It happened again last night. I took a call from a customer and was told "my computer is infected". Security Tool was the fake security program that was on the PC. Running into fake security programs is nothing new. This incident surprised me. It was on a Windows 7 machine.
Windows 7 is a much more secure operating system and should, installed with default security settings, be able to resist drive by infections. It appears that the PC manufacturers may be dialing back the security settings to make 7 a friendlier operating system.
There is a way to prevent these pests from invading the computer. Make sure you use the administrator account on your computer only to maintain the machine. Use it to add or remove programs, run windows updates, antivirus scans etc. Do not browse the internet as an administrator. Drive by infections can not be installed if you are operating as a regular user. Yes, I know it can be a pain to switch between users, but you will be much more secure.
To add a new administrator account, open the control panel and go to users. Within users, create a new account. Call it something other than administrator - that name is reserved. Make sure the new account is set as a computer administrator. You may want to put a password on the account as well. Log off your current account and log in using your new administrator account. Go back into the control panel, users. Switch all other accounts to limited. Log off the administrator account and log into one of your limited accounts. Your surfing will be much safer.
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