In the past, malware authors were very proud of the fact that they infected you and made it a point to let you know that they 'gotcha'.

Today, malware code is specifically written to be silent and lurk in the background so as to go undetected. Even if you are diligent in keeping all your software updated, all it takes is one poor decision (clicking on a fake link, opening an infected e-mail attachment, downloading files from file sharing networks, etc.) to have a silent thief slip into your computer.

The whole idea is to find a way to gain access to your computer in a way that allows a remote hacker to silently run programs on your computer. It used to be Windows that was the primary target, but today virtually everything you use on the Internet (browsers, PDF readers, Flash players, e-mail programs, etc.) is being targeted as a way into your precious hard drive.

So, before you jump into doing your taxes on your computer, take a few minutes and do some spot checks for signs of silent intruders.

A common sign of malicious programs is a computer that takes an extraordinarily long time to start up. You can certainly have this problem and not be infected, but if you have this problem, you should do some snooping around.

Windows users should check the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) to see how many processes are running on the computer (look in the bottom left corner). Make sure you do this spot check right after restarting the computer so that nothing is running yet.

When we perform our overhaul cleanup service, we strive to get the running processes on Windows XP systems in the 30-40 range (Laptops tend to require more processes) and Windows 7 & Vista systems in the 35-45 range.

If you have 60, 70 or 80+ processes running, you want to make sure that none of those excess processes are hidden malware programs.

While you have the Task Manager open, click onto the Performance tab and check to see what the CPU Usage & History look like. On a clean machine, your system should be idling, which means the CPU Usage should be very low and stable (4%-8%) and the graph showing the CPU Usage History should be fairly low on the graph.

If your CPU Usage is jumping up and down or is running at a much higher number and the History graph shows wild swings up and down, something is running in the background of the computer and should be identified.

Have someone you trust do an inspection of the various startup areas in Windows to see if there are obvious signs of malware (blank entries in MSConfig, strange keys in the Registry, etc.)

Even if you aren't infected with malware, getting these indicators back to normal levels will rejuvenate your computer and make everything run faster and smoother for everything you do, not just your tax return.

Another danger for households that have teenagers (or anyone that tends to engage in file sharing networks) is the accidental sharing of your tax records or other sensitive files on your hard drive.

Many file sharing programs automatically share certain folders on the hard drive with the rest of the file sharing universe, so make sure you check your installed programs to see if any strange programs have been installed before you get started.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Thu, 2 Feb 2012 18:26:09 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21861 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21860 You don't create something as dynamic and all-encompassing as Facebook without constantly reinventing yourself (see the history of MySpace to understand what happens when fat, dumb and happy syndrome kicks in!)

Having said that, Facebook hasn't always gone about change in a way that its users find 'transparent' which is a big part of why any change is always met with concerns about privacy, especially when it is a required change.

But when it comes to the Timeline feature, I don't understand the outcry from users that seems to be rolling across the inter-webs. In fact, most avid Facebook users find the new profile layout much more useful and engaging.

If you think that Timeline somehow exposes information that you previously had protected from the general public, I've got good news for you: it doesn't!

Timeline is simply reformatting the information that you have previously posted but retains your current privacy settings.

In other words, what you posted a year ago that was only available to your friends is still only viewable by your friends, but in this 'easier to see the past' format.

If you see items from your past that you don't want your friends to see, why did you ever post it in the first place? If it was ok for friends of friends to see the post a year ago, and YOU haven't changed any of your privacy settings, then nothing has changed.

The most common misnomer I run across is that what you see on your own Timeline is somehow going to be viewable by anyone on Facebook once this 'change' goes into effect (not even close to true).

Facebook gives you complete control of exactly what appears on your Timeline and who can see it (friends only, friends of friends, the public, etc.) just like it did with your previous profile format.

If you are just entering the workforce and aren't particularly proud of some of your 'youthful' posts, I can understand being concerned, but it isn't like a potential employer can suddenly see all your past indiscretions.

Timeline is simply making it much easier to see things that you've posted in the past (which is why I love it) but retains all your privacy settings.

Facebook even added a tool that allows you to take all your past posts and limit everything to friends only (go to Privacy Settings, then to Limit the Audience for Past Posts).

Keep in mind, pictures and posts that you intended to be available to friends of friends in the past would no longer be available to that secondary audience.

