Malware or malicious software is a program or a file which is harmful to your computer.
These programs have the capability to enter your computer system without your knowledge or consent and cause errors leading to system slow down, crashes and loss of data.
On the other hand, the response to this huge problem by computer owners is usually delayed. Most of the users wake up to the seriousness of the problem when their computer has already started to show signs of infection, like error messages, system slow downs, and frequent freezes and system crashes. Even then, user response is mostly to take care of the immediate problem, rather than to create a robust defense mechanism for their computer. Over 62% of computer owners surveyed have inadequate protection against malware. This essentially means that either they do not have anti-virus and anti-spyware tools or they do not use or update them regularly.
Protecting your System against MalwareIt is essential for you to protect your system from all kinds of malicious software programs, such as the d.exe and aspimgr.exe files. When a system is infected, it is quite expensive and time consuming to restore it to its original condition. Furthermore, you stand the chance of losing a large amount of your data, and if your PC is on a network, other connected computers may become affected as well. At times, these programs come disguised as legitimate Windows files, such as iexplore.exe and alg.exe, and this makes it quite difficult to detect and remove these malicious files manually.
It is humanly impossible to make your computer 100% secure, but by taking simple precautions and continuously updating your computer you can reduce your risk considerably.The first step in protecting your system is to install reliable and advanced Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware solutions. It is advisable to run anti-virus and anti-spyware scans on a regular basis. You must also update your tools on a regular basis because manufacturers release new definitions almost daily.
You can also make your system more secure by installing a Firewall. A firewall can be a hardware device or a software application that sits between your computer and the Internet. It filters out the information you send and receive on your computer. In other words, the firewall receives and inspects all incoming and outgoing data. The tool allows you to choose program access permissions on your computer, which to a large extent prevents malware infiltration and unauthorized access to your system.It is also highly advisable to regularly update your Windows software on a regular basis by using the Windows Update feature, live update features of third-party software, and a reliable driver scanner tool. You must also scan your registry on a regular basis to ensure that no malware data stays within it. You can do this easily and efficiently by using a reliable registry cleaner tool.
Are you sick and tired of the frequent error messages that keep showing up on your PC?
Would you like to learn how to avoid annoying computer errors, without spending hundreds of dollars?
If your answer to these questions is yes, you do not need to give up hope just yet. First, you are not alone and are a part of a majority of computer users who are feeling overwhelmed by these computer errors and how these problems are damaging computer performance. Secondly, you must understand that you will not find a permanent solution to computer errors by just hoping that errors do not happen or by calling in the computer experts for your rescue every time you encounter an error. The only solution to these problems is to confront these errors head-on. This includes understanding why these errors happen, how they can be avoided and what to do when errors show up, even after you have taken all the necessary steps. To perform these tasks, you will need the services of a few useful tools that are critical in avoiding and fixing frustrating computer errors.
Disable Unwanted Startup Programs. Quite often, when you install software programs on your computer, they configure a related process to automatically start at system startup. For instance Osa.exe launches at system startup to enable quick access to Microsoft programs. The program is seldom used and most of the time, the only task it does is to feed on your system resources. To disable osa.exe and other such unwanted processes from starting at system startup, you may either use the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) that comes with your Windows operating system or use an easy-to-use third-party startup program manager tool.
Ensure that your User Profile is Not Corrupt. Many files, such as csrss.exe cause high CPU usage problems that slow down your computer if the user profile for the user account with which you are logged on to the system is corrupt. If this is the case, you can resolve the problem by deleting your current user profile and creating a new one. Before deleting your corrupt user profile, remember to make a backup of your files including your emails, address book, favorites, and files stored on your Desktop.
Scan and Clean Malware Regularly. Many errors, such as exe errors and runtime errors are caused due to virus and spyware infections. To fix exe error and other error messages generated by malware and to prevent them from occurring in the first place, it is essential that you use efficient antivirus and antispyware tools to scan and clean all unwanted malicious data. To ensure that these tools are effective, make sure to update them with the latest definitions on a daily basis.
Clean and Defrag your Hard Disk. Low disk space errors and slow computer problems are common on computers with a filled up, cluttered and fragmented hard disk. To prevent this situation, you must use the Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter tools at least once a month to clean junk files and defrag your hard disk to make it contiguous. This will not only prevent errors, but will also considerably speed up your PC.
Clean and Repair the Windows Registry. Finally, make it a point to get a reliable registry tool and use it at least once a month to scan, clean, and repair unwanted and corrupt registry entries.
Social Networking sites such as Orkut, Facebook, MySpace have become household names in the recent times. The networking on internet has been experiencing a drift from the old networking sites such as classmates.com to “Web 2.0” sites such as Orkut. The crux still comprises of online user communities sharing information, discovering new contacts and reconnecting with older ones.
The platform in the social networking sites grows via user contributions which are powered by communication channels such as email, chat, message boards. Like-minded individuals can share information and interest and provide feedback and reviews. These sites contain a warehouse of information that can be mined and analyzed. More than 3 years after Facebook was attack by a widespread social networking worm, many sites did patch old vulnerabilities. But the problem has not gone away. While the site owners are gaining profits from this explosion of information correlation, attackers are too seeking benefit from this arrangement. These sites have been hosts to worms, phishing attacks, identity theft, spam and other malware exploits.
The changing times might bring in higher level of integration of these applications with cellular networks too. Mobility and location aware applications might soon dominate on these apps. Cell towers and GPS services might be able to pass your information to whomsoever you wish. The increased smartness in the applications might mean that not only local business and entertainment might use this information to attract you, but you might also be able to meet your friends in the same area of your social network or thrill you by online dating service. The DTH services might also become a social networking hub. While watching your favorite TV programs, you might also be able to see what your friend is watching and chat and review the program rating. Each time a user visits a site; clicks on a link, rate a blog, or chat on specific content, the site will gain intelligence about the user and enhance his social network.
Increased collaboration and sharing of information also increases the risk for an individual. The user typically exposes his/her taste in terms of profile, be it liking a TV channel program, movie, books, celebrity gossips, workplace drama, geek gadgets, etc. The key component of social networking site is high amount of open information of the user. User privacy is at highest risk too because of information correlation and location tracking issues. Many of them may not opt for such services. However, when users see a benefit from using this service they will volunteer by providing little information.
As the security researchers and site owners are aware of security and privacy issues involved in these sites, they try to encapsulate the information at level of city or state for example. Unfortunately the bad guys will still be hanging around with the risk of vast information falling in hands of bad guys.
Spam based attacks have the potential to disrupt these social networking sites as they have been advancing today. The spam exploits will become more convincing social engineering attacks with all this data. Social botnets are another major threat to the social networking sites which can contaminate the site content with fake profiles and testimonials. Security in these sites will depend heavily on server-side defenses which might need to scan all incoming and outgoing traffic and snoop for malicious code.
To conclude, social networking sites will be rapidly expanding, adding user base and functionality and be able to mine and intelligently use user profile, security challenges will be both compelling and threatening.
