# IP Address/hacking etc...



## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Hello and thanks for the nice welcome to your forum.

Firstly I have to confess to being a non teckie myself. I don't know if I have a firewall (have read security post advice above) and I think my AV is out of date.

Regardless of all the other nasties that I probably have, my main problem is that I think someone (that I know) has gained access to my hard disk files. I don't know how this could have happened but this someone has information in his possession that could have only been retrieved from my computer???

Is it possible that they could have accessed my disk from my IP address?
If so how can I make my computer safe? Does the firewall/AV prevent this type of entry from happening?

Thanks, Peachy


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## carsey (Aug 19, 2006)

If you have no good protection on your computer then they could access your files and also your computer would be very venerable whilst on the net.

I recommend you get a firewall such as the one by Zone alarm (highly recommended by many) and a good antivirus program such as AVG (free)


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Hey thanks Carsey for the very quick reply.
I am shocked that someone can read my hard disk!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! but thanks, I will purchase the above asap then...
Peachy


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## carsey (Aug 19, 2006)

I am not saying that anyone actually did access your hard-drive but it would be very easy for people to do so if your computer does not have protection.

The above 2 programs are free of charge.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conte...st_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&lang=en&lid=nav_za

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Also run some programs such as:
*Spybot Search and Destroy
*Ad-aware SE
*CCleaner


The programs listed above are free.

Hope this helps.


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Just another quick question..
If the only information they have on me is a hotmail addie (which I think contains my IP address) and my real name.... no location etc etc...is this still possible??
I really need to know the answer to this and how they have done this, the person in question works in IT and is very technical (unlike me)..
Thanks lots, 
Peachy


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## carsey (Aug 19, 2006)

I dont think you can get a IP address out of a email address. Never known of it. 

If people can find a way into your computer, they can hack it from anywhere in the world, sometimes without you even noticing.

Does this answer your question??


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Yes it answers it..there is a possibility then. Either that or this person has accessed my hotmail ?
I sent a mail from my hotmail to my regular email and checked on the properties and it listed an originating IP address, i figured this was mine?
Thanks for the info above...it was/is all a bit scarey!
Cheers


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

If you have no Firewall at all then yes it is possible that someone can hack into your computer and retrieve information.
Protecting your PC from hackers (friendly or otherwise) start when you power on your PC. 
Put passwords
That means entering BIOS and protecting opower on with a password.
Place 2 passwords , one for supervisor, one for user, Keep them different.
The suprevisor password will stop anyone from getting into your PC and changing settings about the way you want your PC to work.
The user & the supervisor passwords will stop anyone from powering on your PC and gaining access to your Files.
You will never give that information to anyone whom you don't trust. Trust No-one!
Open up a user profile in windows and put another password here. This means that if anyone tries to get inside your PC from outside he will have to provide that password to gain entry.
If you "share" folders over a network, put them in password protected shares. Do not use the same password as you use to log in.

The easiest way to let a hacker inside your PC is to leave the door open.
this is done by having no username & password to log in.
The second way of allowing yourself to be attacked is to disable or not install a firewall. Do not use Windows Firewall since it stops things from coming in, but if someone gets in via the back door then it lets them go out!
The third way to leave yourself open is to think that you aren't going to catch a virus, so you don't put in software to catch or prevent contamination. WRONG, a virus doesn't care who you are, it just wants to reproduce itself in any way that it can. Once it gets in , it will try to infect everyone or every pc it comes in contact with.

lastly, prevention against spyare / malware. These are programmed to harvest information either about you or about what you are doing, where you have been and then send it back to a collection point for assessment!

So if you think that you are having security problems ...
put power on passwords to stop unlawful entry to your PC. 
put a user password to stop anyone from using your PC should they get past your initial security. 
Put a firewall that will stop anyone getting in AND will ask you if some process is allowed to get out!
install antivirus software to catch unlawful code being executed which can allow a hacker to gain entry via the back door. 
install software to stop spyware and malware from harvesting information from your PC and sending the information out over the internet.


