What did spy doctor find that norton missed? It sounds like it can even find loggers that you gave permission to install on your machine. Do they update their files frequently so you can find the latest threats? I used ad-aware and all it found was the same cookies, so I just stick with Norton.
yes, spy doctor found a key logger, it came via email attatchment, I think, end up wipe out the whole mail box just to get rid of the pest.
I hope you mean Spyware Doctor, NOT SpyDoctor. SpyDoctor is a suspect program that "finds" many bad things just to trick you into buying it: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/family_resemblances.htm#2
A firewall is a good basic form of perimeter defense that will keep unsolicited connections from the outside from reaching the inside (trusted side -- your side). The problem is that once a program gets on YOUR system (the trusted side) it can open a connection to the untrusted side. A basic firewall will assume that any connection initiated from the trusted side is legit and will allow a two-way path for information flow. There is a way to test if there is any program using your connection. The basic method is to install a program that monitors traffic flow over your ethernet or wireless adapter. There is a free program from a company called AnalogX that will do this. It is called Net Monitor. A more sophisticated way is to install a packet sniffer on your own computer (Ethereal is a good free one). You would install this on your system and then start it. It will record every packet of information going in and out of your system. You would then do something like load up notepad and type up something (write a letter in Microsoft Word, etc.) The point being that the only traffic going over your card when you are not browsing the web, checking e-mail or downloading a file should be simple pings, ACKs, etc. You should *NEVER* see an outgoing packet that includes what you have been typing. If the keylogger program first encrypts what you type, look for suspicious activity on unknown ports via Ethereal.
There is another option that you may want to consider. If you do a lot of online banking, trading and other financial activities, I would highly recommend getting a second cheap laptop or desktop. Use this computer ONLY for those activities. Lock it down hard (If anyone is interested in how, just PM me) and do not check e-mail with this computer. Also, only go to the sites you need to go to and no others (no porn sites!!!!!). This option should cost you less than $500 and is well worth the added insurance. If you go this route, make sure you do it correctly. You need to bump the security settings on your browser to the highest and manually add those web sites that you absolutely trust. If you do this, the browser will not let you go to any other website except those on your safe list.
I'll tell you this, if anyone in Eastern Europe tried this with me, I'd be calling several friends in Moscow right away. It might cost me ten grand or so, but the crook would be at the bottom of the moskva by the end of the week. Hell, if I lost 174,000, I'd get the FSB to find it for me for $50,000.
Seems you have good connections in Moscow what we call "krisha" (êðûøà ). Glad for you! This could be very useful, especially FSB!
I'll take the bait and assume you're not kidding. It's a horrible practice. Create a Favorites entry for the site and use it.