A great deal has been written about what can happen to your computing experience if you allow your computer to be infected (or remain infected) by malware. Not much has been written about what an infected computer can do to others on the Internet.

People who deal in computer statistics suggest that approximately 30 to 35 percent of personal computers are compromised (infected) by backdoor Trojan programs called bots. These programs run in the background and usually do not have a large affect on the infected PC. The user is frequently totally unaware of their existence. (The programs can exist on a protected PC if spyware programs are not run regularly to detect and remove them.) A bot, also known as a RAT (remote access Trojan horse program) allows the individual or group that originated the program to send commands to the PC without the owner's knowledge. The computers are essentially turned into zombies that can be controlled remotely.

Compromised computers are usually combined into a bot network. A bot network is a collection of infected computers configured for the purposes of the controlling entity. These underground networks are not much different from normal networks in function. Because of these networks, unwitting home computer users are responsible for most DOS (Denial Of Service) attacks which shut down complete networks like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and others. Such massive attacks cannot be mounted from individual servers without the servers being detected and closed down. RAT networks are also used to spread spam and other malware including the common computer virus.

Just for your general information it is estimated that if your computer is online for just twenty minutes, and is not protected, you will be infected by some kind of malware. If you have a broadband connection the time for infection is even less. Most users don't realize that the attacking programs are automated. There is no personal element to the attack. The programs simply look for computers that have an open port. That's all it takes. The onus is on you to run the proper software (firewall, anti-virus, and malware detectors) and to exercise the necessary care when responding to e-mail offers and any dialog boxes that popup. Remember some of these are tricky, i.e. "no may mean yes"- read the information provided. Even then it wouldn't hurt to cross your fingers.

Now a word about the Windows SP2 update. I've read negative comments, both online and on our message board, so I though I'd put in my two cents. I believe everybody should install it. The benefits far outweigh the risks. It's almost like a new windows release. As always, when you make major changes to your system, back up your data and have the disks needed to reinstall your programs. If you don't and have problems, go running to mama, you won't find much sympathy elsewhere.

I have installed it on two computers, a desktop and a laptop, without any problems. There are some differences in operation to get used to. For instance Outlook Express will not download pictures (html display not text) unless you specifically click to tell it to.

I went to my computer supplier and asked if they were having any special problems. One of the techs said he had installed it on 75 machines (not all new machines) without any problem. Some of the other techs, however, had occasional problems particularly on machines with many programs installed. (The odd thing was that the same programs installed after SP2 ran fine.) The general consensus was that if your machine was fairly clean and you did not have hardware with special drivers or run some special purpose programs, you would probably not have problems. One caveat was to make certain you were not running any malware (run Spybot 1.3 and Adaware latest versions and reference files).

Check out the following websites for more information.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811113 List of fixes included with SP2.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242 Some programs that have problems with SP2 -why and how to fix

CAG.

Are you a Zombie?