I used to work in a large company (>3000 personnel) with computers everywhere. If I opened My Network I could see quite a large number of users that were on various interlaced networks. If I clicked on the usernames I would then either get refused entry or shown the contents of whatever files they wanted to share. Problem was that too many of them were sharing with no protection and no idea that I could or was looking into the contents of their PC. I was able, quite freely and without resistance, to download their files to my PC. They were sharing files and folders on the network without placing a security clamp on them. If you're sharing, then protect so that only those with the correct password can access. and in case of accidents NEVER leave documents in a shared folder longer than it takes for the intended party to download the files Or immediately after downloading, remove the share.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Sorry for the late reply, seems that I was disconnected from TSF for some reason, I started writing the above when there were no replies and by the time I managed to get linked back in .. seems like hours passed .. maybe did


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Thanks for the above Done Fishing. Really appreciate your lengthy response.
I am totally and utterly not wise to all this security stuff. I really had no idea that anyone would or could bother with my little 'ole laptop.. am shocked!!!

I have just finished downloading the firewall that was recommended above - Zonealarm. Next will be the AV .. 

I posted on the win xp support site for help too as I would love to improve this laptops performance, thought I maybe should remove some of the programs on this before downloading any more stuff as I think I am chocker block, its almost coming to a halt at the moment.

Re you comments on your last companies lack of security, sounds very interesting but naughty! I guess you could tell who was having an affair with who then..:wink:

Thanks again for your advice, this is a fantastic forum.
Peachy


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Oh yeah, hours did pass ...
Nice to be passing them in Athens though :smile


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

By the way, because I know very little I am interested to know if music filesharing software is a security risk. Obviously (from the little I know of how it actually works) other users can download from your music files somewhere on your disk. Can they access any other parts of your computer as well?


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

yes music file sharing is a big risk 1. its totaly illegal 2. people can ping you wich will varify if your ip is correct. then possible either DoS you or can send you a trojan.

ALSO if you are using IRC it is very easy to obtain access to your computer another thing is if you are using MSN messenger ´someone can obtain your ip within seconds.

your ip is not in your email adress and cant be traced through that unless you download a file sent to you via email wich then on the otherhand can send out the ip adress of its location to the attacker.

there are different types of attacks. 

email trojans wich usually will infiltrate through another file possibly music of a word document wich then allow someone to remotly acces your computer.

irc trojans and various attacks will do the same and within 5 minutes i can totaly take over a computer.

over msn if i can get a vbscript to execute on your machine and then log the ip adress i could possible infiltrate through the common ports of the ftp or http server.

nuff said. get the zonealarm installed id say isntall AVG antivirus and youll be set.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Peachy06 said:


> Thanks for the above Done Fishing. Really appreciate your lengthy response.
> 
> Snip
> 
> ...


:wave: Hi Peachy

First you're welcome to whatever I can give, If I can educate one person into doing things properly, then I have blown a small hole in the hackers attacks. I am also helping to defend MYSELF!:grin: 

I hadn't realised that we were talking about a laptop, so it is IMPERATIVE you lock it down with USER password in Bios, Admin password in Bios, Windows log on and file sharing. This will stop the casual "eavesdropper" from taking a peek when you have left your laptop running whilest you go for a coffee or lunch and have left it running. Another good thing is to password protect the screensaver, only at the moment I don't remember how that is done, since I remember that XP doesn't allow " passwords on screensavers" There is a workaround which has something to do with the keyboard ... I'll try to remember it or maybe some other TSF enthusiast can post it here. My current protection is never to leave my PC running or to make sure that I have the ONLY key to the workroom door and it's locked! (my house!)
I am really happy to see that you are taking our advice, also there is a new feature from AVG which seems to be pretty good at the moment, anti spyware. It's a free download, grab it while you're grabbing the anti virus.
Don't believe though that any ONE piece of software will protect you, the "enemy" is trying to find ways of getting around our protection. What woks today may not work tomorrow. I was using Norton AV 2001 for a long time without updating the basic program, just doing the data updates, until one day I used AVG on a newly networked PC on my LAN. I hadn't got the cash to buy the latest version of Norton, so I followed some colleagues advice and used AVG. It did a scan of the PC and came found infected files which when I then checked with Norton AV 2001 showed clean. I then did an online check of those files against kapersky and a few other sites, some said clean some said infected. I deleted the files. If in doubt and you can't clean, DELETE.

Re my earlier comments about "snooping the web", yes it's quite possible, had I been of malicious nature, to have gone farther, however I usually just went looking to see if I could get in and then sent them an e-mail telling them to put a brick the hole, haven't seen whatever software might be useful to me or whatever mp3's I might like. Having mp3's btw on the company system was a "no-no" so leaving their collections for the management to find was totally thoughtless. I remember my old supervisor had once backed up his mp3 collection on the server while he "cleaned up" his PC, within a few days he had a verbal warning to remove them or they would be deleted!

