Ducktoes Spyware Blog

This is Part Five of a five part series about how to speed up your computer. Here are the other four posts. Before you follow these suggestions, however, you should get rid of your malware. Here are the instructions to remove it.

Why should you clean the registry? The registry is a listing of all the settings and options in Windows. They are listed in the form of “keys”. When the registry gets cluttered with unfunctional and useless keys the computer still has to refer to and process them and this slows booting, running applications and going on-line. To fix this and speed things up, you can delete or edit the keys manually, which is tedious and risky, since changing the registry is a good way of messing up the computer completely, if you don’t know what you’re doing.

There is a free registry cleaner called EasyCleaner by Tony Arts. It works well. If you use it, please leave the creator/owner a donation. You should use EasyCleaner as part of your regular computer maintenance routine.

The best registry tool is jv16 PowerTools by Macecraft. The trial of 30 days is not limited but gives you access to the full version. In some computers, it is the tool that makes the most significant difference in speed. Use both the Registry Cleaner and the Registry Compacter components.

Ducktoes to the rescue!!

This week I’m fixing an old Toshiba laptop that was loaded with spyware. It had all these spyware:

1. Adware BHO Generic
2. Win32 Trojan PSW Sinowal
3. Win32 clowsd
4. Alexa Related
5. Microsoft Windows Security Center Virus Override
6. Microsoft Windows Security Center Firewall Override
7. Microsoft Windows Security Center SP2 Update Override
8. Microsoft Security Center _disabled
9. PWS LDPinch IE
10. SC Keylogger
11. Smitfraud - C.generic
12. Win32. Alphabet.ap
13. Win32. BHO.je

The laptop actually had more than this but I didn’t write them down before I got rid of them. I used these three anti-spyware applications to get rid of the spyware: Ad-aware SE Personal, Spybot, and Spyware Doctor (my new favorite anti-spyware, although it’s not free.)

The fascinating spyware I love to hate, is one that places a program in the Startup. Everytime I tried to run AVG anti-virus, the spyware would start this:

HKLM\…\Run:[KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k

And immediately a system dump would begin with a blue screen of death and, I’d have to restart the computer without being able to run a virus scan.

The client and I decided to reinstall the operating system since she didn’t need anything on her harddrive. It’s an old laptop she uses for e-mail only. But normally I would have run all my anti-spyware tools, anti-virus (I prefer AVG), plus rootkit tools (see my rootkit post.) I like to get rid of spyware without reformatting, as most computer repair services do. They immediately reformat!!! Not Ducktoes. Ducktoes does anti-spy without data-fry!! So businesses and people can lose their spyware but keep their data. That’s what Ducktoes specializes in.

If you are using your own or someone else’s computer and it is slow, ad-ware, spyware, and malware-loaded, or if you are using Limewire or other P2P, never enter your credit card numbers or other sensitive information on-line, because you never know where your data will end up. A spyware-infested computer will be painstakingly slow and its Internet Explorer will have these tell-tale symptoms: extra toolbars across the top of the browser (which are not Yahoo or Google) or a hijacked browser (a bogus ad-filled search engine) that you can’t get away from or get rid of when you are attempting to go to your preferred search engine.

Yet sometimes your computer may have nasty spyware or malware without being slow. But if you don’t take precautions, your computer definitely will get it, and sooner rather than later.

In fact, if you do not even understand what I’m talking about, then STOP doing your banking and shopping on-line!!! You need to educate yourself and take preventative actions FIRST. You need to install a good virus software (AVG is free) and several anti-spyware programs (Spybot, Ad-aware, or AVG Anti-spyware.) You need to run them routinely. Or buy Spy Sweeper. It runs automatically. And even after you learn how to do protect yourself and your computer, or get someone else to do it for you, never enter your info on a public computer, or computer you don’t manage. If you don’t want to take the time to learn how install and run virus and anti-spyware programs for your own internet safety, then hire a good computer techie to do it for you. Read this blog to educate yourself. Ducktoes can help if you live in the Calgary area. Call (403)483-0105. You can–with a the right software and precautions– use your computer for shopping or banking safely, and Ducktoes can help you do it!!

