Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

[jinxy]

Ok , you tell me here and now. What should a new computer user do to stop the spread of malware. All of it , not just what propagates, through known holes in the OS. The vulnerabilities of the future.

[XTC46]

Im not saying they can stop the spread of future stuff, but they can sure as hell slow it down. Install a firewall, do your updates, dont click on stupid pop ups, dont open emails from people you dont know, especially attachments, have an antivirus installed on your computer and keep it updated, do all updates for both your OS and other things like firmware updates for hardware firewalls, dont use products (suh as IE) with tons of known holes when there are alternitives (like firefox, opera) keep your software uptodate (dont be using IE 5.0 etc.) use programs like adaware so if you do get some it gets rid of it for you.

there are alot of simple things a person can do to prevent the spread of virusis. they can protect them selves by using basic told (alot of which are free). its not hard. like I said, you cannot stop the spread of virusis, but you can slow it down, and you can protect yourself. every unprotectd computer is just another potential launch point for that virus to spread. By protecting yourself you are in effect protecting others.

[oofki]

XTC i think its kinda like stinger. The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool I think is kind of pointless because there is a better product already out, which I have already mentioned...STINGER, it is also free.

EDIT- I didnt realize this has 3 pages, this is in reguards to your 1st reply.

[XTC46]

lol, well im glad you tossed in your input. im not sure if stinger is better yet, so im giving it a go. I wanna see if it actually works. you can never have too many tools too remove the bullshit people let get on there computers.

[oofki]

Well microsofts is easy to get and even the must end user could use it, because they dont know they did, it is all done in the background. I dont think MS will catch up to stinger in the effectiveness department, nor how many it will catch. But, as more are added the more the consumer is protected, kinda becuase it doesnt alwyas scan, just does once. The thing i find stupid about the MS tool is it catches thing such as blaster and sasser but if you are the end of the end users you probably dont know how to run shutdown -a to bypass shutdown inorder to have time to visit WU.

[XTC46]

I downloaded the program, I carry things like that on my USB key that way I can use it on people computers when they need help.

[TheSpecialist]

antivirus installed on your computer and keep it updated, do all updates for both your OS and other things like firmware updates for hardware firewalls, dont use products (suh as IE) with tons of known holes when there are alternitives (like firefox, opera) keep your software uptodate (dont be using IE 5.0 etc.) use programs like adaware so if you do get some it gets rid of it for you

There is a computer right next to me, an XP running IE, no anti-viral software at all, & no problems what so ever. Now... every windows home users does everything as admin. And this and their mind-set is the problem. No limitations at all are setup on these piss-poor systems and the only thing standing in the way are yesterday's profiles & signatures.

Unlike the rest of home-user-land... I have restrictive policies and auditing in place. If everyone did this then your average mass mailer would need to exploit something to escalate privileges needed to make changes and propogate. Effective malware propogation in general would be few and far between. Even without limited user accounts and strict policies... I've still got an eye on each and everything that happends. Every web request, every keystroke, every change in the registry, its all here...

And problems will always persist intil people wake up and realise that while AV software keeps failing, preventive measures & auditing tools will forever give the upper hand.

[XTC46]

WTF? the specialist said something useful without insulting anyone? well hot damn.


BUt I agree with you 100 percent. whats that saying? "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

[xierox]

Originally posted here by |3lack|ce
Dunno for sure what Billy's doing, but he stuck it in a critical download (one of 10 I got forcefed this morning)... Perhaps he's thinking on getting into antivirus as well as spyware tools?

He sure is!
http://news.google.com/news?q=micros...ab=nn&oi=newsr
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ft-virus_x.htm
http://australianit.news.com.au/arti...-15316,00.html

- Xierox

[IKnowNot]

Just to add to thehorse13’s original post, in case anyone is interested, the Knowledge Base article can be found here