Below you can find a new list of FREE Antivirus and PC protections tool as an alternative to paid software or older security software

Comodo AntiVirus FREE lifetime license http://www.antivirus.comodo.com/download.html

Eliminates Viruses, Worms and Trojans from Windows XP and Windows 2000 computers.

Features on-demand & on-access scanning, email scanning, process monitoring, worm blocking, full scheduling capabilities and more.It’s easy to install and configure; will not slow down your PC by hogging system resources and the full program is free for life to the end user.

avast! 4 Home Edition – FREE antivirus software http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

New viruses are being found “in the wild” all the time. Further, the speed at which these new viruses spread is increasing all the time. A key problem is not that antivirus programs do not detect such viruses, but the fact that most users do not use any antivirus program at all or, perhaps worse, the antivirus software and / or virus definitions database is out of date.

ALWIL Software, the producer of avast!, decided in June 2001 to help to solve the big virus thread situation by offering avast! Home Edition free of charge for home users who do not use their computer for profit. To get industry leading antivirus protection for your home PC, download the software, and then register it.

Avira AntiVir Personal – FREE Antivirus http://www.free-av.com/en/products/index.html

Avira AntiVir Personal – FREE Antivirus is a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs (such as viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc.), monitoring every action executed by the user or by the operating system and being able to react promptly when a malicious program is detected.

Avira AntiVir Personal is a comprehensive, easy to use antivirus program, designed to offer reliable free of charge virus protection to home-users only, not for business or commercial use.

Additional Free security software can be found here

http://www.comodo.com/products/free_products.html

Viruses, malware and other malicious programs can cause data loss and corruption, and is a serious headache for many Windows users. Luckily there are a number of free programs that can be used to keep these threats at bay. In this article, I will list the best utilities available and how to use them.

• Spybot Search & Destroy – This powerful program checks your computer for known spyware and malware. It can also immunize your computer against existing threats, and helps to protect Internet Explorer. Download it from here:

  www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html
  
  Install the program and run through the start wizard. Once you have downloaded the latest updates and immunized the system, run a scan. If any threats are found you can fix them from here.

  Aside from spyware detection, Spybot has a number of other useful features. In Spybot, switch to advanced mode by clicking on Mode > Advanced mode in the toolbar. Then click on the Tools tab that has appeared and the “System startup” option. From here, you can view all the programs that startup with Windows, with useful descriptions on what exactly they are, and whether they are necessary or not. This is useful not only for spyware removal but for system optimization.

  

• Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007 – This spyware program is also highly recommended. Used in tandem with Spybot, you can usually keep your computer spyware free. Simply download it from here:

  www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

  Install the program and run it. Click on “Update” on the main screen and when this is completed, run either a Smart Scan (scans the most usual places for spyware) or Full Scan (scans the entire computer). A list of the results will be displayed at the end of the scan.

  

• HijackThis – This is a more advanced program but can pick up malware and spyware that other programs don’t. Instead of generating a results list it saves a log file. This log file can either be read through manually for suspicious programs or put through an online parser. Firstly, download the program here:

  www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

  Install the program and run it. Click on the “Do a system scan and save a log file” button. You will be presented with a log file.

  

  

  Now go to the following website:

  www.hijackthis.de/

  and paste the log file into the box and click “Analyze”. You will now be presented with a summary of what HijackThis detected and if any of the results are suspicious.

  

  

  To delete any of the entries, just tick the checkbox in HijackThis and click on “Fix checked”.

• Comodo Firewall Pro – One of the most important steps to take in preventing spyware and malware from getting onto your computer is by installing a firewall. The inbuilt Windows firewall just doesn’t compare to Comodo’s offering. Firewall Pro includes a number of advanced features to prevent virus and malware installation and stop unauthorized access to your computer. Go to the following website to download it:

  www.personalfirewall.comodo.com

  Simply install it and it will monitor your internet connection and computer for suspicious activities, occasionally prompting you to allow/deny access for certain programs or processes.

