your PC, or use your PC as an email proxy to pass on thousands of Spam emails on behalf of their owners. In fact new ways of using your PC for the benefit of the Trojan writer are being thought up all the time.
How do you stop them?
There is a simple rule on the Internet, (and a life lesson) “If it looks to good to be true, then it probably is!”. Trojans need you to install them. One of the most common types of Trojan is a pop-up that appears in the bottom right hand corner of you screen with a warning message in scary language about a detected virus, spyware, or general Windows problem. “Click Here to repair” or similar message will be displayed, the box will have two buttons “OK” and “Cancel” Do Not Click Either Button they both mean “OK” the way to close it is to click on the little red cross in the top corner of the box (this tells windows to close the box). Your up to date anti-virus should detect most known Trojans but usually only when you do a full scan. Of course they can’t protect you from any new Trojan threats, the best protection is be careful and do not install “free” programs unless you are sure they are ok.
What is a Hijacker?
A Hijacker takes control of you internet browser (EG Internet Explorer) and will use it to display adverts or other types of internet sites when you try to go on the internet. Some of these sites can be quite explicit. If you have the advert displaying type then your home page may display as a blank page.
This type of program can usually be removed by either “Adaware” a free program from www.lavasoft.com or “Spyware Search and Destroy” from
www.safer-networking.org also free.
The best general advice is regular virus scans. A virus scan takes approximately between 40 minutes and 1½ hours. Always use the Full Scan option and make sure the anti-virus is up to date before you start the scan. If you have been surfing the internet and have strayed into some “dogey” sites then scan you PC and catch anything that has sneaked onto your PC before it can do any damage. If a message pops up on your screen read it carefully, don’t just click “OK”, if it is not obviously from your Anti-virus shut it down. Most importantly do not install utilities from unknown sources. A quick google search of the utilities name will soon tell you if it is legitimate.
If you have a topic you would like me to cover, please let me know.
Mick Maidens is the Owner of Kent PCs for Computer Repairs in Challock (Nr Ashford). Follow us on Facebook
Email: info@kentpcs.co.uk Phone: 01233 740306