Avast! question

[Vanessa]

My sister is using Avast! (at my recommendation) on her WinXP machine. She
is on DSL using a modem only (no router in the network) and is using the MSN
provided by Verizon, which I think is also supposed to include virus
protection. She uses their webmail to read her email, but they do use IE as
their browser. She also uses ZoneAlarm (free) and is constantly getting
requests from unknown programs to access the internet. She just keeps
denying them. She seems to be constantly plaqued with viruses and trojans
and never seems to be able to completely get rid of them. Just yesterday
Avast! found 4 more viruses on her machine when she did a scan. She feels
that Avast! just isn't doing the job and is considering trying MacAfee.

I would like to help her out. Should she shut off System Restore before
doing a scan? Also, should she be doing these scans in Safe Mode? I am
also not clear as to if Avast! is providing real-time protection to her
machine. When I was last up there, and installed it for her, I was having
trouble getting that to work. I thought I had fixed it (going to their
support site to get the fix), but maybe it's still not working. What should
she check for that? I am using EZ Trust at the moment, so I'm not able to
look at the Avast! settings.

She lives an hour away from me and I am unable to get there right away. Any
suggestions? She is also running SpyBot S&D and AdAware, but I was unable
to get SpywareBlaster to install properly.

Vanessa

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Quoth the raven Vanessa:
....

She seems to be constantly plaqued with viruses and trojans and
never seems to be able to completely get rid of them. Just
yesterday Avast! found 4 more viruses on her machine when she did a
scan. She feels that Avast! just isn't doing the job and is
considering trying MacAfee.

Would you consider that some process or surfing habit is allowing new
ones in all the time? Perhaps she has a trojan that is causing the
problem.

I feel Avast! is good, and would not switch to McAfee.

I would like to help her out. Should she shut off System Restore
before doing a scan?

Only if the detection indicates the virus is in System Restore. Easily
discernible by looking at path.

Also, should she be doing these scans in Safe Mode?

Depends on what it finds... and what it tells you after a scan.

I am also not clear as to if Avast! is providing real-time
protection to her machine. When I was last up there, and installed
it for her, I was having trouble getting that to work. I thought
I had fixed it (going to their support site to get the fix), but
maybe it's still not working. What should she check for that?

Real time? Does the systray icon "spin" when you open a program? Is is
scanning incoming email? Can't tell from here.

Does she blindly open all email attachment without thinking?

I am using EZ Trust at the moment, so I'm not able to look at the
Avast! settings.

She lives an hour away from me and I am unable to get there right
away. Any suggestions? She is also running SpyBot S&D and
AdAware, but I was unable to get SpywareBlaster to install
properly.

What email client and browser does she use? Is she constantly shooting
herself in the foot?

http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/tips.html

 

[Vanessa]

Quoth the raven Vanessa:
...

Would you consider that some process or surfing habit is allowing new
ones in all the time? Perhaps she has a trojan that is causing the
problem.

Seems likely. My first guess is that she has a trojan she hasn't been able
to get rid of? Suggestions?

I feel Avast! is good, and would not switch to McAfee.


Only if the detection indicates the virus is in System Restore. Easily
discernible by looking at path.

I'll have her look and let me know what it says.

Depends on what it finds... and what it tells you after a scan.

So what should we be looking for?

Real time? Does the systray icon "spin" when you open a program? Is is
scanning incoming email? Can't tell from here.

Neither can I. It is supposed to be, but I don't know if it is. I had
trouble getting that one to stick.

Does she blindly open all email attachment without thinking?

Not ususally. I've warned her about that repeatedly.

Why not switch? <g>

I might! EZ Trust was free for the first year, so I'm using that. My son
uses Norton AV, which seems to work fine for him, but my sister had trouble
with it.

What email client and browser does she use? Is she constantly shooting
herself in the foot?

She uses the MSN webmail, so she's not using Outlook, OE or any other mail
clients. She uses IE6 as her browser.

Thanks.

Vanessa

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Quoth the raven Vanessa:

Seems likely. My first guess is that she has a trojan she hasn't
been able to get rid of? Suggestions?

See the link to the A² (A-Squared) on my tips page. Be sure to update
definitions before scanning, same as an a-v or your adware programs.

So what should we be looking for?

The scanner(s) should give you clues when they find something. Some
will also tell you to reboot, or reboot in safe mode, after a scan, so
they (it) can complete its task. These clues can vary greatly
depending on what they find. As always, intelligent decisions are
required when something is found. This is not a "fire and forget"
situation with modern viruses or malware.

