How to protect my computer.....

[Bike & Destroy]

Last night it got so bad... i was downloading every spyware and trojan remover there is but could not get rid of the viruses and crap.
There was people hijacking my cp and coolwebs and porno ads popping up all over the place.
So i re installed windows...
What should i do to prevent this from happening again?
and a few questions..
1) Would a firewall do any good.. if so how to get 1?
2) Is Fire fox saver then IE?
3) Which spy removers? I heard Adaware personal and spy seek and destroy- or w/e it was called.. makes a good combination, is that true?
4) Any thing else???????.... i have security for IE on medium high.
5) KNow any good virus removers that are actaully free? and dont say free download and end up having to register for $30 to get ride of the viruses/ or get rid of all of them.
..... I need help. i dont wanna do the reinstalling of windows all over again

[emilydickinson]

Zone Alarm (Firewall). Mozilla is much safer than IE.

[rap_never_ends]

get norton ativirus.. it comes with a good firewall that can be easily turned on and off

[Smickus]

you're a tard - why didn't you just disconnect from the net and get rid of it and then reconnect?

[Smickus]

oh - and one thing that will stop you from getting crap on your computer. COMMON SENSE. when a pop up comes up asking you to install gator or some other advertising stuff... click NO.

[rap_never_ends]

lol ya man u shoulda done that

[mgrmax]

We have an IT guy at our office that said while downloading music, you might be downloading viruses and spyware. Also, if you are going on porn sites, there is a good chance you could be getting spyware from them.


You could try this...


http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

[Bike & Destroy]

i dont click on ads... and i tried rebooting the computer,shutting off internet, trying various spyware + adware removers and got hijack this and posted the running sources on a tech site to see if they could help but nothing would do it. I could not get rid of coolwebs and about blank homepage crap and could not change the homepage back to original and could not block about blank. adaware picked up a 1 new spyware everytime i opend IE from that damn homepage.
The best thing i could have done is get rid of everything and right now the computer is running as smooth as when i got it and im just asking for advice on how to prevent it from happening again. :evil:

[Street Cowboy]

90% of spyware is marketing datamining cookies. all they do are watch how long you look at particual sights. you can in your internet options . eith in fire for or internet explorer and turn off third party cookies. also you can set it so you can view cookie befor accepting them..

also the same cookie that most of you save for password information and such on the different sites also track your site usage.. the main reson for them is so companys can make and sell customer profiles so companys can learn about what customers want and so they can communicate with them better. granted some cookies you dont want others are just out there to make business more sucsessfy\ul at anticipating customer needs.

im learning how to make them in class.

[nutsgeezer]

get norton ativirusnorton isnt the answer, its just the brand name that rakes in the cash. The same way you get more chocolate on a 'double break' than on a kit-kat, the less marketed anti virus programs are better. I use AVG anti virus. Its free, and since Ive had it I havent had one major virus (and I used to get them all the time). It has a firewall etc so its all good.

One thing I would like to note is that not all viruses come from pop-ups and trojans, thats just the main way spyware gets around. If you use a firewall like blackice defender it shows you how many people are attacking your computer, as it happens. I get probably 100 attacks per minute, most of them are just port checks etc so the attacker can find out if you are a potential target. I get probably 1 serious attack every 5 minutes. Its not just me, chances are you are all getting exactly the same without knowing about it.

[Bladerboi2k4]

You could try this...


http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

yeah this site got rid of my trojan. plus microsoft made it so they know how to get rid of it

[jake2o04]

to get rid of spyware a ads use
spybot
and
ad-aware

it will find almost everything
it only misses like 3 and ad-aware picks up on those

[bmxgal]

i use panda platinum internet security its great keeps everything out!

[rocket]

you're a tard - why didn't you just disconnect from the net and get rid of it and then reconnect?

it would be nice if that worked but that does absolutly nothing.

[rocket]

all you need to do is:

1) most importantly use a good fire wall
2) start using fire fox...you may not like it at first but once you get use to it, you'll be glad you did.
3) i highly recommend (so does PC gaming) using the free programs Spybot Search & Destory and Ad-Aware SE Personal edition. Those are really the only 2 programs you'll need (or are good to have) once you get that crap off your comp.

[nutsgeezer]

unfortunatley ad-aware and spybot will get rid of almost everything, but then there is stuff hidden in registry that re-installs it.

[rocket]

oh yeah those 2 programs are completely free too. Just google them.
its not necessary to have a fire wall before using them either.