  

  For more information about Comodo Firewall Pro, see our recent article covering it:

  tutorials.ausweb.com.au/web/Tutorials/Your-PC-Security/Free-firewall-from-Comodo/

• AVG Anti-Virus – AVG is the best free antivirus program available on the internet. It is relatively lightweight and scores well in detection tests. See our article on AVG for how to install it and more information:

  tutorials.ausweb.com.au/web/Tutorials/Your-PC-Security/New-Free-Anti-Virus-Software-by-Grisoft/

Backing up your computer is an essential process. Viruses, malware and hardware failure can all lead to you losing critically important data like bank details, personal documents, music and other files of significant value. If you backup on a regular basis however, if you lose your data you can restore it easily.

This tutorial will guide you step by step through backing up your hard drive using DriveImage XML.

DriveImage XML Overview

DriveImage XML is a free backup program for Windows. It creates images of hard drives/partitions which can later be browsed so as to extract individual files, or fully restored. It is both fast and stable, and is easy to use. The major advantage it has over other backup programs is that file format it saves to is in XML, which can be read by any other program, unlike other pay-for products.

Creating Backups

First of all, download DriveImage XML from here:

www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

and install it.

Now, open up the program, and you will be presented with this screen:

Click on the “Backup” link. You will now be presented with a list of your partitions/hard drives. Select the ones you want to backup (holding shift if selecting multiple drives) and then click Next.

The next screen will be a summary of the drives you have selected. Check it to make sure they are the ones you want to backup, and the click Next. You will now be presented with the following screen:

Here you have a number of options, which are explained below.

• Directory: The folder you want the backup to be stored in.
• File name: Change the file name of the backup. By default, its set to the drive label.
• Raw mode: Creates a sector-by-sector backup of the drive. By default this is switched off, since it backs up the free space on your drive as well as the used space, thus creating a backup as large as your hard drive. Without this turned on, DriveImage only backups the used space on your drive. Keep in mind the raw backups cannot be browsed. It is recommended you only turn this on if you need an exact copy of the entire drive.
• Split large files: If you are storing your backup on a FAT file system (which doesn’t allow file sizes above 4gb) or burning them to CD/DVD, use this to split the backup into multiple files.
• Compressed: This option can significantly reduce the size of the backup, but the backup will be significantly slower. Recommended if you don’t have much storage space, but if you don’t care how large your backup is, leave it turned off for a significant speed boost.
• Hot Imaging Strategy: This is how DriveImage copies your files. You can usually leave this as it is, because if the first option fails it will automatically fall back onto the next.

Now just click Next, and your backup will begin. The time it takes varies on the size of the backup, the options you choose, the speed of your computer etc. As a rough guide for how long it takes, a 10gb backup I performed took around 20 minutes, with compression turned off, running on XP Pro with 2gb of RAM and a Pentium D 2.6ghz processor.

You will get this screen when the backup is finished:

Now you can either burn it to CD or transfer it to an external hard drive or another media type. Don’t store it on the computer you backed up.

Restoring Individual Files

One of the great things about DriveImage XML is that you can browse the backups that you have created and extract individual files. This is very useful if you accidentally delete an important file or non-system files become corrupt.

Open DriveImage XML and click on the Browse link. A open file prompt will pop up. Browse to where your backup is stored and select the XML file associated with it. Then click Open. DriveImage will then read the XML file, like so:

When this is finished, you will be presented with a file browser interface that allows you to navigate around the backup. You can right click and View, Launch or Extract files. You can also search individual directories.

A tutorial on how to restore entire drives is coming soon.

Mozilla Firefox is a powerful browser out of the box, but its extensions system is what makes it the most versatile browser available.

Aside from its versatility, it is also faster, more secure and more stable than Internet Explorer 7, and the upcoming release of version 3 is going to add even more improvements and features.

Thousands of extensions are available, allowing you to add a huge amount of extra features, from enhancing security to adding features for web development and email. This tutorial will show you how to turbocharge Firefox with the best extensions available.

1. AdBlock Plus

   This extension adds a powerful advert/banner filter to Firefox, automatically stripping adverts out of web pages. This is especially useful on advert heavy websites which take ages to load, or where adverts get in the way of content. An essential addon.

