How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out?

NaomiWiflath · 05-07-2008, 06:49 PM

Hi TSF, Long time no see.

I've found that the only viruses that I seem to get are bad registry keys that cause havoc on my system. Mind you, I don't get them often. But just today, I left my computer to go to school. Came back not 3 hours later to find bad things happening. Somehow something took a screen shot of my desktop, then hid all my icons. [sounds like a stupid prank- but I'm the only one who knows to work a computer that well in my home.]

After finally figuring out this was the problem, I tried to system restore. This didn't work [and hasn't for over a month. Could some of my protection programs be preventing it?] so I ran MSconfig and started in safe mode. Avast! and AVG free found nothing, but good Ol Spybot found the bad key. It was something that disabled my firewall among other things on my machine. Got rid of that, restarted, removed a BHO and here I am now. It's not like I go to bad websites. Rather, I did my Fafsa and was looking for scholarships last night.

I've had this happen before- where its only Spybot S & D that is able to find the keys. But How can I prevent bad keys from being made in the first place? Every so often a few get past all my AV's and everything. I actually have it configured so it asks me about any change first. And I haven't had any recently.

I am running SP2 Windows XP Home Edition
I have AVG Free, Avast! Anti Virus, Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad Aware 2007, Spyware Guard, & Spyware Blaster.

dj_kiwi · 05-08-2008, 01:23 AM

Hi there, I got around this problem with "Comodo Firewall"

It asks you if you would like to allow programs to access / write to the registry.

I hope this could be of some use to you.

NaomiWiflath · 05-08-2008, 06:46 AM

I knew I was forgetting something! That bad registry key I caught managed to turn off comodo! I always have it set on Learning so It always asks me before allowing anything. Otherwise things are auto denied. The regestry managed to change all my Comodo settings so everything was allowed- and could not be changed back until the regestry was removed!

johnwill · 05-08-2008, 06:49 AM

Try Spyware Blaster.

dj_kiwi · 05-08-2008, 07:25 AM

are you running AVG & Avast??

NaomiWiflath · 05-08-2008, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnwill

Try Spyware Blaster.

I'm running spyware blaster, AVG and Avast! yes. thats what I don't understand- My computer is pretty loaded security wise.

**koala** · 05-08-2008, 03:22 PM

AVG and Avast are both antivirus programs. This could be causing conflicts and slowdowns. The general rule is "one firewall, one antivirus, many antispyware". I would remove AVG and keep Avast.

NaomiWiflath · 05-08-2008, 06:09 PM

I've been debating what one to remove. I've tried going without one or the other- and both seem to be able to catch things the other cannot. If that makes any sense.

**koala** · 05-08-2008, 06:35 PM

If you're getting so many infections that you need 2 AVs, you might want to consider changing your surfing habits and download sources, or at least switch from IE (which uses ActiveX) to the safer Firefox.

Is your security software catching viruses or other forms of malware? Are they from websites or downloads? Do you ever google the detected infections to see whether they are actually harmful or just minor or false positives?

You can keep both AVG and Avast but just use the one that uses the least system resources for realtime scanning, and disable the other one's realtime features and then use it for weekly scans.

NaomiWiflath · 05-08-2008, 06:57 PM

I actually don't get many infections. Rather- I'm always worried about what could possibly be on my machine that I don't know about. I do use firefox, though.

05-07-2008, 06:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
NaomiWiflath Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 60 OS: XP Home Edition	How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? Hi TSF, Long time no see. I've found that the only viruses that I seem to get are bad registry keys that cause havoc on my system. Mind you, I don't get them often. But just today, I left my computer to go to school. Came back not 3 hours later to find bad things happening. Somehow something took a screen shot of my desktop, then hid all my icons. [sounds like a stupid prank- but I'm the only one who knows to work a computer that well in my home.] After finally figuring out this was the problem, I tried to system restore. This didn't work [and hasn't for over a month. Could some of my protection programs be preventing it?] so I ran MSconfig and started in safe mode. Avast! and AVG free found nothing, but good Ol Spybot found the bad key. It was something that disabled my firewall among other things on my machine. Got rid of that, restarted, removed a BHO and here I am now. It's not like I go to bad websites. Rather, I did my Fafsa and was looking for scholarships last night. I've had this happen before- where its only Spybot S & D that is able to find the keys. But How can I prevent bad keys from being made in the first place? Every so often a few get past all my AV's and everything. I actually have it configured so it asks me about any change first. And I haven't had any recently. I am running SP2 Windows XP Home Edition I have AVG Free, Avast! Anti Virus, Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad Aware 2007, Spyware Guard, & Spyware Blaster.

05-08-2008, 01:23 AM	#2 (permalink)
dj_kiwi Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Swansea - South Wales Posts: 120 OS: WinXP - Linux My System	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? Hi there, I got around this problem with "Comodo Firewall" It asks you if you would like to allow programs to access / write to the registry. I hope this could be of some use to you. __________________ Computer games dont kill people, people kill people!

05-08-2008, 06:46 AM	#3 (permalink)
NaomiWiflath Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 60 OS: XP Home Edition	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? I knew I was forgetting something! That bad registry key I caught managed to turn off comodo! I always have it set on Learning so It always asks me before allowing anything. Otherwise things are auto denied. The regestry managed to change all my Comodo settings so everything was allowed- and could not be changed back until the regestry was removed!

05-08-2008, 06:49 AM	#4 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 27,300 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? Try Spyware Blaster. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

05-08-2008, 07:25 AM	#5 (permalink)
dj_kiwi Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Swansea - South Wales Posts: 120 OS: WinXP - Linux My System	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? are you running AVG & Avast?? __________________ Computer games dont kill people, people kill people!

05-08-2008, 03:22 PM	#7 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 7,845 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? AVG and Avast are both antivirus programs. This could be causing conflicts and slowdowns. The general rule is "one firewall, one antivirus, many antispyware". I would remove AVG and keep Avast. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

05-08-2008, 06:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
NaomiWiflath Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 60 OS: XP Home Edition	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? I've been debating what one to remove. I've tried going without one or the other- and both seem to be able to catch things the other cannot. If that makes any sense.

05-08-2008, 06:35 PM	#9 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 7,845 OS: XP/UBUNTU My System	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? If you're getting so many infections that you need 2 AVs, you might want to consider changing your surfing habits and download sources, or at least switch from IE (which uses ActiveX) to the safer Firefox. Is your security software catching viruses or other forms of malware? Are they from websites or downloads? Do you ever google the detected infections to see whether they are actually harmful or just minor or false positives? You can keep both AVG and Avast but just use the one that uses the least system resources for realtime scanning, and disable the other one's realtime features and then use it for weekly scans. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

05-08-2008, 06:57 PM	#10 (permalink)
NaomiWiflath Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 60 OS: XP Home Edition	Re: How Do I Keep Naughty Regestry Keys out? I actually don't get many infections. Rather- I'm always worried about what could possibly be on my machine that I don't know about. I do use firefox, though.