Before you make any global changes to your privacy settings, take a minute to learn about all the controls that Facebook has added so you can completely control what anyone sees: https://www.facebook.com/about/control.

A very helpful tool for you to feel better about your privacy settings is to click on the 'View As' link to see exactly what the public or any specific person you are concerned about can see on your Timeline (scroll down to the box that says: Know what others see on your profile).

Hopefully this helps you feel better about this new change... Facebook has given you more tools to control your privacy than ever; it's up to you to take advantage of them!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:57:53 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21860 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21858 Both of these bills have on their face the noble cause of fighting Internet piracy, but the way they are written, it's more legislation written by clueless cyber-tards.

When you dig into the details, it's just another example of what is causing so much dissent in our political process; powerful lobbies pushing for legislation that is clearly not in the best interest of the average citizen through legislators that have no clue about technological issues.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) along with most of the power brokers in the television & entertainment industry are the instigators of this overbearing legislation and there seems to be total disregard (or ignorance) for the obvious collateral damage they would cause.

In a nutshell, these bills aim to give any copyright holder an enormous sledge hammer to essentially shutdown access to any website that they deem to be in violation of their copyright with little to no recourse.

The way these bills are written, an entire website could be brought down if a single user posts anything that a copyright holder deems a violation.

Taken to the absurd, a video of your kids dancing around to a Beyonce hit could shut all of YouTube down if they didn't take your video down quickly.

It essentially puts the policing burden on every website, search engine, web hosting company or anyone that allows users to post anything.

There are plenty of laws on the books already that allow copyright holders to force sights to take down individual postings that infringe on their content, but the powerful entertainment industry wants a bigger hammer.

The humorous part of all of this is that the legislation's aim is to fight the very real problem of Internet piracy, but won't do a thing to impact it because of simple circumvention steps that most 13-year old techies already know.

When a website has been identified as one in violation, the law would mandate that it get added to a DNS blacklist that would no longer allow users in the United States to access it and for credit card processors and advertising systems to cut all ties with the site.

The DNS system translates your alpha website requests into the actual numeric equivalent known as the IP address. For instance, piratebay.org is one of the targets of this legislation because of its notoriety for hosting just about any content that you don't want to pay for.

If this legislation passes and they get blacklisted, then typing piratebay.org into your web browser will render a censorship notification, but if you type 194.71.107.15 you would still be able to get to the site.

The pirating community has already created huge lists of the IP addresses for all the websites that they presume will be the target of this legislation, rendering it completely useless for those that don't and will never pay any attention to our laws.

Fighting piracy is critical important, but the unintended consequences of poorly crafted legislation could have a huge impact on the future of the Internet. I urge anyone reading this to contact their representatives via http://americancensorship.org to voice their opposition immediately as both of these bills come up for a vote on January 24th & 25th.

UPDATE: Over the weekend, many new shifts in position and a delay in voting was achieved. Also, the Obama Administration publicly denounced the use of DNS filtering, which will likely be stripped from the bills: http://mashable.com/2012/01/17/sopa-pipa.

Please keep pushing your representatives to vote against any form of these bills!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:09:43 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21858 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21854 This form of scamming people started popping up in 2005 and has evolved into one of the more difficult attacks to undo.

This type of attack can hit you from just about any corner of the Internet: e-mail, social media, instant messages, download sites and even if you Google search fast breaking news items or salacious images.

The more you or someone in your home or business engages in sketchy activities online, the more likely you will run into this scourge.

Since it isn't an actual virus, your antivirus program will do little to stop the fake warnings, which is why it's really important that you know what to do when you are confronted by one of these malicious pop-ups.

In virtually every case, they are trying to trick you into buying 'the solution' to the incessant pop-ups and repeated warnings, which you never want to do. Not only will buying 'the solution' not fix the problem, you will have given up your credit card information to criminals (if you fall for this scam, contact your credit card provider immediately to have your card numbers changed).

Most of the pop-up windows will have a 'Cancel' button and something that looks like the X that allows you to close a window, both of which are not what they appear to be.

Most of these scam pop-ups are setup so that if you click on ANYTHING, you will essentially tell your computer to start installing the rogue program deep inside your computer's operating system (often including a root kit to take over control of your computer).

