Throw A Mouse

Just found the perfect synchronizing solution!

Dropbox can syncronize your files between machines using different OS, it supports Windows, Mac and Linux! The design of the site is very pleasant, they provide web access, encypted connection, real time syncronization, public folder, sharing between users, and 2GB free accounts.

http://dropbox.com

Enjoy!

As we all know, Windows is a kind of operating system which is quite vulnerable to malicious code, which we call virus. I wil explain later the kinds of viruses and their damage, but now I would like to focus on virus removal.

What is important to keep your Windows system free of viruses is:

• To apply all security updates provided by Microsoft
• To use a reliable anti-virus software and keep it updated
• To avoid downloading files from suspicious sites and to be careful what kind of e-mail attachments are opened

Of course, as new viruses appear daily, it is qite possible to catch a new virus, which your anti-virus software doesn’t detect yet. In this case, the best (and easiest) procedure is as follows:

1. Scan your computer once again with an anti-virus software. Safe the log.

2. Download HijackThis utility. It is available here.

3. Install the utility and run it. Choose the “Do a system scan and save a log file” option.

4. When the log file is generated, go to hijackthis.de website. There you can parse the generated log file.

5. Check the result. If there are items marked as security risk, do the following:

• Make a google search for the suspicious file. We do not want to delete system files or drivers ;)
• Delete the malicious files. If you do not have access permissions to delete them, you should reboot your computer in SafeMode and try then. Note that some files and folders are hidden by default in windows, so if you don’t find the suspicious file, you have to make them visible.

6. If there are no items found as security risk, and you are sertain there is a virus on your system, you can do the following:

• Check the HijackThis log file manually. This means you have to Google every of the running processes listed in the log manually.
• Check your computer for rootkits*. You can do that using RootkitRevealer. Note that this utility shows all hidden files, not only rootkits.

7. Now, in case you want to help out your anti-virus software and this way safe other people’s computers, you can send them a sampe of the newly discovered virus. You can do this as follows:

• Before you delete a file, pack it in a password-protected archive.
• If deleting the file fixes your computer, send the archive to your anti-virus company as well as the scan results. They will analyze the sample and add to next definitions.

That’s all. Good luck in the fight with the malicious code.

* Rootkt is a malicious code which has the ability to hide itself. That kind of unwanted software is the most difficult to get rid of.