LegendOfLegaia.net

I figured I'd make a thread I'll update once in awhile (which probably means not often) with information about computers that may just help those non-computer savvy people here. They won't be full tutorials, just general stuff that may help you in the future.

Post jumping:
Malware terms (this post)
Malware definitions and information
Types of "Viruses" (Scroll half way down the post)
Windows Tools Part 1.0.0 (Start Menu shortcuts)
Windows Tools Part 1.0.1 ([My] Computer interface & [My] Computer properties)
Windows Tools Part 1.0.2 (System Restore)
Windows Tools Part 1.0.3 (System properties)

Let's start simple:

Malware, viruses, etc. Let's begin with the terms. You can kind of think of it as a "tree" for the names and what belongs to what. For example, is a virus a type of malware? yes. Is a malware a type of virus? no.

Malware = everything
Malware branches off into all the other categories, which includes the following (Note that these are all different from one another, hence why they're their own branch of malware):

Virus
Trojan
Spyware
Adware
Worm
Ransomware
Java Exploit
Rootkit
Rogue
Backdoors
Dialers
URL Injections

Now, realize that some of these terms are interchangeable depending on the type of malware... In other words, some forms of malware can have more than one category. For example, many fake anti-viruses (malware that disguise as antiviruses installed on your computer) are mostly deemed rogue, but may also be seen as trojans or adware.

:O

I need this

*saved*

"So, what is a worm? What about ransomware, what is that!?"

Well, here are some definitions for everyone:

Virus - Basically it's a program that can "self-replicate", just like a virus in nature. It tends to either inject files (usually system files) with code and replicate in that manner, or create new files. They can slow down the system or even mess up system files and cause blue screens or even keep your operating system from starting.

Trojan - This is similar to a Virus in that it can inject itself into files. However, it must first be activated by a user running the program (an executable file you'll download). The Trojan horse is used so that a hacker can gain access to your computer and view all your files and do what they please.

Spyware - These are simply programs installed on a users computer without their knowledge and will collect information. Whether it's basic information such as what sites they visit, down to when you're inputting your credit card number onto a website.

Adware - Software that advertises some form of product. Usually is seen as a pop up (like if you're just playing a game and then a pop up shows up on your computer). Hence the name "ad" ware.

Worm - These are like viruses, but can instead self replicate through network streams. So say you're connecting to a network in your home and you have a worm on your computer that's slowing your computer down significantly. It has the capability to replicate itself if it's connect to another computer on the network and then pass over the worm to that computer.

Ransomware -These are usually confused with being adware or trojan horses for some reason. Ransomware is a type of malware that will make it impossible for you to do anything but demand purchasing it. A famous recent one is the "FBI Virus" which is actually a ransomware malware that starts when Windows starts, and then tells you to pay $100 or else you won't be able to use the internet anymore.

Java Exploit - These are the reason you need to update your JAVA at any given time it asks you to. So if you get a pop up saying "Update JAVA!" then you better do it. Exploits are types of malware that are accessed into a users computer when they run a JAVA application that's been injected with the malware. So you can basically see it as a virus that's hidden in a JAVA program on the website and when you visit, you now got that virus.

Rootkit - These are the worse malware you can possibly get, and are also the most complicated in removal process. They'll always start along with Windows and are usually injected within one of Windows driver files. A famous one is the ZeroAccess rootkit, which creates a separate partition and injects itself into a driver that's installed on Windows. Rootkits can cause slow downs, keep windows from booting, blue screens, or even corrupt windows to where you need to either do a repair install or reinstallation of Windows.

Rogue - These are VERY similar to ransomware. It's a software that will trick the user into purchasing it, in thinking that the user will benefit from it. The difference is that a Rogue will tell the user that it found tons of infections, whether they're actually there or not, and then say to remove them that the user must purchase the software. Don't fall for it! There's nothing to remove! Not to mention, it'll probably bug you saying that you need to purchase it again within a few days.

Backdoors - Exactly the same as a trojan except that the hacker can remote into the computer and either control it or simply view what you're doing.

Dialers - Probably something none of you will have to ever worry about again (Or I hope not, anyway). It's simply a type of virus that will change your dialup settings to a premium phone number and your phone bill will end up showing up with an outrageous charge on it.

URL Injections - I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure on these ones. But basically, they're a type of malware that simply injects itself into an html/javascript/php/etc. page and then forces you to download a malware into the computer. Probably a typical virus that doesn't require user interaction.

Note: There are different types of "Viruses" which I'll go over next time.

