Spyware:What does a computer repair technician use….?
Posted on February 12th, 2010 by admin
what do they use to repair your pc etc if it has a virus/spyware? Do they use hardware that they attach to the computer? Can someone please explain this in "Simple" terms for me - I am not a computer whizz I know basic computing but that is as far as it goes.
Also how can you tell if you have spyware or keylogging software on your computer? And how does it get there in the first place?
I do everything manually through regedit and explorer. Most of my technicians use MalwareBytes, http://www.malwarebytes.org and HiJackThis, http://majorgeeks.com/HijackThis_d3155.html
Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing that we can plug into the machine that will automatically fix things for us. There are no exotic software tools, and no secret fixes.
Occasionally, we use boot disks such as http://www.ultimatebootcd.com or a Linux live cd.
The symptoms of an infection vary from unusual popups and program activity, general slowness, and any number of unexpected errors.
It gets there by exploiting browser and operating system vulnerabilities, or by being installed by the user unknowingly. THe best defense is to ensure that your browser and operating system are completly updated, configure them properly, and run a reliable anti malware application such as Avast or Avira. If you can afford the $40 per year, get Eset Nod32 instead of the free solutions.
EDIT: In 11 years of doing this professionally, I have never once had to reinstall Windows on a personal computer. Corporate machines are a different story. Domain accounts and standardized desktops mean you can re-image the machine before you’d even be able to figure out what it was infected with.
February 12th, 2010 at 8:57 am
run malwarebytes or superantispyware
both are at download.com
malwarebytes is faster
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February 12th, 2010 at 9:41 am
there are thousands of programs and not everyshop will use the same ones
best are adaware and spybot search and destroy
but there is malwarebytes and superantispyware
but more important is a good securitysuite and there none that are good that are free use to be ZoneAlarm and AVG but they have gotten bloated and slow and too much work to be of any value
avair was a good but not great antivirus but it’s free
look for Kasparesky or Panda or Trend Micro these are the top and find 99% of all the attacks out there plus they don’t bog your system down
bit defender is good too…
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February 12th, 2010 at 10:03 am
As a PC technician myself, the most common way I remove spyware is by using a special boot-up CD which launches a spyware remover before Windows even loads. Doing this, I can get rid of everything before it has a chance to launch. If you’d like instructions on how and what it does, vist http://www.techmixer.com/free-f-secure-rescue-bootable-cd-to-clean-virus-and-malware/
The best way to tell you have it? Download a program like Spybot Search and Destroy and have it do a scan is one easy way. A slow computer, constant pop-ups, and your internet searches being re-directed is another way.
A fly-by-night PC tech will just reformat your computer and then give it back to you, but that’s because they’re lazy and don’t want to do it right.
Good luck!
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February 12th, 2010 at 10:30 am
way back one time I had a virus I called Dell and the tech downloaded Superantispyware and removed my virus.
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February 12th, 2010 at 11:03 am
I do everything manually through regedit and explorer. Most of my technicians use MalwareBytes, http://www.malwarebytes.org and HiJackThis, http://majorgeeks.com/HijackThis_d3155.html
Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing that we can plug into the machine that will automatically fix things for us. There are no exotic software tools, and no secret fixes.
Occasionally, we use boot disks such as http://www.ultimatebootcd.com or a Linux live cd.
The symptoms of an infection vary from unusual popups and program activity, general slowness, and any number of unexpected errors.
It gets there by exploiting browser and operating system vulnerabilities, or by being installed by the user unknowingly. THe best defense is to ensure that your browser and operating system are completly updated, configure them properly, and run a reliable anti malware application such as Avast or Avira. If you can afford the $40 per year, get Eset Nod32 instead of the free solutions.
EDIT: In 11 years of doing this professionally, I have never once had to reinstall Windows on a personal computer. Corporate machines are a different story. Domain accounts and standardized desktops mean you can re-image the machine before you’d even be able to figure out what it was infected with.
References :
February 12th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Personally I use Avast http://www.avast.com and malwarebytes http://www.malwarebytes.com they are both free and have kept me secure for years. Between them they find all keyloggers, virus and malware.
Usually a tech will use a "live" operating system cd like linux or even WinPE2.0 to access the hard drives and recover any files that need saving. Maybe he can find and kill the virus from there but most usually they would just reset the computer back to factory settings as this is the easiest option. (Well for PCWorld it is) But that would mean all your games will be gone and need reinstalling.
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Bad Experience. I could have reset the computer myself!!!
February 12th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Reinstalling all the software from scratch will remove anything that might be harmful in extreme cases. Just recover all your personal data first.
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February 12th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Can’t say what exactly they use, but when my pc was infected by virus, i got best service from http://www.sacatech.com at low cost.
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