Kevin's Watch

Last evening, to my horror, my Norton anti-virus software isolated the Graybird virus.

www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/bac ... ird.o.html

My computer was down for about 10 minutes during this - and it was 10 minutes of pure terror for me. Fortunately Norton seems to be done its job, and my computer seems to be running fine.

The thing that is worrying me is - where did this come from? I downloaded nothing yesterday evening - only some gaming, online poker and internet use.

I appreciate any thoughts you experts may have.

do you use Web Root "Spy Sweeper"? The same thing happened to a client of mine as he was updating it. I am waiting for news on this as well, but Web Root may have been hacked....

go here for a quick online free scan

House Call
www.antivirus.com

or this DIRECT LINK to Mcafee's Stinger. (it's safe)

download.nai.com/products/mcafee-avert/stinger.exe

vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

Yes, I do use Spy Sweeper - thanks for the tip, I'll check it out.

The couple of times Norton started screaming at me or my kids that we picked up a virus, it was simply from visiting an infected website. No downloads required!

Oddly enough, in each and every case, it was a website about music.

LYRICS SITES WILL KILL YOU!!! STAY AWAY!!! "CONVENIENT TRAPS"!

(anything "popular" is a risk. )

I use webroot.com's Window Washer, but I use Norton's anti-virus and anti-spyware.

Lyric sites certainly have a jillion popups!! But I've been lucky so far, I guess, because no viruses from them.

I use webroot's Spy Sweeper, Norton anti-virus and an AOL provided fire wall.

Start > Run > msconfig to see whats in your "statrtup" folder, you can spot them there.

Ah, I forgot to mention firewell. zonelabs.com has a free one.

isn't that a caamora?

The Esmer wrote:Start > Run > msconfig to see whats in your "statrtup" folder, you can spot them there.

I do this fairly routinely, but is there an easy way to differentiate between necessary applications and unnecessary ones?

That's sort of a toss-up. Just start disabling stuff 'till your computer won't run right. A lot of stuff looks legit, but it isn't.

unfortunately, there IS a way!

The best way I have found is to check it as soon as a "fresh load" (reformat) is done, when nothing but "the regular" programs are on there. Then, as each "new program" is installed, you check it again to see if it put anything there, and compare, and so on, SO, when "the internets" dumps something in there, you can immediately identify the "new entry", eh? follow me?
in addition, sometimes they "say" who they are associated with, like Norton, Office, etc, and you can leave those. Thats debatable, and I try to keep mine clean, but sometimes those programs do run better when they "load up" with the system. I'll stop here in case I rambled.

(cail's approach has been known to work. )

Yeah, I had something nasty install itself on my comp a couple weeks ago (and it wasn't from a music site ). I just dl'd the latest updates from MS, antivir, and adaware (is it just me, or is Spybot completely useless now?). Started in safe mode and ran full sweeps. Then cleaned up the registry. Still had to run down an exec (with the aforementioned methods) that tried to reinstall the stuff, but other than that it was a quick fix.

If you look around on some tech sites, you'll find a lot of tips for speeding up your comp. Among those are instructions for disabling certain options (like a lot of remote/networking stuff) that you're probably not using, eliminating a lot of those processes that you aren't using, and so forth.

Of course, I also lost the ability to switch users or use most XP features (I run my stuff in classic style, but the wife wanted her flashy stuff back and was a wee upset ), but it's a small price to pay for a faster, more secure comp.

Syl wrote:(is it just me, or is Spybot completely useless now?)

You may well be correct there, syl, but I think it all depends on the "Tea Timer" option, (resident shield), that stops the crap from getting in in the first place, plus regular scans and updates seem to work ok for me, but I have limited my internet usage to mainly this site and google, (which can get me into "trouble"), and downloading drivers and tech bulletins/news. This "disqualifies" me in many senses to these types of problems, since I quit going "willy-nilly" all over the net and don't expose myself to these things as much as the "average" user. And keeping it under control from the getgo with constant checks seems to help as well. I know that people who bring systems in to me all infested can rarely have their "current" system saved or cleaned, it gets in so many places, the best choice in those situations is usually "nuke it" (reformat). No chance of any "critters" hiding around. So "after the fact" spyware cleaners aren't my best forte, mainly since I avoid them as carefully as possible.

The Esmerator

thought you guys might get a kick out of it... (400 watt chair! )

our website is back up! (slightly out of date, but mostly accurate, we're working on it!)

www.bruincomputer.com

check it

(anyone may qualify for a commission if you find product for us, but CHECK WITH ME FIRST!!!!)

Too bad I didn't know about this when I was decommissioning the La Salle. You wouldn't believe how much junk we threw away. Nor would you believe how many hard drives I had to smash, floppies I had to tear up, and so forth. That part was actually fun. Finally got to put all those sledgehammers to good use (remember, kids, wear your eye protection), and there's an art to throwing floppies so they explode on impact.

duuuuuude! MASSIVE BANK! massive fun tho to smash, ain't it? heh. We actually bid on a lot of Govt. stuff, I mainly see US Dept. of Commerce, plus a few other Depts. here and there, and a lot of Police/Fire units, mainly laptops for those guys (mobile), plus they usually use Panasonic ToughBooks. You can't kill those sucka's! You can't buy them either, unless your govt/civil service. Touchscreens on them are nice too! We also do alot of Lockheed Martin's stuff too. We do provide "certificates of destruction", but most places prefer to do it themselves, as you can attest to. But I still get a pc or two now and then with "data" still on it, actually saw the Highway budget for Mass. one time. BORING! Never anything good on those.
But the Colleges! WHOOOO! Can you imagine the stuff I find on them?
haha! I currently have about 300 gigs of mp3's laying around my shop. And thats just what I liked and kept!

But seriously, if you find us a good account, (this simply means finding anyone with a boatload of pc equipment to get rid of, you don't need to be a "recycler salesman" or anything, and this goes for anyone here.), my boss will hook you up brotha. Just check with me before you go "dognuts" and get all wound up in something we may not be interested in. We don't take all comers, as some bids just aren't profitable. peace!

Syl wrote:...there's an art to throwing floppies so they explode on impact.

hell yea! haha! you gotta watch the cd's tho, eh? eye slivers!

( it just occurred to me, "what would a commission on a decommission be for a non-commissioned officer"?)


check it