Neither can I. It is supposed to be, but I don't know if it
is. I had trouble getting that one to stick.

Not ususally. I've warned her about that repeatedly.

Well, that is half the battle. I've found that most experienced people
can easily recognize a mail with a virus attachment. Who is it from?
What is the wording of the Subject, and of the body (if it was
opened)? Easy peasy. I do not have Avast! set to scan incoming email
because they are so easy to recognize.

I might! EZ Trust was free for the first year, so I'm using that.
My son uses Norton AV, which seems to work fine for him, but my
sister had trouble with it.

Does her WinXP have Service Pack 2 on it? This version does cause
problems with some a-v programs. Older Nortons will probably not work,
though I've read that Norton 2005, latest release, will. Still, why
not use the free stuff.

She uses the MSN webmail, so she's not using Outlook, OE or any
other mail clients. She uses IE6 as her browser.

Ah. Very old browser. Probably not locked down. I would heartily
recommend she upgrade to a modern, secure, unhijackable browser, such
as Mozilla, Firefox, or Opera. Pay attention to options and settings.
Get away from drive-by shootings with ActiveX components that IE will
run (if allowed) and give you nasties.

Google for: internet explorer is too dangerous

Does she have a *firewall*? Most important! No, not that WinXP thing;
get a good one. See my page. The XP thingy is Inbound only; you need
one that also monitors Outbound so you know if a trojan or other
malware is sending. Is the OS fully patched and up to date via Windows
Update?

Once again:
http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/tips.html

 

[Vanessa]

Quoth the raven Vanessa:

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I am having a look at A2 myself and will
recommend it to her. If she selects one of the alternative browsers and
sets that as the default, will she have any problems with MSN?

Yes, I should have said she is using ZoneAlarm (free) and has recently had
to repeatedly deny outbound access to several things that keep popping up.
That's why I suspected a trojan. Yes, the OS is fully patched and up to
date except I don't think she has installed SP2 yet.

 

[JJO]

My sister is using Avast! (at my recommendation) on her WinXP machine.
She
is on DSL using a modem only (no router in the network) and is using the
MSN
provided by Verizon, which I think is also supposed to include virus
protection. She uses their webmail to read her email, but they do use IE
as
their browser. She also uses ZoneAlarm (free) and is constantly getting
requests from unknown programs to access the internet. She just keeps
denying them. She seems to be constantly plaqued with viruses and trojans
and never seems to be able to completely get rid of them. Just yesterday
Avast! found 4 more viruses on her machine when she did a scan. She feels
that Avast! just isn't doing the job and is considering trying MacAfee.

Just to add my humble opinion, I would guess that either she is opening mail
attachments, downloading music from Kazaa or another P2P service (a great
way to get virus infected), or one or more site that she visits regularly is
infected and infects her system. I agree with others on those points and
with the need for her to install SP2. I have Avast and it works great. My
daughter-in-law was using Norton and it missed about 35 instances of a virus
that Avast caught. I just cleaned a friend's system that had Norton and he
religiously scanned and updated. He had about 12 instances of a virus. Her
web and mail habits may have more than a little to do with this problem.

Regards,
John O.

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Quoth the raven Vanessa:

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I am having a look at A2 myself
and will recommend it to her. If she selects one of the
alternative browsers and sets that as the default, will she have
any problems with MSN?

I can't answer that one for sure; other may chime in. Most likely, if
she uses Mozilla and gets the PrefBar extension, she can use the User
Agent spoofer to pretend she is WinXP/IE6. See the "Real UA" button to
the right on the toolbar?
http://home.rochester.rr.com/bshagnasty/images/mozbar.png

Test your UA string at this page of mine:
http://www.fingerlakesbmw.org/test/fltest.php

If you weren't aware, Mozilla is "extensible" with .. well ..
extensions, and the PrefBar is one of the most popular. Notice you can
toggle off Java, JavaScript, and other things. Get it here.
http://prefbar.mozdev.org/

Yes, I should have said she is using ZoneAlarm (free) and has
recently had to repeatedly deny outbound access to several things
that keep popping up. That's why I suspected a trojan. Yes, the OS
is fully patched and up to date except I don't think she has
installed SP2 yet.

If these Outbound things are obscure, she is probably infested. The
firewall will also warn when legitimate software wants to call out,
like the Windows Updater. Again, this calls for an intelligent choice.
If you/she are certain it's a real program, allow it.