   Example of a page before and after AdBlock Plus is activated:

   

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

2. FireBug

   Firebug integrates a suite of web developers tools into Firefox. It is invaluable for any web developer due to the features it adds, including the ability to update HTML/CSS and see the changes live. You can see advanced statistics for Javascript and quickly locate and fix errors which would have been hard to find beforehand.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843

3. NoScript

   This powerful addon prevents Javascript, Java and Flash being executed at untrusted domains. By specifying what domains you trust and which ones you don’t, you virtually eliminate the possibility of the browser being exploited by security vulnerabilities. Takes a while to get used to, but well worth it.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722

4. Greasemonkey

   Greasemonkey allows you to customise a web page using small segments of Javascript. A good example of this is the Greased Lightbox greasemonkey script, which uses the same technology the gallery in this article uses to popup images in Google Images/Deviantart/Flickr in a preview box. Very powerful and versatile.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748

5. FireFTP

   This adds a full featured FTP client to Firefox, so you don’t have to download a separate program. It contains all the normal features that most other FTP clients have, and can significantly speed up updating a website due to it being integrated with Firefox. It opens in a tab just like a normal browser window.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684

6. FoxyTunes

   FoxyTunes allows you to interact with most major music players directly through Firefox, allowing you to control song selection, volume, lyrics display, album art etc. Very useful if you are easily annoyed by having to switch between your music player and your browser constantly.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/219

7. Gspace

   This clever addon allows you to use your Gmail account as online file storage. Great if you’ve been wondering what to use with your 6gb email account. Its very simple to use because its interface is designed to be like that of an FTP client.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1593

8. Download Statusbar

   This changes the Download Manager in Firefox; instead of having a window open seperately, it puts all your downloads in the bar at the bottom of the screen, showing you the progress your transfers while keeping them neat and tidy.

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/26

9. CustomizeGoogle

   This extension lets you tweak various options of nearly all the services that Google offers, such as web search, Gmail, news etc. It is very configurable and can add options, remove ads, improve your privacy by enabling secure connections and altering cookie settings, and other various alterations. An example of a few tweaks for the main Google search is shown below:

   

   

   Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/743

10. FireShot

    This addon implements a versatile screenshot capture program into Firefox, allowing you to take a screenshot of the entire page or visible section, export it in a number of formats, and annotate it. Very useful for general screenshot taking or for tutorials (I used this extension for this article) Here is an example of a screenshot and annotation you can add:

    

    

    Download: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5648

Comodo Firewall Pro is a powerful, free and easy to use firewall which is vastly superior to Windows built-in firewall.

It secures your computer against both internal and external threats. Protect your computer today from hackers, viruses, spyware and trojans by installing this excellent option.

Comodo Firewall Pro includes the following great features:

• Host Intrusion Prevention System – Prevents malware and other threats from even installing on your system
• Advanced Network Firewall Engine – Stops hostile programs from connecting to the internet, preventing identity theft
• Application Behaviour Analysis – Monitors application behaviour and prevents suspicious programs from connecting to the internet
• White list of nearly 1 million applications – Identifies friendly applications quickly and efficiently
• Completely free to use!

A huge virus surge of a new Storm Worm variant is flooding e-mail inboxes and evading many antivirus programs. In my tests of 31 programs, only four reported a virus.

Postini, an e-mail security company, says that over the last 24 hours it has seen about 55 million virus e-mails, about 60 times the daily average. The first e-mails had romance-themed subjects: “A kiss so gentle,” or “I dream of you,” for instance. The latest batch attempts to fool readers–with subjects like “Worm Alert!” or “Virus Alert!”–into thinking they are already infected and need to apply a supplied patch–an attached virus

We received one such virus e-mail here at PC World, titled “Worm Alert!” The e-mail included a text message embedded in an image, which makes it easier to evade antispam tools. The attachment was a password-protected archive named ‘patch-7594.zip,’ with the password contained in the image’s text.

