WEBVTT - Computer Virus Emergency Response Plan Go!

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<v Speaker 1>Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey there, everybody, welcome to tech Stuff. My name is

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<v Speaker 1>Chris Polette. I'm an editor here at how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com and sitting next to me as usual as

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<v Speaker 1>senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, all right, then, so

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<v Speaker 1>I I guess it's time for uh yeah, it's we're

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<v Speaker 1>changing up things. It's time for listener may how Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>Usually we wait to the end to do this, but

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<v Speaker 1>in this case we are our Our entire podcast episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based off of the message we see from a listener.

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<v Speaker 1>So let me read that really quickly. Hello, I've been

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<v Speaker 1>a listener and I love the podcast. I have a question.

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<v Speaker 1>I keep getting viruses on my computer Windows XP and

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<v Speaker 1>I was wondering if changing my IP address will stop

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<v Speaker 1>the attacks. I have my computer lockdown with trend Micro

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<v Speaker 1>and Windows Defender, and everything will be fine until I

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<v Speaker 1>randomly do a scan and it pulls off at least

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<v Speaker 1>five viruses. But this is not every time I do

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<v Speaker 1>a scan, just sometimes I do a scan every day.

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<v Speaker 1>I was listening to an old podcast of yours where

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<v Speaker 1>you talk about some program that makes it seem like

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<v Speaker 1>your I P is different. It was how proxy servers work.

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<v Speaker 1>Your help would be much appreciated. Alex from Arlington, Texas Well, Alex,

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<v Speaker 1>We're here to to help you a little bit as

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<v Speaker 1>much as we can at any rate. Uh, computer viruses

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<v Speaker 1>are nasty, nasty customers, and uh it's never fun to

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<v Speaker 1>find one on your machine. That's true. And UM, that's

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<v Speaker 1>why we've decided to entitle this computer Virus Emergency Response

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<v Speaker 1>Plan GO yes, because you have to figure out what

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<v Speaker 1>are you gonna do in the event of a virus.

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<v Speaker 1>You can't tell walk out and you know, walk out

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<v Speaker 1>in the hallway and find that big red box with

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<v Speaker 1>the in the event of a computer virus break glass, right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>what are you going to do when they come for you?

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<v Speaker 1>Is I think the question we should ask. I'm going

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<v Speaker 1>to all right. So first thing, Alex, your first question

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<v Speaker 1>about changing your IP address, I'm sorry, that's not gonna work. No, no, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>you're looking at in that case you were talking about

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<v Speaker 1>using a proxy server. Uh. The specific case we were

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<v Speaker 1>talking about was you log into a server that would

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<v Speaker 1>allow you to then browse the web through that server. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>so that if anyone were looking at at the you know,

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<v Speaker 1>the traffic coming into that site, they would see it

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<v Speaker 1>coming from the the proxy server you were using, not

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<v Speaker 1>your own computer. So in that sense, it's really kind

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<v Speaker 1>of misdirection. It's just telling someone, hey, I'm actually using

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<v Speaker 1>this computer that happens to be in another country or whatever, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>not my own computer at home. It's not going to

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<v Speaker 1>help you if you have a virus on your computer.

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<v Speaker 1>And that sounds that's what sounds like to me. It

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<v Speaker 1>sounds to me that you have a virus on your

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<v Speaker 1>computer that your scanner is not picking up. Um. And

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<v Speaker 1>there are many viruses or variants of viruses, other kinds

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<v Speaker 1>of malware that can download other malware like they're they're

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<v Speaker 1>trojans you can get or viruses or whatever. That part

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<v Speaker 1>of the thing that they do to your computer is

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<v Speaker 1>they invite this other nasty stuff onto your computer without

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<v Speaker 1>your knowledge. So that might be why you're getting this notification.

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<v Speaker 1>It's picking up the other stuff that your virus is

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<v Speaker 1>allowing onto your computer, but not the main culprit. That's true. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, unfortunately sad to say, Uh, in order for

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<v Speaker 1>you to get a virus or a trojan horse or

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<v Speaker 1>some kind of other malware on your you do you

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<v Speaker 1>have to do some of the work yourself. Um that

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<v Speaker 1>that doesn't you know, not to sound accusatory, because I

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<v Speaker 1>certainly don't mean it to be that way. Um. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>the people who write this stuff have gotten a lot

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<v Speaker 1>better at social engineering, which is basically convincing you that

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<v Speaker 1>you're downloading something completely benign that will actually be useful

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<v Speaker 1>to you, such as a plug in for a website

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<v Speaker 1>to watch the special video or something along those lines.

