Defending Against the Trojan Horse

As in the days of ancient Greece, a Trojan horse sent to your computer comes disguised looking like something good, yet cleverly disguises something potentially deadly to your computer or your personal information.

The computer Trojan horse is a program designed to infect your computer. The most common way for them to arrive is in the form of an e-mail with an appealing subject line. Once the user opens the e-mail, the Trojan horse is executed and infects the computer. Chat systems such as Yahoo messenger, MSN, and ICQ can also be used to disburse Trojan horses.

Trojan Horse Viruses

A typical Trojan horse is not a virus, and cannot replicate itself, nor can it spread itself. It must depend upon some other program or mechanism to carry it from one computer to another.

However, there is a form of computer virus that spreads itself like a Trojan horse, hence the name. These viruses will normally trick a user into opening a file, disguised as something enticing much as a Trojan horse is concealed in an intriguing e-mail. Once the user opens the file, the virus not only infects the user’s computer, but replicates itself and sends itself to everyone in the user’s address book.

Effects of the Trojan Horse

The most common use of a Trojan horse is to explore a victim’s computer and extract data about the victim, such as user names and passwords. More sophisticated Trojan horses will also seek out such information as bank account numbers or credit card information. The mined information is then transmitted back to the attacker for illicit use.

In other instances, the victim’s computer becomes an attacker, joined with a network designed to attack other computers. Victim computers essentially become slaves of the attacker.

Preventing the Trojan Horse Attack

One of the simplest ways to protect yourself from attack by a Trojan horse is to never open any software, e-mail, or message from a sender you do not know. No matter how intriguing the message may be, your best bet is to delete the message without opening it.

Anti-virus software will defend against known Trojan horses. The problem with these programs is that there are many unknown Trojan horses leapfrogging their way around the Internet. These harmful programs are much easier to create than viruses, and are much more difficult for anti-virus software to detect. Many times the anti-virus software can scan an infected hard drive and still overlook a Trojan horse.

Another, more effective option is to employ the use of good anti-malware software, such as those offered by Paretologic, PC TOols & Webroot.. Their technologically advanced anti-spyware program that is designed specifically to hunt down and eliminate Trojan horses, spyware, adware, and a number of other harmful computer programs.
A 2005 study by Symantec software showed that online security threats affected 85% of personal computers, meaning yours most likely has some sort of spyware hiding on your hard drive, whether you realize it or not. Your safest bet is to take steps today to protect your computer – and your personal information – from harmful computer Trojan horses and other threats

Protect Your Computer from Harmful Adware

Not all adware is bad. In exchange for putting up with some advertising, you receive computer programs that are useful to you either free or at a greatly reduced price. The integration of advertising allows the software developer to recoup costs and offer you a bargain.

Many popular programs, such as WeatherBug, Daemon Tools, and WinFixer are distributed as adware. Sometimes you will receive a free trial of the product that includes advertisements, with the option of purchasing a licensed copy if you like the software. The full-use versions have all of the user enhancements activated and do not contain any advertisements.

Adware as a Delivery Method for Spyware

While there are many legitimate shareware programs out there, with innocuous advertising included in the programming, there are many that will deliver spyware, viruses, or other harmful programs to your computer. When you allow the adware program to access your computer, it also has the ability to infect it. Once these programs are installed on your computer, they not only can steal your personal information, but they can be incredibly difficult to detect and remove.

Adding the use of a reliable spyware detection and removal program, such as Paretologic’s XoftSpyXE, is necessary to offer you the maximum amount of protection. In a very short period of time, this program can detect any spyware that has been installed on your hard drive, remove it, and restore your computer to optimal functionality quickly and easily.

How to Tell if Your Computer is Infected

The scary thing about adware and spyware is that your computer may behave normally, leaving you with no idea that someone else is digging into your hard drive and retrieving your personal information. They may track which websites you visit, or go as far as stealing bank account information, your name, or your social security number. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing financial crimes, and much of it is being committed through the use of spyware.

You may notice your computer running much more slowly than normal, you may be bombarded by pop-ups, or you may notice your modem working when you are not even on your computer. Your home page may be hijacked, or you may be automatically directed to websites you have no reason and no desire to visit.

Paretologic’s XoftSpyXE, Spyware doctor or Spysweeper can provide protection for your computer against 1,000's of different types of security threats. In just a matter of minutes, it will detect and remove any harmful software lurking on your hard drive, providing you with the ultimate in protection and peace of mind.

Adware is Just Another Parasite

So many adware programs are disguising spyware programs. They are essentially just another parasite designed to detect personal details about you. They could be tracking every single keystroke you make, without any knowledge on your part. Standard anti-virus and firewall programs just are not enough protection these days, as the programming becomes increasingly advanced. Utilize a good anti-spyware detection and removal program on your computer which are not only highly effective, but simple to use as well. After all, you never know who might be watching you.

Do You Have Spyware? 5 Symptoms To Look For

Symptom # 1 – Pop-Up Ads
This is probably the most common symptom to look for. Computer users may see pop-up or pop-under advertisements for pornography and other offers.
Symptom # 2 – New Internet Home Page
Certain types of spyware that can hijack your internet browser have the ability to change your default homepage. When you try to change it back to your original setting, you are unable to do so.
Symptom # 3 – Slowed Performance
If your computer system seems to suddenly begin running at a very slow pace, you may be infected with spyware or adware. These programs use up a lot of free space to gather information about your internet behavior which enables the programs deliver advertisements to your computer.

Symptom # 4 – Email Issues
If you begin to see emails that were sent without your knowledge and begin receiving messages that were bounced back to your inbox as undeliverable, it is very possible that spamware has been installed on your system. It works by stealing a copy of your email address book and delivers the information and email addresses back to the spammer.
Symptom # 5 – New Toolbars on Internet Explorer
Spyware that has been enabled to take over your internet browser has been known to install unwanted toolbars into Internet Explorer that are next to impossible to remove.

If your computer is experiencing any of these symptoms, your personal information is at risk. You should take immediate steps to rid your system of malicious programs by installing spyware protection software.

Top 3 Tips to Prevent Spyware

As a computer user, it takes a little bit of work to keep your system free from adware and spyware. It is important to take these security measures however, because you will be protecting all of the private information you choose to store on your PC. This sensitive information may include passwords, personal documents, and sometimes even credit card numbers. These three tips will help you to ensure that you are never the victim of an adware or spyware problem.

Tip # 1 – Be Skeptical Of Every Download This may seem like common sense, but sometimes we think nothing of downloading programs that we find online for our personal use. The most notorious types of spyware and adware are programs that are offered online for free. This can include programs such as games, music files, and screensavers. These programs are free for a reason! They are used to generate pop-up ads and can even hijack your internet capabilities by directing your browser to bring you to websites you did not even want to go to.
Tip # 2 – Keep Your Windows Software Up-To-Date The updates offered by Windows includes a variety of security fixes to ensure your PC is not vulnerable to certain adware and spyware programs. The updates are offered for free from Microsoft.
Tip # 3 – Purchase and Install Spyware Protection Software Even spyware and adware cleaners that are offered for free online do not fully protect your system. Although the free spyware cleaners can be a temporary solution, many spyware and adware programs are written to re-install themselves later. The spyware protection software that can be purchased is better because it is specifically designed to locate and permanently disable all spyware, malware, and adware before they can attack your computer. Keeping your computer free of spyware will ensure the safety of your data as well as keep your PC functioning properly