spyware interview questions
Top spyware frequently asked interview questions
From time to time, I find myself needing a piece of software to perform a specific task. Download.com (CNET) used to be a good site. But now, I find that they bundle a lot of "evilware", i.e. bloatware/adware (spyware?). Despite my best efforts to decline the unwanted items, I frequently end up with a "modified web browser experience" afterwards.
Any sensible approach on how to go about this problem, things being what currently they are?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a Microsoft LifeCam HD sitting atop my monitor. Today, completely out of the blue, its light came on -- I was simply browsing the web (in Chrome) when it happened. After about 5 minutes the webcam turned off.
Naturally, I immediately suspected my ex-wife (when in doubt, I always suspect her), but she isn't computer savvy enough.
I looked over the process list and didn't see anything suspicious. I am running a couple of open source projects and free apps (e.g., greenshot, powermenu, supertray), but I've had them for years. Autoruns reports nothing suspicious in the startup and neither does Windows Defender.
Anyways, what could it be? What should I look at next?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I am an advanced user, using Windows 7 with Avast! antivirus running.
Today I started browsing and faced some weird popup. Upon investigation I found that "Relevant Knowledge" was running in my system.
I was able to uninstall it using the Programs Manager and deleted the file's entries in the registry, but I am a little troubled due to the fact that Avast! was not able to detect it; and secondly, how it came into my system.
Also, what further prevention measures should I take?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I was reading an article based on these products and came up one question I need clarification on. According the author most antivirus software would not be able to detect the presence of a spyware or keylogger program unless it was a known type. Also, spyware removal programs like Spybot/*Ad-aware* will also not detect these programs.
So having read this, I am a little confused as to what defense one has against these programs especially that even in cases where you might trust your friends/family, someone will still be malicious without your knowledge.
My current methods are using the Zonealarm free firewall and Avast free antivirus program. I set the firewall so that in most cases I know which program accesses the internet but to validate which are valid windows/system files are difficult.
Are there any products out there that monitor real time against these products? I fell victim once and found the program when using netstat and fiddler.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Whenever you attempt to shut down, log off or restart windows 7 and there are some applications still working and windows can not close them nicely, Windows 7 will show a black screen that asks you if it should force close these applications before shutting down/restart. Now this is nice feature and it saves you from accidentally closing documents before saving them if you pressed the power button by mistake...
My problem is: I have this screen every time I try to shutdown/restart windows, but the open application list is empty. How come? why would windows asks me if I want to force close some application while it shows me an empty list? I feel something not right here. Could it be a bot something that is hiding itself so windows does not get its name but for some reason windows senses that there are some open application??
Is this normal behavior (bug?)? or I have something wrong going on?
I have Norton AV, Spybot, Malwarebyte, EMET.. all of them reporting nothing suspicious.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I just found out about GMABooster for OSX which supposedly boosts performance for the Intel GMA 950 in my mac mini.
As anyone used this? Is it spyware? The site seems real but at the same time seems a little bit untrustworthy.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Does anyone knows how to get rid of my.freeze.com netassistant? I tried one million things, but this annoying spyware just won't go way....
Source: (StackOverflow)
Possible Duplicate:
What to do if my computer is infected by a virus or a malware?
I think my brother got a case of adware on his Windows XP PC, since he gets occasional pop-ups out of nowhere (even when the browser is closed). He ran the various removal apps like AdAware but the popups persist. My normal suggestion is to just reformat, because I do not want to spend many painful hours trying to find and remove the cause... but maybe you have a better idea?
I'm pretty sure they are all IE popups, so maybe can he just disable IE somehow?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I just logged in to my gmail and was shocked by the amount of automatic responses I got in my inbox. I then looked at my sent messages folder and noticed that apparently, thousands of spam e-mails were sent using my gmail to all my contacts.
These people include trusted contacts such as university and work application managers aswell as other important people.
Now that the e-mails have already been sent, what can I do to control the damage done as much as possible? Should I send all those contacts another e-mail explaining the situation? Note that that would mean that another 5000+ e-mails are being sent from my account (which is probably already flagged as "spam"). If I don't clarify however, this will lead to awkward situations.
I checked the IP history and it also says that some IP has logged in to my account 45 minutes ago. I do not know this IP, so the mails must've been send at an other location with my password. I changed my password, but the mails have already been sent.
I am lost here and only see very bad outcomes of the situation, whatever I do. Should I maybe contact google? What do you recommend?
Source: (StackOverflow)
For the past one month, there seems to have a stealth installer lingering in my computer that will automatically install malicious plugins to all my browsers. I'm not sure what installer is that and I can never seem to trace them too.
The plugins will show up in names that appear "useful", like Media Player, Video Player, BetterSurf, all sort of crap names. I've uninstalled their browser plugins numerous times, but a few days later, the stealth installer will install another one to my browsers in another name, say Media Player 2 or something.
So recently, after I have been disabling and removing the plugins in the browsers, they have heightened their "security". Now I cannot even uninstall or disable the plugins because, at least in Chrome, it says that the plugin is "installed by enterprise policy".
The most annoying part is it will throw up pop-up advertisements and embed advertisements on webpages:
It does not affect only Chrome, but all my other browsers including IE and Firefox.
I scanned my computer and AVG did find those installers. I removed all of them, but they are not really being removed. A few days later, they all came back again only in different names.
What the heck is this, and how did this come into my computer? Now, how can I remove it permanently, for real?
I'm running on Windows 7.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a bit of a spyware problem.
I tried using How to Clean up a Windows Spyware Infestation to help get rid of the spyware/adware on my computer. I have autoruns and process explorer and got rid of the files that did not have a publisher or a company name. I restarted the computer and the same files came back. I got really lost towards the end of the article about the winlogon hooks and trying to find the bad handles and DLL files.
I don't want to delete the winlogon file because I won't be able to log in (according to the warning) and there isn't a publisher name like Microsoft corporation.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Possible Duplicate:
What to do if my computer is infected by a virus or a malware?
What's the best way to clean a computer with multiple accounts infected with spyware, viruses and malware? Should you install and run software to remove the infections on each account? If you install the software on one account, will it clean the entire computer including each account?
For example, some programs like CCleaner will install only on one account and not offer the option for all users (accounts). Does this mean the program will clean the entire computer including other accounts or do I have to install CCleaner on each account to clean up each user's account?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I think I remember reading somewhere recently online that a surprisingly high percentage of spyware on computers is spread from reputable websites; you don't have to visit the Internet's "rough neighborhoods" to get infected. Is this true, and if so, where/how is this documented?
Source: (StackOverflow)