PornDialler problem

[KLUNK]

Hi all..

a friend at work came in today and told me that she got a call from Telewest
saying that last night her phone bill went up by £160 , this apparently is
caused by a Porn Dialler....

Now she is still getting over the shock and has asked me .....

(1) Whats the best way to get rid ot if? and

(2) What do epople use to protect against this sort of thing...



Well,,,,i have Norton system works on my machine and it does spot trojans
etc......but i havent seen anything identified as a Porn Dialler on
Norton...

Are there any free utilities that i can download for her (she cant get on
the net cos the porn dialler kicks in again and up her phone bill goes by
£1.75 a minute)

I know it's easy to be wise after the event.....all help would be
appreciated....

She has Norton Internet security on her PC but when i asked her when it was
last updated she looked at me as tho I was from mars..(Yes, there are some
people who still think they can install a piece of software to protect
them - even 8 months after they bought and installed it).

Does AVG spot trojans/porn diallers successfully?

Thanks

KLUNK

 

[Richard S. Westmoreland]

Hi all..

a friend at work came in today and told me that she got a call from Telewest
saying that last night her phone bill went up by £160 , this apparently is
caused by a Porn Dialler....

Now she is still getting over the shock and has asked me .....

(1) Whats the best way to get rid ot if? and

(2) What do epople use to protect against this sort of thing...



Well,,,,i have Norton system works on my machine and it does spot trojans
etc......but i havent seen anything identified as a Porn Dialler on
Norton...

Are there any free utilities that i can download for her (she cant get on
the net cos the porn dialler kicks in again and up her phone bill goes by
£1.75 a minute)

I know it's easy to be wise after the event.....all help would be
appreciated....

She has Norton Internet security on her PC but when i asked her when it was
last updated she looked at me as tho I was from mars..(Yes, there are some
people who still think they can install a piece of software to protect
them - even 8 months after they bought and installed it).

Does AVG spot trojans/porn diallers successfully?

The first thing she needs to do is stop visiting porn or casino sites. ;-)

Rick

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Hi all..

a friend at work came in today and told me that she got a call from Telewest
saying that last night her phone bill went up by £160 , this apparently is
caused by a Porn Dialler....

Now she is still getting over the shock and has asked me .....

(1) Whats the best way to get rid ot if? and

(2) What do epople use to protect against this sort of thing...



Well,,,,i have Norton system works on my machine and it does spot trojans
etc......but i havent seen anything identified as a Porn Dialler on
Norton...

Are there any free utilities that i can download for her (she cant get on
the net cos the porn dialler kicks in again and up her phone bill goes by
£1.75 a minute)

I know it's easy to be wise after the event.....all help would be
appreciated....

She has Norton Internet security on her PC but when i asked her when it was
last updated she looked at me as tho I was from mars..(Yes, there are some
people who still think they can install a piece of software to protect
them - even 8 months after they bought and installed it).

Most AV software will not spot porn diallers and trojans. She needs to
install (and update, and periodically run) Spybot Search & Destroy, and
AdAware .. google for either/both. You should be able to send them to
her on CD, they are not that huge (although she'll need to get online
for the latest definitions).

Blocking access to 0900 (premium rate) numbers on her phone line is a
good plan too, unless she actually uses them.

 

[Jafo]

She has Norton Internet security on her PC but when i asked
her when it was last updated she looked at me as tho I was
from mars..(Yes, there are some people who still think they
can install a piece of software to protect them - even 8 months
after they bought and installed it).

Which is why all good modern AV programs update their own data
files. I've seen people running computers that they bought back
in 1998 who feel secure because the McAfee logo appears every
time they boot up.

 

[KLUNK]

no porno sites visited that i know of...but then again she does have a
teenage son....hmmmm the plot thickens

 

[KLUNK]

got them thanks....cd on the way to her house...

will keep you posted..

KLUNK

 

[KLUNK]

Ditto same here.........false security.......marvelous thing isnt it!

KLUNK

 

[Bugsy]

got them thanks....cd on the way to her house...

will keep you posted..

Might wanna add Spywareblaster, too. Helps prevent the crap from loading
in the first place.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

 

[Machine]

1.switch to broadband as a dialer can only effect a dial up connection.

2. stick with dial if she must and purchase a anti virus program like
bitdefender which has dial control and means no software can make a
connection without your permission or purchase kerio firewall which also has
dial activity control.

I think pc cillin has this feature as well.

 

[NormanM]

1.switch to broadband as a dialer can only effect a dial up connection.

You also have to disconnect the modem. Having HSI, but having the dial-up
modem still on board, and connected to the telephone network, won't stop the
dialers.

 

[Nick FitzGerald]

a friend at work came in today and told me that she got a call from Telewest
saying that last night her phone bill went up by £160 , this apparently is
caused by a Porn Dialler....

Now she is still getting over the shock and has asked me .....

(1) Whats the best way to get rid ot if? and

That depends entirely on which of the many hundreds of different basic
diallers she has...

(2) What do epople use to protect against this sort of thing...

Intelligence.

Assuming she is an adult and the only user of the machine, that means
it is too late for her. If others use this machine as well, there is
still a skerrick of hope...

Once she is rid of it, tell her to install any non-IE web browser and
immediately move to a non-MS, non-IE Email client (i.e. an alternate
browser that is not simply an "IE wrapper" and an Email client that
is also not just an IE wrapper, as Outlook and OE are). If that is
not an option then wash your hands of her as you'll be being asked to
fix "problems" like this ad nauseum from now.

 

[Machine]

well of course, that is common sense

You also have to disconnect the modem. Having HSI, but having the dial-up
modem still on board, and connected to the telephone network, won't stop
the
dialers.

--
Norman
~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta
~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain
~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint

 

[NormanM]

well of course, that is common sense

The most common aspect of common sense is that it isn't.