[AT] Off topic, computer related.
Paul Waugh
pwaugh at embarqmail.com
Tue Mar 16 09:50:20 PDT 2010
I have preached back up for years. Problem is I would find myself skipping
them. Finally, I invested in a Maxtor 250 gig external USB hard drive
($100), and have Vista back up files of my choice every week at 2:00 am on
Sunday. At least I only lose a week this way. If it were a business computer
I back up every day, one day in location A, next day in location B, then
back and forth. My daughter is NOT computer savvy, but spends $50 a year
for an online back up. It saved her last week. I think I have wiped 3
computer for people in the last 4 months for the type of thing Charlie has.
It is ugly, and wiping is the only way I have found to really get rid of it.
Paul-46555
----- Original Message -----
From: "Henry Miller" <hank at millerfarm.com>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 9:55 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Off topic, computer related.
>
> On program I haven't heard mentioned is Spybot Search&Destroy
> (http://www.safer-networking.org/). Free (donation recommended) and
> worth a
> shot. Last time I needed it, I had to download it on a different
> computer
> and transfer it via USB stick because whatever is causing problems blocks
> that
> site.
>
> That said, I think it is time for you to start over. Backup all your
> data
> (and only data - you don't know how your programs are infected), erase
> everything on your computer, reinstall, then apply the latest updates.
> You
> want to be behind a firewall for this because there are some bugs on the
> install system that can be used to infect your computer before you get the
> updates downloaded. Might be worth paying someone $50 to do this just
> because
> they are experienced (but do your own backups first - they won't save
> anything
> from your computer for $50, and besides you need backups anyway).
>
> Make sure you turn automatic updates on. Microsoft is pretty good about
> getting patches out quickly.
>
> Did I mention you need backups? I've heard too many stories about people
> who
> lost critical data because they were too lazy to do backups.
>
> On Tuesday 16 March 2010 07:11:09 charliehill wrote:
>> Guys at this point I don't know what to do. I've apparently defeated the
>> initial problem with "security essentials 2010" but still have a severe
>> problem. I first beat it back with Malware Bytes which I had from a
>> similar problem last year. Then the problem came back. I downloaded
>> the
>> latest edition of Trend Micro House Call and beat it back again. I
>> thought it was gone. Then it started immediately showing up again by
>> redirecting any attempt I made to go to any website I found on a search
>> engine. To beat that I downloaded Firefox browser directly from a link
>> supplied to me by e-mail by Mike Sloane. At some point early in this
>> whole process I dowloaded PCTools Spyware doctor. It found a bunch of
>> stuff but wouldn't remove it without my paying them $40.00. I started
>> doing searches with Firefox to find solutions and almost immediately
>> Firefox began being redirected to bad sites.
>>
>> I went back and ran Malware Bytes again and it didn't find a thing but
>> the
>> problem was still there. I could type in a search for a site, say
>> microsoft, click on the link that I knew was a legit microsoft link and I
>> would be redirected to a spam site that looked like a search engine. It
>> would immediately start to cascade to other sites. I'm sure trying to
>> take
>> me back to the bug. I went back and ran House Call again. It didn't
>> find
>> anything but the problem was still there. I would try to run an internet
>> search for a solution and regardless of running the search on Firefox or
>> IE
>> I'd get re-directed. I thought about Spyware Dr. which I had already
>> downloaded but not paid for, so I put my credit card acct # at risk to
>> pay
>> them $40. I ran the program and even though the other programs said I
>> was
>> clean it found 170 problems. Most of them just tracking cookies and the
>> like but 10 of them moderate to high risk trojans, bots and root kits. I
>> removed all of them. Went back to try a web search again and immediately
>> got a re-direct. I managed to get into the Microsoft site and downloaded
>> their newest Browser edition. During that download Microsoft searched
>> for
>> threats and found none. As soon as I ran a search on that browser I got
>> re-directed. I went back to PC tools and instead of runing it's
>> Intelliguard (recommended) search. I ran the full search. It took most
>> of
>> the night last night. This morning I fixed the problems it found (by the
>> way while Spyware Dr was running I unplugged the modem). Then I plugged
>> the modem back in and did a search on the brand new IE 8 browser and
>> immediately got re-directed.
>>
>> That brings us up to now and represents probably 20 hours of working time
>> over a 48 or so hour period. I also ran Trend Micro's RU boted and Root
>> Kit dectection searches. RU boted will tell me I've got a bot and tell
>> me
>> to search with Housecall but housecall doesn't find it.
>> All of this time and for a long time in the past I've been running Zone
>> Alarm full configured Pro version which is a firewall with virus and
>> spyware protection.
>>
>> The only thing I can figure is this thing has wormed it's way into a
>> legitimate program that Zone Alarm is allowing to access the internet but
>> which one?
>>
>> I just ran Spyware Dr again while I was typing this. This time it only
>> found 5 tracking cookies. Apparently all of them got on in the 2 or 3
>> seconds it took me to shut down the most recent web search re-direct.
>>
>> My computer appears to be running fine right now as long as I don't try
>> to
>> do any sort of internet search. I'm also wary of my favorites file.
>> Something along the way ( I don't remember the specifics right now) led
>> me
>> to believe my favorites files were corrupted. I've got litterally
>> hundreds
>> of favorites, probably thousands carefully sorted in files by subject.
>> It's my own personal information library for both work and personal
>> stuff.
>> The thought of having to delete all of them is not pleasant and the
>> task
>> of manually copying each of them to paper so that they can be reloaded
>> is
>> daunting.
>>
>> I can't even do online searches to find a solution because when I do I
>> get
>> re-infected or at the least re-directed.
>>
>> If anyone has a clue about a problem with web search re-direction
>> problems
>> please let me know. If you know of a site that deals with it please send
>> me the link via e-mail in clickable form because I can't run a search
>> for
>> it.
>>
>> Thanks and beware. There is one bad bug out there. Either that or I'm
>> being deliberately targeted which I'm now starting to consider as a real
>> possibility.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dan Folske" <dfolske at nccray.net>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 7:34 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Off topic, computer related.
>>
>> > My secretaries computer got hit with XP Internet Security a week ago.
>> >
>> > Windows XP Pro, MacAfee Antivirus, and IE 8
>> >
>> > A combination of Malwarebytes Anti-malware and ComboFix seemed to get
>> > it
>> > off
>> > but it was still locking up and running slow.
>> > I was hoping to get by without wiping the hard drive so I sent it to
>> > our
>> > tech department and guess what? They wiped it!
>> >
>> > They reloaded the University IT supported software but I spent all day
>> > today
>> > reinstalling purchased software and reloading backed up data. Gave it
>> > back
>> > to the secretary this afternoon and MacAfee Scan on Demand picked up
>> > another
>> > virus within half an hour.
>> >
>> > It is still locking up once in a while so I may have a hardware issue
>> > as
>> > well.
>> >
>> > I use IE 8, Chrome and Firefox on my machines because each one has some
>> > sites or apps that they don't seem to work on while one of the others
>> > do.
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > AT mailing list
>> > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > =======
>> > Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
>> > (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.14560)
>> > http://www.pctools.com/
>> > =======
>>
>> =======
>> Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
>> (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.14560)
>> http://www.pctools.com/
>> =======
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>
More information about the AT
mailing list