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<v Speaker 1>So even even anti virus or spywear software. Sure, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you know a lot of people have been tricked into

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<v Speaker 1>doing that. They'll see a pop up from their browser

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<v Speaker 1>window it says, hey, you know, we we've detected virus

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<v Speaker 1>on your computer. Click here to download the free virus blocker,

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<v Speaker 1>and uh it'll wipe it out. Well. In fact, you

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<v Speaker 1>didn't have one, but you do now thanks to that

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<v Speaker 1>that little installer that they put on there. So um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, certainly, through some kind of weird happenstance, you

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<v Speaker 1>seem to have gotten something on there. And even if

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<v Speaker 1>you clean it off, um, and you keep ending up

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<v Speaker 1>with new viru verses, there's some pop up somewhere that

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<v Speaker 1>something's going on, and you may be inadvertently reinstalling new

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<v Speaker 1>viruses on your machine, even uh, even if you did

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<v Speaker 1>wipe the old one or the original one off, right.

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<v Speaker 1>And so let's let's take a look at a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of things that you need to take into consideration. First

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<v Speaker 1>of all, you did mention that you're using Windows XP

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<v Speaker 1>as your operating system. Make sure that you have the

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<v Speaker 1>most recent service packs for Windows XP. Because one thing

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<v Speaker 1>that a lot of these uh hackers are really we

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<v Speaker 1>should call them crackers because it's a malicious hacker. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing that they're looking at when they're building these

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<v Speaker 1>viruses and trojans and things like that, this other kind

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<v Speaker 1>of malware. UM, they look at vulnerabilities that exist within

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<v Speaker 1>operating systems to exploit those vulnerabilities. So you want to

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<v Speaker 1>have the most up to date service packs because a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of those have security patches that plug up these

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<v Speaker 1>vulnerabilities as Microsoft discovers them. So someone sees something that

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<v Speaker 1>can be exploited, they tell Microsoft. Microsoft says, oh K,

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<v Speaker 1>we need to fix this, and they address it and

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<v Speaker 1>then release a patch for you to download and install

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<v Speaker 1>so that it it patches your system. You want to

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<v Speaker 1>make sure you have the latest version of the service

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<v Speaker 1>pack so that it is going to be the most secure. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's my first My first line of advice is

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<v Speaker 1>to make sure you have that. Second of all, there

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<v Speaker 1>are some viruses that are particularly tricky and will prevent

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<v Speaker 1>you from downloading the most recent version of your anti

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<v Speaker 1>UH anti virus software, so you want to you want

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<v Speaker 1>to make sure you have the most up to date

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<v Speaker 1>version of that as well. UM. If it looks like

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<v Speaker 1>you're being prevented from accessing that, from uploading, up updating

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<v Speaker 1>your database, essentially it is what it is. UH. If

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<v Speaker 1>that's happening, then you know that you've got something hiding

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<v Speaker 1>there that you need to find. UH. It may require

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<v Speaker 1>that you uninstall that particular kind of anti virus and

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<v Speaker 1>try something else. UM. I don't recommend that you use

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<v Speaker 1>more than one kind of antivirus software on a computer

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<v Speaker 1>at the same time, because it's very resource intensive, and

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<v Speaker 1>they tend to make each other. I get all tangled

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<v Speaker 1>up and they fall over each other. They don't work

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<v Speaker 1>very well together. In other words, that's true. That's true. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>And that sort of unless I'm jumping the gun here

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<v Speaker 1>brings me to the point I wanted to make. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>this may not be the best thing for you to

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<v Speaker 1>do on the hard drive that's infected. You know, what

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<v Speaker 1>you might need to do is use what I would

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<v Speaker 1>put in that little glass box if I were actually

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<v Speaker 1>making one, which would be an emergency response disc. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>And basically this is something that that you might be

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<v Speaker 1>able to use. You might actually have something that that

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<v Speaker 1>does it. You said, Um, we're using a trend micro

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<v Speaker 1>uh anti virus. Well, they actually have a disk that

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<v Speaker 1>you can use. Um. They're one of several. Kaspersky is

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<v Speaker 1>another one where you can build a rescue disc. And

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<v Speaker 1>what this does is it allows you to boot your

