Protect Your Computer At WiFi (Wireless) Hotspots

When you use a Wireless Hotspot, you have more to worry about than viruses. Hackers are notoriously known for “sniffing” wireless “traffic” going through the air, searching for logins and passwords and such.

As Leo Laporte has pointed out, you need to follow safe computing practices. These include not running as an Administrator unless you absolutely need to. Also, download and install updates as soon as they are released via Windows Update.

Some hotspots use WPA encryption to help secure and protect users, though places like Starbucks don’t. Either way, you should run an antivirus, firewall, and antispyware products, if for no other reason than to protect your computer.

As Leo points out, “have the attitude that someone is watching you and only do stuff you don’t mind being watched doing. Use encrypted email. Use SSL email (https://gmail.com). Or, just don’t check it. But the best way is to work through a VPN. Hotspot VPN is a good one. $10 a month.”

Remove AntiVirus 2009

As Leo Laporte puts it…

“It’ll even pretend to scan your computer and find infections, then offers to fix it with AntiVirus 2009. Looks very official, very legit. But it isn’t. AntiVirus 2009 is a trojan horse that will take over your computer and steal your money”

As BleepingComputer.com, they describe it as…

“a new rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Antivirus 2008 and Doctor Antivirus . Antivirus 2009 is installed and advertised through the use of misleading web sites that attempt to make you think your computer is infected with a variety of malware. Once installed, Antivirus 2009 will scan your computer and list a variety of fake infections that can’t be removed unless you first purchase the software. These infections are fake, though, and only being shown to scare you into purchasing the software.

When Antivirus 2009 is installed, a Internet Explorer browser helper object is also installed that displays fake messages when using Internet Explorer. These messages range from a line at the top of the browser stating an infection was found to adding a box to the Google homepage stating Google detected that your computer was infected. These tactics are just two more methods where Antivirus 2009 uses false information to scare you into purchasing their software. A more detailed writeup on how the Google home page is hijacked can be found here.”

For complete instructions on how to Remove Antivirus 2009, visit the article BleepingComputer.com