Extra help to block ransomware (no disk encryption unless keyboard OK)

glnz

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The Sunday NY Times Week in Review (Jan 4, 2015) had an article about someone’s mother having to pay Bitcoin ransom in a ransom malware encryption attack.

At home, what should I do to prevent a ransom encryption attack, in addition to Avast AV (on my home Win 7 Pro 64-bit and my home XP Pro SP3) or Windows Defender (on my home Win 8.1 Pro 64-bit)?

One of the readers asked whether there’s an app that prevents encryption of a disk or partition unless there’s confirmation at the keyboard (like a UAC prompt). Sounds like a good idea - is there any way for me to add this?

Thanks.


(PS and FYI – I have Windows Defender on my 8.1 because Avast 2015 uses up the entire capacity for hardware-assisted virtualization, which I intend to play with later. Similarly, on my 7, I still have Avast 2015 but I have turned off its “Enable hardware-assisted virtualization” for the same reason. Finally, on my XP, I have Avast 2015 and have left ON its “Enable hardware-assisted virtualization” because, on XP, there’s no interference with HAV. But probably not relevant to my question.)
 

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Step one is to make a backup of all important data.
 

My Computer

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PC/Desktop
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custom build
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Windows 7 Professional 64bit
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Intel i7-5960X
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EVGA X99 Classified
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64GB Corsair Dominator 2400MHz
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3 EVGA GTX980's
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on board
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3 Dell E2715H 27"
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Corsair AX1200i
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250 down/10 up
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Microsoft Security Essentials
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IE 11, Google Chrome
Block ransomware

Well you can try: HitmanPro.Alert CryptoGuard - SurfRight

It's free. Watch the video.

If you want to lock down all areas of the system that those ransomware infections use to infect your system then you could use UVK's Execute Prevent feature but it needs some configuration in order to whitelist genuine apps.

Note: For advanced users only.

Execute Prevent.jpg
 

My Computer

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Laptop
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ASUS
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Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
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AMD C-60 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
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ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X501U
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4.00 GB
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AMD Radeon HD 6290 Graphics
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(1) AMD High Definition Audio Device (2) Realtek High Defi
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1366 x 768 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
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Hitachi HTS545050A7E380 SATA Disk Device
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Comodo CIS & FW, SecureAplus App Whitelisting, Threatfire
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Cyberfox 64bit, Opera 64bit, Airfox
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Spy-The-Spy, HitmanPro.Alert, Norton Connect Safe, MJRegWatcher, BitDefender TrafficLight, Voodoo Shield, Zemana AntiMalware

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
An ol' eMachines
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium
Internet Speed
Fine for me...I'm retired!
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