Preventing future infections

Source Thanks, YourHighness

Please also have a look at the following links, giving some advice and suggestions for preventing future infections:

• So How did I get infected?
• Microsoft - 'Security at home'
• Miekies' prevention suggestions

Now you should Set a New Restore Point to prevent possible reinfection from an old one. Some of the malware you picked up could have been saved in System Restore. Since System Restore is a protected directory, your tools cannot access it to delete these bad files which sometimes can reinfect your system. Setting a new restore point AFTER cleaning your system will help prevent this and enable your computer to "roll-back" to a clean working state. 

The easiest and safest way to do this is:

• Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click "System Restore".
• Choose the radio button marked "Create a Restore Point" on the first screen then click "Next". Give the R.P. a name then click "Create". The new point will be stamped with the current date and time. Keep a log of this so you can find it easily should you need to use System Restore.
• Then go to Start > Run and type: Cleanmgr
• Click "OK".
• Click the "More Options" Tab.
• Click "Clean Up" in the System Restore section to remove all previous restore points except the newly created one.

I recommend you regularly visit the Windows Update Site , you are lagging behind on a few of them!

• Lots of Hacking/Trojans use the methods found (plugged by the updates) that have not been stopped by people not updating.
• By updating your machine, you have one less headache! 
• Update ALL Critical updates and any other Windows updates for services/programs that you use.
• If you wish, you can also use automatic updates. This is a good thing to have if you want to be up-to-date all the time, but can also be a bit of an annoyance due to its handling and the sizes of the updates. If you wish to turn on automatic updates then you will find here is a nice little article about turning on automatic updates.
• Note that it will download them for you, but you still have to actually click install.
• If you do not want to have automatic updates turned on, or are on dial-up, you can always download updates seperately at: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

It is also a good idea to check for the latest versions of commonly installed applications that are regularly patched to fix vulnerabilities. You can check these by visiting Secunia Software Inspector and Calendar of Updates.

For a nice list of freeware programmes in all categories, please have a look at this thread with freeware products that are regarded as useful by the users of this forum: Commonly Used Freeware Replacements.

Another recommendation, is to download HostMan. It safeguards you with a regularly updated Hosts-file that blocks dangerous sites from opening. This adds another bit of safety while surfing the Internet. For installlation and setting up, follow these steps:

• Double-click the Downloaded installer and install the tool to a location of your choice
• Via the Startmenu, navigate to HostsMan and run the program.
  • Click "Hosts" in the menu
  • Click "Manage Updates" in the submenu
  • Out of the three, select atl east one of them (I have MVPS Host as my main one)
  • Click "Add Update." After that you will only need to click on the following button to retrieve updates:
    
• Click the X to exit the program.
• Note: If you were using a custom Hosts file you will need to replace any of those entries yourself.

Finally, and definitely the MOST IMPORTANT step, click on the following tutorial and follow each step listed there:

Simple and easy ways to keep your computer safe and secure on the Internet

Glad I was able to help and if there any other problems related to your computer please feel free to post them in the appropriate forum. Though we help people with spyware and viruses here at BC, we also help people with other computer problems! Do not forget to tell your friends about us! 


catchme W2K/XP/Vista - rootkit/stealth malware detector by Gmer, http://www.gmer.net