Virus', spyware, etc.

[Time K]

I'm curious: Mike, judging from your past avatar, I think you're a Linux guy. Do you worry about this?

Oh, I just figured that out.........you have me mixed up with our Web Guy, who is an infinitely more experienced user than I.

Of course I don't take anything for granted, but I see the constant tending that Windows users seem to be doing to keep safe and afloat and frankly it looks like a vicious cycle perpetuated by a bad OS platform. I'm no expert, just an end user.

[Mary F]

Wow, Mike T. That's disgusting!

[Time K]

---Attachment removed.....I thought it was funny but perhaps it crossed the line a little. I hope no one was offended!

[Jeremy Witt]

---Attachment removed.....I thought it was funny but perhaps it crossed the line a little. I hope no one was offended!

I liked it. I feel like that every day at work. Then I go home to my Mac. aaaah, serenity.

[Bill Abbay]

Oh, I just figured that out.........you have me mixed up with our Web Guy

Oops, Mike T., sorry. I should have made it clearer that I meant Mike Sanders.

[Chester Taje]

I don't know where this topic is going,BUT lets keep it on topic about virus,not comparisons about other computor types.

[Mary F]

Oop. Sorry, Mike T. I forgot the little winky guy and/or maybe also my favorite, the jester

[Harold Dean]

Well as you can see, it has been a long while since I have been on the forum since I sold my trailer and haven't checked in for awhile. I tracked the piggyback to one of the alternate sites MS directs you to when they are overloaded and it seems they have a habit of doing this to systems they no longer want to support as they are in the business of selling new product. I informed them and the alternate download site and even after I provided the alternate site with a file, they still disavowed any knowledge. My ISP done some checking and stated categorically it wasn't coming from them but did detect it in the download from the alternate when I provided them with the file info. I have since changed to 2000 Professional and I don't get the same trojan, but once in awhile, I pick up another type of malware that manages to get past the firewall. I have learned to keep a spare harddrive with all of my data on it and when the one in use gets infected, if I can't disinfect it, I just swap and slave the original harddrive, reformat, do a military wipe, reformat again and reload it from the clean hard drive before I ever go back on the internet. I have Windows update set up to download the update on my command to an external usb flash drive which I then run through another machine for an Anti Virus search. I haven't picked up anything on the updates since I stopped using the alternate sites. Thanks to all who offered advice and for their attempts to help me overcome this problem. Hope no one else ever has to go through with this. I was reduced to using a machine with 833mhz chip and 512mb ram until I got this resolved. This was one of the methods that allowed me to finally segregate the problem. The bot is written to only take advantage of high speed machines with enough memory to capture, hold and forward their garbage. If I had the room in my den to have several machines, I would only use the slow machine to run internet on and save the high speed, large memory for my DVD transcriptions but I have to use the same machine for everything. Hope everyone else is well. Harold

[Dan I]

Doing fine thanks. I just turn my PC on and use it...am I supposed to be doing "military wipes" and using "trojans"? I DO shower daily.

[Harold Dean]

[b]Doing fine thanks. I just turn my PC on and use it...am I supposed to be doing "military wipes" and using "trojans"? I DO shower daily.

You're doing just fine Dan like you are. When you delete something from your computer, you are just removing the file directory and the files is still on your hard drive and can be accessed by someone with the smarts to do it. A military wipe overwrites everything with 0's which destroys the integrety of digtal files which consist of 0's and 1's. Just like writing a note with nothing but vowels. Harold

[Donna D.]

There are other forums to help people with technology problems. The focus here is camping and FiberglassRVs... okay? It's always prudent to have the latest and greatest spyware and virus protection, but just like your home if someone wants in.... they'll get in. Just don't keep financial stuff where someone can find it.... anymore than you'd leave your wallet or purse out on the sidewalk.

[Craig Nold]

There are other forums to help people with technology problems. The focus here is camping and FiberglassRVs... okay? It's always prudent to have the latest and greatest spyware and virus protection, but just like your home if someone wants in.... they'll get in. Just don't keep financial stuff where someone can find it.... anymore than you'd leave your wallet or purse out on the sidewalk.

Donna,
Good advise but don't be so fast to cut off replies to this thread. Some of us depend on our laptops to call home when traveling and up to date protection is essential. I found out the hard way last week when a nasty bit of malware called QdrModule15.exe got in and hijacked both of my browsers. My first mistake was not keeping my updates current between trips and before I knew what happened, a disreputable software company was offering to sell me a fix for a problem that they had installed without my permission. My second mistake was leaving my restore disk at home. Much to my surprise, I survived three of the longest days in my life without e-mail.
I may as well have left my wallet on the sidewalk. By the time I got home, my cash was gone and my gas card was maxed out.

[Donna D.]

You may find the assistance you need a forum dedicated to technology, such as this one: Computer & Technology Forum