To minimize the risk of getting infected you should only visit websites that are work related such as verifying patients insurance. Downloading games, screen-savers, music, toolbars, search programs, or anything else that is not required for your practice is risking getting infected. Mistyping a website address is common and could result in your internet browser being redirected to other websites that are potentially harmful. Websites can download and execute malicious code on your computer. These “drive-by” downloads can include trojans, spyware, advertising popups, porn dialers, and redirectors. These programs may then take over your computer making it difficult and sometimes impossible to run the programs needed to perform your job.

To prevent infection, antispyware programs are needed. AdAware and Spybot are both available free on the internet. AdAware can be downloaded from the http://www.lavasoft.com website. Spybot can be downloaded at http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html. Both programs have a built in update feature to ensure the latest protection. Updates must be run to have the latest data available on the spyware threats. Antispyware programs available for purchase can be reviewed at http://www.adwarereport.com.
The review lists the following top three programs as:

1. Spyware Eliminator
2. Spyware Doctor
3. Spy Sweeper

Most malware installs itself into the system startup. Windows 98, ME, XP, and 2003 systems have a utility called System Configuration Utility built in to manage startup items on your computer. Windows 2000 systems do not come with this utility by default, however, it can be downloaded from this website http://www.techadvice.com/win2000/m/msconfig_w2k.htm. Instructions are also included on the website.
Click start, then run, type msconfig and click ok. This will start the System Configuration Utility, click on the startup tab to view the items in startup. These items may be valid programs. Extreme caution must be used when editing system configuration or the registry as improper changes may render a system useless. Startup information can be referenced at the following website http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html. This site has a comprehensive list of known startup programs to help you decipher this information at http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php.

Hijackthis is a very powerful tool used to check for and remove items from your system. Be aware that hijackthis used improperly can render your system non-functional. Hiajckthis can be downloaded from http://www.merijn.org.
Run hijackthis, click scan, then click save log. The log file will be called hijackthis.log and will be saved in your my documents folder by default. The log can be posted on various internet forums for evaluation and advice on what to remove. One such forum is http://forums.spywareinfo.com/. Please read the website’s guidelines and rules before posting.

Cleanup from these infections is time consuming and there are no guarantees against re-infection.

We don’t enjoy cleaning systems as the work is tedious, time consuming and expensive. All we can do is warn you of the dangers that exist. Please help us help you by being cautious.

The ICM Technical Team

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