The early versions of this scam could be shut down by clicking on the X, but not any more. The bad guys updated their code to take advantage of this natural user behavior and to exploit the early advice given by experts to click the X instead of the Cancel button.

To make things worse, the rogue programmers will often include code to disable your security software and block access to the Internet so you can't download tools that would allow you to clean the malware off your computer.

As of this writing, the best thing to do when you are confronted with a rogue pop-up is to terminate the session with the Task Manager in Windows or Force Quit in the Mac OS.

The Windows Task Manager can be launched by hitting Crtl+Alt+Del which should show you a list of running applications. Locate the pop-up window in the list, highlight it and then hit the 'End Task' button.

Mac users can hit Command+Option+Esc to launch the Force Quit window. Highlight the rogue browser pop-up in the list and click the 'Force Quit' button.

We've posted a video to show you the process in both platforms on our YouTube Channel if you prefer visual instructions: http://youtu.be/LP09QSwKE5Y .

If you fall victim to any of today's fake security scams, unfortunately, the steps for getting the malware off your computer will vary widely based on which of the thousands of programs circling the Internet hit you.

In most cases, you will need to boot from a clean boot device that contains the proper cleanup tools needed for the specific infection that hit you and lots of time to manually clean and/or reconstruct the Registry (Windows users).

If you don't understand what I just wrote, you should consult a tech savvy friend or a professional so that the malware is properly removed and any associated damage is repaired.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:45:16 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21854 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21850 The very powerful lobbying groups associated with the recording and motion picture industries have convinced a group of congressmen that they need more powerful laws to fight piracy.

What started out as a way to block foreign websites that are known to host pirated content has morphed into language that would allow copyright holders to potentially shut down an entire website because a single user has violated copyright laws.

There are already plenty of ways that exist for copyright holders to have content removed from websites. We have all experienced some of them when we go to watch a YouTube video and it has a notice that the content has been removed due to copyright infringement.

The way SOPA is currently worded, content owners can go after an entire website, like YouTube, Twitter or Flickr, because a single user has violated its copyright.

The entertainment industry is essentially trying to shift the burden of policing their content to the various websites that might be hosting or directing traffic (like search engines) to their copyrighted content.

On paper, this might make sense to the clueless legislators but in practice, this would fundamentally change the way the Internet works and virtually kill off any innovation on the Internet for fear of prosecution because of how broad the legislation is written.

24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute by hundreds of millions of users; if this law was in place when YouTube was a startup, it would have never made it.

Even worse, the very activity that they claim they are trying to shutdown (downloading of copyrighted content from foreign websites) wouldn't be impacted one bit as pirates would simply sidestep their attempts.

Without getting too technical, they propose to create a 'blacklist' of sites that would no longer resolve via our current DNS (Domain Name Server) system which translates websites into their actual Internet addresses.

For instance, when you type thepiratebay.org into your browser, the DNS system translates it into the actual Internet address which is 194.71.107.15. If you know what thepiratebay.org's IP is, even if they blacklist the site, you simply type in those numbers and you are there!

Within hours of activating the blacklist, thousands of websites would be publishing the IP addresses of every blacklisted site on the Internet, rendering all of this legislation useless (remember all the anti-spam legislation; has it made any difference in your Inbox?)

Any teenage wannabe programmer knows this, but our lawmakers don't seem to understand this simple circumvention.

The unintended consequences of this overreaching legislation are the biggest concerns by anyone that understands the fundamental workings of what makes the Internet function.

The industries behind this legislation are trying to convince us that even though they could technically wreak havoc on virtually any website that allows user generated content, they only want these tools to go after really bad criminals.

These are the same guys that used previous legislation to go after a 66-year old retired school teacher that they claimed was a mega-pirate of Snoop Dogg's rap music. She had an old Apple computer that couldn't even run the software that they claimed was used to commit the piracy.

I'm not disputing that piracy of copyrighted material is a serious problem, but this approach to the problem is like going after the phone company because you transacted a drug deal on their phone system.

There's a great video at http://goo.gl/A5Eoo that explains the concerns and the Electronic Freedom Foundation has an easy way for you to voice your opinion to your representatives at http://goo.gl/l9ut2]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:46:19 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21850 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21845 Trusting that whoever is working on your computer is concerned about preserving your data is a dangerous thing these days.