Outwitting Antivirus

At 2:30 p.m. I uploaded the attachment to Virustotal.com, which uses many different antivirus programs to scan uploads. Of 31 programs, only 4–ClamAV, eSafe, Kaspersky, and Symantec–reported a virus.

Finally, to spread itself further, the worm searches for e-mail addresses on the victim machine and sends itself to any discovered addresses. The worm is self-mutating, according to Postini, changing e-mail subject lines, attachment file names, and malware characteristics in order to evade antivirus and antispam programs.

Cloudmark, another e-mail security company, says it sees similar outbreak numbers. Today’s flood is ten times as large as one this past Sunday, which also involved the virulent Storm Worm.

A Growing Storm

First seen in January, the Storm Worm was originally named for subject lines such as “230 dead as storm batters europe.” It created its own virtual storm with 42,000 different variants over a 12-day period, according to security company Commtouch. The huge number of variations was meant to confound traditional signature-based antivirus protection, which must know about each variant to protect against it.

To stay safe from today’s ongoing worm surge, exercise extreme caution with any unexpected e-mail attachments, even if they seem to come from someone you know. Also, be sure your antivirus software is up-to-date. Though most antivirus programs are currently missing at least some of the variants, the companies will update their signatures as the attack progresses.

Most of us have seen it at one time or another; perhaps on our own PC, the PC of a loved one, or perhaps a PC at your place of employment. The system spends weeks or months operating in a smooth fashion, taking you to the far reaches of the wide, wibbly web, and after one particularly late evening of browsing and gaming, you shut your PC off and go to bed. Millions of people across the globe do just this every night, but a few of us have turned our PCs on the next day not to the standard Windows XP loading screen, but instead this dreaded error:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\CONFIG\\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup
using the original Setup CD-ROM.

Which renders your PC inaccessible from the standard boot procedures of Windows XP. You try safe mode, to no avail. You’re particularly savvy and try issuing the FIXBOOT and FIXMBR commands in the Windows recovery console, but after each reboot, you’re merely greeted with the same obnoxious and terrifying blue screen of death that’s preventing you from accessing your precious data.

Perhaps you’ve also seen these error screens:

Windows NT could not start because the below file is missing or corrupt:

X:\\WINNT\\System32\\Ntoskrnl.exe
_________________

Windows NT could not start because the below file is missing or corrupt:

X:\\WINNT\\System32\\HAL.dll
_________________

NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart
_________________

Invalid boot.ini
Press any key to restart

Allow me to build tension by prefacing the end-all/be-all solution with my background: Having worked for the now-incorporated Geek Squad branch of Best Buy Corporation for the better part of eight months, I have seen dozens upon dozens of systems come through our department with any one of these errors, brought in by customers who are afraid they did something, have a virus, or are in jeopardy of losing their data. Prior to my discovery of an invaluable sequence of commands, our standard procedure was to hook the afflicted drive to an external enclosure, back up a customer’s data and then restore the PC with the customer’s restore discs or an identical copy of Windows with the customer’s OEM license key. If the customer wasn’t keen on the applicable charges for the data backup, we informed them of the potential risks for a Windows repair installation (Let’s face it, they don’t always work right), had them sign a waiver, and we did our best.

Neither of these procedures are cheap in the realm of commercial PC repair, nor do they inspire a tremendous level of confidence in the technician or the hopeful client.

The process is simple: Get to the Windows Recovery Console for your particular Windows installation, navigate to the root letter of your installation (C: in most cases), issue eight commands, and reboot. The cornerstone of this process is a command called “BOOTCFG /Rebuild” which is a complete diagnostic of the operating system loaded into the recovery console; the purpose of the command is to remove/replace/repair any system files that were preventing the operating system from loading correctly. Amongst the files it fixes are:

• Windows Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
• Corrupt registry hives (\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\CONFIG\\xxxxxx)
• Invalid BOOT.INI files
• A corrupt NTOSKRNL.EXE
• A missing NT Loader (NTLDR)

The command process may apply to other types of blue screens or Hive/HAL/INI/EXE/DLL-related stop errors, but I have not had the luxury of computers in this type of disrepair. The process I am about to outline is virtually harmless, and if you feel you may be able to correct your PC’s boot-time blue screens and stop errors with the sequence, feel free to try.

