This was the case for a fella who called me for advice recently. He had done things 'right' -- and by that I mean he has a firewall, he keeps his antivirus definitions up to date, and he runs a couple of anti-spyware applications -- but suspected his machine had been hacked anyway.

He couldn't do things he was used to doing (like deleting a file) and his machine was "really slow."
But according to his scanners, his machine is in perfect shape.

Tip of the day: If you should find yourself in a similar situation there are several steps you can take to help resolve your questions and (hopefully) fix your machine without taking the drastic step of wiping your hard drive, formatting, and reinstalling Windows.

The first step is to use a scanner that isn't installed on your machine. Here's two ways to do that: one, if your antivirus allows it (and most of them do these days), follow its instructions and make an antivirus recovery disk. This is a bootable disk that scans your system before Windows loads.

To use one, put it in your CD tray and restart your machine. A plain-text sentence will appear telling you to "press any key to boot from CD..." (if you don't see this, click here.) When you see it, hit your spacebar or, well, any other key, and then follow the instructions. When it's finished, remove the CD and restart your machine again.
[note: you may also use a properly prepared USB thumb drive. Click here to read my article on how to do that.]

A second method is to use an online scanner. I have a list, with links, of several good online scans on my Website, here. Quite a few of the online scanning tools will try to sell you their full application, but you're under no obligation to buy. The big advantage to these two methods lies in the fact that they have not been compromised, or altered, and the files and scanners on your machine may be-- the modification being done by the virus or hacker.

Another thing to do is scroll down to my "Today's free link" and download HiJack This! Run it and dump the result into a .txt file (there's instructions for this) and then register on one of the HiJack This! forums (there's instructions for this too) and post your results there. Before too long, an expert anti-malwareologist [don't bother looking: I just now made that word up] will have looked over the intricacies, and will post his analysis and instructions. These guys (and gals) are really, really good at what they do, and you can trust their answers.

Also run CheckDisk with the "r" "f" switches (this probably will require a reboot) to make sure the problem is not your hard drive.
Click on Start >Programs >Accessories >Command prompt. In the white-on-black window type "chkdsk /r /f" (no quotes, and be sure to include the spaces). You may be told that certain files are in use, and asked if you want to "schedule this at the next reboot Y/N?" Type in a "y" and restart your machine.

Hopefully these efforts will be rewarded with a rejuvenation of your machine, and you will be back in business again.  If not, you have my sympathy. You may have a rootkit and then your best solution is to re-format your hard drive and reinstall everything, or enlist the aid of a professional

Today's free link: HijackThis™ is a free utility which quickly scans your Windows computer to find settings that may have been changed by spyware, malware or other unwanted programs. HijackThis does not clean infections, but creates a report, or log file, with the results of the scan. A large community of users participates in online forums, where experts help interpret the scan results to clean up infected computers.

Copyright © 2007-8 Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Share this post :

This was the case for a fella who called me for advice recently. He had done things 'right' -- and by that I mean he has a firewall, he keeps his antivirus definitions up to date, and he runs a couple of anti-spyware applications -- but suspected his machine had been hacked anyway.

He couldn't do things he was used to doing (like deleting a file) and his machine was "really slow."
But according to his scanners, his machine is in perfect shape.

Tip of the day: If you should find yourself in a similar situation there are several steps you can take to help resolve your questions and (hopefully) fix your machine without taking the drastic step of wiping your hard drive, formatting, and reinstalling Windows.

The first step is to use a scanner that isn't installed on your machine. Here's two ways to do that: one, if your antivirus allows it (and most of them do these days), follow its instructions and make an antivirus recovery disk. This is a bootable disk that scans your system before Windows loads.

To use one, put it in your CD tray and restart your machine. A plain-text sentence will appear telling you to "press any key to boot from CD..." When you see it, hit your spacebar or, well, any other key, and then follow the instructions. When it's finished, remove the CD and restart your machine again.
[note: you may also use a properly prepared USB thumb drive. Click here to read my article on how to do that.]

A second method is to use an online scanner. I have a list, with links, of several good online scans on my website, here. Quite a few of the online scanning tools will try to sell you their full application, but you're under no obligation to buy. The big advantage to these two methods lies in the fact that they have not been compromised, or altered, and the files and scanners on your machine may be-- the modification being done by the virus or hacker.

Another thing to do is scroll down to my "Today's free link" and download HiJack This! Run it and dump the result into a .txt file (there's instructions for this) and then register on one of the HiJack This! forums (there's instructions for this too) and post your results there. Before too long, an expert anti-malwareologist [don't bother looking: I just now made that word up] will have looked over the intricacies, and will post his analysis and instructions. These guys (and gals) are really, really good at what they do, and you can trust their answers.

Also run CheckDisk with the "r" "f" switches (this probably will require a reboot) to make sure the problem is not your hard drive.
Click on Start >Programs >Accessories >Command prompt. In the white-on-black window type "chkdsk /r /f" (no quotes, and be sure to include the spaces). You may be told that certain files are in use, and asked if you want to "schedule this at the next reboot Y/N?" Type in a "y" and restart your machine.