-- Tue Aug 28, 2012 2:05 am --

There are actually tons of types of viruses, and you'll probably rarely - if ever - hear the names of them. But I'll still name some here... How about just 6 of them?

1. Armored Viruses - These are viruses that are designed to be extremely hard to decompile. By decompile, I mean when experts take a virus and expose all of the code in it to learn how it works and what it does to a system. Armored viruses will usually "scramble themselves" or do other neat stuff to make it extremely hard to decompile. It's also known that these types of viruses will trick antiviruses into thinking they're located in a different location on the computer than where they really are. In summary: Difficult.

2. Polymorphic Viruses - When these replicate themselves into other files, they'll actually "change" in the newly infected file. This makes it much more difficult for virus scanners to find them, and can be a headache to completely remove without the correct algorithms to figure out how they're replicating. So another name you might think of it as (but try not to refer to it as) is a "mutable" virus.

3. Stealth Viruses - The name tells it all. These will hide themselves from antivirus software to avoid deletion, once scanned. They'll either usually point the antivirus program to the "uninfected" file (in other words, it saves a copy of the uninfected file elsewhere) so it doesn't pick up on the stealth virus. Another strategy is that the virus will move itself to another file, infect that code, until the antivirus has finished scanning the originally infected file. Once the AV is done, the virus will move back into the file to infect it again.

4. Retro Viruses - Usually, Retro Viruses attack antivirus programs and disable them. Sometimes, though, they'll also infect the antivirus program so it's not able to work anymore (and usually requires a reinstallation). If anyone has had an antivirus program completely stop working once their computer was infected, that means the infection had some kind of "retro" in it .

5. Cavity Viruses - Most viruses infect the "end" of a file, which is easy. However, the cavity virus finds a "hole" in files and will literally embed itself into the file using these holes. This makes the file look like the exact same size, at the same time not effecting the functionality of that file. So your internet browser may be infected and you wouldn't know it!

6. Macro Viruses - These are types of viruses that can be infected within a file using the "Macro Language". It's really well known for these to be found in documents made with Microsoft Word, or similar programs - where the Macro Language is available. So if you get an email from someone you don't know that contains a .doc file, beware - it CAN have a virus inside of it. I'm not sure if it's the macro virus that's located in jpegs and other image files, but yes - it *IS* possible for jpegs and such to become infected with viruses (again, I don't know what KIND of virus it's called for those).

Ok, I'm done with malware. Time to move onto other stuff.

K73SK wrote:
Ransomware
Java Exploit
Rogue
Dialers
URL Injections

I've never heard of these until now Please go on.

Ok, there's a lot to cover, but I'm going to go over tools provided in Windows. I'm currently running Win 7 at the moment, so that's what I'm going to explain.

So, let's start basic for the sake of what this thread is for, shall we? By basic, I mean just what most of the shortcuts are for in the start menu itself. Next post, I'll explain about stuff inside those.

So, click start and you'll (likely) be presented with different things like the following:

"Computer" (or My Computer) --> This is basically where you can explore anything that can "store" space. So when you open this, you'll see the "local disk C:\". This is where your operating system is more than likely installed unless you explicitly changed it. Don't worry about how to do that, just know that. Other things you'll likely see are CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives, maybe a few "removable disks" which are for flash drives or memory card readers, and you might even see a camera or internet backup storage device. There's plenty that can be here. We'll go in more depth later.

"(My) Documents, (My) Pictures, etc." --> Don't make me explain these, please... Ok, I will. It's where your documents, pictures, etc. go. Congrats!

"Control Panel" --> This is where all the configuration and system tools can be found. You can do all kinds of things to Windows using what's found in here. That includes creating new users, uninstalling programs, formatting drives, etc. We'll have plenty to talk about in regards to what each tool can do for you.

"Devices and Printers" --> Where your installed printers, scanners, faxes, etc. can be seen. You can even add devices and printers using this tool, which is another thing we'll explain in a later post.

"Default Programs" --> This is where you can do stuff like set what your default programs are. For example, what your default internet browser is (IE, Firefox, Chrome, etc.)

"Help and Support" --> Exactly what it sounds like.

Things I know about. What about ram. I wanna learn how to install moar ram inside my pc

First, just in case someone got confused, I wanted to explain what an 'Operating System' is since I did mention it above, but it may have thrown some confusion to non-tech savvy people. Operating System (OS) is simply a term that refers to ... well, the OS you have installed. OS' that you should know about are Windows 3.1/95/98/2000/ME/NT/XP/Vista/7/8, Linux (all kinds of versions), Mac OSX (all kinds), etc. So if someone says "I have Windows 7!" then they're saying, "I have the Windows 7 operating system!"