Let us now begin with a step-by-step instruction for correcting these issues.

Getting to the Windows Recovery Console

1. Insert your Windows XP CD into your CD and assure that your CD-ROM drive is capable of booting the CD. Configuring your computer to boot from CD is outside of the scope of this document, but if you are having trouble, consult Google for assistance.
2. Once you have booted from CD, do not select the option that states: “Press F2 to initiate the Automated System Recovery (ASR) tool.” You’re going to proceed until you see the following screen, at which point you will press the “R” key to enter the recovery console:

• After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (Typically number “1″). Select the installation number, (As mentioned, “1″ in most cases), and hit enter. If there is an administrator password for the administrator account, enter it and hit enter. You will be greeted with this screen, which indicates a recovery console at the ready:

Continue to page 2 to proceed with the repair functions.

Proceeding With the Repair Functions

• There are eight commands you must enter in sequence to repair any of the issues I noted in the opening of this guide. I will introduce them here, and then show the results graphically in the next six steps. These commands are as follows:
  • C: CD ..
  • C: ATTRIB -H C:\\boot.ini
  • C:ATTRIB -S C:\\boot.ini
  • C:ATRIB -R C:\\boot.ini
  • C: del boot.ini
  • C: BOOTCFG /Rebuild
  • C: CHKDSK /R /F
  • C: FIXBOOT
• To “Go up a directory” in computing is to revert back to the directory above the current folder you’re operating in. If, for example, I’m in the C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32 directory, and I want to get at a file in the WINDOWS directory, I would merely type CD .. and I would be taken out of the SYSTEM32 folder and up one level to WINDOWS. We’re going to do the same thing here from the WINDOWS folder to get to the basic root of C:

Now that we are at C: we can begin the process of repairing the operating system and that begins with modifying the attributes of the BOOT.INI file. Briefly, BOOT.INI controls what operating systems the Windows boot process can see, how to load them, and where they’re located on your disk. We’re going to make sure the file is no longer hidden from our prying eyes, remove the flag that sets it as an undeletable system file, and remove the flag that sets it as a file we can only read, but not write to. To do this, we will issue three commands in this step:

• C:ATTRIB -H C:\\BOOT.INI
• C:ATTRIB -R C:\\BOOT.INI
• C:ATTRIB -S C:\\BOOT.INI

to remove the Hidden, System and Read Only flags.

Now that we’ve modified the attributes for the BOOT.INI file, it’s up for deletion. The syntax for it is simple: { DEL | FILE NAME }, e.g., C:DEL BOOT.INI deletes the BOOT.INI file.

Now for the most important step of our process, the BOOTCFG /REBUILD command which searches for pre-existing installations of Windows XP and rebuilds sundry essential components of the Windows operating system, recompiles the BOOT.INI file and corrects a litany of common Windows errors. It is very important that you do one or both of the following two things: First, every Windows XP owner must use /FASTDETECT as an OS Load Option when the rebuild process is finalizing. Secondly, if you are the owner of a CPU featuring Intel’s XD or AMD’s NX buffer overflow protection, you must also use /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN as an OS Load Option. I will demonstrate both commands for the purpose of this guide, but do not set NOEXECUTE as a load option if you do not own one of these CPUs. For the “Enter Load Identifier” portion of this command, you should enter the name of the operating system you have installed. If, for example, you are using Windows XP Home, you could type “Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition” for the identifier. This gives the process some authenticity, if you’re keen on being a perfectionist.

This step verifies the integrity of the hard drive containing the Windows XP installation. While this step is not an essential function in our process, it’s still good to be sure that the drive is physically capable of running windows, in that it contains no bad sectors or other corruptions that might be the culprit. No screenshot necessary here! Just type CHKDSK /R /F at the C:> prompt. Let it proceed; it could take in excess of 30 minutes on slower computers, when this is finished move on to the seventh and final step.

