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Thread: Zombies

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Walnut Creek, California

    Exclamation Zombies

    Have you ever wondered whether your computer has been taken over by a bot which turned it into a zombie? I am wondering about that right now.

    How does a computer behave when it's secretly sending out stuff? Can you see it send on the internet icon? Does it slow down for no apparent reason. Has the hard drive been filled with stuff you can't really see?

    I use Symantec AV Corporate and AdAware SE. The antivirus is automatically kept up to date and I run AdAware regularly. There is also a firewall on the router. But I still can't manage to convince myself all is well. There are too many freezes and it is frequently slow on both the input and the output. Sometimes the screen is way behind the typing.

    I just can't shake the idea that something isn't right. Can anyone shed light on how zombies can be detected?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Check your task manager - the delay could just be lots of cpu or ram hogging applications that yo don't actually need or use.

    As for checking your zombie status, IANA-ITguy, but you should be safe with that setup. Most of the major commercial antivirus programs work pretty well against being taken over.

    how old is your computer? You may just need a little upgrade.

    Exiled

  3. #3
    Jim, I'm pretty sure that's just a typical Windows user experience. After about a year of use, Windows gets all crufty and starts hanging for no reason. When forced to use Windows, I typically schedule a full format / reinstall every year or two. It's cathartic.

    As for detecting that you have been zombied, modern rootkits are way too smart to give themselves up so easily. If you are so inclined, this is a great tool for finding rootkits, but it's fairly technical.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    I think the best way to tell if your computer has turned into a zombie is if it keeps on trying to eat your brain.



    --Jason "sorry" Evans

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