Personally, I only ever use Hotmail, Yahoo, Google etc as a buffer against my address being added to the already vast number of spam messages I get daily, an average of just over 100 per week, not really a lot but it consumes time adding them to my "block this sender and report as spam" on the web server. I used to download everything to outlook and then filter out the rubbish. MY ISP offered antivirus and spam protection on web mail so I open all messages there now. My other accounts on yahoo etc are so that have to give details about myself, for something I want to download, I arrange for those details to correspond with a disposable address. Yahoo and Google are pretty good at keeping the spam at bay (except that yahoo has it's own).

Protect yourself against picking up an unknown (to your AV software) virus or hijacker by careful configuration of your e-mail program.
Do not allow your inbox to automatically show your messages. You can do that with any other folder after you have verified that the e-mail is not of malicious intent.
NEVER open an e-mail from someone you don't know that has attachments, has a strange name, has a strange title and ALWAYS believe that your best friends or your mum's PC has been infected and is trying to infect you. Open their messages carefully, especially if there is an unexpected attachment.
A combination of Zone Alarm and Antivirus helps here too! They will try to stop you from opening a possibly unsafe attachment.
Also by not showing messages automatically (it's when you have a preview of the message under the header or also when you have just clicked on it and the preview pane shows the message details in the panel underneath).
A lot of spammers are now sending pictures in the messages with little or no text. as soon as you view that picture it triggers some code which verifies a valid account and the hacker/spammer has added you to his address.
I once found an excel file on my computer which loads and loads of e-mail addresses inside it, which I think should have stayed hidden and was used as an address book for messages. It wasn't mine because none of the addresses were known to me.

Take care, be safe and enjoy your PC

:wave: 

Greetings from Greece


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

I would like to add to this. As being one that has had his networked hacked. Never let Windows store passwords, i.e. banking online, etc.. 

If you use Remote Desktop Connection, always change the listening port. Everybody knows that 3389 is default. 

When you add ports to a router, try and keep it to a minimum. A router is like swiss cheese. The more ports you pass, the more holes are in it.

If you have an older router, it might be a good time to upgrade. Newer routers will block port scans.

When you experiment or do lab setups, always document what you do. My server and my main computer's IP was setup on the DMZ of my router. I had forgot to remove the entries and did not notice this for about 2 years. Needless to say I had a big hole and was compromised because of it. I am still fighting the reprocussions because of this. 

Being careless can hurt you.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

I used to say that "common sense" was the basic criteria for being "secure" when talking about Computers & Security.

However in order to use "Common Sense" one also needs to be informed!

Thanks for that update, I am sure that there is still a lot that we haven't mentioned.


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Ok, there is a lot to take in above and thanks. 
Yes, I store all my passwords on the windows memory thingy including my online banking  
Yes, I use MSN now that you mention it, but now I have a firewall and AV it should be ok to still use this still right?

I don't know anything about pinging, routers or ports. 
Ports I thought were the little holes in the side of the laptop that you put the USB sticks in or plug the printer into? 
Should I know more about ports?
Bios? I know nothing about. 
Net bios passwords?
Remote desktop connection? 
I have a laptop at home, I'm not on a network just broadband so I guess this does not apply to me.

Thanks sincerely for your help everyone, esp Done Fishing for educating me on the darker side ray: 

I have my firewall now and my AV and by miracle no viruses were found on my lappy considering my AV expired last year!
Still don't know whats making it so slow and what causes it to hang which is a real nuisance.

You've been a great source of help, thanks very much.
Peachy


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Peachy06 said:


> Ok, there is a lot to take in above and thanks.
> Yes, I store all my passwords on the windows memory thingy including my online banking
> 
> IMHO, I would never keep anything that precious on my PC in a program designed to hold that information! It's like a thief trying to get rich quick and wondering who to Rob. Will it be the old lady down the road, the little kid on the corner, or THE BANK, THE POST OFFICE, THE ACCOUNTS DEPT .. get my drift .. and when I save personal information I won't save all the info relating accounts in one document. Certainly you won't find any details on my PC like - My bank details, My Post OFFice account, My Building society, Westminster, Trustee etc.
> ...


call again any time, we're here to help.:wave:


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## ArturoYee (Nov 10, 2006)

*emails and IP addresses*

*You do transmit your IP address in your email* - not in your email address, but it is part of the header.