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<v Speaker 1>computer from the c D itself. Um, you might say,

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<v Speaker 1>so what's the big deal. Well, if you're running off

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<v Speaker 1>the CD rather than your hard drive, then your hard

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<v Speaker 1>drive doesn't have control of your computer. The operating system

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<v Speaker 1>loaded onto the CD does so it can actually scan, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>it can actually scan your hard drive without any interference

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<v Speaker 1>from that virus that's on your hard drive. So if

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<v Speaker 1>you suspect that something is preventing you from updating your

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<v Speaker 1>anti virus or updating your operating system to the latest

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<v Speaker 1>service pack UM, it probably is a good idea to

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<v Speaker 1>go ahead and build a rescue disk and and uh

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<v Speaker 1>possibly even on a system that that you know is

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<v Speaker 1>not infected UM, and then you can use it to

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<v Speaker 1>boot your machine and and hopefully exterminate those viruses, because

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<v Speaker 1>that those anti virus companies that help you build those

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<v Speaker 1>rescue discs actually uh they build in some anti virus

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<v Speaker 1>stuff in there, so it'll go through your computer and

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<v Speaker 1>see what it can find and hopefully exterminate those viruses. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's always a good idea to to follow that. Another

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<v Speaker 1>another way, you can kind of look into the same

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<v Speaker 1>sort of thing as to uh to boot your computer

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<v Speaker 1>and safe mode, which means that it doesn't actually initialize

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<v Speaker 1>the Windows UM the Windows uh software operating systems. So

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of the viruses are part of your Windows registry.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're using a Windows machine, UM, that's part of

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<v Speaker 1>how they kind of load themselves up when you boot

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<v Speaker 1>your computer. Uh, the Windows Registry keeps up a full

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<v Speaker 1>database of all the different programs and applications that need

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<v Speaker 1>to to come online as soon as you turn your

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<v Speaker 1>computer on. Um. And and it's a tricky thing. If

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<v Speaker 1>you ever open up your Windows registry to look at it,

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<v Speaker 1>there's often a ton of stuff on there, especially if

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<v Speaker 1>you've ever deleted a program without actually uninstalling it first. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>stuff that can be you know, remnants of that stuff

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<v Speaker 1>can be on your Windows registry forever. And it it

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<v Speaker 1>gets really clunky and hard to navigate through that. And

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<v Speaker 1>things don't necessarily have the names you would expect in

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<v Speaker 1>the registry key so you could look at it all

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<v Speaker 1>looks like a big jumbled gobbledegook. But um, if you can,

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<v Speaker 1>if you can start your computer and safe mode and

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<v Speaker 1>uh and run some anti virus software through safe mode,

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<v Speaker 1>And there are a lot of websites that tell you

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<v Speaker 1>how to do that. It all depends on which antivirus

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<v Speaker 1>software you're using. That might also help because it won't

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<v Speaker 1>allow the virus to disable whatever it is in that

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<v Speaker 1>antivirus software that that's preventing it from finding the stuff

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<v Speaker 1>in the first place. Now, um, let's say that Let's

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<v Speaker 1>say that you're able to run the stuff and it

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<v Speaker 1>finds a virus. Uh, what do you do? Then? It

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<v Speaker 1>depends again on what software you're using. Most antivirus software

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<v Speaker 1>has some sort of tool that will automatically remove the

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<v Speaker 1>virus from your system, which means it will look for

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<v Speaker 1>every single file that's associated with that virus and delete

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<v Speaker 1>it or at least quarantine it. Um. So, Then and again,

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<v Speaker 1>just because you track down a virus to a specific file,

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<v Speaker 1>like a specific application, if you delete that application, it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't necessarily mean that you've gotten rid of the virus.

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<v Speaker 1>Because there are many many parts to some of these viruses.

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<v Speaker 1>They'll they'll they'll spread files around in several different locations,

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<v Speaker 1>so you need to make sure you get all of them. Um. So,

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<v Speaker 1>one good thing to do is, if you run the

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<v Speaker 1>antivirus software, you write down the name. If a virus

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<v Speaker 1>pops up right down the name of that virus, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>and make sure you link it to whichever antivirus software

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<v Speaker 1>you're using, because some companies use different names for different viruses.

