Computer advice needed in laymans terms , please ?

our desk top computer had to be taken in to be re set up due to the fact that add ons attached themselves through YAHOO %26amp; internet explorer .


can anyone please tell me how this can happen and what to do to prevent it from happening again ?


i never ever open links ( just family and trusted fiends ) or use anything but yahoo Q%26amp;A and e mails for answers .


any input to this would be so helpful .


i am very new to computers so please tell me in an easy way to understand .


thanks so much . D :)Computer advice needed in laymans terms , please ?
If you're running Windows XP then you can do the following to safeguard yourself. Note that you may have to get a more tech-geared person to help you out with the detail of some of these, as explaining how to do all of them from scratch is a bit tough from just this little message box.





1) Never run anything as an admin unless you're installing software. You can do this by creating a new user under the control panel and giving that user limited access as opposed to administrator access. Log in as this user all the time unless you're installing trusted software.





2) Install the Firefox web browser.





3) Make sure your firewall is turned on.





4) Install some anti-virus software (AVG is an example of free anti-virus software)





5) Install the Windows Defender anti-spyware program.





6) Install something such as Ad-Aware or Spybot Search and Destroy and run spyware scans every couple weeks or so.





7) Do not install software that's not from a reputable company. Some of the shadiest software out there comes in the form of ';cute'; things like puppy screensavers, kitten wallpapers, etc.





Using the type of setup above, I haven't had to deal with any form of virus on Windows for years.Computer advice needed in laymans terms , please ?
It's just the toolbars that got installed from what i'm reading.





When you install everything don't just hit ';next'; make sure you read all the check boxes carefully.





Also if it does come up again, and its a program you should be able to go to add/remove programs in the control panel and delete it there.





If it's something that is attached to your internet explorer, you can go to tools-%26gt;internet options-%26gt;programs tab then click on manage addons and scroll down to the yahoo toolbar and uncheck it. This way it will dissapear from your IE next time you close it and restart it.





Hope that helps, and good luck!
Mionet, Norton, AVG. These are all good anti virus programs. Don't use the yahoo toolbar because it causes a lot of problems. It attracted viruses on my laptop, but dun dun dun I have 8 virus blockers on it and got rid of the viruses very quickly. If you have one good one then nothing should get through except the occasional insanely well programmed virus. In that case you can take you computer into an expert and have it wiped clean and reset up (laymens terms). In any case a simple virus blocker will due.





Happy Holidays,





-Billy
Eternal Skeptic has it right. Ad-aware and Spy-Bot are free downloads. Run them at least once a week. Schedule updates, preferably every night.


Set about three hours aside to:


Run clean disk, remove temporary internet files and cookies.


Run Ad-Aware, Spy-bot and any other virus protection (Norton) you may have. Defrag your hard drive and compress old files.
';add ons attached themselves through YAHOO %26amp; internet explorer'; What do you mean? That by visiting yahoo.com through internet explorer some unwanted add ons got installed in your browser? Why do you need to take it in, just remove the add ons. You probably got them from a program you installed. A lot of programs will sneak add ons such as toolbars (if that is what you're talking about) into their installers.
well you might have downloaded a program that included add-ons or istalled an update. If you have that problem again uninstall internet explorer and you can download a brand new version for free at:





http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
There are a lot of ways this can happen, and I blame the terrible security in both IE and Windows.





In addition tou just being careful where you browse, you might use a more secure browser. Download and install Firefox.
Add-ons and ';spyware'; can enter your system through several means, but the most common are from visiting some websites, or installing software. Only visit sites you trust, install programs you trust, and open email attachments from people you trust.
dizz, sorry, idk; just writing to ask you if I'm a trusted ';fiend';---lol. Tell your hubby, bonjour please. Thanx!!!
Be careful when opening email from friends and family that have been forwarded from an unknown source. That's one of the main ways viruses spread.





Also there were some links on answers that lead to sites that attack your PC.
Be careful with downloading ';free'; programs such as emoticons and such. If you read the fine print, you'll see that they often comes with strings attached, such as toolbars or adware.
Call someone who knows about computers and they can explain also try geek squad.
Buy an antispyware or antivirus program
Eternal Skeptic what he said%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
Well .. I'll consider you have a valid copy of either Windows XP SP2 upgraded to SP3 or a valid Windows Vista SP1. If you run the automatic updates that come as an option during the installation of either of these operating systems, your computer should be somewhat safe.





Since you're using Internet Explorer, I'll also assume that it's the latest version and fully patched. Also, you might want to turn the ';Automatic Phishing Filter'; on .. it helps block unwanted content .. anything that could contain malicious programs or information.


----


Dictionary (in case you really don't know the 'scientific' terms:


- SP = Service Pack (a pack incorporated in your operating system that contains most of the things the OS needs in order to run properly)


- Auto Phishing Filter = A filter that blocks unwanted content from all the websites you visit, by itself, no need for you to do anything. Only to set it up. (you can find 'phishing' on google)


----





Also, you might want to turn on the Pop-up Blockerm this would block all the pop-ups that appear automatically on some websites .. usually advertisments, some times virused links ..





Oh yeah .. to be eevn safer ... get an anti-virus .. :) Kaspersky, NOD32 should do their job fine.





Kiddo.