**** ANTIVIRUS TIPS AND TOOLS ****

This letter was taken from Common Sense Security Newsletter 24 October, 2004 and I think it is important for all those people running AVG Anti Virus.

*** ANTIVIRUS TIPS AND TOOLS ****
Liesbeth wrote in about a problem she found in her antivirus program.

"You probably know about AVG, the free virus scanner from Grisoft. Me and
some friends use it, and we were quite happy with it until lately, it
started to give warnings about Trojans being on my computer, and telling me
to run its virus scanner. When I did, nothing was found.
I found this piece of information on a forum:
AVG doesn't scan your whole computer. If you want it to test every single
file you need to first enable it (right-click on system tray icon, Run AVG
Anti-virus, Service menu, Complete Test Settings, check 'Test All
Extensions').
I checked with my AVG, and indeed, that is not a default setting. I find it
a bit strange that the default is (only) documents and sheets."

This is indeed a strange way to set the program defaults, and Liesbeth was
lucky that she didn't suffer more damage. We are lucky that she told us
about it, since I have AVG on a computer and have never thought to look at
the default settings either! Make sure that you read through the help file
that comes with your programs so that this kind of thing doesn't happen.
And to be even safer, don't rely on just one antivirus program to check for
problems.

Although running multiple antivirus programs is not recommended (and some
will not let you install their program if there is another one installed)
there are scanners that can be used to double check your system. Most of the
major antivirus programs offer online scanners that you can use to check
your system, and it is a good idea to choose one that is not made by the
same company that made your antivirus program. If you use PC-Cillin, try
the McAfee scanner. If you are running Panda, go to the Symantec site for
their scanner. This helps insure that you have a second opinion, rather than
relying on just one solution.

MicroWorld offers a Free Scanner that is updated weekly to insure that it is
as up to date as possible. The scanner will check for a variety of problems,
not just from viruses or worms but from almost all the potential e-threats
that can endanger your system's security.
http://www.mwti.net/antivirus/free_utilities.asp

PIVX offers Qwik-Fix Pro Home Edition at http://www.pivx.com/qwikfix.asp.
It is a free download, and it protects against current and future problems
by eliminating the way the programs can get onto your computer. They
identified the way a worm could attack a computer in December 2002. The
Qwik-Fix program was updated to prevent this method of attack. In February
2003, Microsoft started working on a patch, and they released it in July.
Within a month the MSBlaster worm hit the Internet, and it was soon found
that the Microsoft patch was not 100% effective. MS released an updated
patch in September, but the damage was done. If you had been running
Qwik-Fix, you would have been protected 8 months before Microsoft
acknowledged the problem!

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