Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The King of Kwangju]

I mention it not to give myself credibility on the topic (it doesn't) but to explain why I clear my cache all the time. When I'm working I usually have a few different browsers open to check what I'm doing as I go. I'll clear the cache to make sure I'm seeing freshest. Netscape 4.7 is particularly tricky - I have to keep going into the temp files and clearing them "manually."

In normal surfing I hardly ever clear the cache.

[Demophobe]

Computers are different things to different people. I play games and having a clean fast, daily-defragged computer is a must. Also, I like a fast syetem, something which can only be achieved and maintained through regular attention.

If you think the proxy thing is retentive, that's your call. I personally get a faster connection with it, and have used it at various times as a work-around for blocked sites. As for wanting to be anonymous, it can't be beat, save having a proxy program on your computer. Some people just want to be invisible, and that is their choice. When I start into chained proxies or tunnelling proxies...that's retentive.

I would call your attitude toward your computer lax, but different strokes for different people. I like 20-second boot times, fast executes, lean caches, few cookies (which can be good, not bad or horrible), uncluttered folders, little OS bloat and organization. It's my filing cabinet and I like to cull it and know well what's in it. Nothing wrong with that. Like my home desk, work desk, books, papers and ledgers...organization through culling and organization just keeps life in those environments workable in the best way. Knowing that there aren't old .log files, web pages, .gifs and .jpegs, cookies and whatever else gets loaded into my system when I surf makes me feel good. I paid a lot for my system and I take care of it.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" doesn't apply to Windows, as it slowly but surely, bit by byte, breaks daily. Before you know it, it's a mess of shattered glass proportions. I'd rather practice maintenance than cure.

[jazblanc77]

[The King of Kwangju]

ok, ok, so I downloaded a trial of Window Washer. I installed it on one of my test machines that gets pretty heavy use, and ran it twice this week.

The Good: It removed 319 megs of crud as well as some registry doodads.
Highly configurable - I can keep my cookies.

The Bad: Didn't detect some of my browsers out of the box, but I could get it to clean these by opening them when I run the prog.

I realize most people only have 1 or 2 browsers, so I'm willing to forgive that. Everything it removed I could've deleted myself (except the registry things), but it would've taken a lot longer.

Good program.

[Demophobe]

Hi King. I'm glad it helped you. Of course, one can do a manual deletion of all of that stuff, but with a couple of clicks it's done for you.

Can you add the 2nd browser through the "Custom Plug-in" feature? I have about 8 custom plug-ins for some different programs, perhaps this is necessary for your browser. I also delete the contents of the prefetch folder, as I heard that this gets really plugged up and Windows actually spends time wading through a sea of prefetch files to speed up an executable.

One look in there and you realize that any .exe file you have ever run is in there, even installers which one tends to run only once.

[The King of Kwangju]

Fooling around with the "custom plug-in" thing gets it to work, although the second app you linked to picked up moz out of the box. The second one is quite good, but it doesn't have a report on how many files it cleaned, which is an odd omission.

[Demophobe]

True. Also, I am a bit worried about the CCleaner taking such a short time to work. I know that deleting files doesn't take long, but it seems to be just a bit too fast. I also found out recently that it doesn't take care of all the files in the C:/Documents and Settings folders for each user, under a hidden folder called "Local Settings". In there are 2 temp directories which CCleaner misses altogether. Those will need manual deletion are where I have found a couple of trojans lurking on my wife's computer lately. It's the area where downloaded files go before they are written to the HDD (the place you specify) and they just stay there after the file has completed d/l and has been written to the HDD....when a d/l initiates, if there is an infected file, this is the area it will be. Deletion of these files is, IMHO, important.

Interestingly enough, my wife's surfing habits are tame, and only on Korean sites, yet she gets a good number of trojans and web bugs. The Korean internet seems like a dangerous place. So many scripts and controls loaded into each page. The Daum frontpage often slows down many lesser machines to a chug...it's so loaded up with flash and active x stuff. They really like an animated, colorful web surf. I guess it looks cool, but load times are long and too many malicious scripts....I really think that Koreans on the net are tracked and followed and even exploited easily....by advertisers and other producers of goods and services.

They are prompted to install many 3rd party controls on pages and click "yes" very quickly, without thinking about signing etc...
Privacy just isn't an issue here and trust seems to be very high indeed. The trojans she had were not malicious ones, just trackers and followers, to keep a watch on habits, most likely an advertiser collecting data or something.

Perhaps it's the same on many western sites as well, but my surfing habits are such that I never see it. I just surf boring sites I guess....no flash, no controls, no animation at all....not even in the ads.

[Dalton]

Here's a clean, respectable link to get Window Washer 5.51

Window Washer
Scroll down and find Window Washer 5.51 on the right. DL it and open and read the .nfo file(s) with notepad. The rip is built into the program. Just install it. Run it every time you go off line.

[Demophobe]

[eamo]

Wow!

I downloaded Ccleaner, ran it, and it removed about 25,000 files!!!! My PC was an absolute sewer of useless crud!

So, to surmise.

If I run anti-virus (I use that free Grisoft one AVG), use my XP firewall, and also use Adaware and Ccleaner about once a week will I have a clean computer?

Or is there yet more crap to deal with?

[Demophobe]

Yep.... clean but that's not all...get a firewall. The XP one is lame.

Free and good:

Zonealarm, Tiny personal firewall (sygate).

Looks like you have your bases covered. However, why run Ccleaner only once a week? It takes no time at all, so do it daily before shutdown. AVG free is good, but do manual updates weekly. The auto-updater seems to be a bit sleepy in that it doesn't always update in a timely fashion.

Think about paying for Anti-virus and/or a firewall. They are invaluable and certainly worth the money. AVG free is ok, but lacks some of the nicer features of the pay version. The same can be said for Zonealarm free vs. ZA pro. Really, for what it offers, it costs a pittance.

Anyways, good job on getting the system cleaned up!!

[Dalton]

Consider getting preventative software like Spyware Guard and Spyware Blaster for example. They are freeware. Go to cexx.org for a read sometime.

Free:
This link is to CNets' most popular downloads page. You'll see
AdAware, Zone Alarm, Mozilla Firefox, Spybot Search and Destroy
AdAware and Zone Alarm

Spybot Search and Destroy
Coolweb Shredder

HiJack This
Spyblaster
Spyware Guard

Not:
Window Washer
Scroll down and find Window Washer 5.1 on the right. DL it and open and read the .nfo file(s) with notepad. The rip is built into the program. Just install it. Run it every time you go off line.


Info and help sites:
Prevention article from cexx.org
spywareinfo.com
cexx.org

This is a lot of stuff. You have to get into the properties for each one too. For instance Ad Aware has a setting to eliminate the reg entry for anything it finds. Ad Aware will disabel a lot of free stuff that come swith spyware and adware. Like free DivX and Download accelerator. I let it and learn to live with out that stuff.

[Demophobe]

As always Dalton, a great list of things one shouldn't be without.