Protecting my laptop

Not sure if this is the right answer, but we've got Microsoft, whatever a recent version of it is. This Intel Centrino laptop is less than two years old.

And zebracoy, I feel better knowing someone else is having this problem, though I feel bad for having it. And yes, I have gone to music lyrics sites recently. But I think the problem might have been around for some time before finally popping up now.

 

XP? Vista?

You are going to need to do some major cleanup on your machine. And when you refer to 'wireless' are you referring to DSL or broadband with a wireless router or are you in an area which offers a wireless signal? Just by connecting your laptop to the internet via a wireless connection is not the problem, you need to have your machine protected no matter how you go online.

 

XP, I think. And by wireless, I meant with a router that we had that used to be secured, but for some reason, the protected status went away and it became unsecured. Even though it's our router, our own wireless network fails to appear, so it shows and some random one.

And I've downloaded AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, recommended by download.com. Running a scan now. Hopefully this works -- McAfee couldn't stop what I'm trying to rid the laptop of now.

 

K, here's what you need to do.

Uninstall McAfee. Both McAfee and Norton have outlived their usefulness (especially Norton.)

AVG is the first step. Make sure you have it updated, it usually installs with a time already set up for daily automatic updates.

Download Spyware Blaster and update it. This runs in the background. The free version needs to be manually updated, do this once a week.

Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware are both good free programs. So is AVG's antispyware program. I have all three on my XP machines. Download all three, install them, then run them one at a time.

Now, as far as your wireless router goes. Consult your owner's manual and find out how to access your settings. With my Belkin router, I input an address right in my web browser to bring up the settings for my router. Once you are in, you should be able to reset your router.

Chances are you will also need to go into add/remove programs in the Control Panel and remove that offending program that keeps popping up on you. Do that first before running any of your scans.

Oh, just so ya know. The actual cable connected to your machine is more secure in that someone can't sit in your driveway and hack into your system with a wireless connection. But it's no more secure than a wireless connection as far as internet surfing goes -- it's the same connection.

I hope this makes sense, I'm only on my first cup of coffee this morning.

 

McAfee is just annoying and useless. Norton is a cast-iron pain in the ass. I've advised people whose computers I work on to dump it. It causes way more problems than it solves.

I suspect it's because it burrows really deep into the registry as a hangover from when Norton Utilities was like that. In any event, it sucks.

 

McAfee's gone, AVG in its place. Problem was AVG didn't catch anything more, so I looked elsewhere. On some Web site (cnet.com or download.com, I forget which), they recommended a program called Super Anti-Spyware, which seemed to do the trick. It caught Spy Defender Pro and a couple other programs that were there and zapped them.

That was at about 5 a.m. today. And so far today, no Spy Defender Pro, no other little quirks that had come up during the last month or so (knock on wood). Next up will be securing our wireless system.

Rosie (and everyone else), thanks for some great advice. My computer is feeling better because of it.

 

AVG isn't going to catch spyware as it is an antivirus program. Two different problems, both extremely evil.

Good luck securing your system.

 

Which is why I'm going to keep both to run on the laptop.

Again, thanks for the advice. Laptop is normal again.

(knock on wood)