Hopefully these efforts will be rewarded with a rejuvination of your machine, and you will be back in business again.  If not, you have my sympathy. You may have a rootkit and then your best solution is to re-format your hard drive and reinstall everything, or enlist the aid of a professional

Today's free link: HijackThis™ is a free utility which quickly scans your Windows computer to find settings that may have been changed by spyware, malware or other unwanted programs. HijackThis does not clean infections, but creates a report, or log file, with the results of the scan. A large community of users participates in online forums, where experts help interpret the scan results to clean up infected computers.

Copyright © 2007-8 Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

Share this post :

Fonte: Chris Pirillo

Once you get through this list, there is another list.

Several websites chock-full of Free!

Test your web design in different browsers. See how your website or blog looks to viewers that use Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, SeaMonkey, Mozilla and several others.

Clears your Internet history, deletes your temporary Internet files and removes cookies with the click of one button straight from your Internet Explorer browser.

Great for Web or Flash developers who frequently need to clear the browser environment to view changes. It also includes an uninstall.

The developer's home page is here.

Runs on Windows 98, 2K, XP. No info on Vista. Requires Internet Explorer.

Features a versatile color mixer and the ability to create and save color palettes, a customizable magnification area and the ability to snap to the nearest websafe color.

Runs on Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, Me, XP, Vista

Data Recovery Software for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives. The program allows you to backup logical drives and partitions to image files, browse these images, view and extract files, restore these images to the same or a different drive,
copy directly from drive to drive, and schedule automatic backups with your Task Scheduler.

Image creation uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe "hot images" even from drives currently in use.

DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista only. The program will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS.

Do you have a blog and are running a feed for it? Ensure it is valid using this free tool for for Atom, RSS and KML.

Feeds can go bad when they start hanging around with the wrong group of kids.

The most common cause of feed problems is the content that you post. A lot of folks like to use Microsoft Word or other word processors to write up their blog posts. When they do, sometimes these word processors can sneak in characters that are very difficult to render in XML. The most likely culprit is the dreaded Smart Quote, especially if you are putting quotations in your feed posts. Also, Word (we think) likes to put in special tags for formatting paragraphs, as well as address information. We don't always know where these things come from, we just know that when they are introduced, they cause problems.

of your favorite programs!

Watch your favorite television programs online, for free. This is a list I've been putting together for a while, the link will actually keep you here on this blog. The list has gotten rather ridiculous ;)

does not target specific programs/URLs, but instead the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites.

Experienced users of Hijack This at the Process Library can help you to analyze the results and fix your system.

will translate text, pages, even an entire website for you.

Warning: This game has high addictive potential! You create ramps, hills, jumps, a world that is as big as you want it to be, using simple pencil tools.

Simple and straightforward controls and gameplay and a huge fanbase community has created somewhat of an internet phenomenon.

People are creating and sharing courses on YouTube, showing off their Linerider creations.

Theft recovery for your PC. It runs unobtrusively on your computer with no icons or popups.

If your computer is stolen the dirtbag will not even know that LocatePC is running on your computer; as soon as Dirtbag connects to the internet a secret email is sent to you containing the details that you need to track your computer.

Runs on Windows Vista/XP/Me/98

Comprehensive online resource for anyone who wants to know the nature and purpose of any process that is - or should not be - running on their PC.

Deep in the recesses of any computer, innumerable processes are running silently in the background. Some hog system resources, drastically slowing computers down; others are a haven for spyware and trojans, violating privacy and giving hackers free access to compromised systems.

Explanations are accompanied by advice on whether the processes are important for the stable and secure running of your system. The website also recommends if you should terminate processes or leave them untouched.

Screen capture utility with features like smart autonaming of files, ability to embed textual comments in files, it's many capture modes: Multimon (multiple monitors), Desktop, Active Window, Region, and Windows Object. Each mode has a hotkey for quick access, there is a Quick Screenshot Emailer Menu... features that are actually too many to list.

This is a fun program; if you ever have a need for Screen Captures this could be an ideal choice.

Popular source for improving PC performance. The Website provides both the novice and the technically advanced with better understanding and tools for optimizing their system. A large portion of the site's content is dedicated to Cable Modems and DSL technology, stressing on improving TCP/IP performance over high speed/latency networks.

Planning to move to a new city and want to know what the fastest ISP is there?

Protects from various threats such as key loggers, spyware, trojans, checks for system problems (faulty uninstall information, broken links, etc.) and history lists that record information you may not want stored.

Runs on Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/Me/98/95/Linux/Unix

There is actually more Freeware out there than you can shake a stick at. Here are some places where you can find a bunch more:

Bartdart.com

Download.com

File Cluster

Free Ware Genius

Frost Wire

Lime Wire

PC World

The Great Software List

If you have tips for sites to visit for more Free Free Free Free FREE! feel Free! to drop them in the Comments and share them with me and the rest of the world.

Much appreciated!

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