Process Library and Scanner

Lots of virus- and trojan-creators have become quite shifty and sneaky: they are naming their malware after genuine, important software already on our computers. For example, do you have lsass.exe or Isass.exe in your process files list? It’s very difficult to see the difference between the two, but one is a virus and one is not. I used to scour my process list to check for scoundrels (in the Task Manager and also in msconfig), but these days, who knows what is what?

I have used quite a few online process libraries, some good and user-friendly, and some not. Here;s a good one: ProcessLibrary.com. There’s a searchable database AND it also has some good educational articles to help you understand your computer files a little better.

AND it has a free downloadable scanner, see here. This program will scan all your process files and tell you what’s running. Cool! Once you have a clean, trojan-free computer, you order those nice Votive candle holders online without the threat of hackers or spyware.

Beware the Antivirus XP

Be very careful what you download. And be very careful with the websites you visit. Before reading this article, I’d never heard of Antivirus XP 2008. It’s not an antivirus, even though it looks, feels, and acts like one. Someone very crafty made this piece of spyware!

Antivirus XP 2008 is malware– malicious software. It is downloadable into your computer, where it gives you popups, pretends to scan, opens up Internet Explorer, and “Google” tells you that it has detected a threat. And you have to pay to remove the threat. Yikes. Symantec has a good and brief decription of this program, and the C|Net Forum has a simple tutorial on how to remove it if your computer is infected.

Be very careful about the sites you visit, keep your security software updated, and never download anything unless you are sure what it is. It’s disgusting, all the junk out there. You’d think people would have better things to do than create malware and wreck people’s computers?!

AVG 8.0

I just updated one of my computers to the Grisoft AVG 8.0 version. It’s working very well. AVG is a free email scanner/antivirus program (they also have a paid-for “pro” version). I’ve been using AVG for many years on various computers and I really like it. This new version looks like a million bucks. They’ve done a good job with their interface (previous interfaces were a little baffling). And the download went smooth and easy.

I have two complaints– one is that the link for the download is rather hidden. AVG is now emphasizing their Pro version, and the links to that are everywhere. I had to be very careful what link I clicked, because I did want to accidentally get the Pro version and have to pay for after 30 days. Here’s a page with the download links. Look for “AVG Free.” If you’ve never downloaded AVG before, there are special instructions with a license key that is emailed to you. Just going to the home page and looking around will show it. Or, you can do a quick search at Download.com and get it directly there.

Secondly, AVG 8.0 has a toolbar (they do ask you first, and give you a choice; I chose yes) you can download with the anti-virus program. I really like the idea behind it (protect you from phishing sites, etc), but it either severely slowed down my Firefox browser or crashed it. And I was unable to uninstall the AVG toolbar, I could only “disable” it. It’s not in my Add/Remove programs, either.

So AVG 8.0 is much nicer, but dump the buggy toolbar and watch which version you download. I do wish software programs would stop trying to overextend themselves. I personally prefer the basic, minimal programs that only do one or two things. I don’t like software that dumps everything under the sun along with baby clothes and free sunglasses.

But AVG is free, and I can’t complain about that! And it’s a good program, to boot.

Free Animation Program

I haven’t tried this out yet, but it looked so interesting and I have some readers who love graphic design that I thought I’d give you a heads up on this. There’s a little 3D modeling and animation program available for download called the Anim8tor. It looks really nice! I’ll bet kids would have a blast with it. The author says it’s not “professional” grade, but it’s free and it looks like a ton of fun. He put a lot of time into it and I think it’s great when developers offer their creations for free.

There’s texture support for bump maps, soft shadows, spotlights, fog, and more, for graphic files such as .BMP, .GIF, and .JPG formats. It looks like a great beginner’s tool. I know my young son, who loves creating graphics on the computer, would love this. I intend to download it and try it out. Soon. I hope. My son has a math book to finish, and that’s really the only reason why I haven’t tried it yet! LOL.

One quick reminder: when you download files–any files but especially executable files like those that run programs– always be sure to run a scan through your anti-virus. and always make sure your anti-virus is updated. Almost all software is safe, but it definitely pays to check and double-check. hotel deals are nice to have, but you don’t want them popping up in browser pop-ups, all over the place, because you didn’t scan and now you have spyware! Be sure to always scan your files.

Anti-Virus

There are lots of anti-virus programs out there. I use Grisoft AVG. It is extremely reliable and it’s free! They also have a terrific rootkit detector at the same site.

I haven’t used any other anti-virus but AVG for the last seven years. I am aware that there are others out there (Avast, for one), but I’ve been so happy with AVG that I haven’t shopped around!