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<v Speaker 1>You don't want to just assume that it's gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>the same in every single one, although most tend to

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<v Speaker 1>list the alternate names as well in their virus databases,

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<v Speaker 1>so usually you can figure it out even if you're

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<v Speaker 1>using if you're looking at a different database and the

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<v Speaker 1>one supported by your antivirus software. So at that point

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<v Speaker 1>you would need to go and look up this virus

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<v Speaker 1>and see what all the names of all the different

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<v Speaker 1>files that are associated with that particular virus, and then

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<v Speaker 1>you would need to go and try and remove those

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<v Speaker 1>files from your computer. Now, keep in mind if that

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<v Speaker 1>involves going into your registry and you remove the wrong file,

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<v Speaker 1>your computer might not work the way it was supposed to.

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<v Speaker 1>So always back up your Windows registry file before you

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<v Speaker 1>start making changes to it. You do not want to

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<v Speaker 1>have the headache of turning on your computer and realizing, Oops,

0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.600
<v Speaker 1>I deleted something that was apparently really important and I

0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.760
<v Speaker 1>don't have a backup YEA, well really you should back

0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.280
<v Speaker 1>up your hard drive regularly anyway. Yeah, well I was

0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.120
<v Speaker 1>going to get to that when we're talking about preventive,

0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.280
<v Speaker 1>but um yes, if you are not backing up your

0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.800
<v Speaker 1>hard drive, please change that behavior as soon as possible.

0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.679
<v Speaker 1>Um I, whether you're backing it up to a solid

0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:55.640
<v Speaker 1>medium medium like a compact compact discs or um flash drives,

0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.280
<v Speaker 1>which I'm sure it would take quite a few for

0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.599
<v Speaker 1>most of us, or a an external hard drive is

0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.880
<v Speaker 1>probably your best bet, and they're not that expensive, especially

0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:07.520
<v Speaker 1>when you compare it to the the headache you would

0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.920
<v Speaker 1>receive if you had to start from scratch. UM, invest

0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.360
<v Speaker 1>in one of those. Do regular backups of your hard

0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.040
<v Speaker 1>drive just in case if the absolute worst should happen,

0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.240
<v Speaker 1>you might need to rely on it again. Yeah, I

0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.640
<v Speaker 1>mean if you if you lost all the information on

0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.440
<v Speaker 1>your hard drive, you know that your hard drive is

0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.400
<v Speaker 1>essentially hosed, and you had files on that's a technical term.

0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.000
<v Speaker 1>That is a technical term. Um, And you said, well,

0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.400
<v Speaker 1>you know I've got files on here. I've got to

0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.520
<v Speaker 1>have them. There are certain files on here that I

0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:43.400
<v Speaker 1>know are on here, even though it's contaminated with virus. UM,

0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:45.480
<v Speaker 1>I know I'm gonna have to reformat my hard drive

0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.840
<v Speaker 1>or buy a new hard drive. UM. You might have

0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.000
<v Speaker 1>to send it out to a data recovery service and

0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:56.680
<v Speaker 1>talk about spendy UM. It's you know, these guys are

0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.640
<v Speaker 1>like magicians. Honestly, they're they're amazing because they can pull

0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:01.840
<v Speaker 1>stuff off of it that that you thought was long

0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.079
<v Speaker 1>long gone, and they might be able to even identify

0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.120
<v Speaker 1>what is infected and what isn't. Yeah. These these are

0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.880
<v Speaker 1>the same guys that, uh that law enforcement agencies call

0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.560
<v Speaker 1>on when they need to scour a bad guys computer

0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:16.640
<v Speaker 1>and see if there's any evidence on it. These are

0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.000
<v Speaker 1>people who you know they can look and look for

0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.520
<v Speaker 1>traces for stuff that for on a hard drive that's

0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:25.600
<v Speaker 1>been reformatted multiple times. I mean, it's it's pretty amazing

0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.400
<v Speaker 1>damaged by fire shock, you know water. These guys do

0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:35.360
<v Speaker 1>it right, you can, you can. You can bet that

0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.760
<v Speaker 1>that they'll be able to do it. However, you'll be

0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.560
<v Speaker 1>spending a whole lot of money for the privilege of

0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.720
<v Speaker 1>having them recover your files and and check through them

0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.200
<v Speaker 1>to make sure that they're okay, so you know, backing

0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.040
<v Speaker 1>things up, you know, investing in in a storage solution

0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.080
<v Speaker 1>and maybe a little software to back that stuff up

0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.960
<v Speaker 1>on a regular basis. Um, we'll save you some serious

0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:55.880
<v Speaker 1>headaches if you get a virus infection and have to

0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.840
<v Speaker 1>restore to a previous version. Yeah. I've even seen external

0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:01.960
<v Speaker 1>drives that had a simple button on it and all

0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:03.240
<v Speaker 1>you have to do is press the button and it

0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.040
<v Speaker 1>would automatically back up your system from that point, so

0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:07.680
<v Speaker 1>all you have to do is remember to push a button.

