Okay, you should be good to go.
Please read the following information that I have provided, which will help you prevent malicious software in the future. Please keep in mind, malware is a
continuous danger on the Internet. It is highly important to stay safe while browsing, to prevent re-infection.
Software recommendationsAntiSpyware
- SpywareBlaster
SpywareBlaster is a program that prevents spyware from installing on your computer. A tutorial on using SpywareBlaster may be found here.
- Spybot - Search & Destroy.
Spybot - Search & Destroy is a spyware and adware removal program. It also has realtime protection, TeaTimer to help safeguard your computer against spyware. (The link for Spybot - Search & Destroy contains a tutorial that will help you download, install, and begin using Spybot).
NOTE: Please keep
ALL of these programs up-to-date and run them whenever you suspect a problem to prevent malware problems.
Resident Protection helpA number of programs have resident protection and it is a good idea to run the resident protection of one of each type of program to maintain protection. However, it is important to run only
one resident program of each type since they can conflict and become less effective. That means
only one antivirus, firewall, and scanning anti-spyware program at a time. Passive protectors such as SpywareBlaster can be run with any of them.
Rogue programs helpThere are a lot of rogue programs out there that want to scare you into giving them your money and some malware actually claims to be security programs. If you get a popup for a security program that you did not install yourself, do NOT click on it and ask for help immediately. It is very important to run an antivirus and firewall, but you can't always rely on reviews and ads for information. Ask in a security forum that you trust if you are not sure. If you are unsure and looking for anti-spyware programs, you can find out if it is a rogue here:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm
Securing your computer
- Windows Updates - It is very important to make sure that both Internet Explorer and Windows are kept current with the latest critical security patches from Microsoft. To do this just start Internet Explorer and select Tools > Windows Update, and follow the online instructions from there.
- hpHosts file replaces your current HOSTS file with one containing well known ad sites and other bad sites. This prevents your computer from connecting to those sites by redirecting them to 127.0.0.1, which is your local computer's loopback address, meaning it will be difficult to infect your computer in the future.
Please consider using an alternate browserMozilla's Firefox browser is a very good alternative. In addition to being generally more secure than Internet Explorer, it has a very good built-in popup blocker and add-ons, like NoScript, can make it even more secure. Opera is another good option.
If you are interested:
- Firefox may be downloaded from here: http://www.getfirefox.com
- Opera is available here: http://www.opera.com/download/
- Google Chrome is available here: Google Chrome
- SRWare Iron is available here: SRWare Iron
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