Okay, ZoneAlarm is installed, but it's really annoying!

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The thing pops up every few seconds asking me if I want to allow stuff to access the internet. Will this ever stop?

 

You can tick the box to allow particular applications access forever.

 

You can also lower the amount of feedback as many popups that aren't asking for permissions tend to be notifications or alerts.

 

The thing with ZoneAlarm is, when you first get it, it needs to get a feel for everything on your computer that tries to access the internet. Things like virus scanners, your ISP, IM software, and *safe* programs that you've set to occasionally check for updates should be given the green light. You can select, "Always remember this setting" and then choose "allow"...and for that program, you'll never see a pop-up message again.

This is where *you* are the biggest threat to your computer's security. IF you allow a program like "ImNotAVirus.jpg.exe" or something like that, having a firewall isn't doing you any good, since you're still letting the bad guys through. Bad programs (or any program you're not sure of), you should always select "Always remember this setting" and then choose "deny". That will prevent them from ever being able to access the internet. You can always change the settings in ZoneAlarm's Program Control tab if you accidentally deny access to a good program.

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Klorox, I don't usually push for the reformat...but I think you need to consider it. You've had to make 5 threads here recently, one of which you said that you had over 200 malicious files on your computer. With that many, your computer has been severely compromised...and probably still is, even if you're using the best clean-up programs.

I really think you need a fresh start...but this time, you'll be smart enough to have a virus scanner, a firewall, and anti-spyware programs running from the very beginning...right? A reformat would solve all the other problems you've been having with the switching users, IE& not working, and all the others...plus, you get all the benefits of a clean drive, and a fresh OS.

If you do decide to take my advice...Here are some basic steps to take.
First and foremost, make a backup of all your critical data, along with the setup files of the latest release of your firewall and anti-spyware programs.
Then reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows and Service Pack 2. Order the free SP2 CD if you need to.
Then, before you install your ISP, install your virus scanner, firewall, and anti-spyware programs. *then* install your ISP.
As soon as you can get on the internet, hop on over to the Microsoft Update website and get the latest security patches, and while you're at it, download and install the latest drivers for your motherboard, video card, and everything else you can think of.
Finally, install all the other programs you usually use.

If you're smart, and follow my advice, you can have a very safe computer without any of the problems you're currently having...hopefully, there won't be any new problems if you do everything right.

 

ZA offers you the chance to decide what goes between your comp and Internet, so pay attention to those notices. The ball is in your hands now, so the rest of us really can't help any further.

Unless, of course, you want to get rid of the potential malware. Personally, I would simply download Spybot Search & Destroy, update it, and run to see how much malware my rig has (if I were in your situation). If it reports more than 5 entries, it's time to format and fix the leaks.

 

Yes, I have learnt my lesson and I am taking that advice on board and have installed all those on my new PC on the first day. Even before installing Office and iTunes - or any games!

 

Thanks a lot everybody. After opening about every website and program I commonly do yesterday, it's much better now.


I might do that reformat thing... what's it involve?

 

Basically it's about booting from the disk, installing the OS, installing the updates and software, and tweaking the options of these. Guess defrag would be good too (search 'properties' of 'My Computer').

 

I defrag my harddrive about 1/ month. I also use CCleaner about 1/ week. I run Ad Aware everytime I am ready to shut my computer off.

 

If that is what you feel necessary. I simply defrag when the report shows too much red to my liking. I hardly ever run AV software simply because my comp has never got infected.

Why? ZA, Firefox 2, NoScripts extension, and the service packs.

 

Same situation here. The only time I waste my time with a defrag, is after I finish installing everything after a clean format. With the NTFS file system...you don't really need to defrag. Within the past month, I've downloaded over 10GB of misc. crap, gotten rid of about half of it, did a full install of M$ Visual Studio, added over 600 more songs to my Mp3 collection, and added 4 more games as .iso files to my computer...and Windows is telling me that I don't need to defrag yet.

Well...let me take you through a quick rundown of a typical reformat.

• Step 1: Back up everything you need: pictures, documents, saved email, saved game files...everything. (Why? Because during a reformat *everything* on your drive gets deleted.)
• Step 2: Put your WinXP CD in the drive, and restart. Make sure you have it boot to the CD, and select 'Install WinXP'.
• Step 3: At this point, you just follow the directions, and it clears everything off your hard drive, and then installs a fresh copy of the OS.
• Step 4: Once it's done...you get to start installing everything once again. (See my advice from above concerning this step)

That's it. It seems a little overbearing at first, but it's actually quite easy. There are some things that can be sort of tricky for novice users (like changing the device boot order in the BIOS, making more than 1 partition, and setting up RAID drivers...).