This last step also requires no screenshot. When you are at the C:> prompt, simply type FIXBOOT. This writes a new boot sector to the hard drive and cleans up all the loose ends we created by rebuilding the BOOT.INI file and the system files. When the Windows Recovery Console asks you if you are “Sure you want to write a new bootsector to the partition C: ?” just hit “Y,” then enter to confirm your decision.

Results and Wrap-Up

It’s time to reboot your PC by typing EXIT in the Windows Recovery Console and confirming the command with a stroke of the enter key. With any luck, your PC will boot successfully into Windows XP as if your various DLL, Hive, EXE and NTLDR errors never existed. You’ve just saved yourself from many hours of work, frustration, potential data loss and shelling out your hard-earned greenbacks at a brick’n'mortar operation.

Keep in mind that this solution is only designed to resolve the issues introduced in the preface if the cause is unrelated to spyware and viruses; while I have had significant luck with rebuilding heavily-infected systems in the method I have described, it is not guaranteed. If you believe your PC has affected one of these symptoms due to spyware or viruses, today’s fastest-growing PC nuisance, please do stop by our Spyware/Virus/Trojan Tutorials to receive assistance in quarantine, removal and repair.

Select ‘R’ at the first screen to start repair.

If it’s about online security, barely a story can go by without mention of two protection essentials : anti-virus products and firewalls. Yet there are other kinds of safety-focused programs hoping to earn a place in your toolbox.

Like a handyman’s favourite gadget, some of these tools have just one or two specialist functions. They can ward off browser hijackers, remove spying software or reject the ploys of hackers.

Most were born of necessity, created by irritated experts, annoyed developers or victims who decided to get their own back.

A friend of mine was a victim of a Trojan – a sneaky program used by hackers to control other people’s computers. It only happened once, however, and my buddy turned the experience into an Australian software success story.

“One of my systems was infected with one of the first remote access Trojans ever released, called NetBus,” says Langlois, who was a security researcher at the time.

“I was made aware that the system was infected when the CD-ROM drive opened on its own and abusive messages started to show on screen – it was quite obvious that somebody was ‘inside’ the system, due to that level of control. You can’t remotely open CD drives, you need to be running inside the system to be able to do that.”

“So, from there it was just a matter of basic forensic analysis to find the culprit file and trace back to the hacker. I was easily able to obtain the hacker’s IP address [a computer's address on the net], and after I started running scans on his computer he quickly realised that I had found him.”

It was enough to persuade the hacker to leave and to give Langlois a business idea, the result of which is a highly regarded security product called Trojan Defence Suite (TDS). These days, many anti-virus products also detect Trojans, but there’s room for a specialist solution, argues Langlois.

“Viruses and remote access Trojans are physically different, they work differently and they have different approaches to infection.”

“If you’re infected with a Trojan and I connect to your system, I can literally make your computer do anything … I could plant material and then call the police.”

Langlois now leads a team at DiamondCS; the company is the only anti-Trojan system with daily database updates.

TDS is just one of many useful tools that allows internet users to take control of some of the problems they face online.

Hijack defender

Product: Start Page Guard

Website: www.pjwalczak.com/spguard

Some programs and web pages can use malicious code, JavaScript or ActiveX to alter browser settings so a home page is stuck on a particular site – often not a very tasteful one at that! Browser hijacking is particularly a problem for Internet Explorer. Sometimes the solution is as simple as changing the home page yourself. Other times, it’s not so easy. Depending on the hijack technique, the settings can revert back the next time you restart. So, you may have to edit the windows registry (delicate work) or locate a malicious program that’s hiding on your computer.

Piotr J. Walczak’s free program StartPage Guard stops unwanted changes to the browser, including Start and Search pages, and it can get rid of many known offenders. Other tools for protecting your browser’s health can be found at Mike Healan’s anti-spyware site Spywareinfo.com.

