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You may be running Netbus or Back Orifice even though you never installed either of them. That is, you didn't realize you installed them. They usually sneak aboard your computer hidden inside legitimate programs that you might install. See below for details on how nasty snooper programs can sneak inside your computer.
Worst of all, both Netbus and Back Orifice hide so you normally don't even know they are running on your computer. Antivirus and computer security companies keep on coming up with programs to get rid of them. The creators of Netbus and Back Orifice will keep on upgrading them to make them even harder to remove. And then there are all the other sneaky programs that allow bad guys to get inside your computer that the antiviurs companies haven't yet heard of!
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How to fix this problem: First and most important, try not to ever install one of these sneaky programs. What happened this Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day? You may have gotten one of those cute greeting cards or screen savers that have animated Santas and Cupids and Leprechauns. What you didn't know is that by running one of those adorable email attachments, you might have gotten a bad case of Back Orifice -- or any of a dozen other programs that are similar to it. Then your unwelcome "remote administrator" may have nasty fun with your computer.
Want to find out if these malicious programs are on your computer? Many antivirus programs will detect and eradicate the most common unwanted "remote administration tools." However, since demented programmers write new ones every day, your best cure is prevention. Don't open email attachments unless they come from trusted sources -- and -- this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT -- you are expecting to get an attachment from that person. Viruses such as Melissa and Explorezip automatically sent out emails with attached viruses by taking over the email programs of their victims. So even if someone you trust sends you an attachment, it may have been a virus that composed your friend's email for him or her.
5) Cable modems. Guess what -- that cable modem installation just made your computer a node on a large LAN, and who knows what its security is like? If you use a Windows computer, just click on Network Neighborhood to see whether you cable modem supplier uses a system that lets you see the computers of your fellow customers
How to fix this problem: Did you put a password on your cable modem hookup? Typically half the users of cable modems are sitting there without a password, their computers open to the 9-year-olds who try out the Network Neighborhood icon.
6) Web servers. Are you one of the millions of people who now have their own web site? Does your place of work have its own web site? Are you keeping other stuff on the same computer with your web site? Does your Web server offer up more than you planned? There are two main ways your web server might be giving way the store. Here's how you can check. Let's say your URL is http://www.AntiOnline.com. Let's try a little trick. In the navigation window, replace that "http" with "ftp" like this:
ftp://www.AntiOnline.com/index.html
This sometimes will give a complete map of your Web site. Sometimes this trick will show things that are elsewhere on that computer, that are not even part of the web site. What if you set up some parts of your Web site that aren't linked to the main page? Maybe you thought that if there was no link to follow, strangers can't find the hidden part unless they could guess the URL. Think again :)
How to fix this problem: If ftp://www.AntiOnline.com works, this means your web server is running a file transfer program that allows the general public to log in. Even a little kid on America Online can use this hole to explore your entire web site, and maybe more. Your first step to solve this problem is to get your network administrator to disable anonymous ftp, and your second step is to put passwords on any part of your Web site you want to keep private. On To The Next Page
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