[pchelpers] Re: News:Worm Warning: New Would-be Botnet Growing Explosively

Hi,

Infiltrating web sites, especially ad servers, is popular, so need to
make sure that all software is up-to-date, else your chance of being
successfully attacked jumps. See
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning. According to the site,
about 98% of computers have vulnerable versions of software installed,
which sounds about right. This should be run once a month, at most.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 automatically protect access to
administrative capabilities. People who are always installing stuff
may find it annoying, but those are probably the people who need it
the most. Internet Explorer automatically runs in
reduced-functionality mode in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Turn on Microsoft Automatic Updates! You should, at the very least,
have it ask you to install updates.  I simply have it install
automatically.

--Scott.

Saturday, January 17, 2009, 3:55:22 PM, Ray wrote:

RP> By running Windows from an administrative account, and surfing to the 
RP> wrong web sites. By downloading and installing software from the web 
RP> that is infected. By opening attachments in your email while running 
RP> Windows in administrative mode. Using anti virus software does not 
RP> always help, as they do not detect all of the viruses, adware, and 
RP> trojans out there.

RP> You can get PS Tools from Microsoft which contains a program called 
RP> psexec.exe which will allow you to run your web browser and email client
RP> in a restricted mode.which will prevent many of these problems.

RP> You can also use a hosts file to prevent your browser from even 
RP> connecting to many of the sites which serve up malware, porn, ads, and
RP> other objectionable things.

RP> For details on these two methods of protecting yourself have a look at
RP> the following page -

RP> <http://www.rayslinks.com/Security%20Measures.html>

RP> Or... you can just dump Windows, and install a more secure operating 
RP> system like Ubuntu Linux. You don't really have to dump Windows if you
RP> don't want to, just install Ubuntu in a dual boot situation with 
RP> Windows, and use Ubuntu to do your web browsing and email chores. Voila!
RP> No more viruses!

RP> Later, Ray Parrish

RP> Pen Pal wrote:
>> How exactly does one get this worm?
>>
>> Pen
>> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>> Posted by Keith Ferrell Friday, Jan 16, 2009, 10:53 AM ET
>>
>> A new botnet. and a big one, could be in the early stages of existence,
>> with more than 3.5 million PCs, by some estimates, already enrolled as a
>> result of a fast-spreading worm. As many as a third of the world's
>> Windows machines may be vulnerable. 
>>
>> The fast spread of the Confickr/Downadump worm to as many as 3.5 million
>> PCs could be the opening phases of a new botnet attack.
>>
>> Security vendor F-Secure put the infected machine estimate bluntly,
>> posting in a blog that there are:
>>
>> "2,395,963 infections worldwide. This figure is conservative; the real
>> number is certainly higher."
>>
>> More here:
>> http://www.bmighty.com/blog/main/archives/2009/01/worm_warning_ne.html
>>   

RP> -- 
RP> http://www.rayslinks.com/ Web index of human reviewed links.
RP> <http://www.rayslinks.com/Troubleshooting%20and%20fixing%20Windows.html>
RP> Trouble shooting and Fixing Windows
RP> http://www.writingsoftheschizophrenic.com My poetry in web pages





-- 
Scott.



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