The sad fact is that many repair facilities treat computers like they are appliances; their only concern is that they return the physical computer to factory condition. What's worse, when they do wipe your data and you complain, they simply point to the small print of the service agreement and state that your data was your responsibility.

It's like a refrigerator repairman that destroys all your food without warning you, but proclaims he did his job because he got your ice maker working again.

To be fair, no service company will take responsibility for your data from a legal standpoint because the liability is too high and uncontrollable, so you need to keep this in mind whenever you have any type of service performed on any computer.

Warranty laptop service is where we see wiped hard drives the most, because you send your unit off to some far off repair facility and don't get to talk to anyone at the facility about your concerns (and they assume you understand their process).

Warranty repair processes are designed to be efficient for the repair center which means there is little regard to the data stored on the unit. So many laptops return from warranty service completely wiped out because their prime objective is to return the unit to factory specifications, which often means a clean installation of the operating system.

We tell our customers to assume that they are going to lose all their data when sending their laptops in for warranty service, so they should plan accordingly. We routinely make an image copy of their hard drive for them before they send it off as a precaution, which is what we recommend everyone do if they can.

An image backup differs from a file backup because it actually makes an exact copy of the entire hard drive instead of just certain data files. If the laptop comes back wiped out, you can restore the image on the hard drive so that everything is exactly the way it was before you sent it in.

Unsophisticated or lazy repair people will also opt to wipe everything out of your computer and start over because it's faster and easier, so you should always ask any repair facility how they handle the process of 'reloading the operating system'.

The most painful repair scenario for computer users is when you have to start from scratch (especially if you haven't planned for it), which is why most experienced service providers will only use the 'wipe it out option' as a last resort.

Most folks don't think about how much work it will be to reinstall all your programs (if you can even find the original disks), restore your backups (if you have one), reconfigure the various settings for all your programs, reinstall your printer drivers, import your favorites, restore your address book and about 20 other things that took you years to get just the way you like it.

Another thing to think about is any sensitive information that you may want to protect since the natural course of computer service will expose all your files to the technician.

Start by making sure your checkbook program or other sensitive programs and files have a password on them and remove the saved passwords in your browser(s) for your online accounts.

If you want to make sure your individual files and pictures aren't accessed, you can temporarily move them to an external hard drive or create an encrypted volume on your hard drive to store your sensitive files in with a free program such as TrueCrypt ( http://www.truecrypt.org ).

Of course, none of these steps can be done if computer is completely down, which brings us back to the trust issue, so choose your computer service provider wisely.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:48:27 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21845 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21844 This forces the user to make a decision or in far too many cases, to put off the decision because they aren't really sure if they should stick with the protection they have or switch.

Not making a decision and letting your protection expire is the worst possible scenario as new types of malware that you will no longer be protected against are discovered every day.

Unfortunately, the majority of the computers that we see for service that are badly infected with malware have expired antivirus that the owner was meaning to get renewed.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as 'the best' antivirus program, even though most every antivirus program on the market has been rated 'the best' by one testing lab or another.

The reality is, that no matter what you choose to use as protection, none of them can protect you from everything because the bad guys have the upper hand.

Those with malicious intent are constantly cooking up new threats that they can test against today's most popular antivirus programs until they find a way to sidestep them, which is why what you do on the Internet is far more important than what you have for protection.

As far as the various ratings that you can find on the Internet, I rarely put much stock in any of them because they are all flawed in one way or another. Some test by throwing a lot of old virus code that's no longer in the wild at programs that are focused on today's real threats, which results in lower ratings.

Others clearly have a vested interest from an advertising standpoint to make certain products look good, especially those rating systems that offer to sell you the products that they rate the highest.

Even if you could find 'THE BEST' program today, it wouldn't be the best for long, because the threat landscape is constantly changing.

To underscore this, in 20 years of installing antivirus for our customers, what we install changes on a regular basis based on a number of criteria that go beyond the level of protection.

We look at the tradeoff between protection and what performance impact that it may have on the computer.

Older computers that try to run today's full-fledged protection suites will likely bog down noticeably because they lack the processing power needed to carry the load.

Another big criterion for us is whether the program will bombard the user with advertising compelling them to install unnecessary additional software, which is one of the downsides to many of the free programs.