Spyware spies Product: Ad-Aware

Website: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Okay, not all advertising-supported software is bad, but those systems that aren’t up front about how they work, the information they collect and the resources they drain are certainly giving the rest a bad name. As insidious as the name suggests, “spyware” is a pet hate of internet users (not far behind spam in the unpopularity stakes). Ad-Aware won the gratitude and allegiance of thousands when it offered an easy way to identify and remove all traces of the worst offenders. Happily, Spybot Search & Destroy (spybot.safer-networking.de) is building on the foundations. Both programs are free.

Firewall: ZoneAlarm and ZoneAlarm Pro

Website: http://www.zonelabs.com

Their products have been called everything from “top-notch” to “tour de force” to “the perfect personal firewall.” Symantec’s Norton and the McAfee anti-virus packages adequately counter these threats and are suitable for most home users. But Zone Labs, a San Francisco-based company specializing in computer security, offers a more effective product.free download here http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Help with helpers

Product: BHODemon

Website: http://www.definitivesolutions.com/

Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) are small programs that run whenever you start the browser. They can be helpful and powerful, but as with most good things, there’s a dark side, too. Privacy exponents worry that these can be installed without a user’s knowledge and put in place by another program. For example, the notorious Go!Zilla program uses a BHO to track advertisements surfers see. The free program BHODemon from Definitive Solutions lets users manage BHOs, see which ones are installed, what they’re up to and offers to disable them.

The Trojan horseman

Product: Trojan Defence Suite

Website: tds.diamondcs.com.au

History buffs will know of the Trojan horse. In a computer, a Trojan stealthily provides a hacker with means into your files and ultimately control of the system as if they were seated in front of it.

TDS can identify more than 8000 Trojans (plus 10,000 or so variants) and promises to raise the alarm even if a previously unknown program starts behaving suspiciously. It costs $49 for a single user. Other Trojan fighters include Trojan Hunter, BOClean and The Cleaner.

Health checks

Product: ShieldsUP!

Website: grc.com

The creator of the first spyware removal tool (the predecessor of Ad-Aware), Gibson Research Corporation offers a variety of tools, but the most popular is a security check-up called ShieldsUP!, which is free and performed online. There are plenty of other bits and pieces to interest the security conscious. One is a LeakTest – a testing tool to check if your firewall can be easily tricked. Another colourfully named Windows utility is UnPlug n’ Pray, which will automatically disable a service Gibson says is downright dangerous.

Symantec Antivirus Research Center

Latest Virus Threats Security Advisories Download Virus Definitions Download latest updates to security related software Use Symantec’s two online tools, security check and Virus scan Download virus removal tools for specific viruses that have become prevalent in recent years Read FAQs, articles, and more documents on security measures SARC can be found at: http://www.sarc.com

Spybot S&D – 100% Free

Here is another very intensive Spyware removal tool, that also has several other features built in. Here is a short about page of the product: http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=about Also, there have been three or four (or more Now) rip-offs of this program, and he has a list here: http://www.safer-networking.org/ So, obviously, don’t use those other products – use the original.

SpywareGuard

SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against spyware that is a great addition to SpywareBlaster’s protection method. An anti-virus program scans files before you open them and prevents execution if a virus is detected – SpywareGuard does the same thing, but for spyware! And you can easily have an anti-virus program running alongside SpywareGuard. SpywareGuard now also features Download Protection and Browser Hijacking Protection! http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html There are other great security sites out there. Wilders.org Security Advisors has a great listing of security products, including free anti-virus tools, anti-virus add-ons and firewall accessories such as report-makers and log analysers. Meanwhile, The Home PC Firewall Guide’s motto says it all: The internet is a hostile network like the Wild West without a sheriff.

This article describes the functionality and limitations of the Windows Recovery Console. If your Microsoft Windows XP-based computer does not start correctly or if it does not start at all, you can use the Windows Recovery Console to help you recover your system software. This article discusses the following topics:

MORE INFORMATION

   attrib    del        fixboot   more     set
   batch     delete     fixmbr    mkdir    systemroot
   bootcfg   dir        format    more     type
   cd        disable    help      net
   chdir     diskpart   listsvc   rd
   chkdsk    enable     logon     ren
   cls       exit       map       rename
   copy      expand     md        rmdir