You can (hopefully) download this one, PrevX, even if you’re already infected! Go here,
http://info.prevx.com/downloadcsi.asp and click on their link to "Download a randomized filename."
And here's a
great article that made me aware of that program:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en/vistasecurity/thread/0587ba31-0027-4642-b4df-50e0097043ae
While on the subject, I've often wondered why I almost never (maybe once every five years) get infected with these things, while others do. Sure, I work on PCs for a living, so I know my way around a computer, but I'm not really doing anything particularly clever. Here's how I've always been setup and what I've always done while browing the internet:
- I've always had a router. Not just the cable/DSL router provided by the ISP, but another router, a wired/wireless router (Linksys, DLink, Netgear, whatever) because I've always had multiple computers at home. That alone helps with security because a router is, almost by definition, a hardware firewall, not allowing anything in other than whatever the program I'm running at the time might let in.
- I've always had an anti-virus and one or two anti-malware/spyware programs. Here's another key: I make sure they're staying up to date so that they know how to combat the latest threats.
- Speaking of staying up to date, I always keep an eye out for that little yellow shield (Vista's icon is light blue) in the bottom right, telling me that there are Windows Updates available. Of course, this latest thing going around pretends to be that shield, telling you that you are out of date and that you should click on it to get updated. It's easy to fall for.
- That brings up another point, I might pay closer attention to the wording of such pop-ups than other people do. For instance, that recent false infection warning is very generic. It doesn't mention any brand of antivirus, it just says "your antivirus" is out of date. An authentic warning would almost surely mention the antivirus program maker's name.
- Another point about wording: these hackers are almost always ESL (English as a second language) speakers who regularly use bad grammar and spelling.
I'll add more here as I think of it.
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