I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet: a free anti-spyware for Mac computers. (Yes, it’s true I’m afraid, I use both PC and Mac, for awhile I even dabbled in Linux. I know for those of you in the die-hard polarized-camps of Apple versus PC it’s hard to believe, but, in fact I’m so bi-OS sometimes I forget what kind of computer I’m working on. It’s a tool, not a religion.) And unlike some Mac users, I do believe running in virus software on my ibook. There are malware authors out there in cyber-space who specialize in Apple viruses and spyware, fewer in number, perhaps, than the PC bad guys, but still enough to put our computers at risk. Prevention is so less messy and so much preferable than cleanup. I use Virex from days when Apple included it in their Mac services. When Apple stopped sending updates, I found a site where I can download them for free. However, I can’t seem to find a free anti-spyware for Macs. If any of you readers know of one, please let me know.

Oh my gosh am I excited. I just found a site that has everything you need to defend your computer and much, much more. And all free, free, free. It’s called The 46 Best-Ever Freeware Utilities, by Gizmo. Don’t spend all day there, just bookmark and come back over and over. Or sign up for his newsletter. If you used some of these utilities, you wouldn’t need me. Actually, my goal is become obsolete, so you don’t need to reformat your harddrive every year or more to get your computer back up to speed. Ducktoes, always at your service.

Rootkits are malware tools used to hide spyware and trojan horses from your virus scanner and anti-spyware. They are quite effective. You could have a rootkit for months and never know since your virus software can’t detect it. Yesterday I told you about Spy Sweeper, an invaluable defender against rootkits and other trojans. I recommend Spy Sweeper to all my clients. And also AVG’s free rootkit scanner. I neglected to include Panda’s rootkit tool, also free. If I were you, I’d use them all, since the battle with spyware and rootkits is intensifying. Baby, it’s bad out there. Your best defence is, however, knowledge and training. put into action. Ducktoes can help you defend your computer from the onslaught. Call 403-483-0105.

A rootkit is a stealthy malware program that hides itself from the operating system of your computer. Its processes are not visible in Task Manager or in the start programs. Most anti-virus and anti-spyware don’t catch rootkits. Spy Sweeper by Webroot has a rootkit tool in its Advanced Options. If you would like Ducktoes to install Spy Sweeper on your computer and configure it to search for rootkits, please call (403) 287-0105. AVG by Grisoft has a free rootkit remover. Please click here to go to their site to download it.

On C-net Reviews four free anti-spyware software are rated. They rate Ad-Aware the highest. I use Ad-Aware and Spybot everyday and find both excellent tools. Spybot often finds spyware that Ad-Aware misses, and Ad-Aware finds spyware that Spybot misses. You can read their ratings on the C-net site. Don’t miss the videos that showcase the two anti-spyware programs.Remember Ducktoes can rid your computer of unwanted pests. Call 403-287-0105.

Grisoft’s AVG virus software is free for home users. Now Grisoft also has free spyware removal software. So there’s no reason not to keep your data safe. Virus and spyware are the major reasons why people have to have their hard drive reformatted every year. This is an unneccesary waste of time and money, not to mention all the photos, text files, music, tax information, programs, e-mail addresses, personal settings and other files on the hard drive that are lost for good. If you feel uncomfortable downloading and installing AVG yourself, Ducktoes can help. Call (403) 287-0105.

I use two anti-spyware. They both seem to catch a lot of spyware, and each catches some the other misses. And they are both free. Lavasoft Ad Aware has a free version and Spybot is free–although I strongly recommend giving a donation to Spybot so we can all keep using it. I even bought the Spybot t-shirt.

Here’s a link to an article that rates the anti-spyware.