Viruses

[pzaur]

Or get a Mac. I haven't run antivirus software in years.

Macs aren't immune to viruses. They just don't have the market share that PCs do. Small fish in the sea for rogue programmers.

-pat

 

[itschris]

Macs aren't immune to viruses. They just don't have the market share that PCs do. Small fish in the sea for rogue programmers.

-pat

I agree totall with this. Microsoft has served me well since college. I don't have a problem with using their stuff at all. I'm not opposed to something new, however. In the world of Finance and Economics, Macs just aren't considered serious business. They're for people who like art, spend 4 hours in a coffee shop, and really really really miss their ponytail if they don't still have it.

I don't really believe all that, but I think it's funny. Anyway, besides Internet Explorer, which I quite like just fine... what browser should I use and how does it prevent virus attacks anymore than IE

 

[lsiberian]

Macs aren't immune to viruses. They just don't have the market share that PCs do. Small fish in the sea for rogue programmers.

-pat

Perhaps not, but the OS is a lot more resistant to hacking. It's not as cut and dry as you might think. Unix for example has very few known exploits and has been around longer than Windows. Windows has thousands.

It's not entirely Microsoft's fault since many users don't know how to setup their system properly in the first place.

Microsoft has the best developer tools so it will remain king for years to come. I also think Windows 7 is gonna be easier to tighten up than XP.

 

[Shock]

7 is a MASSIVE improvement over XP in the security department. Not to mention it's dumb easy to pick up. The only thing I don't like about 7 is I can't turn the start menu into the classic view, or if you can, I haven't figured it out.

MSE is a great anti virus program and it's built right into 7. Low resource usage and it's not obtrusive and in your face saying "I SCAN NOW!!!!!!!! RAWRRRR". You also don't get that annoying stutter when your anti-virus decides to launch during heroic Lich King and you wipe the raid because you're sitting in a defile.

 

[darien87]

Yeah seriously. Clearly they're not stupid people. I'll never understand the mentality that enables someone to just arbitrarily do things like that. I mean don't want to bad things to anyone or even annoy anyone... unless of course I'm wronged in some way first.

What makes a person pull up the someone's home and break in and take things that don't belong to them? I don't get it. That sort of thing to me is worse than two people who get into an argument that escalates and escalates until someone snaps. At least you can understand sort of and see how it can happen. Stealing and other malicious behavior is the worst in my book. It's calm conscience choice and that makes it espcially wrong in my book.

If people would just spend half the amount of effort they do trying to cheat the system, their neighbor, and everyone else, it's likely they'd find their life in a much better place having most of the things they're willing to take from someone else in the first place.

At least someone that breaks into your home and steals your stuff gets a tangible benefit from it; they get goods that they can keep or sell. What the hell is the point of creating a virus? You don't see the people that you affect, so you don't get whatever twisted gratification you would get from that kind of thing.

Just doesn't make sense to me.

I've been hit a couple of times. Both times I just had my hard drive crash. The first time I just bought a new computer since my old one was pretty outdated. This most recent time, I just bought a new bigger hard drive for about $60. Not a huge deal, but it sucked to lose all my pictures and music files. My wife always blames it on me. "That's what you get from downloading porn."

Both she and I have been hit with people sending out spam from our Hotmail accounts. I don't know how people do this, but I only knew because someone that was getting it sent me an e-mail telling me to quit sending them spam. I was like, "What the hell are you talking about?"

My wife had an e-mail go out to everybody saying she loved her new iPhone that she got from some website. I got one. I knew it wasn't her because the grammar and spelling were all messed up. But her friends kept e-mailing her back about how much they loved their iPhones too.

 

[darien87]

I agree totall with this. Microsoft has served me well since college. I don't have a problem with using their stuff at all. I'm not opposed to something new, however. In the world of Finance and Economics, Macs just aren't considered serious business. They're for people who like art, spend 4 hours in a coffee shop, and really really really miss their ponytail if they don't still have it.

I don't really believe all that, but I think it's funny. Anyway, besides Internet Explorer, which I quite like just fine... what browser should I use and how does it prevent virus attacks anymore than IE

I LOVE Macs! But I've been an Apple guy since the Apple II days. I had an Apple IIgs in college. That thing was kick-***!! It had a whole meg of RAM!!!

But I've been an artist all my life. That said, I use a PC at work, (not my choice), and we have PC's at home, (but only because they're so much cheaper than Mac's). I guess viruses are just something you have to deal with if you have a PC.

 

[raffin]

You know, I'd really like to meet up with any person associated with creating viruses. I don't know what I would do to them.

Since I work in IT, I have had to deal with way too much of this kind of crap.

I know exactly what I would do if I got my hands on one of those Aholes. It would just be a matter of how to dispose of the body afterwards.

 

[TLS Guy]

I agree totall with this. Microsoft has served me well since college. I don't have a problem with using their stuff at all. I'm not opposed to something new, however. In the world of Finance and Economics, Macs just aren't considered serious business. They're for people who like art, spend 4 hours in a coffee shop, and really really really miss their ponytail if they don't still have it.

I don't really believe all that, but I think it's funny. Anyway, besides Internet Explorer, which I quite like just fine... what browser should I use and how does it prevent virus attacks anymore than IE

IE is intimately woven into the operating system, which makes it more vulnerable.

I use Mozilla Firefox with adblock plus.

 

[pzaur]

+1 for Firefox with Adblock Plus. I can send you a text file with all of my blocked sites if you want a quick start on the adblocking.

