Security Programs, or "When You're in Danger, What Do You Do?"

A month or two ago, my guild's forums had a keylogger in the advertisements. It downloaded through an exploit in Adobe Reader and everyone who went to our forums was in danger.

We have some serious computer guys -- men who work with computers for a living (and one who grew up a hacker, himself, though not of WoW) -- and this is what we were told to do.

1. Stop using Internet Explorer.
2. Download AVG Free.
3. Download Malwarebytes.
4. Download I-Hate-Keyloggers.
5. Don't run .exe files.
6. Replace Adobe Reader with Foxit.

1. Stop using Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer is the least secure web browser.

IE is popular, thus it is less secure. Hackers have to tailor make their viruses and keyloggers to get through the security holes of specific browsers, and they usually just go with the most popular. So the safest browsers are the less popular ones, like Opera, Chrome, or Firefox.

2. Download AVG Free.

This is free virus protection software, and though it might not be on par with the paid stuff, it's the best of the free stuff. You can set it up to autorun at certain times of day so that you don't have to check on it to know it's scanning.

3. Download Malwarebytes.

This is free malware/spyware software. It does NOT let you set it up to autorun unless you buy the paid version, so just run it manually every now and then.

4. Download I-Hate-Keyloggers.

This is not 100% necessary, but if you get a keylogger on your computer, this will stop it from keylogging. It does NOT REMOVE your keylogger. It just blocks it.

5. Don't run .exe files.

Chrome actually has a feature where it won't automatically run .exe files on webpages, which is a nice selling point. Note that a .exe file is not in itself a virus -- it is the file type used to put a program on your computer (which can be anything from Photoshop to a virus). Because viruses are programs.

Thus, if you don't know what a .exe is, do not run it or you're asking for trouble. But don't fear that every .exe is a virus if you intended to download one and it's from a trusted site. But if you didn't intend to download it or you get one from your aunt in an email that says "Hello Friend," then it's a virus.

6. Replace Adobe Reader with Foxit.

This was for our specific issue, that Adobe Reader was being exploited for the virus, but my raid leader swore up and down that Foxit was just better than Adobe Reader. Lighter, faster, et al.