0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:09.800
<v Speaker 1>And now, of course there are external hard drives that

0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.320
<v Speaker 1>have automatic software so that if you can't be bothered

0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.160
<v Speaker 1>to push a button, it'll do it for you. And

0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.320
<v Speaker 1>you know what, I'll be honest, there are things that

0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.120
<v Speaker 1>I need to do on a regular basis that I

0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:21.120
<v Speaker 1>forget about and then like three or four months will

0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:23.080
<v Speaker 1>go by and I realize, oh, I need to do that,

0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.600
<v Speaker 1>and uh so I'm one of those people who probably

0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:29.280
<v Speaker 1>could use the automatic feature as opposed to, hey, you

0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.280
<v Speaker 1>need to press push that button. It's been a while.

0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.880
<v Speaker 1>It's a good Yes, it's it is a good thing.

0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.920
<v Speaker 1>They they are, they're not laxing that I was going

0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.120
<v Speaker 1>to mention. UM a utility that might be useful if

0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.200
<v Speaker 1>you know there's a file, a specific file you need

0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.120
<v Speaker 1>to get rid of, but your computer is not letting

0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.280
<v Speaker 1>you get to it. Um, Like, as soon as it

0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.880
<v Speaker 1>boots up, you can't even get into uh smart mode.

0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.920
<v Speaker 1>I mean this does sometimes happen. Um. There's a utility

0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:02.600
<v Speaker 1>called remove on reboot. And so let's let's say there's

0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.760
<v Speaker 1>a file on your system and you know that this

0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:06.680
<v Speaker 1>is a corrupt file and you have to get rid

0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.560
<v Speaker 1>of it. But every time you're try and delete it,

0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:11.480
<v Speaker 1>you're getting the message this file is currently in use.

0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.480
<v Speaker 1>You can't delete it. Um, And no matter what programs

0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.400
<v Speaker 1>you close out of, you're still getting that message. If

0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.200
<v Speaker 1>you use the remove on reboot utility, you can designate

0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.520
<v Speaker 1>that file as hey, this is a bad file deleted

0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.760
<v Speaker 1>as soon as I start up my computer, and before

0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.400
<v Speaker 1>it can even initialize, it will get booted. Um. Yeah,

0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.280
<v Speaker 1>so that's a that's something for you to to keep

0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:34.440
<v Speaker 1>in mind. If you have a problem with viruses and

0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.720
<v Speaker 1>you do know the pro the the specific files that

0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:42.400
<v Speaker 1>are a problem. Like we said before, don't go deleting

0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.560
<v Speaker 1>things willy nilly. Don't don't reformat your hard drive just

0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.520
<v Speaker 1>on a whim. You know, you try some other stuff first,

0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.400
<v Speaker 1>because you could very well remove these viruses without that

0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.680
<v Speaker 1>kind of headache. Yeah, proceed with caution. UM. You know,

0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.040
<v Speaker 1>ditching everything is is not going to be the best

0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.160
<v Speaker 1>use of your time. Even though it's gonna be faster

0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:03.880
<v Speaker 1>up front, you'll still have to go back and rebuild stuff,

0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:05.359
<v Speaker 1>and you're gonna lose a lot of information in the

0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.440
<v Speaker 1>process too. Um. And you know it can be a

0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.240
<v Speaker 1>learning experience if you can go in scientifically and eliminate

0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.040
<v Speaker 1>stuff that you know you know is fine in an

0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.240
<v Speaker 1>attempt to find them figure out what's what's wrong. You're

0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:19.240
<v Speaker 1>gonna educate yourself about how to do this if you

0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.520
<v Speaker 1>know it happens next time. Hopefully it won't. Yeah, so

0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.520
<v Speaker 1>let's let's just kind of do a quick recap. Make

0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.120
<v Speaker 1>sure your operating system is up to date. Make sure

0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:32.040
<v Speaker 1>you're anti virus and or anti spywear software is up

0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.520
<v Speaker 1>to date. Um, try and find one that that updates

0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.399
<v Speaker 1>at least once a week. Most of them do, um

0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.920
<v Speaker 1>and uh, and make sure you enable that function. Don't

0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.600
<v Speaker 1>don't tell your firewall to block it, because that's very

0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.560
<v Speaker 1>important that you stay up to date on that stuff.

