"mallware signeture download" [sic]

[pacificw]

Updated Dec 2 '09

Possibly Microsoft deliberately misspells the words to signal to the computer owner that certain core components of windows have been compromised.

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The error message "mallware signeture download" [sic] was the name of a report Windows Defender tried to submit about problems on one of my computers.

Edited December 4, 2009 by pacificw

[DreamsCentral]

Hi,

I suggest you switch to Comodo or ZoneAlarm for your firewall. And also use WinPatrol.

While Comodo will bug you very frequently about alerts without defining them, Zonealarm will tell you what exactly is happening. I switched from COMODO (ranked highest) to ZoneAlarm (Second most powerful). Now I know when my ISP tries to use my computer as a router AND I BLOCKED THAT.

I won't recommend Comodo unless you have good knowledge of different ports on computer.. 2303, 25, 198, and so on. (NOT LPT, COM, and USB). ZoneAlarm may tell you what the traffic is. Even I was puzzled as why somebody would try to continuously access my computer. But when I am using ZoneAlarm, I came to know that these IPs were of the Reliance Communications, whose wireless I use. It showed that a packet originating from of the ISP's address, meant for another computer, was being routed through mine. Comodo and other firewalls seldom give you all these details.

Coming to Winpatrol, it is a software that tracks each and every changes on your computer. For instance, if any program tries to change your home page or settings related to Automatic Updates, it alerts you before allowing the change. I have been using it since an year and have recommended it to many. It will also help you find out if there is any malware on your system.

On the final note, I wud say that it is not a good idea to have Windows Firewall "ON" when you are using a third party firewall. It may create conflicts that may cause programs from responding and may lead to unexpected behavior on other applications.

For further information, please check out this article on enhancing Windows system performance. These days, Windows Updates are also creating computer problems as I found them to install trackback applets (equivalent to Trojans). Check this out this article.

Please let me know if you find the information useful.

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Best Regards,

DreamsCentral

Twitter: @DreamsCentral

Signed: Monday, November 30, 2009, 1:27:02 PM IST

[pacificw]

Winpatrol is great. Very nice program.

Comodo firewall I tried but it needs more memory or resources than that computer has. Comodo seems like the most "advanced" but made for newer computers mainly.

I'm about finished with windows. I put xubuntu on a partition and it seems a lot faster than windows, plus its free and supposedly doesn't get hacked by viruses.

Ubuntu and Xubuntu have a much more pleasant user interface than Microsoft Windows too (in my opinion).