XP has a firewall (unless you turned it off) and it is ok protection for incoming hacks. I think it is poor in controlling outgoing stuff - 

I use SpyBot - Search and Destroy (free) as part of my protection package.


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

Peachy06 said:


> I don't know anything about pinging, routers or ports.
> Ports I thought were the little holes in the side of the laptop that you put the USB sticks in or plug the printer into?
> Should I know more about ports?


Actually the ports I am talking about are TCP/UPD ports. This is the way communication is done on your computer. You have a network connection, however what type of information your network connection sends and receives goes over ports. All little more in depth.
HTTP - port 80
HTTPS - port 443
FTP - port 21
SMTP - port 25
POP3 - port 110

These are just a fraction of the ports a network will use. By default, these ports are open on the router as with others that are needed. You can open more ports on the router if wanted but then you start opening holes that can let an attacker in your network.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers


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## Fr4665 (Nov 18, 2004)

ArturoYee said:


> *You do transmit your IP address in your email* - not in your email address, but it is part of the header.
> 
> XP has a firewall (unless you turned it off) and it is ok protection for incoming hacks. I think it is poor in controlling outgoing stuff -
> 
> I use SpyBot - Search and Destroy (free) as part of my protection package.


isnt it the IP adress from the mailserver that gets sent in the header ? enlighten me on this and maybe if u have some links that would be awsome


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Hi Done Fishing, thanks once again for taking out time to post and share lots of information :4-sunshin 

If you give me details about your make and model of laptop I will see about getting a copy of the pdf version of the manual and help you to set up a password

I think I may have the original manual somewhere, I will have a look. Thanks for the offer of help, most likely will need your help when I attempt it!

You probably have a lot of UNWANTED & UNNEEDED information that needs cleaning up on your computer, plus your hard disk may need defragmentation. Please also get a copy of the spyware program I told you about, I would say it's virtually impossible that you haven't got some sort of spyware / malware infection that the AV hasn't picked up.

Well my AV's have not picked up anything untowardly. I have posted a HJT log and am waiting for someone to have a look over in Hijack logs section.
Did you mention some more spyware to install? Sorry, but could not find a reference to it. I already installed Spyware Blaster, Spybot S&D, and Xsoftspy. 

Defragmentation! Now that sounds a bit scary. I will attempt it if there is no likelihood I will loose any data. Technology and me are a dangerous match!
When I installed the SP2 last year I lost all my files and had to reinstall xp all over, my lappy was never the same. I now have two versions of xp when I boot up my system! lol

I have compacted my files today! Yaaaay! I am learning lots from here.

Thanks again to everybody, I think I am ready to join your academy soon NOT!! :grin: 

Peachy


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Peachy06 said:


> Hi Done Fishing, thanks once again for taking out time to post and share lots of information :4-sunshin
> 
> If you give me details about your make and model of laptop I will see about getting a copy of the pdf version of the manual and help you to set up a password
> 
> I think I may have the original manual somewhere, I will have a look. Thanks for the offer of help, most likely will need your help when I attempt it!


I reckon I or of my other ever helpful colleagues will be around to help.



> You probably have a lot of UNWANTED & UNNEEDED information that needs cleaning up on your computer, plus your hard disk may need defragmentation. Please also get a copy of the spyware program I told you about, I would say it's virtually impossible that you haven't got some sort of spyware / malware infection that the AV hasn't picked up.
> 
> Well my AV's have not picked up anything untowardly. I have posted a HJT log and am waiting for someone to have a look over in Hijack logs section.
> Did you mention some more spyware to install? Sorry, but could not find a reference to it. I already installed Spyware Blaster, Spybot S&D, and Xsoftspy.


Since you've already covered your tracks with theother programs , there's no need to get anything else at the present time



> Defragmentation! Now that sounds a bit scary. I will attempt it if there is no likelihood I will loose any data. Technology and me are a dangerous match!
> When I installed the SP2 last year I lost all my files and had to reinstall xp all over, my lappy was never the same. I now have two versions of xp when I boot up my system! lol


2 versions of windows on the same partition can mean trouble, I am in the process of cleaning up one such install situation where HOME & PRO got put on the same partition, it's ugly and really time consuming getting it to work properly again



> I have compacted my files today! Yaaaay! I am learning lots from here.


that's a big step, you're probably ready to defrag too.


> Thanks again to everybody, I think I am ready to join your academy soon NOT!! :grin:
> 
> Peachy


You're probably far wiser than you think, certainly gaining a lot more confidence and that will increase as time goes on and you begin to understand more about basic maintenance of your laptop.
In the meantime rest assured that we are here to make that learning process less painful.


