Not a ?, Just a Grrrrr...

My sister in law, who runs XP Pro as a glorified email machine, did it again. She called last night, frantic, because her computer is shutting down and acting goofy AGAIN. The last time I fixed it for her, maybe a month ago? I made her buy NIS 2003 and threatened never to work on her comp again if she didn't leave it on and alone. This will be the third time I've had to doctor this thing since the Blaster Worm hit, and she had no IS on there at all with her high speed cable connection for over a year. (Guess she just got lucky?) I just got her machine booted, and Norton is disabled. Now, how can that be? Norton even makes you CONFIRM that you want to shut it off (which I only do with the modem unplugged) and she swears she doesn't know how it became disabled. Sigh. I told her this time, she's buying me a KVM box for fixing it. It will make my life easier.
Johanna
who just needed to vent.

 

What is that avatar? Santa on a swing?

 

That is the cover of an old Little Feat Album, "Sailing Shoes ", done by an artist who recently passed away, Neon Park.

Click Here

It's a piece of cake...

Johanna

 

A bunch of the current crop of viri will try (and often succeed) in shutting off your AV. At least so I'm told but I never understood how the things got in past the AV in the first place.

You might do pretty much the same as I suggested to BB.
- Remove the Hd
- Rub it well with a strong magnet
- Hand her the newly scrubbed Hd
- Suggest to her that she get WebTV
- Leave

 

Hmmm.

 

You've got such a way with words. A little too articulate........but we'll do our very best to sift through the tech-talk Brett.

 

Huh? What does that mean, eh?

 

Don't know what you're talking about.

 

The answer to How and Why may well rest right in the first quote.

XP Pro -- E-Mail.

If not controlled XP Pro leaves A LOT of doors not only unlocked but wide open.

Did the user have all Windows updates installed ?

Was user using the loaded with holes Outlook Express. Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL for their e-mail Program(s) ?

Does the user have the Preview pane open ?

Did the user have NAV e-mail checking enabled ? If no then it is very easy for these new Viruses to sneak past the AV software. Open an attachment and do their dirty work.

Johanna

I think you have a user very similiar to my Nephew. Both may be ( Nephew is ) causing their own problems.

Before you cleaned up the Virus did you REMOVE any and all Restore points ? And any other type of backups the the user may have made and could possibley restore ?

Restore points are good to have in some ways. But if not used carefully they can also cause problems.

If you did say to the user that you need to do this and user gave you any grief you might just as well forget it and walk out the door leaving word with the user not to call you. You will call them.

I have not had a problem with a Virus ( thank goodness ) but I have had a problem when removing software. I clean up the errors just to have them come back intil I cleared the RPs.

The first time is one thing. The 2nd is another. But the 3rd I believe somebody is cutting corners.

A firewall will do no good here because things are coming and going via a route that users has allowed to be traveled.

Oh BTW. The Nephew ( neighbor ) refered to earlier is waitng for me to call him. And for the same reason. I cleaned the PC twice. he refuses to keep AV updated and enabled. And if I should just happen to find my e-mail address on his machine again I may just get out the magnet that Newt mentioned.

BillyBob

 

I suspect that, in addition to not knowing what I’m talking about, you also don’t know what you’re talking about. And neither do I. So, what’s new?

 

Yes BB, her Windows Updates are done, and Norton was configured and set correctly. I know, because I did it myself. How did the worm get through? Simple. She disabled Norton, for some reason, but doesn't want to admit it. She wouldn't know how to get to or use System Restore, and I have cleared it at each fix. She doesn't want to know these things. She just wants to check her email and occasionally click on a link. She doesn't even know how to use 95% of her computer, which is just as well, because then she's mess it up and be on the phone calling me again. The first time I fixed it, I reinstalled XP, installed NIS from scratch, and set up OE for her. Of course I disabled the preview pane, along with all the other things I routinely do when I do a set up. I get irritated because she doesn't want to learn, just point and click. When she let her daughter download Gator and a bunch of other garbage, she called me. I put Spybot on it, and hid the icons so that she wouldn't mess with it. I tried talking her through running it on the phone and got nowhere. Too hard.

Brett, are you courting Daizy? Flowers, diamonds and candy might work better!

Newt, your suggestion made me laugh. Another Sister in Law (My husband has 9 sisters) had her whole magnet collection on the side of her computer, holding up all of her notes and pieces of scratch paper. It didn't seem to adversely affect her computer. I told her to move the magnets back to the fridge...



Johanna
Who will continue to doctor these computers as asked because these sisters may not know beans about their computers, but they are great babysitters!

 

Well Johanna It reads like you did your part and did it very well.

You did things that many fixer uppers forget to do.

Speaking of Baby Sitters.

Sort of along the same idea lines the party that I have problems USED to mow my lawn. Lives Next door. Is half my age. Only works when he feels like it. Parks his car in our driveway ( or did any way till my wife told him " Next time it gets TOWED out " ) so that we had to chase him down when we wanted to get out. And never has time.

BillyBob

 

Certainly not! She's (at least) twice my age. In fact, she's almost <<<gasp>>> as aged as Newt!

 

What a calumny.

I'll have you know I am only 28 years old. I simply have 30 years experience at being 28.

 

Sad isn't it?! He wants me BAD!

And Newtness...... I'd not have taken you to be a day over 27!

Brett..........go sit in the truck and think about why you're there!

 

Ok. For how long?