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Wake up and smell the spyware!
I spend a lot of time on the computer, and I also have trouble sleeping. I recently found this to be a bad combination.
One night, I was surfing on my old Dell and found an interesting program. I don’t even remember the program’s name or the name of the site I was on. I was even too tired to notice that the .EXE file wasn’t compressed in .ZIP or .RAR format. After downloading the file, I clicked on it, and was overcome by an eerie feeling. No setup wizard popped up, no dialog box, no nothing. Then ZoneAlarm flashed and told me that the file I had just downloaded was attempting to access the Internet. I denied access, but my patched Windows XP crumpled as the malicious program elbowed its way in and even disabled the Windows Task Manager.
At this point, I couldn’t even see if the program was running, let alone shut it down (manually or otherwise). So I used the caveman method and physically disconnected my machine from the Net. I searched the Windows system files and discovered that the Task Manager was completely disabled.
I rebooted my computer and deleted the malicious program from my desktop before the other programs loaded. It appeared to be gone, but Task Manager was still disabled. I ran Spyware Doctor (registered version), PC Tools Antivirus Free, and Registry Mechanic.
It was an IRC Trojan, Spyware Doctor said, but my Task Manager was still in its grave. I then decided to completely reinstall my OS (even though I now know I probably could have resurrected the Task Manager with System Restore).
I was so angry that Windows XP didn’t have some safeguard against having its Task Manager disabled that I partitioned my hard drive and put Linux Freespire OS on one half and Windows XP on the other so I can have a backup OS. Linux is much more secure, but its installation is incredibly time-consuming.
-Tobi
Bethel, New York, U.S
Reply from us :
If sleep deprivation is as dangerous for drivers as alcohol impairment, it stands to reason that it also impairs the judgment of someone speeding down the information highway. Sleep-deprived surfers can miss warning signs of impending malware. Downloading requires alertness and extra caution if the program is new or the publisher unknown.
Of course, there’s nothing like a malware infection to wake you right up, though we’d still recommend energy boosters and caffeine over fear-induced adrenaline.
IRC Trojans flood Internet relay chats with spam or data, disrupting their service. One disrupted Tobi’s, too. Adding a backup operating system to hedge against future spyware is completely valid, though it’s definitely more time-intensive than scanning in Safe Mode or using System Restore.
