I feel like I have been on a roller-coaster ride these last few weeks. Trouble started when my computer suddenly started to display random messages and Kaspersky - our super-duper virus checker opened up its Viral Page with instructions on how to deal with an infection!
Yes, my computer was under attack - and apparently I gave Kaspersky permission to let the pesky little critters in. What a struggle to get it fixed. My first attempt was to take it to a place called Laser Interactive where the "expert" did a Safe Restore, charged me £35.00 and sent us on our merry way.
Of course, this did not solve the problem at all, so we contacted someone from a local church that we met last year. It took a week or two, but I finally got my computer back - minus all my information. It ahs taken quite a while to re-build, restore and replace things like my contact list, my favourite sites on the net and so on.
Something good has come from this, though. We found out that there are a few things that we can do to minimize our exposure to viral attacks and hackers and other things like trojans and worms and other kinds of spyware.
Here is my list of recommendations:
1. Use AVG as a virus scanner - it is free and very effective.
2. Run Zone Alarm with it - this acts as a buffer against any attacks and effectively blocks intrusions.
3. Spybot - the best Search & Destroy program available.
4. Spyware Blaster
5. Download all this for free from www.download.com
6. Download Ubuntu's Linux Program and use it instead of Windows - far less likely to be a target!
7. Switch off 'Automatic Updates' on Windows! ! ! Apparently a lot of Trojans disguise themselves as Windows components and you innocently download trouble onto your computer.
Trojans, I am told, sends your personal data to a remote site when you go on-line - I don't want to even go there... we all know about Identity Theft etc, etc.
Well, that is my contribution for the day. I do hope it helps someone, as I know how incapacitated I felt without my connection to the big, wide world!
Stay Healthy and Be Well,
Salome