There are actually three options for anyone that finds themselves in this position; renew the existing, buy a different program or move to a free program.

The easiest option is to simply renew what you have to avoid uninstalling the existing software, installing the new program and getting familiar with how it works.

The downside to this option is that you may miss the opportunity to move to a more comprehensive or complete protection package, especially if your usage and behavior have changed over the past year, or your older computer may not powerful enough to handle the latest update.

If you have a trusted tech resource, have them review your current protection package, discuss any issues you've had over the past year and take into consideration the age of your computer. You also need to consider any future users that may come into play, especially younger users that tend to click on anything that pops up on the screen (they require more pro-active security, not basic scan and detect protection).

Many antivirus companies have transitioned from the old scan and detect process that most ratings are based on and developed newer, more sophisticated predictive detection processes to combat the constant cat and mouse game that is the status quo.

The only wrong decision is to let it expire, so if you can't get help making a decision, renew what you have!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 7 Oct 2011 10:51:35 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21844 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21829 Despite various media accounts that are reporting that DPS was 'hacked', based on what we have seen so far, it seems that the more likely scenario was that individual member's e-mail accounts were compromised (there's a big difference). LulzSec, the hacker group behind this has announced that they will continue to publish compromised files on a weekly basis, so only time will tell just how much information has been compromised.

Since the individual e-mail accounts seem to be the point of exploitation, this could have happened in a number of places (at work or from home) or for a number of reasons.

Our forensics team evaluated the 700+ files that were posted by LulzSec and the digital stamps (meta data) hidden in many of the files show that they were created by a wide variety of authors (beyond the group of users that were known to be compromised), which would be consistent with a library of files that were recieved as attachments.

One possible scenario is that since all of the passwords that were published for the compromised accounts were very weak (one was actually 12345) or used common words, the hackers used simple password breaking tools to gain access to the accounts.

The lesson here is that if you don't use letters and numbers in combinations for your passwords and you don't avoid using common words that are in the dictionary, you expose yourself to readily available tools for breaking passwords. The more characters you use, the more secure the password becomes and if you sprinkle in special characters like ! - ? ( ) & $ (some systems won't support them) you can improve the security even further.

Another scenario is that these officers were targeted with very well crafted e-mail messages that tricked them into allowing a 'key logger' or other malware to be installed into their computer, which allowed the hackers to record keystrokes or remotely access their e-mail accounts.

Since home computers tend to be less secure for a variety of reasons (expired security software, no firewall, etc.), it's much easier to gain access to a large corporate or government mail system by compromising the users home computer and wait for them to access their work e-mail system.

The main lessons here are to always be suspicious of anything that you get in your Inbox that is prompting you to click on a link or to open a file attachment and above all, keep your operating system and security software up-to-date.

You also need to be very careful with links posted on Facebook, Twitter, instant messages or any social network as this is just the latest delivery method they use to compromise your computer or accounts.

These exploits can be effective even on very secure corporate systems if the hackers can convince the user to install something that is posing as a legit program or update. The most common trick in the past has been to lure the user to a salacious video then tell them that they need an updated player to view the video.

The reality is that there is no 100% secure way to operate on the Internet these days as the methods for being exploited are growing exponentially, but if you pay attention, you can dramatically reduce your chances of being exploited.

The most common way for hackers to get past security measures is to trick the user, so be suspicious of everything and keep your system updated!]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:02:46 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21829 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21815 When you combine the popularity of smartphones with the fact that average usage is extremely high (because of their mobility), you can bet that the attempts to exploit users is going to continue to grow in 2011.

The biggest exposure point for smartphone users at this point is in the installation of apps (browser-based exploits are uncommon and easily blocked so far).

We have already seen several cases of smartphone apps laden with malware (malicious software) sneaking their way into both Apple's App Store and Google's Android Marketplace.

The term 'virus' really needs to be replaced with 'malware' since the exploitation attempts that we are seeing don't have the ability to spread from smartphone-to-smartphone like a computer virus can.

Smartphone exploitation generally centers around getting at the private information that makes the smartphone a target rich environment for hackers (contacts, passwords, e-mail accounts, etc.).

There are significant differences between how iPhone and Android users access apps to install on their smartphones, but how and where you get your apps can greatly increase your chances of being exploited.