-pat

 

[10010011]

Anyway, besides Internet Explorer, which I quite like just fine... what browser should I use and how does it prevent virus attacks anymore than IE

Firefox or Opera, because they both automatically block the popups (the one that was styled to look just like a Windows dialog box that tricks people into installing this fake antivirus program) and do not run the active-X control that allows this exploit like IE

 

[itschris]

Firefox or Opera, because they both automatically block the popups (the one that was styled to look just like a Windows dialog box that tricks people into installing this fake antivirus program) and do not run the active-X control that allows this exploit like IE

Cool. I'll check those out. Do they have the multiple tab browsing? I use that a lot.

 

[njedpx3]

Get some Malware/Grayware removal software.

Cool. I'll check those out. Do they have the multiple tab browsing? I use that a lot.

Chris,

Sorry you are having problems, it is frustrating. It sounds like your IE Browser might be infected by Malware. I hvae use FireFox and Mozilla and seem to go back to IE Browser, however I have stayed away from version 8.

You can have multiple browsers. Install the Mozilla and then delete and reinstall IE Browser and I am pretty sure your problem will go away. Then you can continue to us IE Browser if you desire or switch to Mozilla

In the future is is good to implement a antivirus software that also provides Malware and grayware protection. Symantec's End point Protection provides this. http://www.symantec.com/business/products/family.jsp?familyid=endpointsecurity

There are also two free products that can help prevent spyware, grayware, ad-ware and other Malware. The infection you have now is smart enough to block these removal tools as well as most antivirus software becuase the internal guts of your IE Browser software are currently infected.

Spybot Search and Destroy ( be careful there are a lot of programs that havesimilar names) http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html but don't download the add=on software products ..you will see "Spyware Doctor 2010" ..don't download it.

Another good product is Lavasoft's Ad-Aware. There is a FREE version ..that is all you need ...even though Lavasoft willharass and pester you about an upgraded version $$
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Okay the final recommendation:

Get two or three slabs of baby back ribs.
Add 1/2 cup of water and cover in a pan with aluminum foil.
Bake in the oven at 190 degrees for 6 hours ( too tenderize )
Uncover and broil on high for 20 minutes to brown.
Then add your favorite rub or Bar-B-Que sauce and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

And you have perfect - fall-off-the bone ribs


Good Luck and here's to a clean PC,

Forest Man

 

[itschris]

Thanks Forest Man... I do have 6 racks of ribs ready for the smoker this weekend!

I was able to fix the virus issue... it was pretty straightforward and pretty much followed the instructions I posted back a couple of pages ago. It took about 20 minutes and a bit of good old DOS command line typing, but it was effective.

I have spyware, malware, and anitvirus stuff on my computer. This just blew right by all of it. Talking to a system admin here, I was told that it piggy backs on to other stuff and isn't easy to block. Either way, I guess it goes with the territory. I'm gonna give Firefox a shot tonight when I get home. I looked at the tour on their site and it seems just fine with me... especially if helps prevent this sort of thing.

 

[itschris]

I just installed firefox. I kinda dig it. I just added ADBLOCK which seems to work pretty well.

 

[10010011]

Cool. I'll check those out. Do they have the multiple tab browsing? I use that a lot.

Opera pretty much invented tabbed browsing a decade ago!

Mozilla Firefox had in from the start

 

[The Dukester]

Two out of the last three days I've logged in here, I've received a highly dangerous trojan attack (I informed a mod). Fortunately, my antivirus ID'ed it and killed it.

Ah, biscuits!!! NOW I know where I got that from! I got the stupid thing, too, and had a hard time getting rid of it. As soon as I clicked on the AH site, it started freezing up and then the fake anitvirus crap came up. I downloaded Malwarebytes to get somewhat going. Subsequent scans came up clean, but my computer still would not work right. I uninstalled it, an old version of Norton and some other programs then downloaded AVG. Running it (right after a clean Malwarebytes scan) showed like 20 + infections. Now she's running like a top.
Stupid virus!

 

[pzaur]

I wasn't affected because of adblock plus. Definitely a must. I wonder how much other crap it's blocked by chance!

-pat

 

[lsiberian]

Symantec's End point Protection

I'm not a fan of Symantec products because tests have shown they slow down a computer a lot. There are better anti-virus brands out there.

Don't get AVG anymore it really messes stuff up now.

 

[lsiberian]

IE is intimately woven into the operating system, which makes it more vulnerable.

I use Mozilla Firefox with adblock plus.

Hijacks can happen from any browser. If you open the wrong site you are toast regardless of the browser. It doesn't take much to hijack Windows.

 

[lsiberian]

At least someone that breaks into your home and steals your stuff gets a tangible benefit from it; they get goods that they can keep or sell. What the hell is the point of creating a virus? You don't see the people that you affect, so you don't get whatever twisted gratification you would get from that kind of thing.

Just doesn't make sense to me.

I've been hit a couple of times. Both times I just had my hard drive crash. The first time I just bought a new computer since my old one was pretty outdated. This most recent time, I just bought a new bigger hard drive for about $60. Not a huge deal, but it sucked to lose all my pictures and music files. My wife always blames it on me. "That's what you get from downloading porn."

The benefit is the power you feel over people. Many of the kids are nerds who don't have power anywhere else, but on a computer their brains are their power. Smart kids love to play mind games just like strong kids love to play sports. They love to troll, hack, send out viruses, and collect people's information. A few get paid to do some nasty things like write fake anti-viruses to steal your identity. These are worth a lot of money on the black market. How much would you pay for a new identity if you were wanted for a death sentence.

Having been a mild case of one of those kids I can understand what drives them.

http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/manifesto.html

I think the reading above will help you understand. It's the motto of almost every hacker in the world.