March 26, 2004

As I'm sure you know, keeping virus definition files up-to-date is important.  I check mine for updates two or three times a week.  AVG is pretty good virus software.  In fact, it is what runs on Levell.Net's new mail server (The old server didn't have ANY virus software installed, believe it or not).  F-PROT is also excellent anti-virus shareware.

Some of the other things you are finding may be what is commonly called ad-ware, and there is a FREE program that will scan AND remove these things.  It is called Ad-Aware, and it is available at shareware download sites all over the Internet.  It is usually the number one download at http://www.webattack.com.  I have it scanning my PC right now, since a new update came out yesterday.  Ad-Aware will find stuff you didn't know you had--it sure did on my PC at work.  Our Network Administrator came into my office one day and announced he had to install Ad-Aware on my PC to remove a file that was causing Norton Anti-Virus problems.

If you've got Zone Alarm and AVG installed, you should be well-protected in the future.  Installing Ad-Aware will clean up existing problems on your system.  Don't be surprised if it finds upwards of a hundred items to fix.    All together, Zone Alarm, AVG, and Ad-Aware combat against Internet intrusions, viruses, and advertising programs.  Advertising programs (aka. spyware) are typically installed when you install other software (usually shareware or freeware).  These programs can collect information and "call home" with that information.  Gator software is a well-known ad program.  Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing programs like Morpheus and KaZaA are also favourite ways ad programs are delivered to your PC without your knowledge.

As for a free virus scanner...  To be honest, it is one piece of software I will gladly pay for.  There are free scanners out there, but they do not offer the same level of protection, as some of my co-workers have discovered on their home PCs.  I have used Norton Anti-Virus religiously since college days, but I expect I will be changing to F-PROT sometime in the next six months.  The last version of Norton Anti-Virus I was able to successfully install on ANY PC was 2002.  Norton 2003 or 2004 will not install on any PC I have tried.  The people I know who manage to install it successfully had a brand new PC or were forced to re-install Windows.  I got a refund last week after spending three days trying to install Norton Anti-Virus 2004.  It is WAY too complicated to install, which is one of the main reasons we switched to McAfee Anti-Virus during our big network upgrade at work, last month.

I check download sites like http://www.webattack.com, http://www.tucows.com, and http://www.download.com regularly for anti-virus and worm programs & updates.  Of all the spyware detection programs out there, nothing beats Ad-Aware.

My PC is healthy.  The spoofed Email appears to have stopped.  There were a couple of days when I must've received half a dozen Email messages that were infected with one of the new viruses.  A couple of the messages originated in Brantford and Kitchener-Waterloo.  I haven't seen any infected messages from around the Toronto area.  I think Rogers does a pretty good job of trapping trojans in their out-going mail.  The infected messages I received came from what appear to be "free nets," which means they probably don't have ANY anti-virus software installed, making them prime targets for spammers and trojans.