Apple only allows apps to be installed via iTunes and the App Store (unless you 'jailbreak' or remove the controls) and they are very particular about what they will allow in the App Store.

This controlled 'walled garden' approach is one of the reasons that many techies prefer Google's Android platform, but it does provide a pretty significant level of security.

Android is a much more open platform that allows users to install apps from Google's Marketplace or from lots of other places, but this openness also exposes users to more risk.

Both Apple's App Store and Google's Marketplace have had apps with hidden malware sneak past their review processes and make it onto user's smartphones, but in general it's rare.

Google recently removed over 50 apps from the Google Marketplace that were found to have malware hidden in them and then did something very interesting: they flipped on their remote kill-switch to delete the apps from the affected smartphones (Apple also has this ability).

The reality is, however, once an app gains access to your information, it can send it off to a remote server, which means even if the app is removed, the damage could already be done.

iPhone users that 'jailbreak' their phones and install apps from third parties stand a much higher risk of installing a rogue app, because the review process by Apple is bypassed and there would be no remote removal if a rogue app is discovered.

Novice Android users should stick to getting their apps from the Marketplace and in general, avoid apps that are very new and have very few reviews (from any resource).

If you have an Android-based smartphone and love to experiment with apps, you may want to consider installing a free security program called Lookout ( http://goo.gl/3COld ).

Not only will it warn you of potential spyware and malware, it offers backup, a lost phone locator and remote wiping features.

Mobile security experts also recommend that you get in the habit of clearing your smartphone's browser history and cookies to minimize the exposure should you install an app with malware (also helps if you lose your phone or it gets stolen - check in the Settings menu for your options).

The best way to protect your smartphone is to make sure to install updates as quickly as you can (the latest protection is usually a big part of an update) and avoid installing apps from sites that you don't know much about.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:50:57 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21815 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21812 With that many Internet connected computers that are compiling sought after information by ID thieves, you can bet that the attempts to exploit US based computers is in full force as you read this.

A virus could open the door for the actual program that would hide itself in your computer, but simply scanning for viruses is no longer sufficient.

Malware (malicious software) comes in so many forms these days and can sneak into your computer from virtually any activity you likely engage in every day.

A complete virus scan of your computer is certainly a good start, but since most malware is pretty good at sneaking past antivirus programs these days, I would highly recommend that you do an additional self-check of your computer, especially if you are running older versions of Windows like XP.

Start by rebooting your computer so that it's starting clean; if your computer takes a long time to startup, that's the first sign that extra programs are likely loading every time you start your computer.

Once it has fully booted, launch the Task Manager by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del at the same time (or you can right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager).

When the Task Manager opens, it should be in the 'Applications' window, which should be empty. In the bottom left corner will be a display of the 'Processes:' that are currently running.

On a well maintained computer, this number will be in the 30-40 range for desktop computers and 35-45 on portable computers (laptops & netbooks).

The higher the number is over these benchmarks, the more you should be concerned about what unnecessary programs are running in the background of your computer.

The next check is accessed by clicking on the Performance tab which will display the CPU and Memory meters.

With no programs open, the top set of graphs (CPU Usage & History) should be low and stable. If you see the CPU Usage meter jumping up and down and the history graphs shows a lot of up and down activity, you would be wise to avoid doing your taxes or even any kind of online banking until you have the system evaluated for potential hidden malware (I've posted an example video on this self-check process at http://bit.ly/huIRHh .

The process of tracking down the extra processes, understanding what they do and removing them if they are unnecessary or malicious can get quite complicated, especially for those that don't have a good working knowledge of the Windows Registry (my column on 'Cleaning up Excess Processes' is posted here: http://bit.ly/fCXtjA). Lots of tools exist for scanning for malicious programs on your computer (Malware Bytes is one of the best) but knowing which tool or manual process to use under which circumstances is a constantly moving target.

If you're not very technical, find someone that you trust that is as this isn't an area of computing that you should take lightly.

And if you think those slick TV ads for automated computer cleanup services are an option, you'll want to read this http://bit.ly/deVTmp before you spend your money on any non-human solution to this very complex problem.]]> ken colburn, brandon disney, data doctor, ktar Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:10:21 +0700 http://www.datadoctors.com/help/question/21812