Maintain Hygiene of Your PC
2005-02-06 19:27:01
There has been a lot of people calling me asking me if theres anyway i can remove this spyware, or why does my pc going slow, or why do i get a lot of popups, "i have a trojan", etc. stuff like that. Well good news guys, this is a Universal Problem so don't worry you're not alone. It is always good to maintain computer hygiene like you maintain your personal hygiene. You shower everyday, brushes your teeth everyday, etc. but how would you do it for a pc ? Well here's some tips of mine that will help you maintain your computer's hygiene and a few software downloads that might be usefull for you to use. First and foremost, lets clear out the table that these solution might not able to solve your problem as for a known fact that all anti-spyware and anti-virus programme doesnt do a complete 100% spyware removal or so to say they are 95% cleanable. Why you may ask ? Well not all anti-spyware programme has library of all the spyware available in this world. Some might consider a certain code to be spyware and some other software might not. Each company has a different definition pattern of what a spyware is. Therefore is recomended that you use multiple anti spyware programme on your computer because theres no one anti spyware programme that does a complete job.The easiest solution for me to get rid all of this spyware forever is just by reformating the computer and have everything re-installed. However this might be a problem for those who are un-familiar with formatting procedures and installing driver so i wouldnt recomend you doing this unless your computer company has provided you with a data recovery CD then it might be worth re-formatting your comptuer and start over fresh then maintaining spyware from that point.
Im guessing that no-one wants to format their pc and have everything gone. So therefore ill show you a few programme that might be best for you to maintain your computer hygiene. These are my methods of maintaing computer hygiene so there might be other good solutions out there. However im just gonna stick with my method seems to be perfectly working for a very looonggg time.
Firstly ... make sure you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed. Because if you dont have service pack 2 installed. Then that is most likely why you pc is performing slow and has a lot of popups and spyware. Because it is not protected. So have SP2 installed by going to Windows Update and update your windows to the SP2 patch. Then only proceed to the followings. However some experts said that if you are having spyware in your comptuer atm, and u havent installed SP2, and u started to install SP2, the spyware might be harder to be removed in that case. So in that case i suggest that you reformat your harddrive and have a fresh installed of windows and then immidately ! install SP2.
1. Donwload and Install Microsoft Anti Spyware BETA
This is by far the newest anti spyware programme that is available in the market. It is FREE and it's made from Microsoft which tells me that it will do a pretty good job since Mirosoft knows where are the "selok belok" of Windows so that they can easily find those spyware and trojans that are hiding in their operating systems. Mirosoft anti SPyware program was originated by an anti spyware program called Giant. Microsoft bought of Giant and made their own. Which i think is a great step for Microsoft. Anyway the program is available to dowload now at :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
(This will be automatically scan everyday at 2am (if your pc is on) and report to you of any spwyare programme detected and weather or not you want it to be cleaned ro removed)
2. Ad-Aware Personal Edition
Ad-aware has been long available before Microsoft Anti Spyware. It has been among the most favorable antispyware program available on the internet. It does a pretty good job cleaning spyware and spyware cookies that has been traicking your interet usage on the web. Does a prety good job and can be downloaded at :
http://dw.com.com/redir?pid=10319876&merid=69274&mfgid=69274&lop=link&edId=3&siteId=4&oId=3002-8022_4-10319876&ontId=8022&destUrl=ftp%3A%2F%2Fftp.download.com%2Fpub%2Fwin95%2Futilities%2Faawsepersonal.exe
Run this everyday and always update its definition before performing a scan (it will do this automatically)
3. Never click YES to any windows that says something like "Do you trust this company?" or somehing like "You have to click YES in order to proceed". Those are all pranks javascript window that is asking you to give permission to them to install ActiveX control on your pc (which means installing software like trojan software or spyware software) So whenever you're surfing the web if something has a YES NO button. PLEASE be carefull and read it where its coming from. If it's source is Microsoft or Macromedia or Adobe or any other reputable companies that it might be OK to press YES. Unless its a company that you really know about its integrity then its safe to click YES. For sites like Cracks site like astalavista may somtimes do a flash that says you have to click here then here then htere then click YES .. (dont beleive them thats CRAP) they just want ot infect your computer with spyware program.
4. Use Google Toolbar
Google toolbar has been one of the best popup blocker on the internet before SP2 came out. Google toolbar has a lot of features rather than just popup blcoker. It has page rank, search field and etc. However google toolbar in my use is acting as a 2ndary popup blocker. When you installed SP2 your internet explorer has been upgraded to have a build in popup blocker and also active x controller / blocker and other executable formot on the web. Microsoft has done a pretty good job in protecting us from that. However they might be somtimes that ie popupblocker missed some popup so therefore google toolbar seems to be coming to hte rescue. I never had any popup since having SP2 and Google toolbar installed. Somtomes the protection is so great that when i really need a popup to be shown .. i cant ... lol. Google toolbar is FREE and available to be downloaded at:
http://toolbar.google.com
OK so were done with the spyware part and the popups. Now lets look at some tools that i use to keep the tiny bits of useless information that slows down the pc.
5. Registry Clean
Once in a while you should be cleaning your registry with orphan keys and all those crap that the uninstaller left over in your registry and causes peformace decrease. So a good software i use to clean out your registry is RegSupreme (was called RegCleaner) and it can be downlaoded at :
http://www.macecraft.com/downloads/RegSupreme_setup.exe
Just install this softrware and run a registry cleaner. Normally it safe to delete all the returned result. I never had a problem. Although it does back up you registry before it applies its tasks.
6. Windows and Itnernet Cleaner
Another great software for cleaning up all your mess in your pc. Stuff like Paging file, .CHK files, temporary internet files, temp folder, recent documents and etc. However this software is not free though. But you may download the trial and have fun with it while you can. Can be downloaded at :
http://www.neoimagic.com/download/Windows-Internet-Cleaner-Installer.exe
Ok so thats what i use to maintain computer hygiene. So the procedure i always follow is :
1. Let Mirosoft Anti Virus programme to his job first (dont run simultaneously coz might get confict in spyware removal)
2. Use Ad-aware as a 2nd dary alternative spyware cleaner. Just to make sure that Micro An Spy has not left anything over or miss looked at certain spyware.
3. Then run the registry cleaner. I prefer running spyware scanner first then reg cleaner is because that spyware resides in registry somtimes. So i dont want the reg cleaner to mess up the spyware that resides in teh registry because it might be harder for the anti spyware program to detect the presense of spyware if it has been tampered with reg cleaner. So run aspyware first then only reg cleaner.
4. And last but not least. Windwos and internet cleaner to clean all the junk in your pc.
We'll there you go .. wallah pc good as new. Maintaining and performing well .. if you still havent seen any difference on your pc after doing all this, then i suggest that you re-formatting your comptuer and install sp2 and maintain spyware coming in from that day onwars. OK ? Thats the best you can do. Its hard to get rid of spyware once u got it. Formatting is the only 100% solution.
Good luck ! Ill add more tips if somthing comes out... later ./logout