 

[Richard S. Westmoreland]

My sister is using Avast! (at my recommendation) on her WinXP machine. She
is on DSL using a modem only (no router in the network) and is using the MSN
provided by Verizon, which I think is also supposed to include virus
protection. She uses their webmail to read her email, but they do use IE as
their browser. She also uses ZoneAlarm (free) and is constantly getting
requests from unknown programs to access the internet. She just keeps
denying them. She seems to be constantly plaqued with viruses and trojans
and never seems to be able to completely get rid of them. Just yesterday
Avast! found 4 more viruses on her machine when she did a scan. She feels
that Avast! just isn't doing the job and is considering trying MacAfee.

I would like to help her out. Should she shut off System Restore before
doing a scan? Also, should she be doing these scans in Safe Mode? I am
also not clear as to if Avast! is providing real-time protection to her
machine. When I was last up there, and installed it for her, I was having
trouble getting that to work. I thought I had fixed it (going to their
support site to get the fix), but maybe it's still not working. What should
she check for that? I am using EZ Trust at the moment, so I'm not able to
look at the Avast! settings.

She lives an hour away from me and I am unable to get there right away. Any
suggestions? She is also running SpyBot S&D and AdAware, but I was unable
to get SpywareBlaster to install properly.

Vanessa

You didn't mention anything about patches. Is her Windows Update turned on
and set to automatically install updates? Is she running any programs that
would have come with spyware, such as Kazaa, BearShare, Bonzai Buddy, etc.?
You need to confirm that Avast's realtime protection is enabled, and that it
is attempting an update everyday. If she is on DSL and running Windows XP,
you can enable Remote Desktop (before sure she has a good password) and help
her from where you're at.

 

[Vanessa]

IE

You didn't mention anything about patches. Is her Windows Update turned on
and set to automatically install updates? Is she running any programs that
would have come with spyware, such as Kazaa, BearShare, Bonzai Buddy, etc.?
You need to confirm that Avast's realtime protection is enabled, and that it
is attempting an update everyday. If she is on DSL and running Windows XP,
you can enable Remote Desktop (before sure she has a good password) and help
her from where you're at.

Yes, her Windows Update is turned on, and I think it is set to notify her
when there are updates to install. I read that this is preferred for now
until the SP2 bugs are worked out. I will tell her to do a check on that.
As far as I know, she is not running any of those programs you mentioned or
any like them. I know I tried to enable Avast's realtime protection, but
was having trouble getting it to work. I am working from a Win98 machine,
but have a WinXP machine in the house. How do I set up the remote desktop?
That sounds like it could be a good idea.

Vanessa

 

[Richard S. Westmoreland]

Yes, her Windows Update is turned on, and I think it is set to notify her
when there are updates to install. I read that this is preferred for now
until the SP2 bugs are worked out. I will tell her to do a check on that.
As far as I know, she is not running any of those programs you mentioned or
any like them. I know I tried to enable Avast's realtime protection, but
was having trouble getting it to work. I am working from a Win98 machine,
but have a WinXP machine in the house. How do I set up the remote desktop?
That sounds like it could be a good idea.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/remoteintro.msp
x



Rick

 

[Lars-Erik Østerud]

Beauregard T. Shagnasty skrev:

I feel Avast! is good, and would not switch to McAfee.

I agree. I used McAfee before. Would not change back!
Especially the mail-scanner in avast! is great!
(ok, it's a bit tricky to setup, but works great)

 

[Patty]

Beauregard T. Shagnasty skrev:


I agree. I used McAfee before. Would not change back!
Especially the mail-scanner in avast! is great!
(ok, it's a bit tricky to setup, but works great)

I also agree. I used to use McAfee (which hogged resources drastically on
my old 98SE system) but now I use Avast with XP and 98SE with no problems.
However, I do not use any web-based email either except for occasionally
accessing one hotmail account. All my email (even my free accounts that
allow so) come into my Eudora. Avast scans all incoming email and, as far
as I can see, does a great job.

Patty

 

[Patty]

Yes, her Windows Update is turned on, and I think it is set to notify her
when there are updates to install. I read that this is preferred for now
until the SP2 bugs are worked out. I will tell her to do a check on that.
As far as I know, she is not running any of those programs you mentioned or
any like them. I know I tried to enable Avast's realtime protection, but
was having trouble getting it to work. I am working from a Win98 machine,
but have a WinXP machine in the house. How do I set up the remote desktop?
That sounds like it could be a good idea.

Vanessa

Something else she might want to try is SpyBot and AdAware. See if there's
other things causing her problems also.

Patty