Knowledgebase

Welcome to the LanZing.Net knowledge base.

The five most recently added articles are:
2006-04-20: KB10104 - Error 602 - port is already open
2006-03-29: KB10185 - How to Uninstall the High Speed Software (for Mac OSX users)
2006-03-29: KB10054 - Five-Hour Session Timeout
2006-03-25: KB10190 - How to Check for Auto-dial Settings and Programs
2006-01-31: KB10189 - Manually Configuring Outlook 2003 for Email Service
 

The five most frequently viewed articles are:
2005-07-05: KB10058 - Outlook Express Error 0x800ccc0e
2005-11-11: KB10173 - Frequent Disconnection Troubleshooting Guide
2005-02-27: KB10080 - How to Download the High Speed Software (For Windows XP users)
2005-03-29: KB10158 - How to Setup LanZing.Net Mail in Incredimail
2005-05-05: KB10174 - Windows Shuts Down Unexpectedly with an RPC Error (W32 Blaster)
 

Viruses

A computer virus is a piece of code that is attached to a program or file that has the capability of replicating itself. Computer viruses, which require some form of human interaction to pass an infected file or program to another host, are often confused with Worms which do not require human interaction. There are a wide variety of computer viruses out today, however with the advent of the Internet computer viruses are not nearly as much of an issue as Worms.

Viruses fall into a greater category of problematic computer programs called Malware. Fortunately, there are many different Antiviral Software suites available to help detect and prevent a vast majority of computer viruses.

Malware

Malware, or Malicious Software, is any software written with the explicit purpose of doing harm to a computer system. Examples of Malware include Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, and Spyware.

Issues

Aside from the obvious loss of productivity, Malware can become a business issue for both you and us under different circumstances. Namely:

• Certain Worms, Viruses, and Trojan Horses send Spam, causing possible TOS violations.
• Increaced support calls.
• Wasted bandwidth.
• Leaks of confidential information. Some worms have even been known to e-mail random documents to random people.
• Loss of end-user privacy.
• Orangized attacks using large numbers of end-user computers, such as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.

Mitigation

We do have a few methods to mitigate the effects of Malware, namely:

• Virus scanning e-mail sent via our Mailserver.
• Promptly notifying ISPs of end-users who are suspected of having Viruses and/or Worms on their computers.
• Running and strongly encouraging others to run Antiviral Software.

Worm

A computer Worm is a piece of code that is attached to a program or file that has the capability of replicating itself. Sometimes people refer to Worms as Viruses, however Viruses require some form of human interaction to infect another host. Such interaction can be sending an e-mail message or sharing an infected floppy disk. Worms do not require such interaction and can spread from host to host automatically. Some worms works by copying itself on other machines that have Windows File Sharing enabled with a weak administrative password.

Worms fall into a greater category of problematic computer programs called Malware. Fortunately, there are many different Antiviral Software suites available to help detect and prevent a vast majority of Worms.

Trojan Horse

A Trojan Horse (also known as a Trojan) is a program that masquerades as a legitimate piece of software, however in actuality is Malware. Some examples include software marketed as a screensaver that in actuality open a backdoor on the host that allows an unscrupulous person to control the host.

World Wide Web Resources

• McAfee
• Symantec
• The CERT® Coordination Center (Carnegie Mellon University)
• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)