Topic: Fuffin' virus.

[dtw]

What were you doing to catch so many viruses?

[Flunky]

Errr....using the internet. You need to have a read of BBC technology pages, Lots of "high" traffic sites are being attacked and are causing drive by downloads. The increase in the number of attackes has been massive. i have been on the internet for 14 years and have never had a virus once.

I do however suppose it could of been all the p*rn aswell.  ::)

[davyw1]

A mate of mine Whom like Backyman, repairs, builds and sell computers told me be carefull of what anti virus you put on as some are viruses.
I often read the reviews on Cnet to see what is in the top 10 downloads. For those that don,t know of Cnet its worth a look.

[Flunky]

A mate of mine Whom like Backyman, repairs, builds and sell computers told me be carefull of what anti virus you put on as some are viruses.
I often read the reviews on Cnet to see what is in the top 10 downloads. For those that don,t know of Cnet its worth a look.

Thanks for the Cnet info. The antivirus is exactly what happened. I have been looking into these, sometimes you dont even have to start a download.

[Garden Manager]

I have done a system reset of my PC. As expected it caused the usual problem sof getting things like the internet connection, software and user settigns back to how i want them but so far (touching lots of wood!) there is no longer any sign of the virus i had been having trouble with. PC works a lot faster too so the reset needed doing anyway (been very slow even before the spyware infection).

I did have some trouble with the internet when i installed AOL and Norton but removing both and just installing AOL seems to have cured that problem. Instead of Norton i am trying out AVG Anti Virus Free as recomended. I just wonder if Norton might cause just as many problems as it solves. Unfortunately my norton was a bought piece of software and has 2/3 of a years subscription still on it, so may have to go back to it at some point.

[davyw1]

Another Anti Spyware i find effective is Spybot Search and Destroy.

[davyw1]

For anyone who has had Norton and having problems getting rid of it here is a free download tool.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

[betula]

My Norton goes through this long elaborate scan every so often.

It always tells me I have a tracking cookie.

It gets rid of the TC and the next time it is there again.

What is a tracking cookie,think that is what it is called?

[davyw1]

My Norton goes through this long elaborate scan every so often.

It always tells me I have a tracking cookie.

It gets rid of the TC and the next time it is there again.

What is a tracking cookie,think that is what it is called?

Cookies are actually small text files, they really can not damage your computer system or any files on your hard drive. Once again, they cannot transmit viruses as viruses are executable in nature. Some users may just not want to be tracked and this is one of the primary reasons why many people just disable accepting cookies.

[betula]

Yes but what is it tracking? :)

Always have this mental image of a rolling biscuit with big eyes  looking at what I am doing. :)

[davyw1]

Tracking cookies are files that track your web browsing habits.

Tracking cookies are browser settings that provide websites a unique ID for the user. The tracking cookies are constantly recreated when you browse the web.

[betula]

Thanks davyw1

[davyw1]

You can find the settings for then here Left click TOOLS  then OPTIONS the Privacy.

[Garden Manager]

Is it possible that having norton on your PC could slow it down too much? I am wondering this since without norton the machine works a lot faster. its just a question of whether it is as well protected with AVG Free instead?

[katynewbie]

 ::)

Yep, Norton is useless at protecting your pc and will make it run slower. I have run AVG for years and had hardly any problems. Comodo is another good one, lots to choose from here:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads29.html

[Larkshall]

viruses are executable

Exactly, that's why I use Ubuntu/Linux, executables cannot run in Linux (unless you actually run them in Wine, but you wouldn't do that would you?).