Post #126,067
11/17/03 1:21:58 PM
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Re: What to bring to "fix" a Windows box
I use Command antivirus because it's easy to install and remove. I leave it on and tell the client to register ($24/year) so they can get updates as I hand them the list of 132 infected files found on their "I know I don't have a virus" machine - or they can remove it and install Norton. I won't install Norton products myself.
I use Adaware personal (free for personal use) to clean up the scumware. It's been greatly improved lately and it works. Generally a home machine with kids has about 450 scumware objects. I find more instability from these than from worms and viruses. For hoseholds with teens I sometimes have to put on the "pay-for" version ($36) which monitors attempts to infect, because a teen household will have 140 new scumware files within minutes of cleaning no matter how much you admonish them about safe browsing and music download programs.
Several clients are happy with MailWasher for cleaning junk email. It needs to be trained, of course, but it saves a lot of time and works directly on the mail server, so it's independent of the email program. I think it's $36, but there may be a fee version with some limitations, I don't remember.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #126,075
11/17/03 1:55:47 PM
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Re: MailWasher
... works directly on the mail server, so it's independent of the email program. How does this work? My understanding is that the client would need to actually download the mail to evaluate if it's spam. Or are you assuming the ability to install something on the server? The person I'm going to be doing this for is probably on AOL. (Changing to a new ISP is among one of my possible suggestions.) Or is it something that runs in the background, downloads and evaluates mail, and only drops "good" messages in your inbox? ===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #126,204
11/17/03 8:27:36 PM
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How it works.
It logs onto the server and reads the headers of all the mail. It checks the subjects against it's "likely to be spam" parameters and any filters you have constructed for it. It compares the from address against friends and foes lists.
It displays a list of all the items it doesn't have a clear delete decision for showing from address, subject and its recommendations. You can review the list, make any changes you want by checking boxes, and recommend addresses to the friend/foe lists. It will then delete all unwanted mail from the server and call up your mail reader to download all that remains.
The mail reader I use, PMMail, allows you to log onto the server, review what's there and mark it for delete, retrieve or retrieve copy, but it doesn't have the decision engine so you have to look at the whole list. One of my clients is using MailWasher Pro as a preprocessor for PMMail.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #137,584
1/24/04 10:23:26 PM
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Update: woooo, lots found
I'm at the neighbor's house, not the relative. Got AdAware on and so far found 120 items. It's still running though. Before I did that I went to windowsupdate and found 28 critical updates and installed them.
Other than the scumware, though, it might have been as simple as Outlook trying to use the dialup. IIRC Ross mentioned the possibility, and sure enough Outlook was still trying to use the modem, which was still plugged into the phone line. So every time it launched it started trying to phone home. Haven't locked up yet despite downloading and installing over 30MB of updates.
(Currently at 118 infected files out of 191,000 in 4600 directories, and 2 infected registry keys out of 22,500.)
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #137,593
1/24/04 10:53:29 PM
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2 registry keys were installed with Windows . .
. . so if that's all, I suspect all the files are Tracking Company cookies. All pretty harmless.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #137,605
1/24/04 11:38:46 PM
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(*&@#%)(&*@)#(*&$
Well I *thought* I installed AdAware. Go to adaware.com and see what you get. Looks like you're getting adaware if you're not paying enough attention. It's malware. Fuckers.
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #137,607
1/24/04 11:53:07 PM
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Nasty. :-( Best of luck.
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Post #137,608
1/25/04 12:00:56 AM
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Wrong website
you got zonked, ala "Let's Make a Deal" and picked the wrong curtain. That looks like an imposter program that may actually do something else than try to remove Spyware/Adware.
Try this one:
[link|http://www.lavasoftusa.com/|http://www.lavasoftusa.com/]
Of course AdAware removes spyware/adware but may make the system unstable. Spybot: Search and Destroy does a better job and has yet to make any system I used it on unstable.
Download it if you want, at:
[link|http://www.safer-networking.org/|http://www.safer-networking.org/]
That zonk may have put malware on the system. Download a trial of The Cleaner to check for Trojans:
[link|http://www.moosoft.com/|http://www.moosoft.com/]
Or get a free Antivirus program from:
[link|http://www.grisoft.com/|http://www.grisoft.com/]
"Lady I only speak two languages, English and Bad English!" - Corbin Dallas "The Fifth Element"
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Post #137,637
1/25/04 7:44:22 AM
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Spybot vs. Adaware
Last week I ran an updated Adaware on a machine the guy had just downloaded and run spybot on and it found plenty more.
I've never had Adaware leave a system unstable, though some time back it did remove a damaged TCP/IP file that forced removal and reinstallation of TCP/IP. That hasn't happened for some time now.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #137,655
1/25/04 11:33:05 AM
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Re: Spybot vs. Adaware - seconded
Ad-Aware doesn't muck with \\system at all, and if you're paranoid about changes, has generous undo capabilities.
Of course it is very nice to be so completely off Windows that Internet issues are no longer in the foreground.
-drl
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Post #137,670
1/25/04 2:07:16 PM
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My past experience with Ad-Aware
after removing Spyware/Adware with it, caused the system to become unstable and blue screen on me a lot. Fixed it by reinstalling the OS. This was not recent, but was a year or two ago. Ever since I switched to Spybot instead and have not had any problems yet, knock on wood. :)
"Lady I only speak two languages, English and Bad English!" - Corbin Dallas "The Fifth Element"
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Post #137,672
1/25/04 2:09:48 PM
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Re: My past experience with Ad-Aware
Chances are you uncovered an existing instability. I've installed Ad-Aware on lots of machines without any problems at all. Windows is like a pit bull - feed it often and pet it occasionally, and it won't bite you.
-drl
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Post #137,676
1/25/04 2:22:39 PM
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ICLRPD (new thread)
Created as new thread #137675 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=137675|ICLRPD]
"Lady I only speak two languages, English and Bad English!" - Corbin Dallas "The Fifth Element"
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Post #137,684
1/25/04 2:42:13 PM
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No, Windows owners are like pitbull owners
They always believe that they are in control of their pet.
Cheers,
Ben
"good ideas and bad code build communities, the other three combinations do not"
- [link|http://archives.real-time.com/pipermail/cocoon-devel/2000-October/003023.html|Stefano Mazzocchi]
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Post #137,692
1/25/04 3:17:42 PM
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Re: Spybot vs. Adaware
I like Ad-Aware myself
but sometimes it does not do enough
then you might want to go to HijackThis
you have to have an understanding of the registry in order to use this tool as it does not work automatically and lets you delete any program from the reigistry
A
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Post #137,613
1/25/04 12:24:05 AM
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Re: Update: woooo, lots found
Make sure you set up the modem to use IRQ 11 or whatever so it will not conflict with the Ethernet card.
-drl
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