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The rules of ”basic hygiene”

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Always keep your anti-virus first aid kit close at hand

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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

How are you? Have the attacks stopped?
Maybe you have an update mirror? I needed your utilities, but the website has been down. I'll play it safe and won't download them from third-party sites.

A question from Anti-virus Times participant “iiwanc”

Repair your cart in November, in July your sledge remember.

Folk wisdom

The DDoS attack on Doctor Web’s site came in the winter. For several days, users couldn’t access our web services, and some of these services are critical to computer security. Most appreciable was the inability to download Dr.Web CureIt!, our free curing utility for home users.

Dr.Web CureIt! has long been a standard tool for those who protect their system with an anti-virus other than Dr.Web, but, at the first sign that their anti-virus has missed a virus, download and launch our (free since 2005 (!!!)) curing (not just diagnostic) utility.

One of the most important features of Dr.Web CureIt! is that it is updated frequently: at least once per hour.

At one time on Internet forums, Dr.Web CureIt!’s anti-virus engine was rumored to be significantly better than the Dr.Web products that provide resident security. This myth came about during a major outbreak when Winlock Trojans were successfully bypassing the protection of installed anti-viruses, while the freshly downloaded Dr.Web CureIt! was detecting this threat and curing systems.

But that was no miracle. The virus databases and the preventive protection rules enter a protected system when the anti-virus is updated. Updates can’t appear instantaneously: Doctor Web’s specialists must analyse a Trojan, develop a remedy, and test it on a huge database of legitimate programs. Any rush to release updates can cause harm to users (for example, an anti-virus is even capable of removing Windows system files). In addition, updating can be postponed on the user's side—not all users have configured their settings to update their anti-virus as soon as the databases are re-released or their PCs are turned on. Meanwhile, Dr.Web CureIt! managed to update itself between the time the Winlock Trojan caused the infection and the utility was downloaded. Dr.Web CureIt! is always relevant—it is available for download as soon as new virus databases appear.

#security #anti-virus_scanning #DDoS_attack #Dr.Web_CureIt!

The Anti-virus Times recommends

  1. Double-checking the quality of an anti-virus’s performance is common practice. If you have to periodically check the performance of your anti-virus, locate the developer’s websites that have the utilities you need ahead of time; that way, if a virus incident occurs, you’ll know exactly where to go to seek help and not waste time searching the Internet.
  2. It can happen that in an emergency situation you may not have Internet access on your PC. Or, as in the recent case with Doctor Web, the utility developer’s website may be under attack and therefore unavailable. To protect yourself from such force majeure, always keep a copy of the utility on your PC (or even better—on removable media). Download it, scan the system, and save Dr.Web CureIt! until you need to scan your PC the next time. Download the new version of the utility and remove the old one only after you’ve launched the new version! A utility containing outdated databases is better than no utility at all.
    Historically, most users take advantage of the free version of the utility, forgetting that the commercial—paid—version has a very important advantage: it can update itself. What’s more, it gets its updates not from the website from which the utility itself is downloaded since that can be blocked during an attack, but from the servers of the Dr.Web GUS (Global updating system) which are located at various points of the globe. It is almost impossible for attackers to block all of them.
  3. Updates are critical to an anti-virus’s effectiveness. Do not neglect to perform updates regularly—scan, using only the new version of the utility. Don't begrudge the time it takes to download it.
  4. Dear Admins: Dr.Web CureIt! can scan one computer; Dr.Web CureNet!—the entire network; and Dr.Web LiveDisk can scan and block a computer—please use them.

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