Topic: Colds are not the only virus...........

[rdak]

thanks for that spyware link Gavin- I downloaded it and found a huge amount of spyware which I have now removed.
I just want to re-iterate how important a firewall is , especially if you have broadband. I use Zonealarm.

It is also very important to disable Messenger in Windows XP and 2000. This isn't Messenger that let's you chat with people- it's an internal part of Windows that 99% of people don't need but it's a security risk. Here's how to disable it:

http://www.auburn.edu/oit/security/messengerService.html

[good_life_girl]

For pop-ups, I'd recommend the google toolbar (go to www.toolbar.google.com)
Can use it to block pop-ups, but also one click to unblock if you need to see them (sometimes sites use pop-ups for competitions etc). Also counts how many are blocked - very amusing!
Also a very quick way of searching!

[Hyacinth]

Great Big THANK YOUs and GOLD STARS to everyone who's contributed to this thread - with coconuts also to Palefire who started this thread and Gavin who gave the Spybot link.

It's so nice to know that when things go wrong with my PC (as well as in my garden ;)) a loud shout here will produce a good result.

And Spybot found 53 thingys :o :o :o - all gone now, tho 8) ;D - Lishka

[Palefire]

Yep - Spybot found loads of cookies for adware and spyware that I hadn't seen in my directories - so they've gone. Just watch out with spybot that you don't accidentally immunise cookies or applications that you might want. I know it gives you an option to retrieve them, but it showed up a windows update application on mine that I didn't want it to remove, so I have to keep unchecking it. Other than that - it's a nifty little programme.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread - gonna go for the full monty format of the hard drive next week :-[. Just burning all the kosher files I want to disc beforehand. Wish me luck, everyone ;)! In the meantime, feel free to add warnings, advice etc to this.

Love, Palefire

xxx

[Palefire]

Finally back ;D ;D ;D. Having lost all software and the subsequent updates via the internet because of formatting the hard drive :-/, we reloaded the software that came with the computer. There was no antivirus to check if the little blighter had gone (it had been a free thing from the net), so we decided to reconnect to the net and have the computer remotely scanned by Symantec (Norton's parent company). Got back on the net with the help of our ISP, but it was late, so we logged off and went to bed.

IN THAT SPLIT SECOND, W32Blaster got us >:( :( :-/. Every time we logged on after that, a countdown appeared, saying "The Remote Procedure Call has unexpectedly terminated. Windows will now shut down. This shutdown was initiated by NT/AUTHORITY" and a minutes countdown appeared >:(. Ended up having to reconfigure all our internet settings to highest, make sure the firewall was enabled and go to http://www.symantec.com to download a free virus killer - they have a whole list by the way ;).
So, we are now running a 15 day trial from that site - Norton Internet Security - and it seems to be doing the trick so far. As for the late nights waiting for extensive downloads from Microsoft to recover all the updates we had lost - don't think I'll forget that lesson in a hurry :-/.
Consequently, we're off to buy the full monty version next week.

Upshot of this post?
Buy a computer and forget about anything else until you have an antivirus in place. It is the most disruptive, annoying, infuriating, events regarding the pc that I have ever had to deal with.

A peaceful and virus free Christmas to you all, :-*

Love, Palefire

xxx

[gavin]

Hi Palefire - what a horrendous experience; I feel for you!  But good to hear you're getting it sorted

All best - Gavin

[Palefire]

Thanks, Gavin. Have now got antivirus on the computer and I have managed to load, configure and relax! :)

The only thing is, having had a virus, albeit not a computer killing thing in the end, I am really paranoid about anything that is not something I have asked for, or anything that doesn't immediately go right! Anyhow, I can't live on pins, I just hope that someone reading this who is having problems with pop ups and unwanted emails (especially if they have Kazaa on their system) will be able to learn from my experience before they end up going through it too.  :)

Love, Palefire

xxx

[ava_banana]

Palefire............oh how I wish I had read this thread a week ago..........

.....just built myself a new system last tuesday........put it all together........most pleased with myself.......it was all working.....went on the net........did some browsing.........then I started getting the RPC problem...........oh what a pain.

.....60 seconds is barely enough to do what you need to do.......took me a while, but realised it was a virus......and finally got rid of it yesterday.....and when I was explaining it all to EJ, she mentioned this post.........

.....I shall have to read more ....oh well,

.....anyway.......it is OK now......thank goodness...

[Palefire]

My sympathies, Ava Banana. That's why I posted this, in the hope that, if anyone had a friend talking about the same kind of symptoms, they would be able to let them know what was going on and possible ways of eradicating the problem.
Glad you got rid,

Love, Palefire

xxx