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## ArturoYee (Nov 10, 2006)

*email header information*

Here is an excellent link:
http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html

To view the information - 

in Outlook, 
open the email, 
go to View/Options and it is in Internet Headers window (or at least in Outlook 2003).

Some mail apps call it long headers.

I've checked it out on gmail also - you can view it there. Just email yourself and examine the header.

To verify your ip, you could try the site:
www.whatismyip.com

BTW:
When you surf the internet - you have to use special tools to prevent sites recording your actual IP address. In summary - our IP addresses are pretty much available to others - you have to protect your system(s) assuming that they have your IP.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

ArturoYee said:


> Here is an excellent link:
> http://www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html
> 
> To verify your ip, you could try the site:
> ...


Thanks for those links, interesting read.

when I went to
www.whatismyip.com
I found , as I expected, that I am not on a fixed IP from my ISP, every time I reconnect it changes, Surely that means that I am on DHCP via my ISP and makes things more difficult for the hacker/spammer to track.


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## ArturoYee (Nov 10, 2006)

*Yes - for some users*

Ah excellent point - but for some (not sure of percentage), our addresses are pretty much set for months on end. RoadRunner, AOL Cable, etc.


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Had a look at that site Arturoyee, I seem to have a fixed IP, might speak to my ISP and see if I can get a more dynamic one! I think they can change them if you ask. 
Thanks again Done Fishing.
Will attempt a defrag tomorrow ..
Now, I wish I could find a forum that would give advice on electrics.
I just changed a plug on an 18amp music system to a 13amp fused plug and it blew out... think I may have blitzed my brand new system :sad:
Peachy


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Peachy06 said:


> Had a look at that site Arturoyee, I seem to have a fixed IP, might speak to my ISP and see if I can get a more dynamic one! I think they can change them if you ask.
> Thanks again Done Fishing.
> Will attempt a defrag tomorrow ..
> Now, I wish I could find a forum that would give advice on electrics.
> ...


You just asked the right person again I am an electronics technichian and do electrical work if & when necessary

PROVIDING that you followed the instructions regarding wiring, ie the brown wire to the fuse, the blue wire to the terminal next to it but without a fuse, and the green Yelow wire to the earth at the top of the plug and has the longest pinf whe you look from the other side,
You will only have fried the fuse if you didn't change it to 18A. The only thing I can'y help you with is whether there is such a thing as an 18A fuse!
Also the wall socket that you are connecting to should be able to handle the current too, both in the case of the wiring and with respects to the fuse in the fusebox. You might want to talk to an electrician to have him check out that you're not going to fry the fuse in the fusebox when you replace that burnt 13A fuse. It's not wise to run too much current on your wiring if it's not correctly rated, it will overheat and can cause fires. It's not just a question of what your amp will be taking when i's running but a lot opf wall sockets will be on the same fuse and wiring, so it's about all the equipment running at any given time that is the problem.
Please check it out before you make a mistake which could lose us a reader!


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Done Fishing,

You are a saviour !! Could I PM you with my problem as its not really computer related? I'll make it short, just need a bit of advice really.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

just do it ... I think I'am configured to accept mail

If I don't answer immediately it's because I have to go to my daughters flat and fit a cupboard, so be patient


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## Peachy06 (Nov 15, 2006)

Regarding IP's, I have been having a read around on this forum.
What I have gathered is that you have many different IP addies, gateway, ISP, modem, email etc and it doesn't really matter if you leave them lying around on various sites or through MSN because if you have a decent firewall and AV, no one can hack them.... Ta-daaa!! 
Terrific site, thanks to everyone again.


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## ArturoYee (Nov 10, 2006)

You pretty much got the point -
Your first line of defense is you - and your setup.
Your best solution is a proactive solution - you taking an active role in preventing bad things from happening.
So - don't download or allow to download software that you are not sure of.
Don't install software that allows other users/software to examine your system - unless it is absolutely necessary.

Then just keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware up to date.
AVG AV & SpyBot S&D are excellent tools -

One thing I do before running these tools is that I clear out may Browser Cache of files and cookies. That cuts down the size of ther reports they generate and may save a little time in the scanning process.

About the defrag
I would clear the browser cache also before I defrag - no need to compact those files. Defrag does not always speed up a computer - but that topic should be another thread.


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