0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.800
<v Speaker 1>And uh, and just use some careful web surfing. Uh.

0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:54.000
<v Speaker 1>You know policies. Don't open up weird attachments and emails,

0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:59.320
<v Speaker 1>don't follow links blindly, don't answer pop up ads stuff. Um.

0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.560
<v Speaker 1>You know, these are just general rules of thumb that

0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.399
<v Speaker 1>will make your web surfing experience much more pleasant in

0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:09.560
<v Speaker 1>the long run. So, well, do you have anything to

0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.040
<v Speaker 1>add to that? Well, Alex, I hope we answered your question.

0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.280
<v Speaker 1>And I really hope you are able to take care

0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.639
<v Speaker 1>of that problem. Um, but this does bring us to

0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:23.240
<v Speaker 1>an interesting moment. Yeah, it's the second time for the show.

0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:25.840
<v Speaker 1>In fact, you know what that means. Yeah, it's more

0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:34.119
<v Speaker 1>listener me. Yeah, you thought that we weren't gonna do

0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.080
<v Speaker 1>one at the end, but I fooled you, all right.

0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.200
<v Speaker 1>So this one comes from our friend Ben over in Clinton.

0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.960
<v Speaker 1>And uh. Ben writes to us and says, is the

0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.640
<v Speaker 1>alarm sound at the beginning of listener mail the same

0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.359
<v Speaker 1>sound used on M S T three K. That's Mystery

0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.360
<v Speaker 1>Science fet or three thousand for those of you who

0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.840
<v Speaker 1>are unfamiliar with it, to signal the start of a movie.

0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.119
<v Speaker 1>Every time I hear it, I get the mental picture,

0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.320
<v Speaker 1>you know what I mean. Thanks a lot, keep up

0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:03.680
<v Speaker 1>the good work. Huh do you know what he means? Well?

0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.359
<v Speaker 1>Why why we'll try another experiment, So for the third

0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:14.520
<v Speaker 1>time today, Tyler, if you please, movie SI movie sig no. No,

0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:16.840
<v Speaker 1>that's not saying it's not a little different all yeah,

0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.199
<v Speaker 1>it's a little different now. But thanks for writing then

0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.080
<v Speaker 1>we appreciate it. And if any of you have anything

0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.360
<v Speaker 1>you'd like to write to us, suggestions or corrections or

0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.000
<v Speaker 1>you know, just general weird comments. Uh, maybe even a

0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.440
<v Speaker 1>high ku, because I hear that Josh and Shock have

0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:33.880
<v Speaker 1>stopped the high kus. So if you have to get

0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:38.120
<v Speaker 1>your high kup on, why don't licks? I like limericks too,

0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.080
<v Speaker 1>but they've moved on to limericks. Actually. You know what,

0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:45.680
<v Speaker 1>if you want to write a Spencerian sonnet, you can

0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.640
<v Speaker 1>do so and send it to text stuff at how

0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.480
<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. And I'm talking Spencerian, not Shakespearean,

0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.000
<v Speaker 1>all right, so look that up so tech stuff at

0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.920
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. And remember we have blogs

0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.280
<v Speaker 1>up and running and you can find those. Actually now

0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.800
<v Speaker 1>you can find them straight from our home page, so

0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.520
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Look on the right hand side.

0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.720
<v Speaker 1>You'll see that there are some interesting blogs up there.

0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.520
<v Speaker 1>Sometimes it's ours as well. And if you click on

0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:15.359
<v Speaker 1>if you click on the button at the bottom, it

0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.080
<v Speaker 1>will take you straight to the blog page and you

0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.120
<v Speaker 1>can read all the different blogs. There's lots of really

0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.760
<v Speaker 1>interesting ones. And remember you can read all about computer

0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.280
<v Speaker 1>viruses and other software that goes bump in the night

0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.480
<v Speaker 1>at how stuff works dot com. And we will talk

0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.760
<v Speaker 1>to you again really soon for more on this and

0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.400
<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works? Dot

0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:41.960
<v Speaker 1>com brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:43.480
<v Speaker 1>It's ready, are you