Warning-account hacking

[Kaidelina]

In the last few days, two people that voc and i know had their accounts hacked, all their stuff sold, and moneys transferred out of their accounts. They logged on to find their characters penniless and armourless. 

Both of these people are from Alexstrasza and are high level characters.  They are not sure what they may have done, if anything, to put themselves at risk.

Just to put that out there so you guys are aware.. and to warn you to be careful.

[magnetite]

Don't give out your password to anyone, and run spyware/adware scans to look to keyloggers and stuff.

[Kothnok]

Thanks for the heads-up Kaid.  I'll be running my virus scanner tonight just in case.

For those that do now own a virus scanner, but have access to the internet, there are free ones available that run right from your browser.

I've had good luck with Trend Micro (I run their AV on all my computers).

http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_pcc.asp

[magnetite]

If you want a free anti-virus that does a better job than Norton, you can get either AVG (http://www.grisoft.com) or Avast (http://www.avast.com. Trend Micro is one of the best on the market, but this is if you don't want to spend money to get the full version.

[Caedryne]

Here are several programs everyone should run at least once a week "Clean Up" -Ad-Aware Free version - Spybot Search and Destroy - Spyware Blaster - SSS - your virus scanner (AVG is what I use and I haven't had a problem in over ten years) - but especially -run Ewido anti spyware. There are free versions of all of these but not one will do the work of all. Some of these will protect your computer, other will find and qaurantine trojans, key loggers, hijackers,  etc. Not one program can do everything. However the BEST thing to do is change your password weekly to something totally random - don't use kids names, don't use any  self identfying info ie birthdays, license plate numbers, the password must be totally random numbers letters 

If you are really into this download HiJack This (not the easiest app to run but effiecent)

[Caedryne]

On More Thing:
If you are using a router, everyone and his brother knows the password is admin and the name field is left blank 99% of the time. You just made it extremely easy to hack into your computer for anyone with half a brain. Change the password to at least 26 characters that make no sense use Caps, numbers, &^%$# etc -that will take 50% away from anyone hacking in. Change the name, not to your name any name that's hard to guess that isn't in a dcitionary and not your character name, wife, kids make some weird name up. Write these down in a little book so you don't forget - hide the book if you have kids - parent's underwear drawers are pretty good make a copy give to a friend you trust. This will protect you 100%. Most if not all routers give you options of what ports to open for this game. You can also make the game run faster by configuring your router (read your manual). If you don't have a router buy one - they are cheap. I prefer Linksys but D-link makes decent routers too. And if you use Wi-FI make sure you have encryption activated to the highest standard the router supports. Access your router by typing 192.168.1.1 in the url. It's also a good idea to change that I.P. address to something else (read your manual). You won't need a software firewall app after this, the router is your HARDWARE firewall - all have a software firewall built in you can use too if you want.

[Gailzee]

I agree with the recommendations above. I use Adaware se and AVG as well.

Make sure a firewall is up. I'm still using the old Sygate. I know I'll have to change it soon, but man that was one heck of a firewall. Too bad Norton bought them out.... 

[genny]

yeah, used to use sygate 

I go for the really obscure letters, numbers, characters passwords for stuff that matters and take me forever to remember and never click on anything random, - always running an active virus scanner and spyware - and browse with firefox with adblock plus.  It seems to nuke a ton of stuff that others get.

(And I second the scan with multiple spyware scanners on a frequent basis, just keep 1 on an active scan - not all spyware scanners are the same)

[Darkling]

I use Zonealarm Pro and Counterspy for constant active protection against spyware/adware/hijacks/keyloggers/hackers. I also use Kapersky Anti-virus which hasn't failed me yet. I stay away from McAffee and Norton cause their software seems to hijack my computer from the get-go. Webroot Spysweeper is great as well. I use that one on my laptop. There are a lot of freebies out there which have already been mentioned, but I tend to look at test sites and reviews to determine what I want to use.

I used Sygate for about, oh an hour, and that was trying to get it off my desktop cause it jacked it up bad.

[voctovian]

I found this scanner useful. 

http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/trojanscan.asp

It takes about 10 minutes on a relatively fast computer to run the default scan. 

[Gailzee]

I use Zonealarm Pro and Counterspy for constant active protection against spyware/adware/hijacks/keyloggers/hackers. I also use Kapersky Anti-virus which hasn't failed me yet. I stay away from McAffee and Norton cause their software seems to hijack my computer from the get-go. Webroot Spysweeper is great as well. I use that one on my laptop. There are a lot of freebies out there which have already been mentioned, but I tend to look at test sites and reviews to determine what I want to use.

I used Sygate for about, oh an hour, and that was trying to get it off my desktop cause it jacked it up bad.

That's too bad TB, I used Sygate for years. I did a poll on the AMD website and Sygate was the most recommended at the time by the forum users. It does take some time to attune it to what you want, but afterwards, it gave me no problems and I hadn't had any viruses, and exceptionally few adwares get through in the years I used it.

After Sygate was bought out, I tried Kerio's was non plussed and switched back for now. This is what I want in a firewall:

A. Free
B. Wont' pop up the same warnings I had already OKed(zone alarm is so anoying in their latest version of freeware)
C. Will give me very good protection without killing my bandwidth.
D. Free(just added for emphasis ) I rather have 98% free protection than 100% with a nice monthly fee. I don't frequent questionable sites so I'm not too concerned that I get perfection.

[Khanus]

And if you use Wi-FI make sure you have encryption activated to the highest standard the router supports

MAC address all the way, no two computers have the same address, and most home networks dont have enough wireless units to make it a real problem.
WEP PSK and all that is ok too.

[un4]

http://www.earthlink.net/software/nmfree/spyscan/ worked nicely for me.