I'm going to skip the (My) documents/pictures/etc. since there's really nothing to explain. And if you need that explaining, then I suggest selling your computer.

SO! Let's talk about (My) Computer!

Left-click it. You just opened up a window where you can see stuff. Congratulations! You can access any partitions created on your operating system through (My) Computer. Most of you will only see "Local Disk (C:)" or something similar under "Hard Disk Drives" or "Hard Drives." However, there are others that may see other things, such as "Recovery (D:)" or "Data (D:)" or even both of those with and E: as their drive letters.

Now, you may have asked, "Wait... What's a 'partition', K73SK?" - Great question! First of all, the definition (my own) to a Hard Drive:

A Hard Drive is simply hardware that's inside your computer in which can store data. This hardware does not require power to keep the data, as you can easily unplug it from the computer internally - or if you have an external hard drive, unplug it from the USB/eSATA/etc. and the power cord. On this hard drive, you can separate different sections to store data on, which these sections are called partitions.

Why would you want to split partitions into a hard drive, you may ask. This is so someone can be more organized in storing their data on a hard drive, and it also helps with doing great things like installing an additional operating system on the exact same hard drive. Ever heard of "dual-booting"? If not, then don't worry about it! Just wanted to say it!

Ok, now to continue. You can generally view information on the partitions (note that [My] Computer labels them as hard drive when that's not necessarily accurate) such as how much space is on them. In Windows , you can just hold your mouse over the partition and eventually a little pop up box should come up saying how much free space and how much total space is on the drive. In Vista/7, you can visually see this with a little graphical bar. I'm not sure about , but you can also view the information by clicking on the partition once - in the toolbar located at the bottom or bottom left (Depending on your setup).

"What's 'NTFS', K73SK?" - Don't worry about it, that's a different subject.
"What about 'bitlocker'?" - You must be using either Windows Vista or Windows 7. Again, that's a different subject.

Ok, so now we got a lot of information handed to us just now in regards to what you could do in (My) Computer by a simple 2 clicks. Let's move on to something more now, shall we?

Close out of (My) Computer and then go back to the start menu. This time, *RIGHT* click (My) Computer and you'll see a list of different options to choose from. Select "Properties"

Now, if you're using Windows , this will open a small window with 10 or so tabs that you can select from the top. If you're using Vista/7, it'll open a large window with the Windows logo and a bunch of other stuff. The tab that's open by default on is going to have the same information. Read as follows:

=-=-==-=-=-=----=
"Windows 'x' Edition (SP1/2/3 <-- if any)" or "Windows Vista 'x' (SP1/2 <-- if any)" or "Windows 7 'x' (SP1 <-- if any)"

This simply tells you the operating system you currently have installed. SP stands for Service Pack. Windows has a total of 3, Vista 2, and 7 has only 1 (easy to remember, right?). If you just read that and realized you have a lower number, then I highly recommend you go to Microsoft's website and download the next service pack. If you have SP1 on , first install SP2 and then SP3. If you don't see 'SP' anywhere in there, that means you have no service pack. Just make sure to install them in respective order and you'll be good to go.

Processor: This simply tells you what CPU you have in the computer. Different subject! Note that in , it'll simply say the processor you have (e.g. it may say Intel Pentium or something like AMD Athlon).

RAM/Memory: Tells you how much memory you have in the computer. Do not mistaken this for hard drive space, as 90% of the non-tech savvy people tend to do in life. Memory is to RAM while space is to hard drive. Remember that! Windows may just say something like "256mb ram" or something along those lines instead of "Ram:" or "Memory:" -- again, another topic

Vista/7 also have either "32-bit operating system" or "64-bit operating system". This is a huge topic that I can get into so don't worry about it for now, just realize there are two there and this is where you can find out what you got for when you want to install software. So if you go to download something and they have a 32-bit and 64-bit available, download the version that matches your Operating System. 32-bit works on a 64-bit Operating System, but it's highly recommended to download the 64-bit.

That's all I'm going to get into in those details. I'll continue with more, later.

Got something difficult that I could never understand?

redhollowlives999 wrote:Got something difficult that I could never understand?

Girls

Also, on topic, I don't really have anything to post in here I just copy and paste this stuff into a doc to study later

Girls

Except, I get girls.

Also, on topic, I don't really have anything to post in here I just copy and paste this stuff into a doc to study later

Try each stuff out. A quick google search on each subject wouldn't kill you.